Maharashtra

Palghar, May 18 (PTI) A 22-year-old labourer has been handed a 20-year rigorous imprisonment by a sessions court in Vasai in Palghar district of Maharashtra for raping a four-year-old girl in 2016.

Additional Sessions Judge Rahul Bhosale convicted the accused, Suresh Mukne, under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and under section 366 A (procuration of a minor girl) of the Indian Penal Code on May 16.

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) A special court here conducting trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Friday directed all the seven accused, including BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, to appear before it once a week.

Upset over the frequent absence of the accused during the trial, NIA court judge Vinod Padalkar gave this direction.

He also directed that exemption sought without cogent reasons will be rejected.

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement that he will not forgive BJP's Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur for calling Nathuram Godse a "patriot", Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan Friday said the definition of "patriotism" was different for the ruling party.

"Its definition is different from the rest. Modi and Amit Shah might have distanced themselves from her comments but the fact is Godse's ideology and BJP's ideology are the same," Chavan alleged.

Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) In a far cry from last year's situation, 26 reservoirs in Maharashtra have reached "zero storage" as on May 18, according to statistics put out by the Water Conservation department of the state government.

The department's website informed that water storage in Aurangabad Division, which comprises Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Parbhani and Osmanabad districts, was 0.43 per cent as against 23.44 per cent at the same time last year.

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and veteran talk show host David Letterman have collaborated for a Netflix stand-alone special.

As per the press release issued by the streaming service, the show will be all about in-depth conversations, for which Letterman is renowned, and in-the-field segments expressing his curiosity and humour.

The 53-year-old Indian star said he was honoured to share his story with Letterman.

Nagpur, May 17 (PTI) Naxals have called for a 'bandh' in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on May 19 to protest the killings of two fellow women in an encounter last month, police said.

Naxals had put up banners in some villages in Etapalli tehsil of Gadchiroli on Wednesday night, in which they gave the 'bandh' call, an official from Gadchiroli superintendent of police (SP) office said Thursday.

Mumbai, May 15; GANASHAKTI: Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on Wednesday condemned the desecration of the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar during a road show violence in Kolkata, saying the attack on the social reformer is akin to an attack on the Bengali language.

Clashes broke out between BJP supporters and student activists and those of the Left and Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad (TMCP) during BJP President Amit Shah's road show on Tuesday.

Mumbai, May 15 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil Wednesday said grant for animals in the cattle camps has been increased for the purpose of their fodder and water.

At present, there are 1,417 cattle camps functioning in the state housing 9.39 lakh animals. So far, big animal got a grant of Rs 90 and the small one Rs 45 for water and fodder, he said.

"Now, each big animal will get Rs 100 and small one will get Rs 50. The decision was taken in the cabinet sub committee meeting held today," Patil said.

Mumbai, May 14 (PTI) Grounded carrier Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dube has resigned from the post Tuesday, a day after its deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Amit Agarwal quit the company.

An Indian-American, Dube had joined Jet Airways in August 2017 after serving various roles at Delta Airlines, Sabre Inc and American Airlines in the US, Europe and Asia.

Shirdi, May 13 (PTI) A teen-aged boy was detained for allegedly raping an eight-year-old girl at the Shirdi temple town in Maharashtra's Ahmedanagar district, police said on Monday.

The boy, aged 14 years, took the girl to an isolated spot at Nimgaon village, located around three km from here, where he allegedly raped her on Sunday evening, Shirdi police station in-charge Anil Katake said.

The girl later informed about the incident to her parents who approached the police, he said.