AROUND THE STATE

5MUMBAI/STATENAGPUR: Abdul Gani Turk, a 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convictlodged at the Nagpur Central Jail, died on Thursday, an official said.Turk, 68, was lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail since 2012. Convictedfor planting a bomb at Century Bazar, one of the 12 sites devastatedby serial blasts in the country's financial capital on March 12, 1993,Turk was serving life imprisonment after his death sentence was

commuted. At least 257 people died in the blasts. Jail superintendentRani Bhosle said that Turk was not keeping well for some time andwas taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH)here on April 22. Later he was brought back and being treated at theprison hospital. He fell unconscious on Thursday morning and wasrushed to the GMCH where he was declared dead. - Agencies

Mumbai 1993 blasts convict, Abdul Gani, dies in Nagpur

THE FREEPRESSJOURNALMUMBAI | FRIDAY | APRIL 26, 2019

AGENCIES / Mumbai

Controversial Islamicpreacher Zakir Naik onThursday accused the Indi-an government of engagingin a “witch-hunt” and put-ting pressure on the Inter-pol to issue a red corner no-tice against him. In a state-ment issued here, Naik,who fled India in 2016, saidhe was aware of the “pres-sure the Indian government

was applying on the Inter-pol” to issue a red cornernotice against him.“It's part of an elaborate

witch-hunt. But having ver-ified with a few membercountries, I can confirm

that there is no red cornernotice against me as ofdate,” he claimed. “One of the Indian news-

papers seems to havejumped the gun and report-ed internal deliberations of

the Indian governmentwhich, as a matter of fact,have been going on for overtwo years now,” he said.Naik said the Interpol had

already cancelled a red cor-ner notice against himonce.“And it's been one-and-a-

half years since the govern-ment submitted a chargesheet and started applyingpressure on the Interpol,”he said.

Indian govt pressure on Interpol for red corner notice: NaikOne of the Indian newspapers seems to have

jumped the gun and reported internaldeliberations of the Indian government

which, as a matter of fact, have been goingon for over two years now. — ZAKIR NAIK

AGENCIES / Thane

A 33-year-old man hasbeen sentenced to 10years' rigorous impris-onment by a Thanecourt in Maharashtrafor raping a minor girlin 2015.District and special

POCSO court judge S BBahalkar on Wednesday pronounced the punishment to theaccused, Shivmani Ramdulhar Jaiswar, who worked as a car-penter, and also imposed a fine of Rs 27,000 on him.According to the prosecution, the accused and the victim,

then aged 10 years, were neighbours in the city's ManoramaNagar area and knew each other.On July 17, 2015, the accused went to the girl's house when

she was alone and raped her. He threatened her with dire con-sequences if she revealed about the offence to anyone, theprosecution told the court.The girl later informed her mother, who lodged a police com-

plaint following which the accused was arrested and bookedunder Indian Penal Code Sections 376(2)(i) (rape)and 506(criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.The judge, while pronouncing the sentence, held that the

prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt all the chargesagainst the accused.

Man gets 10-yr RI for rapingminor girl in Maharashtra

Six women, among ten, heldin bar raid at Kashimira BHAYANDAR: The Anti-Human TraffickingUnit (AHTU) of the Thane (rural) policeraided a ladies’ bar in Kashimira andapprehended ten people including sixwomen late on Wednesday night. Acting ona tip-off, a police team swooped down onHotel Sea Magic, a ladies’ bar located on thePenkarpada Road which was reported to beindulged in late night raunchy and vulgarshows under the guise of live orchestraperformances. Ten people including thecashier, singers and waitresses wererounded up and booked under Sections 109,114 and 294 of the Indian Penal Code.However, as usual the operator and originalowner of the establishment who are theactual beneficiaries of the vulgar trade havenot only managed to evade the policedragnet, but their identity is yet to beascertained. Cash amounting Rs 10,200 wasseized during the raid. Further investigationswere on. - Suresh Golani

Man cycles across country forthe cause of mother tongueSILIGURI: In a bid to spread awarenessregarding preserving one's mother tongue,29-year-old Gandhar Kulkarni has embarked

on a 20,000-kilometre journey on hisbicycle. Hailing from Maharashtra, Kulkarniaims to enlighten the younger generationand help them reconnect with their mothertongue. A postgraduate in Sanskrit, Kulkarnisaid that he started this expedition on July1, 2018, and intends to complete it by 15August this year. He told ANI, "I started thisinitiative to create awareness about one'smother tongue and put an emphasis on thisin schools. One must read all languages, butthey should learn their mother tongue first."

