News Reporter

                                   INTERVIEW By Dheeraj Fartode Sense of pride of his 17-month tenure as Commissioner of Police is visible in the eyes of Shardaprasad Yadav when he says, “I have changed perception in people’s mind that police cannot not ‘touch’ criminals. This change in perception has led us to win the confidence of citizens and establish police-people connect.”  This observation of the city’s top cop who is nearing the end of his tenure and is about to proceed on promotion to Mumbai, makes an altogether different sense in Nagpur’s special context. There were times when the city enjoyed a dubious distinction that top cops did not want to have even short tenures here, and perhaps for justifiable reasons, as some of them used to state. In the case of Shardaprasad Yadav, things have been altogether different. Despite his absence from the posting for personal reasons for s...

By Dheeraj Fartode  Rs 1,18,046,99,18,073... Yes-- One lakh eighteen thousand fourty six crore ninety nine lakh-- This is the extent of mind-boggling transaction by just one Dabba Trader unearthed by sleuths during their investigations. This shocking figure has been officially cited in an affidavit by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) which stumbled upon this unbelievable figure after decoding the trading transactions of one Kanhaiya alias Kanni Thawrani.  The EoW investigation into multi-crore ‘Dabba’ trading scam has also revealed new sensational information disclosing huge turnover, unimaginable profit, hint about sources of black money and hawala racket, and ultimately huge loss to state exchequer. “Accused Kanni Thawrani has done a business of whopping Rs 1.18 lakh crore in last four years. And, another accused - Sachin Agrawal -- had done business of Rs 5,180 crore in only four months,” the investigating machinery stated in affidavit filed at Nagpur Bench of Bombay ...

Third supplementary chargesheet running into 37,000 pages to be filed today  Prominent beneficiaries including city bizmen, professionals named as accused  660 gullible investors awaiting outcome of case  By Dheeraj Fartode  In another big blow to Wasankar and his beneficiaries, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Nagpur Police will file a third supplementary chargesheet running into a whopping 37,000 pages in multi-crore Wasankar scam on Tuesday. Total number of accused will rise to 30 after filing of this supplementary chargesheet which reportedly points out involvement of 19 additional accused including city businessmen, a Chartered Accountant and employees of Wasankar Wealth Management Ltd.  Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and Investigation Officer of the case Nilesh Raut told The Hitavada that the chargesheet include transaction details of the accused and their involvement in the financial crime. “It would be the big blow to the Wasankar...

Healthy Police-Public interaction is key to successful policing, says DGP Satish Mathur  By Dheeraj Fartode Nurturing human intelligence network is a key to foil the nefarious designs of terror outfits who are infiltrating the impressionable minds by manipulating social media platforms. Hence, the Maharashtra police has decided to sharpen its skills and penetrate intelligence gathering network into anti-national terror groups. Director General of Police (DGP) Satish Mathur has set the two-fold agenda to counter terror outfits’ agenda that includes -- connecting each household with police and preparing Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for emergency situation. “As a first step, Maharashtra Police personnel will visit each and every household in their jurisdiction to connect the people to get real-time intelligence inputs from society about anti-social activities. At another level, ATS will be equipped with modern gadgets to counter any emergency situation,” said DGP Mathur. After be...

CCTV camera systems of all 16 police stations to be linked to GRP HQ in Nagpur  System to start functioning in last week of August  By Dheeraj Fartode  To keep a vigil on functioning of 16 police stations under Nagpur Railway Police, the newly appointed Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailesh Balkawade has decided to set up a new command and control room at Government Railway Police ( GRP ) Nagpur Headquarters.  As per the plan, four closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed at each of the police stations and platforms of railway stations, and those will connected to Nagpur SP Office.  Balkawade told ‘The Hitavada’ that Nagpur GRP covered 23 revenue districts of Maharashtra and its jurisdiction spanned the length of 3,560 rail kilometers right from Gondia to Manmad. Of 17 zones of Indian Railways, Nagpur GRP covers four zones namely Central Railway, South-Central Railway, Western Railway, and South-East-Central Railway.  Co...

Maharashtra Police officers are working hard to protect civilians in the ongoing civil strife in South Sudan, despite facing shortage of food  By Dheeraj Fartode  NAGPUR, July 16 THERE is war. There is peace. And, there is a situation called civil strife that does not fit into category of either war or peace. But, in all these situations, saviours assume a special significance for people. For the strife-stricken people of South Sudan, a team of Maharashtra Police is proving to be that bunch of angels, saviours.  These angels are Sail Sheela, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP); Dr Sanjay Tungar, Vijay Pillewar, Gautam Pathare, Dhammapal Bansode, all Police Inspectors, are the officers who are serving in South Sudan under United Nations Peace-Keeping Mission. They are performing their duties almost round-the-clock, for, any incident can occur any time.  This picture speaks volumes about the disturbance  in South Sudan, as well as the risk of ...

                                                                INTERVIEW  Pravin Dixit, who retires as Maharashtra Police chief on July 31, talks to ‘The Hitavada’ on new initiatives, his achievements, and career experiences  By Dheeraj Fartode  In his almost four-decade long career, he has donned police uniform with pride. He has seen policing evolve through various challenging phases. Now, on the verge of hanging up his boots Pravin Dixit, Director General of Police, Maharashtra, feels that there is a need to keep tab on fronts of terrorist or Naxalite organisations operating in urban areas.  “It is with this motive that a Bill of internal security law has been prepared. We sincerely hope that State Legislature will pass Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act or MPISA soon. It would h...