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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,...

Kalmeshwar firing : 10 goons arrested by LCB of Rural Police within 24 hours

Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Nagpur Rural Police on Tuesday arrested 10 accused persons involved in firing at history-sheeter Ganesh Meshram and his wife at Kalmeshwar. Of them, four arrested for opening fire at Meshram while six were involved in the planning of the crime. 
Arrested accused have been identified as Nikhil alias Golu Lalsingh Maliye, a resident of Jaitala; Farookh Jabiulla Khan, a resident of Nagpur; Shovin Arvind Makode, a resident of Kalmeshwar; Himanshu Ravishankar Chandrakar (24), a resident of Gajanan Nagar; Mohd Haidar Parwez Ansari (20), a resident of Bengali Panja; Ankit Ramchandra Dhurwe, a resident of Eklata Nagar; Chandrakant Suresh Shinde (32), a resident of Jaitala; Abhishek Mangesh Giri (19), a resident of Pachpaoli; Ankit Tulshiram Nimje (24), a resident of Pachpaoli; Gaurav Ajay Pilley (22), a resident of Guard Line, Railway Colony. 
A police official informed that a few years ago, Meshram was working with Sevak Masram gang. On December 19, 2017, Meshram and Sevak Masram had killed Bhurya alias Sanjay Banode and Badal Sanjay Shambharkar, both residents of Kunjilalpeth, Ajni.
Shambharkar was close friend of Maliye and Himanshu Chandrakar. Since then, Maliye and Chandrakar were hatching a conspiracy to eliminate Meshram. As Meshram suspected that Maliye could kill him to avenge death of Shambharkar, he shifted to Kalmeshwar with the family. On July 9, he attempted to kill Maliye after throwing chili powder in his eyes in Rana Pratap Nagar area. However, Maliye managed to escape.
Maliye then met Chandrakar and they planned murder of Meshram. As per the deal, Chandrakar arranged shooters while Maliye took responsibility of finances for the shooters. 
A Swift Dzire car and two motorcycles were also arranged for the attack. Shovin Makode conducted recce of Meshram’s residence and gave details to Maliye and Chandrakar. Haider Ansari was tasked for opening fire at Meshram. 
Ansari, Dhurve, Shinde and Pilley arrived at Kalmeshwar on two motorcycles on Monday afternoon. They walked upto the first floor of the building where Meshram was staying. Meshram was in the drawing room while his wife Priyanka (28) was busy in the kitchen. After spotting Meshram, Haidar opened fire at him. After hearing screams of Meshram and bullet shots, Priyanka rushed to the drawing room and the goons fired at her. She received bullet injuries in the stomach. After sustaining bullet injuries in the back and thigh, Meshram had jumped on the neighbouring house by crossing the parapet wall. A profusely bleeding Meshram had managed to escape from the spot while his wife was lying in the house in a pool of blood. The assailants fled the spot and escaped on their motorcycles from Kalmeshwar. 
After suspecting role of Maliye in the crime, the LCB team arrested his aide Himnshu Chandrakarn from Trimurti Nagar area while Maliye was nabbed on Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border late Monday night. 
After firing at Meshram, the shooters arrived Nagpur and boarded in Swift Dzire car. Accused Abhishek Giri and Ankit Nimje took the motorcycles to their house. The shooters reached to a Dhaba near Parseoni where they consumed liquor. Acting on a tip-off, team of LCB arrested them from the Dhaba. All accused persons were handed-over to Kalmeshwar police for further investigation. 
Under the guidance of Superintendent of Police (SP) Rakesh Ola, Addl SP Monika Raut, the arrest was made by PI Anil Jittawar, API Jitendra Wairagade, PSIs Narendra Gaurkhede, Sachin Matte, Javed Shekh, ASI Jaiprakash Sharma and staff including Ramesh Bhoyar, Gajanan Choudhary, Rajendra Sanodia, Dhnyaneshwar Raut, Mahesh Jadhav, Santosh Pandhare, Madan Asatkar, Suraj Parmar, Nilesh Barwe, Suresh Gate, Dinesh Adhapure, Radhesham, Mahesh Bisne, Amol Wagh, Vipin Gaydhane, Balaji Sakhre, Rohan Dakhore, Kavita Sakhre, Sahebrao Bahale, Bhaurao Khandate, Amol Kuthe and others. 

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