Observing that the onus is on the accused to explain how a person sustained injuries and died if the two were alone at the time of an incident, the Bombay High Court has upheld conviction of a man for murdering his wife.

A division bench of justices V K Tahilramani and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi dismissed the appeal filed by 32-year-old Uttareshwar Ramchandra Devkar, challenging a sessions court order of January 2010 convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Vandana.

According to the prosecution, Pune resident Devkar and his wife were married for over 10 years and had a daughter.

The couple had frequent quarrels over Devkar’s alleged illicit relations with several women.

Vandana had complained to her brothers about her husband’s illicit relations. Her brothers had admonished Devkar and warned him not to continue with such behaviour.

However, when there was no change in him, Vandana returned to her matrimonial home. Devkar apologised to her and assured her that he would end all his relations following which Vandana returned.

On June 10, 2009, the accused murdered Vandana by smothering her with a towel. He then took Vandana to her matrimonial house in a rickshaw and claimed that she fell off the cot and lost consciousness. Vandana was then rushed to hospital where she was declared dead.

The doctor, who conducted the postmortem, opined that the death of Vandana was due to asphyxiation caused by smothering.

Following this, FIR was lodged and Devkar was arrested.

The court, after perusing the evidence, observed that there is no merit in the appeal filed by Devkar.

“The present case is based on circumstantial evidence.

The accused had motive and was with the deceased alone in the house. In such a situation the onus is on the accused to explain how the deceased sustained injuries and died,” the court said.

“We find that there is sufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant committed murder of his wife Vandana,” the court said recently while upholding Devkar’s conviction.

A 25-year-old man from Diva in Dombivili was arrested by the district rural police, for allegedly strangulating his wife to death, a police official said.

Assistant police inspector B S Supe of the Murbad police station told that Vishal Tulaskar lodged a complaint on July 11, past midnight, that his wife was abducted by unknown men who took her away into a jungle, while they were returning from pilgrimage.

His complaint stated that a motorcycle hit their vehicle as it was crossing Murbad, after which its occupants picked up a quarrel, beat up the couple and took his wife away into the jungle in pitched darkness.

Responding to his complaint, a police team lead by DYSP H Vhatkar rushed to the spot and carried out a hunt for the missing lady in the jungle after which they found her body, the police official said.

The police registered a case of murder, even as a postmortem report revealed that the lady had been strangulated and later hit with stones on her face as well as body, the police official said.

Further investigation established that the complainant had killed his wife after frequent quarrels, the police official said.

The police registered an offence of murder against the husband and arrested him, the police official said.

A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a labourer in Mira Road area in the district at an under-construction site, police said.

The incident took place on July 11, police said.

“The victim was sexually assaulted by the accused identified as Hasaan Shaikh, aged around 35 when the girl was alone in her make-shift residence,” API Govind Borade of Mira Road Police Station said.

Following complaint by the victim’s parents, who are also construction labourers, late last evening, a case under section 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act 2012 has been registered, he said.

No arrest has been made in this connection and efforts are on to nab the accused, the officer said.

A 40-year-old rickshaw driver was on Sunday arrested for allegedly molesting a city-based woman journalist in Mumbai, police said.

The accused, identified as Rameshkumar Trilodhar, was arrested by a team of Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station from Kurla area in Mumbai for the incident that had taken place on Tuesday, they said.

22-year-old woman journalist had lodged a complaint yesterday against an unidentified auto-rickshaw driver for refusing fare and misbehaving with her and her friend, they said.

Last Tuesday, the complainant and her friend, after shopping at a mall in Kurla, had approached the driver and asked him to drop them at the Kurla railway station. However, the accused refused to ferry them stating that he was going home.

The complainant alleged that while speaking to her, the accused touched her intentionally and also passed lewd comments against her, police added.

After the scribe raised an alarm, the accused fled from the spot, though the former managed to jot down his vehicle’s registration number partly.

“With the help of a rickshaw union, the accused was traced. Police also approached the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to get information of the rickshaw. We had also sought the CCTV footage placed outside the mall,” police said.

Trilodhar is a resident of Ghatkopar (East), police said adding that he has been booked under several sections of the IPC and Motor Vehicles Act.

Seventeen Naxals, many of them hard core, surrendered before police in the last one month in Maharashtra’s Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district, a senior police official said on Sunday.

Of the 17, 13 hail from Kotmi-Kasansur, which has been one of the most difficult Naxal areas for the police for last many years.

“We have opened a new police post at Kotmi in February and it has proved to be very effective,” said Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil.

“The surrender operations may gather momentum after first week of August, post ‘Shaheed Week’ observed from July 28 to August 3,” the senior officer said.

Of the 17 naxals, nine carried a reward of over Rs. 30 lakh on their heads. Of them, Irpa Kujur was involved in 18 violent offences including encounters, blasts, murders and waylaying of a truck carrying explosions.

During Patil’s tenure as district police chief, 37 Naxals surrendered in 2014, and 24 have done so this year so far.

The new Naxal surrender policy also comes with substantial cash reward and has been propagated across the district as ‘Kaun Banega Lakhpati’ scheme through posters in affected areas.

Gadchiroli Police also has a cell for publicity or counter propaganda and it organises peace rallies, has a constant dialogue with locals. Films, street plays and posters are also used to wean away people from joining Naxal movement.

Prominent rebels, who have surrendered in past six months are Gopi, commander of Korchi 3 dalam and Vijay Dugga, commander of Chatgaon dalam. Both carried a reward of Rs 12 lakh on their head.

A man was on Saturday arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old schoolgirl repeatedly at Manorama Nagar in the city, police said.

The accused, identified as Shivmani Ramdular Jaiswal (29), a house painter by profession, was arrested following a complaint lodged by the victim last night.

“The accused had repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl between May and July 15,” PSI AD Gangawane of the Kapurbawdi police station said.

According to police, Shivmani knew the family members of the victim and used to visit their place frequently. He knew that the girl’s father was away in Delhi and her mother goes to work in the day. When the girl, along with her two siblings, would return home from the school in the evening, he would go there and offer money to the girl’s siblings asking them to buy chocolates.

“When her siblings would go away, he used to sexually assault the minor. He would threaten her with dire consequences if she resisted and revealed it to anybody,” the police officer said.

A few days back the girl complained of stomach pain and was taken to hospital. “During medical examination, doctors found that she had been subjected to sexual assault. When they took her into confidence, she told about her ordeal to them.”

Later, the girl also told about the incident to her mother, following which a complaint was lodged with the help of local NGOs.

The accused has been charged under sections 376 (rape) of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST) has decided that the Saibaba shrine will remain open for 24 hours during the ‘Sihastha Parvani’ period, as scores of devotees are expected to visit.

SSST’s executive officer Rajendra Jadhav said the shrine will be kept open for 24 hours (day and night) on August 29, September 13, 18 and 25.

If the crowds are more in these days, then online passes and the passes issued by Public Relations Office here would not be issued, Jadhav said.

The SSST will also keep the ‘Prasadalaya’ open throughout the night for the convenience of devotees in this period.

Moreover, special arrangements for the old age and persons with poor health with regard to transportation will be made by the trust, he added.

An estimated 25 lakh devotees from different parts of the country are expected to visit Shridi after taking part in the Kumbh Mela at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar.

Shirdi is approximately 90 kms away from Nashik.