India on course for crushing win after enforcing follow-on
Rajkot, Oct 6 : Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin produced a brilliant spell as India enforced the follow-on against the West Indies after bowling out the hapless visitors for 181 in their first innings on day three here on Saturday.
At lunch, the West Indies were 33 for one in nine overs in their second innings with Ashwin removing skipper Kraigg Brathwaite (10) for his fourth wicket of the day.
The visitors still trail by 435 runs and face a herculean task of saving the game. Kieran Powell (21) and Shai Hope (0) were in the middle when lunch was taken.
The West Indies, resuming their first innings at 94 for six, lasted only an hour and 10 minutes, mainly due to efforts of Roston Chase (53) and Keemo Paul (47) who ended up sharing a 73-run stand.
Ashwin ran through the tail on a pitch offering plenty of turn, ending with four for 37 in 11 overs as the West Indies were all out in 48 overs.
India started with spin-pace combination of Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Shami. Surprisingly, Chase and Paul had little difficulty in picking the chinaman, who bowled the first over the day.
Paul went on the offensive straight away, sweeping Kuldeep for two crisp boundaries.
Paul was the aggressor in the partnership but Chase also came up with a few attractive shots.
Paul was comfortable against Kuldeep but had issues dealing with the short ball. Umesh Yadav set the West Indian up nicely before getting rid of him with a perfectly placed bouncer as he mistimed a pull to be caught at midwicket.
Ashwin then removed Chase with a beauty, a flighted ball that turned in viciously to create a big gap between bat and pad before crashing into the stumps, leaving the West Indies at 159 for eight.
Number 10 and 11 were easy meat for Aswhin who sent them back with the away turning ball. With a huge 468-run lead, India expectedly enforced the follow-on with less than an hour to go for lunch.
Like Paul at the start of the day, Powell too went for his strokes and dispatched Ashwin for a straight four and six in the second over of their second innings.
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'Godman' Kharat held in 8th sexual exploitation case; court denies police remand, sends him to jail
Nashik (PTI): Police took custody of self-proclaimed godman-cum-astrologer Ashok Kharat in an eighth case related to sexual exploitation of women and produced him before a Nashik district court which sent him to jail till May 12 after rejecting the plea for his police remand on Thursday.
On April 29, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police in north Maharashtra filed a request application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in the eighth case.
After the court granted them the necessary permission, the SIT took custody of Kharat, who was in jail in connection with the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
The 'godman', named in a dozen FIRs related to rape and financial fraud, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani in the eighth case through video conferencing due to security reasons.
The eighth case related to Kharat allegedly sexually exploiting a woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems, according to police.
During the hearing, the prosecution demanded police custody of the accused in the latest case.
However, the defence strongly opposed the demand and argued that the SIT was giving same reasons for police custody every time and there was no strong reason for accepting their plea.
The court accepted the argument put forth by the defence and remanded Kharat to judicial custody till May 12 in the eighth case.
The SIT will produce Kharat in the court on Friday again and seek his police custody in the ninth case. As the self-styled godman has been granted judicial custody in the eighth case, he will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail and the SIT will take his custody from there.
Meanwhile, Kharat's judicial custody in the fourth case ended on Thursday. On April 18, the accused was remanded to judicial custody till April 30 in the fourth case of sexual exploitation of women.
In a related development, the SIT conducted a search at Kharat's office in the 'Canada Corner' area of Nashik city on Wednesday. A 'panchnama' (record of search and seizure proceedings) was conducted and the office was locked and sealed again.
Kharat, a well-heeled man with political connections, was arrested for the first time on March 18 after a woman alleged he had repeatedly raped her for three years.
He is accused of sexually exploiting several women by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic, and also committing large-scale financial fraud.
The SIT is conducting a probe into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against the astrologer in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
