Youth killed while posing with pistol for TikTok video
Mumbai, Jun 13: A teenager was shot dead `accidentally' when he and his relatives were posing for a TikTok video in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, police said Thursday.
Pratik Wadekar (17) died on the spot during the incident which took place in the temple town of Shirdi Wednesday evening.
Pratik and his relatives Sunny Pawar (20), Nitin Wadekar (27), an 11-year-old boy and another young man were in Shirdi for the last rituals of a family member, police said.
While sitting in their hotel room, they decided to shoot a video on mobile phone by posing with a country-made pistol one of Pratik's relatives had brought, and upload it on popular video-sharing app TikTok.
The trigger of the pistol was accidentally pressed and the bullet hit Pratik, said inspector Anil Katke of Shirdi police station.
As he collapsed, others ran out of the room, and when the hotel staff, alerted by the gunshot, tried to stop them, one of them allegedly threatened to open fire and fled, the police officer added.
Police took Pratik to the government hospital where he was declared dead before admission, inspector Katke said.
A case was registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder), and Sunny Pawar and Nitin Wadekar were arrested while another relative was yet to be traced. The fourth accused is a minor.
Pawar and Wadekar allegedly told police that the pistol went off when they were shooting a video. Further probe is on, inspector Katke said.
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Rahul Gandhi joins Haryana Congress leader's 'Sadbhav Yatra' in Gurugram
Gurugram (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday joined the 'Sadbhav Yatra' of Haryana Congress leader Brijendra Singh here.
Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, reached Gurugram in the evening and joined the yatra. He also walked some distance with Brijendra, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh and other leaders.
Huge crowds had turned up for the occasion.
Later, Gandhi proceeded to the venue where he addressed a public gathering.
Leader of Opposition in Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other Congress leaders, including Randeep Singh Surjewala, B K Hariprasad, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh, were also present.
Brijendra Singh had on Thursday said it is a matter of joy for them that Gandhi was joining the 'Sadbhav Yatra' in Gurugram-Badshahpur, "thereby strengthening the Indian National Congress' campaign for brotherhood and harmony".
The 'Sadbhav Yatra' began from Danoda village at Narwana in Jind on October 5, 2025, and has covered 85 of the 90 assembly segments in the state.
The foot march was started by Brijendra Singh, son of Congress veteran Birender Singh, to highlight several national and regional issues.
State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh had asked all party leaders to take part in Friday's event.
Days before his yatra began in October, Brijendra Singh, who narrowly lost the 2024 assembly polls from Jind's Uchana Kalan, accused the ruling BJP of playing "divisive politics" and said that "sadbhav" (harmony) has come under stress in the last decade.
Brijendra Singh was a sitting MP from Hisar for the BJP when he resigned ahead of the 2024 general election and switched over to the Congress. He also alleged that the saffron party creates a wedge in society to achieve its political purpose.
The 'padyatra' has so far covered 85 assembly constituencies in Haryana, traversing more than 2,700 kilometres.
Addressing the public gathering, Brijendra Singh said the yatra is inspired by Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, where he took the party's vision and values directly to the people of the country.
Singh said the yatra has highlighted issues like "Vote Chori" (vote theft), unemployment, poor law and order situation, agrarian distress, and issues related to government employees, labourers and traders.
"Sadbhav (harmony) and bhaichara (brotherhood), which the BJP is attempting to weaken, are the messages of this yatra," he said, adding that its slogan is "Congress ka haath bhaichara ka saath".
"This yatra is a natural extension of the Bharat Jodo Yatra," Brijendra Singh said.
