Anil Virwani, the estranged husband of yesteryear Bollywood actor Rati Agnihotri, on Tuesday told a court that he wanted to opt for an out-of-court settlement of the domestic violence case filed against him by his wife.
“We told the court that we want to go for out-of-court settlement,” said Shenal Khairnar, Virwani’s lawyer.
Agnihotri, who starred in the 1981 blockbuster ‘Ek Duje Ke Liye’ among other films, filed a complaint with Worli police here on March 14 this year, accusing Virwani of domestic violence.
The 54-year-old actor said in the complaint that she had been suffering violence at Virwani’s hands for a long time.
On April 29, she filed another complaint, alleging that Virwani had threatened her with a knife. Virwani then moved the Sessions Court seeking pre-arrest bail.
The court granted him interim protection from arrest till it decided the application. The hearing has been adjourned to next month.
Amidst the ongoing tussle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena on various issues, NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad today raised eyebrows with his sloganeering, in which he claimed that Sena President Uddhav Thackeraysupports the opposition parties discreetly.
“Uddhav Hamare Saath Hai, Yeh Andar Ki Baat Hai (Uddhav supports us discreetly)” was the slogan that Awhad along with other party leaders raised in the Vidhan Bhavan premises.
Shiv Sena is a part of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra.
“We are constantly demanding that the government waive off the loans taken by farmers. But, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a day prior to the start of the Assembly session said that the government will not waive off any loans. Now, even (Shiv Sena President) Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that the BJP-led government waive off the loans of farmers. That is why we are saying that Uddhav supports the opposition parties,” Awhad told PTI on the sidelines of his protests.
When asked if there can be more than one meaning behind his sloganeering, Awhad replied in the negative.
Meanwhile, a BJP functionary, on condition of anonymity said that the Sena is making the best of the opportunity and trying to fix the BJP.
“The Sena has been at loggerheads with us over various issues in the past and does not seem ready to mend its ways anytime soon. This time they (the Sena) have picked up the farmers loan waiver issue to target us,” the functionary said.
Meanwhile, Thackeray, while speaking at a function in Nashik today said that the farmers condition owing to lack of rains is getting from bad to worse with each passing day.
“If you can’t give them a loan waiver, at least free them from taking additional debt,” Thackeray said.
A small-time Marathi film actress was allegedly gangraped by five persons in Paithan tehsil and one person has been arrested in this connection, police said.
The actress, hailing from suburban Mumbai, was in the district to shoot a forthcoming Marathi film, titled “Lahanpan”, for two months and was on Sunday in Aurangabad to collect her remuneration, Aurangabad Local Crime Branch (Rural) Inspector Kanchan Kumar Chate said.
On Sunday, when the victim (21) had approached the director’s friend regarding her fee, the man took her to Paithan, nearly 56 km from Aurangabad, and allegedly gangraped her along with four others, the officer said.
According to the complaint filed by the woman, a local director named Anand Maghade, had asked his friend Govind Chitlange, to look for an actress for his film.
Police said Chitlange then arranged the actress from Mumbai, who shoot for the film in Ambad village of the district for two months but did not pay her.
When the victim contacted Chitlange for her fee, the accused called her to Aurangabad, from where he took her to a secluded place in Paithan and committed the crime, he said.
Chitlange was arrested yesterday while the four other accused are still at large.
Police said the case has been transferred to Paithan police and further investigations into the matter was on.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday warned of contempt action against Maharashtra Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary of the Finance Department for failing to abide by its order regarding funds for providing toilets and water coolers in courts across the state.
A division bench of Justices A S Oka and Revati Mohite Dere was hearing a PIL filed by Litigants Association of Maharashtra claiming that in several courts, basic facilities like toilets and water are not available. The state government had in August last year sanctioned Rs 5.38 crore for providing toilets, water coolers and purifiers and benches for litigants in court across the state. However, the amount was released only on March 2, this year.
The court was earlier informed that if the amount was not handed over to the high court administration which would then deposit it in the account of the Public Works Department by the end of financial year (March 31), it would lapse. The HC had on March 24 directed the government to release the funds to the high court administration and ensure that it does not lapse. The government was granted time till July 31 to release the funds.
When the court was on Tuesday informed that funds have not yet been released, Justice Oka said, “We have no option than to issue contempt notice against Chief Secretary (CS) of the state and Principal Secretary of the Finance Department. Somebody will have to be held accountable.” “We have been passing orders time and again. This is not a matter where the court should be spending so much time on. Does this happen in any other state where money is not given by the government to have better facilities in court buildings?” the bench said.
