Hill catches fire near Bhatkal

Palghar, Mar 7: Police have arrested a man for allegedly cheating several shopkeepers in Maharashtra's Thane, Pune and Nashik by making phone calls in a woman's voice, police said on Friday.

The accused, Shashikant Ambekar (42), a resident of Palghar, was arrested in the last week of February, they said.

"He used to note down the phone numbers mentioned on different shops and call the owners in a woman's voice to order some things from them. He would tell them that he had a Rs 2000 currency note and needed change," an official said.

"He would ask the shopkeepers to send smaller denomination notes for exchange. He would wait at the entrance of buildings and when the delivery man arrived, he used to tell that he was there on behalf of the ''caller woman''.

"He would then take the currency notes from the delivery man saying he would get the Rs 2,000 note from the woman. However, he would disappear from the scene," the official said.

Police have seized Rs 1,85,000 from the accused and found that so far he has committed 22 similar crimes in different parts of the state.

Cuttack, Jan 16: At least 15 passengers were injured as five coaches of the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed and three more were displaced after colliding with a goods train amid heavy fog near Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday, railway officials said.

Railway officials had earlier said that 25 passengers were injured in the incident but later officers who reached the site reported that four passengers were found to have suffered major injuries and 11 had received minor injuries.

Passengers with major injuries have been sent to Cuttack Medical College. All passengers are stated to be out of danger.

Officials said the accident happened when the passenger train hit the guard van of a good train around 7 am between Salagaon and Nergundi stations.

The officials said there was heavy fog at the site but it was not clear what led to the accident. The speedometer of both the trains have been seized for inquiry, East Coast Railway Spokesperson J P Mishra said.

Buses have been arranged for all remaining passengers to move towards their destination.

Cuttack is around 10-12 km away and Bhubaneswar(Terminating station) is 35 km.

The accident disrupted train services in the area.

Five trains have been affected due to the accident where restoration work in underway. These include the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai LTT SF Express, the Puri-Rourkela Express, Dhanbad-Bhubaneshwar Rajyarani Express which have all been diverted via Naraj.

"East Coast Railway acknowledges with deep gratitude help of nearby locals and villagers who have displayed great humanitarian values and come to the rescue of injured passengers," Mishra said.

Bareilly (UP), May 19: Samajwadi leader Chhotelal Diwakar and his son, Sunil Diwakar, were shot dead in broad daylight in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. The entire incident was caught on camera.

The murder was apparently a fallout of a dispute over laying of a road under MGNREGA.

Chhotelal Diwakar had contested the 2017 assembly elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket.

Superintendent of Police, (SP), Sambhal, Yamuna Prasad, said, "Some work was being carried out under MGNREGA due to which some dispute happened. Two people have been shot dead. We will reach the spot of the incident to find more details."

According to his family members, Diwakar and his son had gone for a walk in the fields when the assailants came on a motorbike and after a brief altercation, shot them dead. They fled on foot, leaving their motorbike behind.

A large number of SP workers reached the village soon after the news of the double murder spread.

SP Yamuna Prasad who reached the spot that falls under Behjoi police station, soon after the murders, said that a manhunt has been launched for the assailants. He said that further investigations were underway and the bodies have been sent for post mortem.