Sunetra Pawar elected as NCP's legislature party leader
Mumbai (PTI): Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar was unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party in Maharashtra on Saturday, three days after the death of her husband and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
She is set to take oath as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of the state later in the day.
Sunetra Pawar's name as the NCP's legislature party leader was proposed by senior leader Dilip Walse Patil and seconded by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal.
She was elected during a meeting of the party's legislature wing, held at the office of late Ajit Pawar on the ground floor of the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai.
Ajit Pawar, who was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, was killed in a plane crash in Baramati along with four others on January 28.
Sunetra Pawar paid floral tributes to a portrait of her late husband in the meeting hall. Their younger son Jay was also present.
Many ministers and legislators were teary-eyed when they entered the Vidhan Bhavan complex.
The Lok Bhavan has confirmed that the swearing-in ceremony of Sunetra Pawar as the state deputy CM will be held at 5 pm in Mumbai.
Until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar had kept a low profile. In the Lok Sabha elections that year, she contested from Baramati as the candidate of her husband's party, but was defeated by her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in the prestige battle.
Sunetra Pawar was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha.
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Man suspected of spying for Pakistan's ISI remanded to police custody in Jaipur
Jaipur (PTI): A man accused of spying for the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was remanded to police custody for four days by a Jaipur court on Saturday.
The suspect, identified as Jhabararam (28), was arrested on Friday and was produced before a court on Saturday, where he was remanded to police custody till February 4.
Rajasthan Police's Intelligence branch arrested him for allegedly transmitting sensitive Indian Army information across the border and engaging in anti-national activities.
ADG (Intelligence) Prafull Kumar said that the accused was in regular contact with Pakistani handlers through social media and was allegedly lured through honey-trap operations and monetary incentives to share sensitive information.
Jhabararam was detained from Jaisalmer and brought to the Central interrogation centre in Jaipur for joint interrogation.
On finding sufficient evidence, a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and he was subsequently arrested.
