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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

  Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...

Prostitution racked busted at Ashiyana Bar in city

Sex racket busted
SLEUTHS of Local Crime Branch of Nagpur Rural Police busted a prostitution racket at Ashiyana Bar & Restaurant in Khaperkheda area and arrested four persons, including a girl, in this connection on Tuesday evening. Police claimed that the manager of the bar & restaurant was allegedly providing commercial sex workers (CSWs) to customers. 

The accused have been identified as bar manager Rajesh Kumar Singh (25), a resident of Nagpur, waiter, Baba alias Mamaji Saraf (55), a resident of Ayodhya Nagar, pimp Rauf Khan Ramjan Khan (38), a resident of Mahal, near Ayachit Mandir, and a 28-year-old commercial sex worker.


Acting on a tip off, Police Sub-Inspectors Amol Daund and Prashant Bharte went to the bar posing as customers. They contacted Rauf on his cellphone and asked for a girl for their entertainment. However, Rauf did not respond for five days. 

On Tuesday, Rauf asked Duand to meet at Dahegaon by-pass for the deal. At 4 pm, waiter Baba reached there on a motorcycle and fixed a deal for Rs 10,000 for providing a girl at Ashiyana Bar & Restaurant. Daund and Bharte gave him Rs 5000/- as advance. Baba contacted Rauf and told him that he got Rs 5000/-. After some time Rauf came with the girl on a motorcycle. Baba then took Daund and the girl to Ashiyana Bar & Restaurant. Rauf then took the balance amount of Rs 5000/- from Bharte. After Daund and Bharte confirmed that flesh trade was flourishing in Ashiyana Bar & Restautant, they signalled the LCB team. The team caught manager Rajesh Singh after he allotted a room to Daund and the girl.

Cops arrested all the accused and registered an offence under relevant sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) against them at Khaperkheda Police Station.
The raid was conducted by DySP Kishor Kale, Police Inspectors Rajan Pali and Sunita Meshram, Sub-Inspectors Dinesh Labde, Arvind Saraf, Eknath Ingle and Amol Daund under the supervision of Superintendent of Police Dr Manojkumar Sharma and Addl. SP Prakash Jadhav.


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