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,...
IN A case of ‘instant justice,’ an irate mob of villagers and factory workers lynched a drunk driver after his speeding truck crushed a school boy to death and seriously injured two other children on Wardha bypass near MIDC Butibori on Thursday evening. After attempting to to set afire the ‘killer’ truck, hundreds of villagers and factory workers blocked the highway for more than two hours.
Akshay Charandas Dhore (15), a resident of Ganeshpur, died instanteously after he was run over by the truck (MH-40/N-1872). Rahul Ashok Dehriya (14), also a resident of Ganeshpur, and Tabassum Iqbal Khan (15), a resident of MIDC, Butibori, who were returning with Akshay from Nistane High School, were seriously injured. The injured children were rushed to Maya Hospital. As their condition started deteriorating, they were admitted to Shree Hospital in the city.
Soon after the mishap, villagers and factory workers blocked the truck a few metres from the accident spot. They pulled out drunk driver Vinayak Daduji Shendre (40) from the cabin of the truck and lynched him. However, the mob did not touch the cleaner. The villagers then made futile attempt to torch the truck. Soon after the staff from Bori Police Station visited the spot, hundreds of villagers blocked the highway for more than two hours.
Superintendent of Police Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma and Additional Superintendent of Police Prakash Jadhav visited the spot. As the situation was out of control, they summoned Quick Response Team (QRT) and additional force from Nagpur (Rural) Police Headquarters. Anti-riot Unit was also deployed. After Dr Sharma and Jadhav assured the villagers that police would conduct an impartial probe into the incident, they called off the ‘Rasta Roko’ agitation.
Superintendent of Police Dr Dharma told ‘The Hitavada’ that that truck driver Vinayak Shendre of Ruikhairi, who was lynched by the mob, was driving in an inebriated condition. “Investigations are underway and Bori Police will book all those involved in lynching the truck driver. The highway is now cleared and situation in the area is returning to normal,” he added.
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