Mumbai:

A thief was overcome with remorse after realising that the house he stole valuables from belonged to a famous Marathi writer and returned the valuables he had stolen, police said today.

The house from where the thief stole the valuables, including an LED TV, belonged to Narayan Surve and is located at Neral in Raigad district, police said.

Surve, who died on August 16, 2010 at 84 years, was a celebrated Marathi poet and social activist. Born in Mumbai, his poems vividly depicted the struggles of the urban working class.

Surve’s daughter Sujata and her husband Ganesh Ghare now live in the house. They had gone to Virar to be with their son and their house was locked for 10 days.

It was during this period that the thief entered the house and stole a few things, including the LED TV set. When he returned to pick up a few more articles the next day, he noticed Surve’s photo and memorabilia in a room.

The thief was filled with remorse and returned all the items he had picked up. He pasted a small note on a wall, asking for the owner’s forgiveness for stealing from such a great literary figure’s house.

Sujata and her husband found the note when they returned from Virar on Sunday, police inspector Shivaji Dhavle of Neral police station said.

Police are carrying out further investigation based on the fingerprints found on the TV set and other articles, he said.

Before Surve became a famous Marathi poet, he had grown up as an orphan on the streets of Mumbai, then survived by working as a domestic help, a dishwasher in a hotel, a babysitter, a pet-dog caretaker, a milk delivery boy, a porter and a mill hand.

Through his poetry, Surve glorified labour and challenged the established literary norms in Marathi literature.
 

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Mumbai:

Days after an advertising agency owner was robbed of his valuables allegedly by a fellow passenger, who drugged him by offering a cup of coffee on board a Pune-Mumbai state-run AC bus, police have arrested the accused from Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday.

The accused, 52-year-old Yunus Shafiquddin Shaikh, was arrested by a team of Matunga police in Mumbai on July 8 from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, an official said.

The incident had occurred on June 14 on board the Pune-Mumbai Shivneri bus operated by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), he said.

“The victim, Shailendra Sathe (57), who owns an advertising and brand agency, had boarded the Shivneri bus from Wakad in Pune to Mumbai. The accused, who was travelling with him in the same bus, befriended him and offered a cup of coffee to him when the bus stopped at a food mall in Khalapur. As Sathe fell unconscious later during the journey, the accused stole his gold ornaments, including a ring, and a mobile phone,” the police official said.

After the bus reached Dadar in central Mumbai, the MSRTC staff helped Shailendra Sathe get down from the bus, he said.

Assuming that he was under the influence of liquor, they left him on a footpath, where he kept lying in an unconscious state for the next several hours, he added.

Later, Shailendra Sathe narrated the incident on his X handle, “LEFT TO DIE, thrown on a footpath for 18 hours. Hypnotised, Drugged, Robbed & Ignored on a Mumbai-Pune Shivneri Bus in an acutely confused state, Negligence, No concerned authority helped in distress. Found by family, 80 hrs unconscious, treated at Jupiter Hospital Thane.” Based on his complaint, a case was registered at Matunga police station on June 20, following which a probe into the case was launched.

Police teams went through the footage of CCTVs installed in the Shivneri bus and at other places, including the Khalapur food mall, Dadar, and the Mumbai Central area, he said.

During the probe, police teams zeroed in on two suspects and received information that they were from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, he added.

A team was then sent to the Guzri Bazar area of Meerut, and after mounting surveillance for three days, Yunus Shaikh was apprehended by the Mumbai police.

The police recovered Shailendra Sathe’s 30 grams of gold from Yunus Shaikh, who worked as an estate agent in the area, he said.

During the probe, the police found that Yunus Shaikh is a notorious criminal in Meerut, the official said, adding that serious cases like murder, attempt to murder, and arson were registered against him in the past.

He was also involved in incidents like robbing passengers, spiking their drinks or drugging them during the journey. Similar cases were registered against him in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Following his arrest, he was produced before a local court and was brought to Mumbai on transit remand, the official said.

Police are looking for an accomplice of Yunus Shaikh, he said.

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Maharashtra cyber cell has summoned actor Tamannaah Bhatia in connection with the alleged promotion of the viewing of IPL matches on a subsidiary app of the Mahadev online gaming and betting application, officials said on Thursday, April 25, 2024.

The actor has been asked to appear before the Maharashtra cyber personnel on April 29, a senior police official said.

Bhatia has been summoned by the Maharashtra cyber cell for allegedly promoting the viewing of the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches on the Fairplay betting app, he said.

Some of the IPL matches were also streamed illegally on the app in 2023, officials said citing a complaint in this connection.

The actor has been called to record her statement as a witness in the case, an official said.

The Maharashtra cyber cell has already recorded the statements of singer Badshah and the managers of actors Sanjay Dutt and Jacqueline Fernandez in the case, he said.

The Mahadev app is under the scanner of various investigation agencies over alleged illegal transactions and betting.

