News Reporter

Tejas to replace ageing MiG series aircraft in next 15 years  The first squadron named as 'Flying Daggers' By Dheeraj Fartode Indian Air Force (IAF) is all set to raise the first fighter squadron of indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at Bangalore on July 1. The first squadron will have only two aircraft as opposed to global standard of 16 aircraft per squadron. It will be 45th squadron ane named as ‘Flying Daggers’ Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) have developed Tejas -- a single-engine compound-delta-wing tailless aircraft -- after hard work of around 30 years and it will replace ageing MIG series aircraft in next 15 years.  A top official of the IAF, preferring to be unnamed, confirmed the information and said that Air Marshal Jasbir Walia, AOC, Southern Air Command, would remain present for raising ceremony of the first squadron.  LCA Tejas An official of HAL told ‘The Hitavada’ that...

By Dheeraj Fartode  NAGPUR, June 17:  A new chapter will be written in the history of Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday when first three women fighter pilots -- Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi -- will be inducted in the IAF after successfully completing advanced training.  Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister, will confer the President’s Commission on behalf of the President of India, to these first women fighter pilots along with 126 graduating trainees of various branches including 19 women trainees in the Combined Graduation Parade (CGP), which will be held on Saturday at Air Force Academy, Dundigal, on the outskirts of Hyderabad.  Avani Chaturvedi in cockpit of training aircraft. This CGP will be a landmark event in the history of the IAF as the first three women pilots will be commissioned in the Fighter stream of the Flying branch. Parrikar will also present the ‘Wings and Brevets’ to the newly commissioned officers of the Flying bran...

By Dheeraj Fartode Tension prevailed at Jaripatka area when a protest for immediate arrest of the accused involved in double murder case at Samta Nagar slums on Monday took ugly turn after the police chased, kicked and latchi charged the protesters. Special teams of city police led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone V Abhinash Kumar dragged men and women from their houses and attacked them. Even wives of the deceased Imrat Rana and Oranlal Rana were not spared by the police. Later, DCP Abhinash Kumar attempted to snatch the camera of a woman photojournalist and also held collar of another photographer for capturing the police action. Trouble began when some residents of Samta Nagar gheraoed Jaripatka Police Station around 11 am and demanded immediate arrest of the accused including dreaded goon Ankush Tomaskar. As no assurance of immediate action came from the Police, the mobs started pelting stones at the Police Station. Sensing the mounting tension, DCP Abhinas...

Fund will be utilised to clone hard disks and secure encrypted data  By Dheeraj Fartode  Investigation of the multi-crore ‘Dabba’ trading scam is going to be most expensive investigation for Nagpur police. After learning cost of various equipments and receiving first bill of cloning of computer hard disks worth Rs 2.5 lakh, the city police is all set to send a proposal for ‘extra’ investigation fund worth Rs 25 lakh which will be exclusively spend on investigation of ‘Dabba’ trading scam. ‘Dabba’ trading has inflicted heavy revenue loss worth crores to the state exchequer, experts claim.  Deputy Commissioner of Police (EoW) Ranjan Kumar Sharma told The Hitavada that cloning and securing 64 digit hash value of all seized hard disk and DVR is the first part of investigation so that the seized evidence could be produced in the court to prove guilt of the accused. The cops will purchase same sophisticated hard disks and DVR for cloning and it needs Rs 16-17 lakh,...

By Dheeraj Fartode During the proceeding in JMFC court said that in view of provisions of section 26 (A) to 26 (E) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, the court of JMFC has no jurisdiction to entertain any proceeding under this act, even the remand proceeding.  This observation of the court have put question mark on homework and study of officials of Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Crime Branch of city police. Sources said it is surprising that EoW officials and law officer seemed unaware about the constitutional provisions while handling the SCRA matter. Had they not read the law book before cracking down on Dabba traders, the set back in the court could have been avoided. Or it seems EoW officials acted in a haste which enabled the key players to steal the march over police, they claimed.  Sources further informed that the EoW officials have not yet collected concrete evidence in the case so far.  EoW’s raids against Dabba traders were conducted ...

Main accused are still at large By Dheeraj Fartode Sessions Judge P V Ganediwala on Monday extended the police custody remand of nine Dabba traders by three-days to help prosecution reach to bottom of the case.  The cops today produced accused -- Ramesh Chotelal Patre (33), a  resident of 101, Vaishali Nagar; Govind Bhanwarlal Sarda (42), a resident of Canal Road, Ramdaspeth; Kushal Kishor Laddhad (37), a resident of Ramdaspeth; Pritesh Sureshkumar Lakhotia (37), a resident of 201, Shankar Nagar; Ashwin Madhukar Borikar (30), a resident of Durgawati Nagar; Vikas Laxminarayan Kubde (28), a  resident of Panchpaoli, Nagpur; Swapnil Vijayrao Parate (24), a resident of Shivaji Nagar;  Vijay Chandulal Goklani (34), a resident of Quetta Colony in the court during afternoon hours.  Defence lawyers took strong objections to prosecution argument and claimed JMFC court has no jurisdiction to entertain any proceeding under Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act ...

By Dheeraj Fartode Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of City Police and Mumbai Police conducted raid at L7 group office at Marol, Andheri (East), Mumbai. The cops seized computers, laptops, hard disks from the office related to the Dabba trading network which has caused losses to the State exchequer.  Joint Commissioner of Police (Joint CP) Rajvardhan confirmed the information and said that the raids were conducted on specific inputs.  The raid started on Friday when the EoW got tip-off about Ravi Agrawal’s software office in Mumbai. The Nagpur EoW contacted Mumbai Police for help and started the raid that continued for 24 hours. The cops have also engaged software professionals to collect maximum evidence from Mumbai office of L7 group.  Sources in EoW informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the Mumbai-based office is the most important link in the Dabba trading network. Agrawal had established the office at 5b-157 Akshay Mittal Industrial Estate, Marol, Saki Naka, Andheri ...