RPF cop on shooting spree, communal clashes dominated Maharashtra crime scene in 2023

Mumbai: The killing of four persons by an RPF constable onboard a train near Mumbai and communal clashes in some parts of Maharashtra were among the major crime and law and order incidents in the state in 2023.

The murder of a woman in Thane by her live-in partner who cut the body into several pieces, arrest of a top DRDO scientist in an espionage case and suicide by noted art director Nitin Desai also kept the police busy this year.

The Mumbai police also faced challenges with hoax calls of bomb blasts at some of the key places and threat calls to some prominent personalities.

As per the city police, they received more than 50 such threat calls and emails this year.

In an incident which caught national attention, Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable Chetansinh Chaudhary shot dead his senior colleague and three passengers on Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express near Palghar station on Mumbai's outskirts in July.

The cop, who was later dismissed from service, also made hate remarks to justify his act.

In March, stone pelting took place at a Ram Navami procession in Malad area here following a dispute over loud DJ music being played in the procession as it was passing through the vicinity of mosques.

Later, tension gripped Kolhapur city in June as violence occurred during a demonstration against the use of Tipu Sultan’s image and an objectionable audio message as social media status by a few locals. Internet services were suspended temporarily in Kolhapur.

At Kiradpura in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, a clash erupted when a group of men from one community got into an altercation with another group for raising objectionable slogans ahead of the Ram Navami.

A similar incident occurred in Ahmednagar in May when five people were injured after a communal clash during the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Jayanti procession. Internet services were briefly suspended in the district.

Even as the Maharashtra Police handled these incidents, a protest over the Maratha reservation demand turned violent at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna on September 1 in which several people, including some police personnel, were injured.

The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding quota for the Maratha community.

The ATS in May arrested Pradeep Kurulkar, the then director of a Pune-based lab affiliated with the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on charges of providing confidential information to a Pakistani intelligence operative.

He wad booked under the Official Secrets Act.

In June this year, Thane-based Manoj Sane (56) killed his live-in partner Sarasvati Vaidya at their flat in Mira Road area and cut the body into several pieces. The incident sparked a nationwide outrage.

In August, art director Nitin Desai, whose firm was under a heavy debt, died by suicide at his studio in Raigad, leaving the film industry in a state of shock.

Police registered an FIR against five persons, including Edelweiss Group Chairman Rashesh Shah, on charges of abetment of Desai's suicide.

In another incident concerning Bollywood, actor Chrisann Pereira, who acted in movie “Sadak 2”, was apprehended at the Sharjah airport after drugs were found inside a memento which some persons had asked her to hand over to someone in the UAE.

She spent nearly a month in a prison in Sharjah before being released. She later returned to Mumbai.

In March, police arrested designer Aniksha Jaisinghani, the daughter of suspected bookie Anil Jaisinghani, on charges of blackmailing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta Fadnavis and attempting to bribe her.

In February, IIT Bombay's 18-year-old Darshan Solanki, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste, died by suicide in a hostel here, sparking protests by various student bodies and other organisations in parts of the country.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to conduct a probe and a student was arrested in the case.

The institute ruled out caste-based discrimination.

In January, a 22-year-old medical student was set on fire by her father, brother and three other relatives in Nanded over her love affair with a man.

Journalist Shashikant Warishe, who had highlighted the issue of land acquisition for a proposed refinery in Ratnagiri, was mowed down by an SUV in February.

The state government later ordered an SIT probe into the alleged murder of Warishe and termed the incident as an attack on democracy.

Earlier this year, a police SIT launched a probe into irregularities in Rs 12,024 crore-worth contracts awarded by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the country's richest civic body, during the COVID-19 period.

Last month, the Mumbai police registered an FIR against 32 people, including the Mahadev betting app promoter Saurabh Chandrakar, on charges of a fraud of nearly Rs 15,000 crore.

The Centre had earlier issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting platforms, including the Mahadev app, on the Enforcement Directorate's request.

In February, social media influencer Sapna Gill was arrested in a case of manhandling of cricketer Prithvi Shaw and attacking his car here. She was later granted bail.

Earlier this month, the Mumbai police registered an FIR against industrialist Sajjan Jindal on a complaint of a 30-year-old woman who accused him of raping her after promising to marry her, a charge denied by the billionaire.