Mumbai Cricket Association achieves Guinness World Record for largest cricket ball sentence
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Thursday achieved the Guinness World Record for the largest cricket ball sentence using 14,505 red and white varieties of the ball here at the Wankhede Stadium.
The feat came as a part of MCA’s grand celebrations for the completion of 50 years of one of India’s iconic cricket venues, the Wankhede Stadium here, which has been home to some of Indian cricket's superstars.
It was also the venue where India achieved their second 50-over World Cup title in 2011 under the legendary MS Dhoni.
“We are thrilled to announce that the Mumbai Cricket Association has achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest cricket ball sentence at Wankhede Stadium, using 14,505 red & white cricket balls,” said MCA president Ajinkya Naik.
“This incredible feat, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Test match at Wankhede, is dedicated to the memory of Late Shri Eknath Solkar and other former Mumbai players who have served Mumbai cricket and are no longer with us,” he added.
The record was created on the anniversary of the first international match at the Wankhede Stadium played in 1975 from January 23-29 between India and the West Indies.
Solkar had scored a century in that contest.
“MCA will give the balls, which were used to achieve this record, to the aspiring cricketers of schools, clubs and NGOs in the city, encouraging them to take inspiration from this record and achieve greater milestones in their careers,” the governing body said in a statement.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
