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,...
By Dheeraj Fartode Rajesh Daware and Arvind Singh had a plan to kill Yug after abduction as Yug could have easily identified them and obviously there were no chances for Yug to survive his abductors. As per their nefarious designs, they were to demand ransom of Rs five crore and ask Dr Chandak to come at Kanhan with the money. They had planned to board in a North bound train and show Yug’s t-shirt when the train would start moving. They had decided to collect money in a running train and flee from the state. It means that they had decided to escape with the money without actually handing-over Yug back to his parents. The accused had decided to open a wine shop and construct a home by the money. The accused had a criminal mindset and no remorse was visible during entire trial period and even when they were held guilty by the court. Interestingly, the accused gained the weight during their jail term. Revenge of a ‘slap’ Accused Rajesh Daware, an ex-employee...