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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  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,...
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ACB books lawyer, attorny and PSI for bribe

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Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officers on Friday caught Adv Harshal Diwakar Rathod and attorney Ganesh Amrutlal Jaiswal red-handed while accepting bribe of Rs 15 lakh cash on behalf of Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Umakant Rathod from a Yavatmal-based man for not initiating action against him in a theft case registered at Lakadganj Police Station. 


After the lawyer and attorney were trapped with the cash at Tekdi Ganesh Mandir near Railway Station, PSI Umakant Rathod, attached to Lakadganj Police Station, managed to give a slip to the bureau officers.

A resident of Yavatmal, Sunil Bhaisare was booked in a theft case. An offence under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Bhaisare at Lakadganj Police Station for allegedly stealing Rs five lakh cash from a dal mill owner Dilip Bhujade. PSI Rathod, who was investigating the case, contacted Bhaisare and informed him that a theft case was registered against him. PSI Rathod told him that either he should surrender at police station or he would visit Yavatmal to arrest him. Bhaisare approached Yavatmal-based Adv Harshal Rathod and requested to help him out. Bhaisare, Adv Harshal rathod and attorney Jaiswal arrived in the city. Bhaisare contacted PSI Umakant Rathod and told him that he was falsely implicated in the case. For not arresting Bhaisare, PSI Rathod demanded Rs 15 lakh him. PSI Rathod also told Bhaisare that he was willingto accept old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination. He then asked Bhaisare to hand over the cash to his own lawyer Adv Rathod and attorney Jaiswal at Tekdi Ganesh Temple and would collect the same from them later on.

Fed-up of the constant harassment by PSI Rathod since the registration of offence against him, Bhaisare lodged a complaint at ACB Office. After verification of the complaint, a team of bureau officers comprising PI Aniruddha Puri, Dilip Kundojwar, PI Pramod Choudhari and others, under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (ACB) Sanjay Darade laid a trap and caught Adv Rathod and attorney Jasiwal red-handed after they accepted cash from Bhaisare on behalf of PSI Rathod.

Soon after the trap, another team of bureau officers visited Lakadganj Police Station to arrest PSI Rathod. The team was told by police station staff that PSI Rathod had gone to Bhandara to investigate another case. PSI Rathod went underground after some policemen attached to Lakadganj Police Station alerted him about the trap.

An offence under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against PSI Rathod, Adv Rathod and Jaiswal at Sitabuldi Police Station.

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