1. Kamala Mills Owner Govani Arrested
Kamala Mills compound owner Ramesh Govani was arrested late Monday evening from his Worli residence in connection with the fire on December 29 that claimed 14 lives and injured 55 people. Govani was arrested by the officers from NM Joshi Marg Police Station, a day after the Kamala Mills director, Ravi Bhandari, Fire Brigade officer Rajendra Patil, and Utkarsh Pande, owner of the hookah company Nirvana were held.
Confirming Govani’s arrest, Additional Commissioner of Police S Jayakumar said, “Govani will be produced at the Bhoiwada court today.”
Govani has been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (criminal act by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all).
Source: Mumbai Mirror
2. Bhima Koregaon Clashes: Anticipatory Bail Plea of Ekbote Rejected
A special court in Pune on Monday rejected the plea for anticipatory bail filed last week by Milind Ekbote, who is facing charges of inciting violence at Bhima Koregaon. Two First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against Ekbote and Manohar, alias Sambhaji, Bhide by Dalit activists, alleging their role in the violence at Koregaon Bhima when lakhs of Dalits had assembled at the ‘Jaystambh’ in Perne village on the Pune-Ahmednagar road to mark the 200th year of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.
An FIR was registered at the Pimpri police station by activist Anita Salve on January 2. Later, another FIR was lodged at the Yerwada police station by activist Sushma Andhare. Both complaints were then transferred to the Pune Rural police for further investigation.
Ekbote and Bhide have been booked on charges of inciting violence, attempt to murder and atrocities against Dalits. Ekbote’s lawyer Chintamani Ghate had filed the application for anticipatory bail before special judge Prahlad Bhagure. The court, however, rejected the bail plea.
Source: The Indian Express
3. Foetus Thrown From Malad High-rise
A foetus was found abandoned in a plush society compound in Malad. Kurar police, who are investigating the case, are clueless even after four days as the CCTV cameras could not capture the floor of the Alta Monte tower from which it was thrown down.
According to the police, the incident took place at around 9 in morning on Thursday. A sweeper, who was cleaning the lobby under the seventh floor parking area, was the first to notice the foetus. She was busy sweeping when she suddenly heard a loud thud. According to her, someone had been throwing baby diaper packets for the past few days so she thought that it were the diapers again. “But when she went closer to the object, she saw two tiny feet outside the black plastic bag and blood on the other side,” said a police officer.
She got scared and raised an alarm. As the residents of the tower came down, they immediately called in the police and moved the foetus to hospital.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
4. Devendra Fadnavis Lifts FSI Cap for Pune Slum Projects
Builders redeveloping slums in Pune would now get up to 300 per cent area incentives. In a contentious move, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has overturned the cap on the incentive component that was imposed by his predecessor Prithviraj Chavan.
In 2014, the former chief minister had curtailed the incentive floor space index (FSI) for slum projects in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, on the basis of complaints that builders were making undue profits. Fadnavis has now recalled his predecessor’s decision.
On January 11, the Fadnavis-led Urban Development department issued a notification proposing a revised FSI incentive formula for slum projects in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. While the new formula has proposed incentives based on location of the slum plot, senior government sources confirmed that the upper limit for the incentive had been enhanced to 300 per cent of the rehabilitation component.
Source: The Indian Express
5. Conviction in Murder of Three Dalits: Casteism in Civil Society Is a Disease, Says Nashik Court
Observing that casteism in civil society is like a “disease”, the Nashik sessions court, which sentenced six men to death for killing three Dalit men in 2013, said the incident was not between individuals or families but an attack on civil society, based on caste-hatred.
On Saturday, the court sentenced Popat Darandale, Ramesh Darandale, Prakash Darandale, Ganesh Darandale, Sandip Kurhe and Ashok Navghire on charges including murder, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the prosecution, 22-year-old Sachin Gharu, belonging to the Mehtar (Valmiki) community, was working at the Trimurti Pavan Foundation in Nevasa taluka in Ahmednagar district. The other two victims, Sandeep Thanvar (26) and Rahul Kandare (20), were also employees of the institute. The 19-year-old daughter of the main accused, Popat Darandale, was studying at the institute.
Source: The Indian Express
6. Instead of Cabinet Berth, Narayan Rane Might Have to Settle for One Rajya Sabha Seat
Former CM could be "accommodated and settled" in Rajya Sabha; proposal has been green-lighted by both Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray.
Three months after he quit the Congress in the hope of joining the BJP-Shiv Sena government, perennial party hopper Narayan Rane might have to make do with half a lolly. Instead of a berth in the state cabinet, Rane might have to console himself with one of the six Rajya Sabha seats from the state that will be vacated in April. Rane's son, Congress MLA Nitesh will, too, not be part of the state's council of ministers.
While the Devendra-Fadnavis-led BJP government has kept the rabblerousing, grassroots politician waiting for the last several months, it also realises that the 65-year-old could still come in handy against the Shiv Sena, especially in the Konkan region that propelled him into politics in the early 1990s. Rane, who cut his teeth with the Shiv Sena and was famously expelled from the party, joined the Congress in 2005. He formed the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha in October last year.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
7. Marathi Actor Dies Trying to Board Running Train at Malad
‘Kunku’ fame Praful Bhalerao, 22, fell in the gap between the platform and the train.
Praful Bhalerao, who shot to fame for his role in popular Marathi television series ‘Kunku’, died in a train accident on Monday. Bhalerao fell on the tracks while trying to board a running train.
The 22-year-old talented actor had just finished his night shift at a local search engine company located at Malad, and was on his way home when the incident occurred in the early hours of Monday.
According to GRP Borivali, where a case of accidental death has been registered in the matter, Bhalerao, a resident of Girgaum, had reached Malad station at around 4:15 am. The CCTV footage shows that he was still on the foot overbridge (FOB) when he spotted a Churchgate-bound train (4:18 am) on platform number 2. He hurriedly ran down the FOB stairs towards the train that had already started pulling out of the platform. While trying to jump in, he fell between the platform and the train and was crushed to death.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
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