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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,...

MCOCA slapped against another gang


  • City police book 10th gang under MCOCA

By Dheeraj Fartode
Continuing the use of its most dreaded weapon -- Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) -- the City Police on Saturday slapped MCOCA against one more gang and put five people behind bars for their criminal activities. This is the 10th gang of criminals booked under MCOCA in last six months.

Additional Commissioner of Police Shrikant Tarwade approved the use of MCOCA against Sayyad Firoz Sayyad Noor (33), Sayyad Naushad Sayyad Kalim (21), Raja Abdul Gaffar (24), all residents of Goa Colony; Raju Bilmoha Chourasiya (46), a resident of Mangalwari Bazar; Rakesh alias Nikki Ashok Gedam (34), a resident of Patankar Square, near Sanyog Nagar Buddha Vihar.

The accused were produced in the court on Saturday and the vacation court sent them to two days’ MCR. The accused would be produced in the MCOCA court on Monday where cops will demand their police custody.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Sanjay Latkar informed that the gang was operating under the jurisdictions of Sadar, Jaripatka and GRP Nagpur’s area. The gang was involved in body offences, abduction, threatening since last many years.

Accused Raju Chourasiya, who runs a cycle stand at Maharajbag, was involved in forcibly vacating houses in the area. Raja Abdul Gafar was convicted in a theft case reported at GRP Nagpur. Court had sentenced five months rigorous imprisonment to Gafar, informed DCP Latkar.

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