President of the auto rickshaw union of Lokmanya Nagar region Sunil Yadav Ahire (37) committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of his house in the Ghodbunder road area, the police said.

Kasarwadavali police station sources told that he woke up this morning around 3 am and answered nature’s call at around 6.45 am.

However, when his wife got up and entered the kitchen to make breakfast, she was shocked to see her dead husband hanging from the ceiling.

The deceased had used the saree as a rope to hang himself.

She raised an alarm after which neighbours pulled down his body and took it to the nearby hospital which refused to let it in.

Later, the body was taken to the civil hospital.

The deceased was heavyily indebted due to which he took the extreme step of ending his life, the police said.

“Pressure was being exerted on him by a man from whom he had borrowed a huge amount of money, which he was about to pay. However, the culprit used to call him up and mentally torture him by threatening and abusing him,” the dead man’s friend said.

The Kasarwadawali police has registered a case of accidental death and the body has been sent to the Thane civil hospital for post mortem. The case is being probed, sources said.

Police today claimed to have solved a dacoity case at an industrial unit in the district with the arrest of six persons allegedly involved in it.

On April 11, the gang gatecrashed into the Jash Industries unit at Acchad in Talasari of Thane district in the wee hours and looted copper and nickel bars worth about Rs 19.93 lakhs while threatening the company’s owner at knife point, DSP Rural, Rajesh Pradhan said.

The local police had then registered an offence under sections 395 (dacoity) and 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the IPC against the unknown persons.

The investigations were taken up by the local crime branch which, acting on a tip-off, tapped one Mohamad Umarshah Mohmad Shah (39), who had earlier been involved in such crime and had recently got out of jail after serving a term.

The arrest of Mohamad and his interrogation revealed that he had along with others carried out the dacoity.

Based on the information provided by Mohamad, police arrested five others – Vijay S Yadav (27 – from Shahad, Ulhasnagar), Arjun alias Raju Ranu Pawse (36), Ali alias Ahmad Hasan Mohamad Hasan Shah (32- from Kurla), Nizamuddin Asmohamad Khan (42 – from Mumbra) and Altaf Ahmaed Shamim Mohamad Khan (19 – from Valsad, Gujarat).

Stolen goods worth Rs. 2.52 lakhs were recovered from those arrested, police said, adding that efforts were on to seize the remaining booty and nab others involved in the crime.

The Bombay High Court rejected the plea of Sayyed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, prime accused in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, to quash a Maharashtra Government Resolution (GR) which prohibited him from appearing in the courts as he had threat to his life.

Jundal’s lawyer Ejaz Naqvi prayed that his client had a right under the Constitution to appear before the courts in cases filed against him because he had to defend himself. A bench of Justices N H Patil and Anujha Prabhudessai said that there were many criminal cases pending against Jundal, such as 26/11 terror attack case, Aurangabad arms haul case and conspiracy to attack police training camp in Nasik.

“In view of the sensitive nature of the cases, there may be danger to Jundal’s life as informed by police to the state and therefore the court cannot interfere by quashing the GR of the government. Moreover, the trial court had the powers to call him whenever necessary,” said the bench. Government Pleader J P Yagnik said the Mumbai Police Commissioner had informed the state that Jundal had threat to his life. Thereafter, on May 23, 2013, the government came out with a GR imposing a ban on his appearance in cases in which he is an accused.

“If Jundal was allowed to come to the court and something happens to him, then who would be responsible for this?” he asked.

Yagnik said that Jundal could be produced before the court through the medium of video conference and his physical appearance was not necessary. Jundal’s lawyer argued that the impugned GR was contrary to fundamental right of public hearing and a free and fair trial of the Constitution. Hence, it was void, vague, unconstitutional and arbitrary.

Jundal, facing charges of participating in the conspiracy in 26/11 terror attack case, is currently lodged in solitary confinement in Central Jail at Arthur Road in Central Mumbai, since February 2013. According to police, Jundal had gone to Pakistan to train the terrorists in speaking Hindi. Ten terrorists, who arrived in Mumbai via sea route on November 26, 2008, killed 166 persons and injured many others by firing indiscriminately in public places.

An Election Commission panel has held four Lok Sabha election candidates in Maharashtra guilty of resorting to paid news.

In all, 84 complaints of paid news were received by a committee specially set up to keep a watch on paid news. Complaints against Congress candidates – Union Minister of State for Shipping and IT Milind Deora (Mumbai South), Sanjay Nirupam (Mumbai North), Vishwajit Kadam (Pune) – and BJP candidate from Pune Deepak Shirole have been found true,
sources in the State Election Office said.

The candidates were found guilty by the district committee set up by the poll body to keep a watch on paid news and this decision (of finding four candidates guilty) has been upheld by the state committee of the election office, sources said. If the charge is established, the news items identified as paid news will be looked as advertisements and will be included in the election expenditure of the candidates, officials said.

Election officials said 801 complaints of violations of model code of conduct were received. FIRs were filed in 75 per cent of the cases. Jatin Desai, member of the state committee, said the decision of the Pune district committee regarding Anil Shirole and Vishwajit Kadam was upheld by the state committee. “The candidates have an option to challenge the order of the state committee within 48 hours of the receipt of the order,” he said.

Deora and Nirupam challenged the order of the Mumbai district committee and the hearing was held before the state committee. “Deora’s election agent and Nirupam’s lawyer told the state committee that they don’t want to pursue the matter,” Desai said.

Deora and Nirupam will have to pay as per DAVP rates for advertisement in newspapers and the amount will be added in their election expenditure, he added.

CBI on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that it was going to file a closure report before a magistrate in a case against Nitesh Rane, chief of Swabhiman Sanghatana and son of state industries minister Narayan Rane, for allegedly opening fire at his NGO member Chintu Shaikh.

A division bench of Justices N H Patil and Anujha Prabhudessai was hearing a petition filed by Nitesh seeking quashing of the FIR lodged in 2011 on the ground that he has arrived at a settlement with the complainant Shaikh.

An FIR under section 307 (attempt to murder) and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Nitesh by CBI after the Bombay High Court transferred probe into the case to CBI in March 2011 after observing that there were inexplicable circumstances which created doubts about the manner of probe.

However, in March 2012, CBI filed a closure report before a magistrate’s court stating that there was no evidence or eyewitnesses to prove the case against Nitesh. Shaikh challenged this report and in August 2013, the magistrate court rejected CBI’s closure report and asked the agency to re-investigate the case.

CBI counsel Rebbeca Gonsalves informed the court today that the agency was going to file a second closure report before the magistrate in a week’s time. She appealed the court to dismiss Nitesh’s petition as the last time when CBI had filed the closure report, the complainant had raised an objection following which the agency continued its probe.

Gonsalves said now the parties have reached at a monetary settlement but the agency has spent two years investigating the case.
Nitesh’s counsel Mahesh Jethmalani argued that the case was a fall out of political rivalry.

The High Court posted the matter for further hearing on June 10 and issued notice to Shaikh.

Shaikh had filed a complaint with Powai police on September 23, 2010, alleging that Nitesh, who was upset that day for some reason, had shot at him twice at the NGO’s Khar office. Shaikh had alleged that a bullet grazed his cheek, causing an injury.