A 45-year-old woman was brutally killed by two men with a sharp weapon over suspicion that she was hiding information about a murder that took place in her village in Maharashtra's Latur district a few months ago, police said on Thursday.
The woman, Taramati Kachru Dhage, was killed in the vicinity of her village Vilegao under Ahmedpur tehsil on Monday evening, they said.
Following a complaint by the victim's son, a case was registered against two individuals at the Kingaon police station on late Monday night and they were subsequently arrested.
Another murder few months ago
According to police, a few months ago, one Arvind Pandhari Telge, a resident of Vilegao, was murdered by an unidentified person.
Subsequently, Arvind Telge's brother Sainath and his family began questioning Akash Dhage, a kin of Taramati Dhage and a friend of the deceased man, about the murder and the suspect, they said.
When Akash Dhage did not reveal any information, they suspected Taramati Dhage might know something about the murder, said the police.
On Monday afternoon, Taramati Dhage went to graze her buffalo near the Manyad river when Sainath Telge and his associate Babu Haqqani Shaikh arrived at the location and confronted her, they said.
They attacked Taramati Dhage near her right ear, forehead, and head with a sharp weapon, resulting in her death, said the police.
Sainath Telge and Shaikh were arrested and produced in a local court, which sent them in four-day police remand, they added.
Fair price shop owners stage protest in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Owners and licence holders of fair price shops staged a protest in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Tuesday over various demands, including an increase in their profit by Rs 100 per quintal of food grains.
The Maharashtra Fair Price Shop Owners and Licence Holders' Association staged an agitation at the district collector's office here.
In a memorandum to the food and civil supplies department, the association said that the authorities should ensure that food grains transported from godowns are clean and supplied in jute sacks.
The association sought that the profit of owners and licence holders should be increased by Rs 100 per quintal of food grains.
They have also appealed that the process of e-KYC of customers should be continuous, and shops should be charged power tariffs at domestic rates.
Thackeray faction stage protest
Shiv Sena (UBT) held an agitation in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city to protest the five-day suspension of Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve from the legislative council for allegedly using abusive language in the House.
The agitation, led by party functionary Raju Vaidya, was held at Kranti Chowk.
Danve was on Tuesday suspended from the House for five days for using abusive language against BJP legislator Prasad Lad during a discussion in the council on Monday evening. Lad had demanded a resolution condemning Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's 'not Hindus' remarks in the Lok Sabha, which elicited a sharp reaction from the Sena (UBT) leader.
"The suspension of Ambadas Danve is a misuse of the majority in the House. No action has been taken against Prasad Lad in this case. So we have agitated here," he said.
"Danve takes up the issues of common people in the Legislative Council. Hence, in order to suppress his voice, he has been suspended," he said.
Another party leader Nandkumar Ghodele said, "The ruling side is indulging in such tactics (of suspension) in the wake of the Lok Sabha poll results. But Hindutva ideology is not their ownership."
`Ladki Bahin' scheme benefit should not be given to those with two wives: MNS leader
The Maharashtra government should not extend the benefit of its `Ladki Bahin' scheme for women to communities where people have two wives, "especially" the Muslims, an MNS leader said in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Wednesday.
Eligible women will be given Rs 1,500 per month under the state government's 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana' announced last week in the annual budget.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Prakash Mahajan criticized the scheme and said some of its aspects needed clarification.
"A community where people have two wives, two or more children, especially people from the Muslim community, should not be given benefit of this scheme," he added.
He also criticized the government's decision to relax conditions for the grant of domicile certificates.
"Lakhs of Bangladeshi people are staying in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, and they have ration cards, voter ID cards....is the government going to give benefits to the people who are not of this country?" Mahajan asked.