Elderly man dies after policetake his grandson into custodyMUMBAI: A 70-year-old man diedapparently due to shock after his minorgrandson was taken into custody by policein connection with a stone pelting incidentin Osmanabad, an official said on Thursday.Dattu Ganpati More died immediately afterpolice apprehended his grandson from theirhouse in Telmod village in Umarga talukalate on Wednesday night, the official said.More's grandson was held as part of theoperation launched to catch those allegedlyinvolved in pelting stones at a policevehicle, he added. "More's grandson andsome other persons were found involved inhurling stones at a police vehicle over itsalleged delay in reaching the spot of a car

accident in which three people had died.The accident had taken place on Sunday,"the official said. The stone-pelters had laterescaped from the spot. The police hadregistered an offence against a group of atleast 25 persons, including More's minorgrandson.

Man gets life sentence inbank loan fraud caseTHANE: A special court for CBI cases here hassentenced a 38-year-old man to lifeimprisonment for fraudulently obtaining loansof over Rs 2.80 crore from the Andhra Bank in2008. Then manager of the bank's Ghodbunderbranch in neighbouring Thane was awarded 10years' jail term, while three others weresentenced to three years' imprisonment forconspiracy on Thursday. Besides awarding himlife imprisonment, CBI Judge S R Tamboli alsoimposed a fine of Rs 3.13 crore on primeaccused Rajendra Patil. Bandlamudi Mahipal,the former branch manager, was ordered to payRs 3.40 lakh. The accused were held guiltyunder IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgeryof valuable security), and 120 B (criminalconspiracy) as well as under the Prevention ofCorruption Act. According to the prosecution,Patil approached Andhra Bank's GhodbunderRoad branch for a vehicle loan and a loanagainst property in 2008. - Agencies

MUMBAI: The Chiley family who werefeatured in the rally of Raj Thackeray, thechief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, arealso featured on a page called Paksitandefence alleged Vinod Tawde, the educationminister. Tawde further claimed, the familywas portrayed as a typical middle classIndian family. Tawde further clarified,Pakistan defence page is not a authenticPakistani defence ministry site. In the Pune

rally held by Raj, he had brought this familyto the stage saying, they had not agreed tobe featured in the 'Modi hai toh mumkeenhai' campaign. Raj said, the photos wererandomly used by the Bharatiya JanataParty's IT cell for the promotion of PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi and his government.Sambuddha Mitra Mustafi had interviewedChiley, who he claimed were MNS workers.The photograph was taken at that time and

the Chiley family had agreed for their pictureto be taken. Tawde further said, Congressand the Nationalist Congress Party do notreact to anything that the Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan says, only Raj seems toreact. "Moreover, is there a connect betweenRaj and Pakistan, there should be an inquiry.Raj reacts to Imran and he in turn becomes ahero in Pakistan," said Tawde.

—FPJ Bureau

Ahmednagar districtCongress chief quits

FPJ BUREAU / Ahmednagar

Congress received yet another setback in Ahmednagar asthe district chief Karan Sasane resigned from the party. “Iwill not campaign for Congress party and will remain neu-tral,” said Sasane. Sasane took this decision after a jointmeeting with supporters Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil at Shir-di. In this meeting, Sasane took the decision to step down asCongress district chief. He said that the workers are upsetwith Bhausaheb Kamble. "We only worked because of ourcommitment to the party and we took sabhas. After my fa-ther was humiliated, I refused to work anymore for the elec-tions. I am not going to work against the party but I will notcampaign for it," clarified Sasane.Congress president Rahul Gandhi's concluding public

meeting is going to be held in Sangamner and it remains tobe seen if Vikhe Patil attends it. Dr Sujay quit Congress andis now a candidate of Maha Yuti. Vikhe Patil has said thathe will clarify about his future plans on April 27.

