8-month pregnant woman gang-raped by 8 men in Maharashtra
Mumbai/Sangli, Aug 2: A shocking case of an eight-month pregnant woman from Satara being gang-raped by eight men in Sangli has come to light. Taking serious note, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women on Thursday sought a report from the local police.
The incident occurred around 6 a.m. on Tuesday when the 20-year-old woman, along with her hotelier husband, had gone to Turchi Phata in Tasgaon for a business meeting.
An official of Tasgaon police station told IANS that the hotelier and his wife were on the lookout to hire a couple for their hotel business.
One of the accused, Mukund Mane, had called him (the hotelier) to Turchi Phata claiming such a couple was ready to work for them and asked him to bring Rs 20,000 as advance payment for them.
When they reached the location, Mane and his men pounced on the hotelier couple, assaulted them with pipes and sticks, robbed them of the cash besides the woman's gold ornaments.
Then they tied up the husband, gagged and locked him inside his vehicle and then allegedly gang-raped the woman.
They ignored her repeated pleas to let her go since she was eight months pregnant and after committing the crime escaped from there.
The attackers threatened them against informing the police claiming "they were locally very influential and nobody would listen to them".
Later, the couple managed to reach the Tasgaon police station and registered a complaint. The woman has named four of the eight accused - Mukund Mane, Sagar, Javed Khan and Vinod - in her FIR.
Nearly 48 hours after the incident, the police have yet to make arrests.
Intervening in the matter, Maharashtra State Commission for Women Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has written to the Sangli Superintendent of Police to personally look into the case and submit a detailed report on the case.
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Dy CM Shivakumar confident of Congress win in Karnataka bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday expressed confidence that the ruling Congress will secure a decisive victory in the Assembly bypolls scheduled for April 9 in the Bagalkote and Davanagere South constituencies, citing a favourable ground response to the party’s guarantee schemes.
These are ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’, ‘Gruha Jyoti’, ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’.
The bypolls were necessitated by the demise of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, who represented Davanagere South and Bagalkote constituencies, respectively.
The Congress has fielded Shivashankarappa’s grandson, Samarth Shamanur, in Davanagere South and Umesh Meti in Bagalkote. They are locked in direct contests with BJP candidates T Dasakariyappa and Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.
“Both Bagalkote and Davanagere are very positive. Congress workers are doing an excellent job, going door to door and convincing people about the guarantee schemes,” Shivakumar told reporters here.
He said even voters who had earlier supported the BJP were now inclined towards the Congress.
“Even those who voted for the BJP earlier are saying they will vote for Congress. People want the guarantees to continue and are expressing difficulties due to rising prices,” he said.
Expressing confidence of an improved electoral performance, he added, “There is a strong sense that we will win with a bigger margin than before.”
Shivakumar also said he would travel to Kerala for two days and resume campaigning thereafter. “I am going to Kerala for two days. After returning, we will continue the campaign from Davanagere,” he said.
Referring to the shortage of LPG, including auto LPG, in the state, Shivakumar blamed the BJP-led government and called for immediate intervention by the Centre.
“The LPG shortage is due to the BJP. Auto drivers and those in the transport sector are facing difficulties,” he claimed.
“This is something the central government has to address. It must formulate proper policies and take precautionary measures,” he said, adding that the BJP should apologise to the public.
“They should come forward and apologise to the people for the inconvenience caused and resolve the issues they have created,” he said.
