Maharashtra

Mumbai, Oct 24 (PTI) Four members of an inter-state gang were arrested by Raigad Police in Maharashtra for allegedly smuggling snake venom worth Rs 1.7 crore in illicit markets, an official said Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Rajaram Jaiswar (46) and Udaynath Jaiswar (37) at Mandva Jetty in Raigad and recovered snake venom kept in a water bottle, he said.

The accused, hailing from Malvani in Mumbai, allegedly told police that two persons from Gujarat had handed over the venom to them.

Mumbai, Oct 23 (PTI) Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena said on Tuesday that he has "broken all previous records" of going on international tours, and asked what has the nation gained out of it.

Taking a dim view of India's defence deals with France and Russia, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party claimed that US President Donald Trump was "threatening" India with trade sanctions, if Delhi does not agree to F-16 fighter jets deal.

Mumbai, Oct 22 (PTI) A Right to Information plea has found that 18,423 people died and 18,847 people were injured in suburban train-related mishaps between January 2013 to August 2018.

Replying to the RTI query filed by activist Shakeel Ahmad, the Mumbai railway police commissionerate said that these casualties occurred due to passengers falling from trains, dashing against poles, crossing railway tracks or travelling on the roof of trains.

Mumbai, Oct 20 (PTI) A special NIA court rejected 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit's petition challenging the validity of the prosecution sanction for his trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Special NIA court judge Vinod Padalkar rejected his petition after hearing the arguments of Purohit and other accused in the case.

The court has set October 26 as the next date of hearing in the case.

Pune, Oct 18 (PTI) A 28-year-old woman who had undergone a uterus transplant gave birth to a baby girl at a private hospital here Thursday.

A doctor who treated her claimed that it was the first such case in the country.

Meenakshi Walan, resident of Vadodara, underwent the transplant in May 2017, said Dr Neeta Warty, one of the doctors who oversaw the delivery.

Walan'smother donated her uterus to her daughter as Walan's uterus had become non-functional following a miscarriage, she said.

Mumbai, Oct 18 (PTI) In an apparent dig at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said Thursday that there was no "wave" in the country like the one in 2014.

In 2014, the BJP's success in Lok Sabha elections had been widely attributed to a "Modi wave".

Thackeray was addressing party workers at the Sena's annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park here.

"There is no wave as it was in 2014," he said, suggesting that the BJP would not be able to replicate its 2014 success in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) The country's foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 915.8 million to USD 399.609 billion in the week to October 5 on account of a fall in foreign currency assets, according to RBI data.

In the previous week, the reserves had declined by USD 1.265 billion to USD 400.52 billion.

In the reporting week, foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, decreased by USD 1.011 billion to USD 375.231 billion, as per the RBI data.

Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) Dissident BJP leader Ashish Deshmukh, who resigned as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly last week, has also quit the primary membership of the party.

He alleged that policies of the BJP-led state government had created a "paralysis".

Deshmukh, who represented Katol Assembly constituency in Vidarbha region, sent his resignation letter to BJP president Amit Shah Thursday.

Pune, Oct 12 (PTI) A case of alleged extortion has been registered against Yogesh Tilekar, a BJP MLA from Pune, and two others, police said Friday.

Tilekar, his brother Chetan and his associate Ganesh Kamthe were booked under IPC section 385 (extortion) for allegedly demanding Rs 50 lakh from a private firm to allow it to lay optical fibre cables for internet, police said.

(Maha), Oct 12 (PTI) Days after a local woman BJP activist was killed in her flat here in Maharashtra, her domestic help has been arrested for the crime, police said Friday.

Rupali Chavan (36) was found dead in her house in the Nallasopara area of Palghar district on October 9. She was killed two days earlier, the police had said early this week.