News Reporter

ED suspects money laundering in Wasankar case  By Dheeraj Fartode The multicrore Wasankar scam is on the radar of Enforcement Directorate (ED) as officials of ED are suspecting a money laundering angle in this complex case involving huge cash transactions and benami investments. There was turnover of hundreds of crore and it was widely believed that many prominent political leaders and businessmen received generous amounts from Wasankar. However, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) is yet to trace the entire mysterious ‘money trail’ as Wasankar had circulated the money through 145 bank accounts. “Wasankar could be booked under stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) so that ED can investigate the case with full powers,” said an ED official.  The official told The Hitavada that ED officials had taken custody documents related to Wasankar scam. The officials are studying the documents and searching money laundering point in the case. Once the ED starts ...

The cash was stashed in three boxes By Dheeraj Fartode In what could be considered as one of the biggest hauls till date, Ganeshpeth Police on Tuesday evening seized Rupees 1.70 crore cash from suspected hawala couriers.  A team of Ganeshpeth police intercepted an autorickshaw near Agyaram Devi square and found to their astonishment a huge and unaccounted cash worth Rs 1.70 crore carried by two people who could not explain and origin or justification for possessing such a massive amount.  There is a suspicion that the money was to be routed through Hawala channel and hence brought to city for depositing it with some trader here. Later, the money was handed-over to Income Tax department for probe.  Hawala money seized by Ganeshpeth police.  According to information, Yasin Khan Mushtak Khan (50), and Ashish Kailash Tikkas (18), both residents of Sivani, Madhya Pradesh, received the courier of the cash from a trader and Amardeep talkies square, Nagpur...

To cut red tape Union Home Ministry has gone in for centralised system so as to eliminate bias and favoritism By Dheeraj Fartode Personal bias that often blocked promotional chances in Indian Police Service (IPS) and blighted many a careers prospects of bright officers might become a thing of past. Union Home Departmental have initiated on-line system for filing of Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) and launched a new website -- ips.gov.in -- for the same. Officially the aim is to maintain transparency and put a check on delay in filing of PAR. Office of State Director General of Police on Tuesday issued a circular in this regard and directed all IPS rank officials entrusted with task of filling in PAR to follow the new time table so avoid delay. PAR is the important document of IPS officer that assess his performance, character, conduct and qualities. It is a tool for career planning and training, rather than a mere judgmental exercise. The Hitavada perused the copy of th...

City police to have new zone for upcoming police stations  By Dheeraj Fartode A massive exercise to reorganise jurisdiction of Nagpur Police Commissionerate, including constitution of a new zone after addition of three police stations from Nagpur Rural Police, has been undertaken by the city police. Commissioner of Police (CP) Sharda Prasad Yadav has directed officers to study the crime scenario and suggest modalities for demarcation of zones so that an effective policing can be carried out in the Commissionerate. After studying the pros and cons final proposal will be put-up before Director General of Police (DGP) for approval from State Government, it is learnt. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP Detection) Ranjan Kumar Sharma told The Hitavada on Tuesday that the zones would reorganised after observing type of crime and population ratio. The three police stations -- Kamptee, Old Kamptee and Hingna, hitherto under Nagpur Rural Police, are now merged in the Nagpur Pol...

By Dheeraj Fartode Sonegaon Police booked six directors of Vidarbha Bottlers Pvt Ltd for Value Added Tax (VAT) evasion worth Rs 17.49 crore. The firm deals in production of country liquor. The company duped Department of Sales Tax by showing nil liability for 2013-14 and 2014-15. On the contrary, the company was sold manufacture country liquor and earned profits.  The accused are identified as Amrish Suresh Jaiswal, Sanju Suresh Jaiswal, Suresh Bhayyalal Jaiswal, all are residents of Chhaya Vila, 14-C, Dhantoli; Vaibhav Jaiswal, Vishal Jaiswal, Devilal Jaiswal, all are residents of Ram Nagar.  A senior officer of Sonegaon police station informed that the company had showed decreasing sale in financial year 2011-12 and 2011-13 and nil since in year 2013-14 and 2014-15 in returns filed at the department. The fraud came to fore when the returns were cross checked by the department with State Excise Department.  It can be mentioned that a Sub-Inspector level officer...

All police stations, offices of senior officers and other branches to receive water from centralised plant that would have state of art technology to weed out impurities By Dheeraj Fartode Now, police to sell water in city! Sounds baffling, but the idea has taken shape and an Rs. 35 lakh bottling plant is in offing at office of Commissioner of Police. A water purification plant having capacity of 1.20 lakh litres per day is planned that will cater to requirement of commissionerate. The plan is to supply water to all police station, offices of senior officers and other units of city police through the central bottling plant. The Commisionerate has sent the proposal for approval to office of Director General of Police, Maharashtra. The idea is said to be brainchild of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP Detection) Ranjan Kumar Sharma. DCP Sharma told The Hitavada, all police establishment including Police Stations, Offices of ACPs, DCPs, Addl CPs and all branches would rece...

DB squad of Ajni Police Station under fire for shoddy investigation style  By Dheeraj Fartode Investigation skills of Ajni police are under scanner as they have failed to trace the accused involved in murder of Vinaychandra Ganvir alias Pappu. Nine days have passed after Ganvir was stabbed to death outside notorious Laxmi Bar at Medical Square on March 11. But till date the police have failed to make any headway in the investigations.  The cops claimed to have interrogated more than forty to sixty history-sheeters known to have base in the area but still concrete lead eludes them. Sources informed that the four accused in the murder case were captured in the CCTV footage and pictures of two of them were clear but still Detection Branch (DB) squad could not pinpoint the accused persons. The pictures have been circulated throughout the city police jurisdiction but no one could identity the two youth seen stabbing Ganvir. Sources further informed that DB squad of Ajn...