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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,...

Kunal Raut and 4 others arrested in Pipariya for assault on Government staffers

  • Kunal Raut is Gen Secy of State Youth Congress

By Dheeraj Fartode
FIVE youths from city were arrested by Hoshangabad police for assaulting two forest officials and a toll booth employee. Those arrested include Kunal Raut, son of Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister of Maharashtra, Dr Nitin Raut.

According to police, on Wednesday, five youths - Kunal Nitin Raut (23), Sanmeet Surjeet Singh Joli (22), Antar Preet Narendra Singh Gotra (23), Swapneel Neelendra Telang (23), and Shoyab Rauf Fariq (23) - travelling in a jeep, assaulted a toll tax check post staffer at Matkuli near Pipariya. They also attacked two forest officials who tried to intervene in the matter.
Kunal Raut
“Accused assaulted and injured Bablu Rajawat, a toll tax employee and also attacked two forest officials who were engaged in some work near the check post,” said Pipariya police.

The accused were arrested and offence under Sections 294, 323, 506, 353, 337 of Indian Penal Code has been registered at Pipariya police station.
According to sources, when stopped at the toll booth, Kunal claimed to be son of Maharashtra Minister and refused to pay toll tax. When Bablu Rajawat urged Kunal to pay toll tax, all the occupants in the jeep got furious and had altercation with Bablu. Angry over the repeated demand of the tax, they bashed up Bablu. On hearing heated argument, two forest employees, who were working nearby, rushed to the spot. They too were attacked by the youths.

Later, Kunal and others headed towards Pachmarhi. When they were returning back to Nagpur, cops deployed at the toll booth arrested them for assaulting Government employees on duty and seized their jeep.

IG Hoshangabad Range, Ajay Sharma informed ‘The Hitavada’ that stern action will be taken against the youths including Kunal, General Secretary of Maharashtra Youth Congress.
Kunal had landed in troubled waters earlier also. He was in controversies for thrashing an engineering student on parking issue in Nagpur.

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