Missing RTI activist found dead; police suspect murder
Pune : A 32-year-old RTI activist, who went missing last month, was found dead in Pune district of Maharashtra, a police official said on Tuesday.
Police suspect that the deceased, Vinayak Shirsath, was killed by someone, a senior official Bharti Vidyapeeth police station here said.
The decomposed body was found near Mutha village on Lavasa road on Monday evening, he said.
Shirsath, a resident of Pune city, went missing on January 30 following which his family members had registered a police complaint on January 31.
"We later registered a kidnapping case on February 5 after his family raised suspicion that he might have been abducted as he had raised voice under the Right to Information (RTI) Act against illegal constructions in some parts of the city," the official said.
Shirsath's family pointed fingers at several people linked to the real estate sector, but during the probe, all of them were found to be close friends of the deceased, he said.
A case has now been registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and a probe is underway, he said.
The body has been sent for post mortem and its report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of death, he added.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
