Maharashtra

THANE: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday called for a joint and collective effort to identify 'mathadis' (porters) who are involved in blackmail and extortion. Speaking at a rally organised to mark the birth anniversary of Mathadi leader Late Annadsaheb Patil at Vashi, Fadnavis also warned of stringent action against them.The state government did not want to thrust any act on...

KALYAN: Even as the death toll in the blast at a plant in Ulhasnagar rose to four with two missing persons - Ananta Jadhav alias Dingore (50) and Pavan Yadav (22) - being declared dead on Sunday, a criminal offence was registered against company officials and the tanker owner, stating that the vehicle was used despite being found "unfit".The explosion took place at the premises of Century Rayon on...

THANE: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three people in Thane district's Bhiwandi for allegedly selling bogus ration cards.The arrested accused have been identified as ration card agents Irfan Ali Ansari and Sanjay Bodhe and ration shop owner Naushad Rai Ahmed Sheikh.Police also seized incriminating documents from them, reported PTI quoting ATS Thane unit inspector Ananda Patil.A case...

At least four persons, including two women, died and 14 cattle drowned when the skies opened up late on Friday night, catching Nagpurians literally sleeping. Citizens woke up to flooded houses and streets as heavy rains continued to pound the city till early on Saturday morning.The deceased were identified as Mirabai Pilley (70, a resident of Mahesh Nagar), Sandhya Dhore (80, a resident of Surendragadh,...

THANE: The Bhiwandi Crime Branch unit of the Thane Police has arrested a gang of four men involved in the theft of auto-rickshaws from Mumbai and Thane districts.The gang used to sell the autos in the interior regions of Maharashtra after altering their number plates. Law enforcement has successfully recovered 18 stolen auto-rickshaws from the accused.The arrested men have been identified as Rashid...

PALGHAR: Police were rushed to tackle chaos at a hospital in Maharashtra's Palghar district in the early hours of Saturday after an injured teen, who apparently tripped trying to escape cops, was declared dead, an official said on Saturday.The police asserted that Vinod Bhoir (18) likely experienced a heart attack while attempting to flee, leading to his demise. However, the family members of the young...

MUMBAI: The state has confirmed 16 cases of scrub typhus, a bacterial disease spread by infected mite bites, in three districts: Aurangabad, Jalna, and Buldhana. With several states in India grappling with an outbreak of this disease, the Maharashtra public health department has alerted all districts to increase surveillance.Officials say most cases have been identified and treated at Dr Hedgewar...

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: The state government has formed a 20-member team to assist the panel headed by retired Justice Sandeep Shinde to meet the demand of recognising Maratha community as Kunbi and grant them OBC certificates. The team includes officials of a deputy secretary and under-secretary rank. Deputy secretary (home) Vijay Powar, under secretary (finance) Rasik Khadse and under secretary...

MUMBAI: There's a 13% jump in the number of Ganpati mandals receiving permission to erect pandals on city roads this year, according to data received from BMC on Monday. In fact, this Ganeshotsav will see the highest number of pandals with BMC granting approvals to 2,729 mandals so far. Last year, 2,417 mandals had got approvals.This year, BMC received 3,767 applications, of which 1,038 were rejected...

THANE: A Bhiwandi-resident was acquitted by a special POCSO court in Maharashtra's Thane in a rape case. The 28-year-old man was accused of abducting a Class IX girl on July 30, 2013 and raping her at his sister's house for three days. As per the prosecution, he had raped the victim in the houses of his kin in Bhiwandi and Shahapur as well. Her father filed a complaint with Padga police station in...