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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,...

Encounter Specialist PSI Daya Nayak reinstated in service

Nayak was suspended for not joining duties at Nagpur range 

By Dheeraj Fartode
Suspended Sub-Inspector of Maharashtra Police Daya Nayak (famously knows as encounter specialist) was reinstated by Home Department on Monday. Nayak was suspended in July 2015 for not joining his duties after transfer to Nagpur Range. 
State Director General of Police (DGP) Pravin Dixit confirmed the development and said that Nayak was reinstated. As to his posting, DGP Dixit thought gave hint refused to pinpoint the place.
While talking with The Hitavada Nayak said he is yet to receive communication from the Government. Asked whether he will be reporting at Nagpur Range, the encounter specialist said that he has worked in Mumbai and have developed wide network within the metropolis and would prefer it.
Earlier Nayak was reinstated in service in June 2012 and transferred to Nagpur range. Nayak, a 1995-batch police officer, was under suspension for nearly six-and-a-half years after the Anti-Corruption Bureau had arrested him in 2006.
In 2009, the then Director General of Police SS Virk denied permission to prosecute Nayak in the case with a remark that there were insufficient grounds and also cleared him of all charges. In 2010, Supreme Court quashed all the charges against Nayak under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Nayak was reinstated in 2012 and posted to local arms wing of Mumbai city police. After a brief stint here, he was transferred to the Western region (Bandra to Andheri), considered a high-profile zone in the city. He is known to have killed more than 80 gangsters in encounters, including Vinod Matkar, Rafik Dabba, Sadik Kalia and three Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

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