Bhatia is known for her films like Baahubali, Jailer and Netflix anthology Lust Stories 2.

Nagpur:

A 36-year-old woman from Nagpur has accused a man of posing as an Indian Air Force official and extorting nearly Rs 4 lakh from her after taking her intimate photos and videos, an official said on Sunday.

Based on a complaint by the woman, the police on Sunday registered a case against accused Shyam Supatkar for rape, extortion and a few more charges under the Indian Penal Code.

The woman told the police that she met the accused, who had created a fake profile in the name of Shyam Verma, on Facebook about four years ago.

The accused claimed he was an Indian Air Force official posted in Gujarat but lived in Nagpur. Both decided to meet eventually.

During the meeting, Supatkar allegedly gave her a sedative-laced drink, knocking her unconscious. He then shot her intimate photos and videos, she said.

Supatkar allegedly threatened to release the woman’s photos and videos on social media unless she complied with his demands, the official from Ajni police station said.

The accused took Rs 4 lakh cash and some gold and silver jewellery from her, alleged the woman.

The woman approached the police after learning that the man was not an Air Force official, he said, adding that Supatkar was yet to be arrested.

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Gadchiroli:

Four Naxalites, carrying a collective bounty of Rs 36 lakh, were killed in an encounter with police in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on Tuesday, a senior official said.

The police received information on Monday afternoon that some Naxalites had entered Gadchiroli from neighbouring Telangana by crossing the Pranhita river with an aim to carry out subversive activities amid the model code of conduct in place for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Superintendent of Police Neelotpal said.

Multiple teams of C-60, a specialised combat unit of the Gadchiroli police, and the Central Reserve Police Force’s Quick Action team were sent for a search in the area.

While one of the C-60 unit teams was conducting a search on Tuesday morning in the Kolamarka mountains near Repanpalli, Naxalites fired at them indiscriminately to which the security personnel retaliated, the official said.

After the firing stopped, the area was searched and bodies of four Naxalites were found, he said, adding that they were carrying a collective cash reward of Rs 36 lakh on their heads.

An AK-47 gun, a carbine, two country-made pistols, Naxal literature and other items were also recovered, the official said.

The deceased Naxalites have been identified as Vargeesh, Magtu, both secretaries of different Naxal comittees, and platoon members Kursang Raju and Kudimetta Venkatesh, the police said.

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Pune:

A police sub-inspector posted in Pune district who recently shot to fame after winning Rs 1.5 crore on a fantasy sports platform was suspended for alleged misconduct on Wednesday, an official said.

Somnath Zende, attached to Pimpri Chinchwad police, breached the code of conduct by participating in online gaming and then speaking to the media, the police official said.

The Pimpri Chinchwad police chief had asked a deputy commissioner of police-rank official to conduct an inquiry and submit a report, he said.

“Zende won lottery through an online gaming platform and after winning a windfall prize, he gave an interview to the media. Subsequently there were some negative reactions about the police department….he took part in such an activity and gave an interview in police uniform. On these two counts, he has been suspended,” said the official. 

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Thane:

The police in Maharashtra’s Thane city have arrested two persons for their alleged role in a financial crime that involved breaching the system of a payment gateway service provider and siphoning off more than Rs 16,180 crore, an official said on Friday.

The police on Thursday arrested Anup Dubey (26) of Bhayander, and Mumbai resident Sanjay Namdeo Gaikwad (42), a partner in a firm, the official said.

According to the police, the fraud had been taking place for a long time, but it came to light after a complaint was lodged with the Srinagar police station about the hacking of the payment gateway system of the company in April 2023 and Rs 25 crore being siphoned off.

During the probe, the cyber cell team came across suspicious transactions of more than Rs 16,180 crore.

The Naupada police in the city on October 6 registered a case against five persons under sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

As per the FIR, one of the accused, named Jitendra Pandey, earlier worked for 8 to 10 years with banks as a relationship and sales manager.

The police suspect there may be many players in this mega racket, which has been going on for long, and may have pan-India ramifications affecting several companies and individuals, the official said.

The police had earlier said that the accused allegedly set up several partnership firms on bogus documents to launder the amount.

As many as five partnership firms were set up by the accused, and transactions to the tune of Rs 16,180 crore were revealed after the inspection of 260 bank statements, police had said. 

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Thane, Maharashtra:

A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) staffer was beaten up by a consumer on Thursday when he went to collect pending power bills of Rs 6,000, a police official said.

Senior technician Mahendra Badgujar has been hospitalised with multiple fractures, the Naupada police station official added.

“Badgujar had gone to recover power bills of Rs 6,000 from the accused, who assaulted him with an iron rod. He has been charged with assaulting public servant, criminal intimidation and other offences but is yet to be arrested,” he said.

MSEDCL employees’ union general secretary Leeladhar Bansode said such incidents were increasing, which was putting tremendous pressure of staffers of the state-run power utility. 

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