After 3 decades, Sunil Gavaskar returns unused Mumbai plot
Mumbai, May 4: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has returned a government plot allotted to him in Mumbai 33 years ago to set up a cricket academy, an official from the Maharashtra housing agecy MHADA said on Wednesday.
State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad had last year expressed displeasure over Gavaskar not utilising the plot in suburban Bandra, where a cricket academy was proposed, even after 30 years of the allotment.
Gavaskar has now returned the plot to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) after the latter's eight-month-long deliberations and meetings with partners of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state, the official said.
Awhad also confirmed that Gavaskar had written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, informing that he could not set up a cricket academy on the Bandra plot given to him years ago.
Earlier, Gavaskar along with batting legend Sachin Tendulkar had approached Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with a plan to develop the academy, but it did not materialise.
The MHADA, which comes under Awhad's ministry, had requested Gavaskar to return the unused plot.
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18-year-old graphic designer arrested for theft; says he lost job due to AI
Indore (PTI): An 18-year-old graphic designer, who claimed to have lost his job due to AI, was arrested with his NEET-aspirant woman friend on Thursday for allegedly stealing jewelry worth Rs 16 lakh.
The teen duo told police that they were inspired by the 2005 film Bunti Aur Babli, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shrikrishna Lalchandani.
They allegedly stole gold, silver, and diamond jewelry worth Rs 16.17 lakh from a shop in Rau police station area in the city on the night of December 22, the official told reporters.
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The entire booty was recovered from their possession after the arrest in Bhopal where they had fled.
Without disclosing the identities of the accused, DCP Lalchandani said, "Both are 18 years old. The young man is a graphic designer, while the woman is preparing for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). The two have known each other since childhood.
"During interrogation, the young man told us that he used to work part-time as a graphic designer at an IT company, but lost his job due to the company's adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and he was finding it difficult to make ends meet," the official added.
The accused, who come from economically weak background, claimed to have planned the theft after watching "Bunty Aur Babli," he said.
"The accused say they tried to sell the stolen jewelry, but the buyers, thinking they were children, wouldn't pay the right price. So they had decided to sell it after Christmas holidays," the DCP said.
