Maharashtra

Mumbai, Mar 6 (PTI) Former Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) D D Padsalgikar has been appointed the new UpaLokayukta of the state.

Governor Vidyasagar Rao has approved the proposal of government to appoint the retired IPS officer as Upa Lokayukta (or deputy Lokayukta), a Raj Bhavan statement said Wednesday night.

Last week, Padsalgikar retired from the post of DGP.

Thane, Mar 6 (PTI) A court in Thane district Wednesday awarded death sentence to a man for raping and murdering an 18-year-old woman in 2013.

Additional Sessions Judge at Kalyan, N M Waghmare, held Ashok Mukane, 37, guilty under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder), and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

The prosecution told the court that Mukane, who hailed from Shahapur in Thane district, had committed the crime on September 5, 2013.

Nagpur, Mar 5 (PTI) India beat Australia by 8 runs in the second ODI to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series here Tuesday.

Brief scores:

India: 250 all out in 48.2 overs (Virat Kohli 116; Pat Cummins 4/29).

Australia: 242 all out in 49.3 overs (Marcus Stoinis 52; Kuldeep Yadav 3/54).

Mumbai, Mar 5 (PTI) The Maharashtra cabinet Tuesday cleared a 29-kilometre metro line for Thane which will be implemented by the Maha Metro on behalf of the Thane Municipal Corporation.

A statement from the Chief Minister's office said the project will take four years to be completed and will be built at a cost of Rs 13,095 crore.

Of the 29 kilometres, 2.2 kilometres will be underground and the rest will be elevated, it added.

Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI) Inability to repay bank loan and poor output from agriculture fields allegedly drove a 35-year- old farmer to commit suicide Monday in Beed district of Maharashtra, police said.

The farmer, Mahadev Rambhau Bhosle, was found hanging from a mango tree through a rope in the early hours in village Khardewadi in the district, around 375km from here in the arid Marathwada region, an official said.

Bhosle was spotted hanging by some onlookers, who alerted his family members, he said.

Mumbai, Mar 3; PTI/GANASHAKTI : Beleaguered carrierJet Airways has groundedtwo more of its aircraft due to non-payment of lease rentals, taking the total number of planes on ground to 23.

With the grounding of two more planes, almost 20 per cent of aircraft in the airlines fleet are now out of operations.

"An additional two aircraft have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements," the airline said in a filing to the stock exchanges on Saturday.

Mumbai, Mar 3 (PTI) Opposition Congress and NCP in Maharashtra have reached out to Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar to join their anti-BJP coalition and asked him to send them a draft of how to bring the RSS under the constitutional framework.

Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of architect of the Constitution late B R Ambedkar and head of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, has put conditions for joining the anti-BJP 'maha aghadi' (grand alliance) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Palghar, Mar 2(PTI) A 10-year-old girl was allegedly repeatedly raped by a boy at a village in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said on Saturday.

The boy, 12, was booked following a complaint lodged by the girl's parents, police said.

"Both the minors are neighbours. As per the complaint, the boy had been raping the girl since the last four months," an official of Mokhada police station said.

Mumbai, Mar 1 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Friday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a press conference and answer questions of the public.

Since he became the PM in 2014, Modi has not held a press conference in all this time, Gandhi said, addressing a public rally here.

"I address press conferences; have you seen the 'chowkidar' addressing a press conference? He is not only a 'chor' (thief) but also 'darpok' (coward)," Gandhi said.

Palghar, Feb 27 (PTI) A 28-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his father in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

Mavin D'Souza hit his father Wilson D'Souza (51) with a hard object at their home in Vasai area on Tuesday evening, killing him on the spot, Arnala Sagri police station's sub-inspector Ramesh Gaikwad said.