Infighting in saffron alliance in ThaneFPJ BUREAU / Thane

Only days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, work-ers belonging to the Republican Party of India(Athavale) have announced their support forMaha Aghadi candidate Anand Paranjape. They clarified that they are against the sit-

ting Member of Parliament and Maha Yuticandidate Rajan Vichare. They clarified, “Wehave been repeatedly humiliated and finallywe decided to oppose Vichare,” said RPIspokesperson Vikas Chavan. RPI workers claimed that they were always ig-

nored and not invited to any conference and meet-ings. "We are not called. Our party is not ac-knowledged and worse photographs ofAthavale and district chief Rambhao Tayadeare not displayed on publicity hoardings,"said Chavan.The workers said none of Maha Yuti say

'Jai Bhim' at meetings and they are alwaysgiven the back seats on the stage. Chauhanclaimed they have rebelled despite Athavaleand Tayade asking them to refrain from doing

so. Chavan said that they are ready to face anyaction.

They clarified that they are against Maha Yuti candidate Rajan Vichare

Kolis extend supportto NCP in Mumbai N-E

STAFF REPORTER / Mumbai

The Marathas and Kolis (fish-erfolk) on Thursday extendedtheir support to Sanjay DinaPatil, the Nationalist Con-gress Party (NCP) candidatefor the Mumbai North Eastconstituency. In a public meeting at Ja-

gannath Hall in Vikroli, theAgri Koli Mahasang andMaratha Kranti Morcha ex-tended their support to him. In the meeting, both com-

munity leaders expressedtheir anger against the ruling

Bharatiya Janta Party-ShivSena government over vari-ous proposed projects whichhave risked their livelihoods.The fishermen communityare being evicted forcibly andthey fear losing their liveli-hood.Patil belongs to the fisher-

folk community and they saidthat he would be able to un-derstand their problems andbelieve that he will help re-solve them. Patil welcomedthem for bestowing trust onhim and assured he will ad-dress their issues if he wins.

[DEFINING M MENT ]LOK SABHA ELECTION 2019

BKC road restricted on Friday for JahirSabha organised by political partiesMUMBAI: The Bandra Kurla Complex traffic Police have issueda circular mentioning the traffic diversions near the MMRDAground on account of the Jahir Sabha organised by politicalparties on Friday. The circular states that vehicular entry onboth sides of the road between Tata Power building and firestation building at BKC will be temporarily restricted fromThursday midnight to Saturday midnight. On the same lines,the entry on BKC road from NABARD junction to UTI will berestricted, said a traffic police officer. These restrictions are notapplicable to emergency vehicles like fire tenders andambulances. The traffic police have advised the commuters toplan their travelling schedule accordingly.

24 criminals externed from NaviMumbai for Lok Sabha electionsMUMBAI: In the light of the ongoing poll season for Lok Sabhaelections, the Navi Mumbai police have externed 24 historysheeters out of the city to maintain the peace and order duringthe polling time. This move comes after the history sheeterswere found to be indulging in notorious activities like extortion,threatening and assault, which ultimately spread terror in theminds of the people. These history sheeters had casesregistered against them at Rabale, Turbhe, Sanpada, Vashi,Nerul and MIDC police stations. - Staff Reporter

Mumbai’s Bharatiya Bangali Parishadextends support to the BJPMUMBAI: The Bharatiya Bangali Parishad, a communityorganisation of Bengalis, in Mumbai has extended support tothe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday evening. Thecommunity of Bengali people living in Mumbai has pledged topromote BJP’s nationalistic vision among the people in Bengalthrough several electronic mediums prior to the remainingphases of the Bengal Elections. They also stated, "PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's popularity is increasing among thepeople of Bengal, over the last few years. As a result, those ofus supporting him are facing oppression from the TrinamoolCongress (TMC) cadres. We are making people aware of theirelectoral rights," said a member of the Parishad. Member ofLegislative Assembly Raj K Purohit and state BJP SpokespersonAtul Shah were also present at the seminar.

- Pratip Acharya

Tawde alleges Chiley family on MNS dais has Pakistani link

Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Shiv Sena-BJP and RPI candidate fromMumbai South Central along with with actor Adesh Bandekar areout on election campaign at Chembur on Thursday. — BL SONI

PIC: BL SONI