The court has posted the petition for hearing on July 27.
A man was on Monday arrested from suburban Kandivali for allegedly sodomising a 15-year-old boy for about three months, police said.
The arrested accused was identified as Milind Shetye (33), police said, adding that the accused allegedly committed the crime for about three months.
According to police, posing as a girl, Shetye had uploaded a fake profile on Facebook and sent a friend request to the victim. The boy immediately accepted the request and they started frequently chatting on the social networking site.
“During one of the chats, Shetye sent nude photos of a girl and asked the boy to send his nude picture,” police said.
However, after the victim sent his photos, Shetye created one more fake profile on Facebook and started threatening the victim that his nude photos will be made public on the internet.
The accused then asked the boy to come at a place in Kandivali (East) and then sexually assaulted him.
“The accused repeated the crime for nearly three months starting from January,” said police.
However last week, the boy told his family members about the incident, following which a complaint was lodged at Samtanagar police station on Saturday.
The accused was then arrested and booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Police suspect that the accused is a son of a retired police official.
All the accused in the last month’s Mumbai hooch tragedy in which 104 people were killed have been booked under IPC section 302 (murder) and the case will be tried in fast-track court, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday.
“We will request the High Court to try the case on fast track with day-to-day hearing,” Fadnavis said.
Replying to a discussion on the hooch tragedy in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly through a Calling Attention notice, Fadnavis said the prosecution will build a strong case in which capital punishment will be sought for the accused.
Nine police personnel and four excise officials in the Malwani area of Mumbai have been suspended for their alleged involvement in the case.
Fadnavis said more than 80 per cent methanol was found in the spurious liquor seized from the accused.
“This means that the spurious liquor owner was deliberately selling poison,” he said, adding, search for some more accused was still on.
To crack down on illicit breweries, the government has decided that police and excise officials whose passive involvement is proved will be dismissed from service while those directly involved will be made co-accused, he said.
The Chief Minister said that the government has helped 70 families out of the 104 dead on humanitarian grounds and the remaining families will also be provided assistance.
“We are being criticised for giving assistance to those who consume illicit liquor. But we are helping the families on humanitarian grounds because they have lost their sole bread winner,” he said.
Fadnavis also said that women will be included in the sensitisation programme against illicit liquor trade.
As many as 1585 incidents of rape and 5035 cases of atrocities against children have been reported in Maharashtra since January this year, the Maharashtra Assembly was told on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in a written reply to Nirmala Gavit (Congress) and others said there have been 11 cases of attempt to rape and 5250 incidents of molestation too between January 2015 to May 2015.
Also, there have been 2394 cases of kidnappings of children including 196 cases where minor girls were abducted. 96 minor girls were also raped in this period.
He said a separate assistance cell to prevent atrocities against women have been set up in different parts of the state.
He said 27 special courts have been set up for trial of atrocities against women.
Ahead of Ramzan Eid, a petition was on Tuesday filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to Maharashtra government to permit slaughter of bulls and bullocks and transport their meat.
The petition, filed by Ansari Mohammed Umar (who is into business of selling and purchasing bulls and bullocks) and Shaikh Sadik Babulal (a butcher), has challenged recently-amended Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act.
Under the recent amendment in the Act, the government has banned slaughter of bulls and bullocks and export and import of its meat. Earlier, only slaughter of cows was banned under the Act.
“We are not challenging the ban imposed on slaughtering of cows. We are challenging the ban on slaughter of bulls and bullocks. The amended Act is against Article 19 of the Constitution of India,” the petition said.
The duo have prayed for the prohibition on slaughter of bulls and bullocks, which are not suitable for milching, breeding or draught or any agricultural purpose, to be stayed.
“We want a direction to the state government, the police and the management of Deonar abattoir to permit slaughter of bulls and bullocks,” it said.
The petition has also sought police protection to those, who are in the business of slaughter of these animals, and also to those who transport their meat.
The petition came up for hearing before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah, which directed it to be posted before a division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade, who is already hearing a bunch of petitions on the issue.
The bench headed by Justice Kanade had earlier refused to grant a stay on the ban imposed on import and export of beef but had asked the government to exercise restraint while handling such cases.
In a tragic incident on the opening day of ‘Pushkaram’ festival here, at least 27 pilgrims, 13 of them women, died and 20 others injured in a stampede at a major bathing spot in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday.
The victims, all hailing from coastal Andhra, include 11 women and four children.
A large number of pilgrims at Kotagummam pushkar ghat in Rajahmundry, a town in East Godavari district, rushed towards the three gates and tried to scale them, leading to the stampede.
