Pune (PTI): A court in Pune in Maharashtra on Friday acquitted 20 people, including the leader of a right-wing Hindutva outfit, in the 2014 murder case of a youth named Mohsin Shaikh.

Information Technology professional Shaikh (28) was attacked and killed on June 2, 2014 in Hadapsar area by a mob incensed by morphed pictures of deities, and 20 persons, including Hindu Rashtra Sena leader Dhananjay Desai, were arrested.

Additional Sessions Judge SB Salunke acquitted 20 persons, including Desai, for want of evidence, the HRS leader's lawyer Milind Pawar said.

The defence successfully argued Desai was in jail in connection with another case when the murder took place, Pawar said.

He said Desai had no role in the killing or the riots that took place soon after.

The witnesses in the case narrated the entire incident but they failed to identify all the accused arrested in the case, Pawar added.
Desai was held some days after the murder and was released on bail in January, 2019.

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Udupi: Udupi City Police have registered a case of online fraud after a 62-year-old hotel chef was allegedly cheated of Rs 1.13 lakh by a woman who befriended him on WhatsApp, claiming to be based in London.
The victim, identified as Pandu Kariappa Poojary, a resident of Kuthpadi in Udupi, was working at a hotel in Mangaluru.

He reportedly came into contact with a woman identifying herself as Emilda William on WhatsApp. During their interactions, she told Poojary that she planned to start a cosmetics and hotel business in India and would meet him during a visit to Mangaluru.
On April 7, Emilda sent Poojary a flight ticket from London to Delhi via WhatsApp. The following day, Poojary received a phone call from a woman who informed him that Emilda had arrived at Delhi airport carrying a demand draft worth Rs 5 crore along with other items. The caller allegedly asked him to pay Rs 70,000.
Subsequently, Poojary also received a call from Emilda, who was reportedly crying and spoke about the situation. Believing the claims, he transferred a total of Rs 1,13,300 in phases using a scanner. He later realised that he had been cheated.