BMC lets 55 corrupt staff go, suspends 134

First India Bureau

Mumbai: In a strict move against corrupt employees by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 53 employees against whom corruption charges are pending and 81 against whom FIRs have been lodged are suspended from the service along with 55 employees who were dismissed after being slated guilty by the court. These 55 employees have not only lost their jobs but have also lost their pensions, gratuity and other benefits. They have also been

Several incidents came to light in which the juveniles were found possessing koytas and indulging in criminal activities. In order to curb the menace, we have brought in some measures in which the sellers have been asked to maintain the record of buyers.

—Smartana Patil, DCP (Zone II)

Aadhaar numbers and other credentials, of the buyers.

“Several incidents came to light in which the juveniles were found possessing koytas and indulging in criminal activities. In order to curb the menace, we have brought in some measures in which the sellers have been asked to maintain the record of buyers,” she said.

Flower Power

istered at Kalwa police station,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalwa) Vilas Shinde said.

Based on intelligence inputs and CCTV footage, investigators found that five persons were involved in the crime, he added.

“The police got a tipoff that the accused had escaped to Uttar Pradesh. So, we sent a team there and caught the accused from Basti district,” Shinde said, adding that three of them were arrested and the juvenile was detained.

blacklisted and will not be allowed to work in any government or semi-government organization in future.

The civic body officials claimed that BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had set certain norms for work after

1,000-year-old Jain stone statue discovered in Hingoli

First India Bureau

Aurangabad: An ancient stone idol, believed to be about 1,000 years old, of Lord Kunthunath, one of the Jain Tirthankaras, has been found in Hingoli district, experts said on Thursday.

The statue was discovered during construction work on the premises of an existing Jain temple located at Sonune Galli of Aundha Nagnath, about 600km from Mumbai, on Tuesday, they said.

Indologist Saili Palande-Datar said, “The sculpture recently excavated near the Jain temple at Aundha Nagnath is carved out of a basalt stone, could be from the 12th-13th century. It is of refined make and can be identified as that of Kunthunath Bhagwan.” According to Jain- ism, Kunthunath was the 17th of the 24 Tirthankaras, each of whom has a specific representative symbol or “lakshana”. This statue can be identified through its goat symbol, she said. Lord Ma- havira was the 24th Tirthankara. taking charge. These included transparency in work and strict adherence to BMC rules. It was also decided that strict action would be taken against any form of corruption. The BMC administration has claimed that they cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) which can file a charge sheet in the court but only after permission from the civic body. Till date, the ACB has 142 cases registered. Of these, the BMC has permitted to prosecute 105 cases. Out of the remaining 37 cases, 30 cases are under investigation.

The antiquity of the sculpture matching with other remains at the spot substantiated the presence of an important Jain centre at Aundha Nagnath.

Charge sheet filed against five arrested PFI members

Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) filed its chargesheet against five members of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), arrested after raids last year. The accused were arrested on the grounds of indulging in anti-national activities and waging war against the nation.

In the chargesheet filed before special judge AM Patil, the accused have been charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code for various offences, including promoting enmity among different groups and conspiring to commit offences against the State.

More than a 100 branches of the radical Islamist group were raided and several arrests were made in a nationwide operation, in September last year.

The PFI was banned by the Central government through a notification issued on September 27 last year, in which it said the outfit (PFI) and its affiliates have been involved in subversive activities, thereby disturbing public order and undermining the constitutional set-up of the country.