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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,...

Gang-war in Dighori; two youths brutally murdered by rival gang


AN INTER-GANG rivalry simmered to such an extent in Dighori area that two members of the notorious Thawkar gang were brutally murdered by three members of Mohod gang. On pretext of having discussion, the accused took the youths to Dongargaon on Umred road in a car late Sunday night where they killed them by stabbing them with sharp weapons and also smashing their heads with a cement pole. Within six hours of murder, the Rural Police managed to crack the case and arrested the accused.
Accused Rahul Shravan Lambat (27), a resident of Bhandewadi, Pardi; Nishant Prashant Shahkar (23) and Jageshwar alias Balu Santoshrao Dudhankar (33), both residents of Kharbi Road, Shaktimata Nagar, were arrested by Rural Police for killing Kunal Suresh Charde (29) and Sushil Sunil Bawne (24), both residents of Dighori.
Bodies of Charde and Bawne were found in a pool of blood near Dongargaon on Monday at 7 am. Staff of Kuhi police station and Local Crime Branch (LCB) rushed to the spot and performed panchanama. After identifying the bodies, the police activated informers who told the police that a quarrel had erupted between Dudhankar and the deceased persons on Sunday night near a paan kiosk.
Acting on a tip-off, the cops started investigation and noticed suspicious activities of relatives of Dudhankar. Some of them were found going towards an agriculture land on Umred road. Using mobile surveillance system, the police traced location of the accused persons and arrested them from a farm where they were hiding in a hut, the police official said.
The official further said that the accused belong to Vijay Mohod gang who was murdered by Dilip Thawkar in June last year. Thawkar is cooling heels behind the bars. The deceased are the members of Thawkar gang.
Interrogation of the accused revealed that after Vijay Mohod’s murder, Charde and Bawne used to tease Dudhankar. There was dispute among the gangs to establish supremacy in Mhalgi Nagar and nearby areas.
On Sunday night, Charde and Bawne, who were in an inebriated condition, stared at Dudhankar at a paan kiosk which led to a quarrel between the three. Dudhankar along with Lambat and Shahkar then decided to eliminate Charde and Bawne.
The three came at the paan kiosk in a Hyundai i-20 car at around 10 pm and requested Bawne and Charde for talks. They took the youths towards Dongargaon where one of them deboarded the car on pretext of attending nature’s call. When Charde and Bawne also alighted the car, the three attacked them with sharp-weapons. They stabbed the two on their head, back and stomach. As a result, the duo collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood. Later, the accused picked a cement pole and smashed their head, police said.
An offence under Sections 302 and 34 of Indian Penal Code was registered by Kuhi Police. Under the guidance of Superintendent of Police (SP) Rakesh Ola, Addl SP Rahul Maknikar, the arrest was made by SDPO Home Sanjay Purandare, PSIs Sachin Matte, Narendra Gaurkhede and staff including Javed Sheikh, Ramesh Bhoyar, Mahesh Jadhav, Madan Asatkar, Gajendra Choudhary, Dnyaneshwar Raut, Suresh Gate, Amrut Kinge, Radhesham Kamble, Amol Wagh, Vipin Gaydhane, Bhaurao Khandate and Amol Kuthe.



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