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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,...

Cops smell a rat in ‘shot at’ tale of Independent candidate

By Dheeraj Fartode
There appears to be something fishy in the incident of alleged firing at the vehicle of Independent candidate and BJP rebel Pramod Chafle near Kondhali. After preliminary investigations, the cops are now smelling a rat in the theory of Chafle, who withdrew from the election fray from Katol constituency.

On Tuesday, sensation prevailed in Kondhali and nearby areas as four masked persons allegedly opened fire at Chafle near Kondhali. Chafle escaped unhurt in the attack but the windshield of Bolero car, which he was travelling in, was damaged. Chafle alleged that he was chased by another vehicle and masked youths fired at him while he was heading towards Shekapur.

However, after preliminary investigations, cops have picked holes in Chafle’s story. According to police sources, the hole in the windscreen of Bolero car of Chafle was not of a bullet as there was no carbon around the hole perimeter. The hole was caused by a stone in all likelihood. Chafle had claimed that when he shook hands, the gun slipped from the hands of attackers and fell in the vehicle. However, the revolver was found on the bonnet of the car. Even the witnesses told the cops that they did not hear any gun-shot, as claimed by Chafle.

Meanwhile, the cops checked the call data record of Chafle and found that he had talked to senior leaders of BJP and NCP before withdrawal of his nomination papers. According to cops, the preliminary investigations showed that there was scope for suspicion in ‘I was shot at’ theory of Chafle. The cops are conducting further investigations into the matter and are going through call data record thoroughly.

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