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
Tension prevailed at Jaripatka area when a protest for immediate arrest of the accused involved in double murder case at Samta Nagar slums on Monday took ugly turn after the police chased, kicked and latchi charged the protesters. Special teams of city police led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone V Abhinash Kumar dragged men and women from their houses and attacked them. Even wives of the deceased Imrat Rana and Oranlal Rana were not spared by the police. Later, DCP Abhinash Kumar attempted to snatch the camera of a woman photojournalist and also held collar of another photographer for capturing the police action.
Trouble began when some residents of Samta Nagar gheraoed Jaripatka Police Station around 11 am and demanded immediate arrest of the accused including dreaded goon Ankush Tomaskar. As no assurance of immediate action came from the Police, the mobs started pelting stones at the Police Station.
Sensing the mounting tension, DCP Abhinash Kumar ordered use of force to disperse the angry mob of a couple of hundred people. The police staff immediately swung into action and lathi charged the protesters. In order to avoid the police charge, the mob moved towards the nearby Ring Road and started blocking traffic and even set on fire a few tyres. The cops chased the mob to the Ring Road and lathi-charged the protesters to disperse them.
Following the continued attack by cops, the protesters retreated to the area close to the residence of the slain brothers Imrat and Oranlal while continuing to pelt stones and shout slogans. Some protesters thenm turned their attention to the residence of accused Prashant Chamke just behind Ranas’ household. They pelted stones and even tried to set Chamke’s house on fire, the Police later alleged.
Meanwhile, the arrival of the bodies of the slain brothers from autopsy, the protests became angrier and the cops swung into a fresh lathi-charge. It is at this stage that some cops even entered houses to drag people out and punish them with lathi blows. Some eye-witnesses alleged that the cops brazenly kicked protesters and did not spare women, including the wives of Imrat and Oranlal (whose bodies lay in the house back from post mortem).
The situation took an unfortunate turn when DCP Abhinash Kumar noticed that a few photo-journalists were capturing the police action. He immediately moved towards the photojournalist and attempted to snatch the camera of woman photojournalist Monica Chaturvedi working for Indian Express/Loksatta. However, Monica held on to her equipment and snatched back from the officer’s grip. Later, DCP Kumar held collar of another photojournalist, Vinay Nimgade of Lokshahi Varta who also was for capturing the event with his camera.
Soon after, the Rana family and Samta Nagar residents came together for the funeral procession and proceeded towards Nara ghat via Ring road. As a precautionary measure, cops suspended traffic movement on the Ring Road during that time. Though the procession went on rather smoothly, some residents continued to lodge voice protests by shouting slogans. At a couple of spots, they even halted the procession perhaps to heighten the effect at Sugat Nagar square.
The funeral procession arrived in front of Jaripatka Police Station around 3.30 pm. Special police teams armed with thick cane batons and cane riot-shields effectively pushed the procession from the area. Joint Commissioner of Police Rajvardhan visited the spot at afternoon hours.
By midnight, the cops had arrested Prashant Chamke, Jhanak Munnalal Tomaskar, Ankush Jhanak Tomaskar, Geeta Prashant Chamke, Vandana Chamke. One accused, who happens to be son-in-law of Jhanak Tomaskar, is still absconding.
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