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,...
A history-sheeter was brutally murdered by four unidentified assailants on Jaitala Road under the jurisdiction of Sonegaon police station on Monday evening. The accused first bashed up the goon and when he escaped from their clutches, they chased and stabbed him to death with sharp-weapons. The history-sheeter was released from the jail on bail just three-days ago. The deceased was identified as Nilesh Rajesh Naidu (31), a resident of Khamla area. The police have arrested Mayur Sherkar, Govind Dongre and Sagar Bagga for killing Naidu. Three accused Suchit Chahande, Ashish Bandekar and Vishal Gondane are still absconding. A police official said that Sherkar owns a mobile phone shop - M S Collection - in Indraprastha Nagar. He was also accused in an attempt to murder case. Naidu on Monday afternoon came to the shop and accused Sherkar for allowing bail of Nikhil Kharat and Gullu Maliye, accused in Shera Chavan murder case. He then asked Sherkar to surrender his gold chain and a mobile ph...