Officials said pilgrims tried to vie with each other to reach the ghat as taking a holy dip in the early hours is considered auspicious.
The failure of the authorities to anticipate the huge crowds at the ghat and the lack of proper arrangements to regulate the pilgrims apparently led to the incident.
The pilgrims coming out after a dip and those trying to reach the ghat were caught in the rush at the gates. A survivor said officials did not heed to repeated appeals to open the gates.
The toll may further go up as some bodies were still believed to be lying at the spot.
A huge crowd of devotees from different parts of the state had gathered at the major religious event held once in 12 years when the incident took place.
The tragedy struck between 7.30 am and 8 am, and most of the victims were elderly people.
According to Rajahmundry Sub-Collector Vijaya Ramaraju, the bodies had been shifted to Rajahmundry Government Hospital and the injured taken to a nearby hospital.
“So far 27 have died …Most of the dead are elderly women,” Ramaraju said.
The victims had been waiting since early hours and some of them were tired as they had travelled long distances to reach here.
The official said there is a possibility that the deaths were caused due to suffocation.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who was on the spot to take the holy dip, expressed profound grief at the tragedy and is personally monitoring relief and rescue operations.
A visibly disturbed Naidu, monitoring the situation from the control room, said, “This is very unfortunate and shocking. I have come here many times to review arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of the event. But some problems cropped up in execution.” He said a comprehensive probe would be conducted after completion of the pushkaram.
The Chief Minister also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased and said, if necessary, he would remain in Rajahmundry for the next 11 days.
He also appealed to people to follow queues to entry and exit points, and move to other ghats. The incident forced authorities to open the VIP ghats to the public. Crowds were also diverted from overcrowded ghats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, took to Twitter to pay condolences to the families of the deceased.
Several pilgrims complained that gates were not opened to enter the ghat which led to the stampede, and that drinking water was not available for those who were in the queues.
The pilgrims said they were waiting since early hours to enter the ghat.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy, his party colleague and MP Chiranjeevi and a number of other leaders condoled the deaths in the stampede.
Jagan Reddy left for Rajahmundry to console the families of victims, a party release said.
Hitting out at the AP government, Chiranjeevi alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claimed to have made grand arrangements, but it all came to naught.
Earlier in the day, Naidu, accompanied by his wife and son, had taken the holy dip, where the river is full in its expanse.
Godavari ‘Pushkaram’, the ritual of taking holy dip in the river, is observed once in 12 years, but this time it is considered auspicious from astronomical point of view as it is ‘Maha Pushkaralu’ which comes once in 144 years.
Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayandra Sarswathi was among the spiritual leaders who took the sacred bath.
The ‘Pushakaram’ is a similar to the ‘Kumbh Mela’ performed alongside rivers elsewhere in the country and taking holy dip is the main ritual of the religious event.
Days after the debris of the missing Dornier aircraft was recovered off the Tamil Nadu coast, “certain human remains” have also been found in the line of wreckage by Reliance vessel ‘Olympic Canyon’.
“The DNA tests of the remains will be carried out at the Tamil Nadu Forensic laboratory,” said SP Sharma, IG, Indian Coast Guard.
Sitanshu Kar, Principal Spokesperson, Ministry of Defence, took to Twitter to post a picture of the recovered watch.
Kar added that human remains including bones and a wrist watch of one of the crew members were recovered from three different location of the crash site during Monday night’s search.
The remains were identified by the the doctor on board ‘Olympic Canyon’.
Meanwhile, search ‘Operation Talash’ was terminated on Monday night after “ getting maximum pieces of debris.”
He added that the recovered remains were handed over to the Board of Enquiry at Coast Guard Air Station in Chennai.
Kar also said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has expressed his heartfelt condolence to the families of the crew members.
While the aircraft debris was found on July 10, the human remains from the line of wreckage were recovered on July 12.
The vessel had recovered the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, two engines, propellers, tail and tail cone, airframe parts, maevest, single line replacement unit, parts of the fuselage and part of the landing gear from the sea bed.
However, the fate of the three crew members is still now known.
The items were recovered from a depth of about 990 metres and 17 nautical miles south east of Cuddalore.
The ill-fated Indian Coast Guard’s (ICG) Dornier plane CG-791, along with crew members Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar (pilot), Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh (co-pilot) and Navigator/Observer MK Soni, had gone missing shortly after taking off for a routine sortie on June 8.
In a tragic incident on the opening day of ‘Pushkaram’ festival here, at least 27 pilgrims, 13 of them women, died and 20 others injured in a stampede at a major bathing spot in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday.