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Maharashtra

Mumbai Airport Crash: 8 Hospitalised, Pilots Critical

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A Learjet crash-landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, with one wing igniting on the taxiway uniform, situated near the domestic terminal. The second wing detached and fell aside, while the aircraft’s nose and fuselage suffered significant damage. CCTV footage revealed an Akasa aircraft preparing for take-off just 25 feet away, with an IndiGo plane in queue behind it. The incident led to 40 flight diversions to Goa, Ahmedabad, and Surat.

Heavy downpour during aircraft’s landing posed danger

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated an investigation and rushed a team from Delhi to the crash site. The 14-year-old aircraft was deemed airworthy, and the visibility was recorded at 700m, as per the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). The heavy downpour at 5.03 pm during the aircraft’s landing is believed to have played a role in the mishap.

Water accumulation on the runway caused the aircraft to crash and drag approximately 30 feet, bringing it near taxiway uniform, as per a DGCA source. The CCTV footage gave a vivid account of the aircraft’s final moments, showing it veering to its starboard (right) side, moving away from the runway. The pilot in command, Captain Sunil Kunjrawat, previously flew with Spicejet and is seasoned in handling such aircraft. As against this, the co-pilot, Captain Neil Diwan, is relatively new to the profession.

An airport insider remarked, “The aircraft’s crash landing near taxiway uniform, in close proximity to other planes, could’ve resulted in a major catastrophe.” The runway was promptly closed, affecting five scheduled landings and eight take-offs. Another source from the airport added, “It wasn’t just a runway skid; it was a crash landing. It seems there was a failure, possibly engine-related, but further investigations will confirm that.”

Flight Diversions

The impact on the nose has left the pilots in a critical condition. The wings, containing fuel, caught fire upon impact. Multiple flights faced diversions following the incident. Two Vistara and one Akasa Airlines flights were rerouted to Bangalore, while an Air India flight from Dubai was sent to Ahmedabad. A Vistara flight from Dehradun to Mumbai was diverted to Goa. Five aircraft landed at Surat airport.

VSR Aviation, the operator of the Learjet, is a New Delhi-based firm known for offering safe and affordable air travel for corporate clients and those travelling to remote destinations. Learjet, established by school dropout Bill Lear, is famed for transporting the global elite in luxurious aircraft. The ill-fated plane, registered as VTDBL, was acquired in Buffalo, New York, in March 2021 and reached India the following month. At the time of purchase, it had logged 4,700 hours.

Maharashtra

Mumbai: Major Block At Lower Parel On December 27 & 28 For Commissioning Of Electronic Interlocking Panel

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A major Non-Interlocking (NI) block will be taken on the intervening night of 27th and 28th December 2024 at Lower Parel station for the commissioning of the new Electronic Interlocking (EI) panel. The block will be in effect for 5 hours, from 11:30 PM on Friday, 27th December to 4:30 AM on Saturday, 28th December.

During this block, all Slow line trains will be diverted to the Fast lines between Mumbai Central and Mahim stations. As a result, local train services will not be available at  Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel, Prabhadevi, Matunga Road, and Mahim during the block period.

“In addition, some local trains on the UP and DOWN Slow lines will remain cancelled due to the block. Passengers are requested to take note of these arrangements and plan their travel accordingly” said an official.

“The block is being implemented as part of the ongoing modernization work at Lower Parel station, aimed at improving the efficiency and capacity of the suburban railway network” he said.

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Crime

Pune shocker: Man kidnaps, rapes and drowns 2 minor sisters in drum

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Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 26: In a shocking case, the Pune Police have arrested a 54-year-old man for the alleged kidnapping, rape and murder of two minor girls in the Rajgurunagar area of the city.

The man, identified as Ajay Das, is accused of committing the heinous double crime with the two siblings aged nine and eight before he absconded, said a police official.

The dual crime occurred on Wednesday when the two girls were playing outside their home around noon, but later suddenly ‘disappeared’.

The family, which was keeping an eye on them, started a frantic search in the vicinity but failed to trace them and finally in the evening lodged a complaint with the Khed Police Station.

Responding promptly, Police Inspector Prabhakar More formed teams to launch a system effort to trace the two missing sisters but did not get any clues.

Late in the night, around 10.30 p.m., the police and the family inspected the two siblings’ room on the upper floors of their building and made the shocking discovery.

The two girls’ bodies were found at Das’ home, in a huge drum filled with water, with their heads below and their feet up, pointing at murder by forcible drowning.

As the discovery created a sensation in the vicinity, the case was handed over to a woman Investigation Officer Snehal Raje, said the officials, while the victims’ bodies were sent to the Sassoon Hospital in Pune for autopsies.

Cracking the whip, the Khed Police launched a manhunt for Das and apprehended him from his hideout in a shady lodging house early in the day (December 26) as he was packing up and preparing to flee out of Maharashtra.

This morning the grieving families along with other relatives, staged a sit-in dharna outside the police station, demanding that the culprit should be given the noose, and refused to accept the bodies of the two little girls.

As per preliminary questioning, Das is understood to have confessed to the double crime and also admitted that he had to kill them to suppress the matter secretly and also prevent them from screaming or attracting attention.

Although the accused was arrested by the police, the girls’ relatives gathered at the Rajgurunagar police station, saying they would not take possession of the bodies till they got justice.

The brutal kidnap-rape-double murder has evoked strong reactions from Nationalist Congress Party (SP) Working President and MLA Rohit R. Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and Kishore Tiwari and local Congress leaders, who slammed the ruling Mahayuti for what they termed as ‘utter failure on the law-and-order front’.

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Crime

Couple held for rape-murder of minor girl in Maharastra’s Thane

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Thane, Dec 26: A couple has been arrested in connection with the abduction, rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Maharashtra’s Thane district.

Coming barely after the Badlapur sexual assault on two nursery class girls in August, this is the second case that has sparked outrage with people demanding the noose for the alleged perpetrators – Vishal Gawli, 35 and his wife Sakshi Gawli, 25.

Vishal Gawli is accused of kidnapping the girl from near her home, where she was playing on Monday, taking her to his house, assaulting, raping, killing and then dumping her body near a cemetery in the neighbouring Bhiwandi town, some 8 kilometres away.

He was spotted purchasing liquor in a restaurant-cum-bar CCTV footage, and the Thane Police formed six teams to hunt him down, finally nabbing him on Wednesday (December 25) with the help of Buldhana Police.

A team of Kalyan Police which has registered the case, took custody of Vishal Gawli from Shegaon Police in Buldhana where his in-laws reside, while his wife Sakshi, who was said to be a party to the heinous crime, was nabbed from outside her house in Kalyan.

The Shegaon Police zeroed in on Vishal Gawli after he stepped out of a salon where he had gone to change his appearance by shaving off his beard.

They handed him over to the Kolsewadi Police Station in Kalyan town (Thane) on Thursday and is likely to be produced before a Kalyan Magistrate Court later in the day.

Initial probe reveals that he was a history-sheeter in sex crimes, facing three molestation cases involving two women and a minor girl, plus two assault cases, he was released on bail in a POCSO case lodged in August 2023 and had been married thrice, with Sakshi being his third wife.

As the matter assumed political overtones, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to the Thane Superintendent of Police and directed that no efforts should be spared to ensure the death penalty for the accused – both now arrested.

Ruling ally Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde – in whose Lok Sabha constituency – the heinous crime took place, met the victim’s family and assured that the government would ensure that the accused is tried and hanged.

The incident attracted huge flak from the Opposition parties including Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut, who said that Thane – the home district of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde – has become a hotbed of gruesome crimes against women and young girls.

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