Mumbai: The Charkop police have arrested a woman wanted in a fraud case linked to a Kandivali-based overseas education consultancy accused of cheating students by promising admissions abroad.

The arrested accused, Shraddha Vitthal Gadekar, had been absconding for five months. The firm owners, Stella Rakesh Mehta and Rakesh Mehta, are co-accused and remain at large.

Police said similar cases have also been registered against the couple in Mumbai and Thane. According to the complaint filed by Kandivali resident Dr Nehal Joshi, he approached the consultancy, Career and Options, for his daughter’s admission to a Master of Trade and Logistics course at Wittenborg University in the Netherlands.

Police said the accused assured the family of admission and asked them to transfer fees to the firm’s account. Joshi later obtained an education loan and transferred over ₹10 lakh.

However, the university informed the family that no payment had been received. The accused later shut their office and fled. Gadekar was produced before a Borivali court, while police are searching for the other accused.

Pune: The entire country is currently shaken by the unfortunate events that took place in Nasrapur village of Bhor tehsil in Pune district on Friday evening. A four-year-old girl was raped and murdered. The brutal incident has sparked tensions and protests across Pune District, with residents of Nasrapur village blocking the forever-busy Pune-Satara Highway (part of the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway) for hours since Friday night.

Although the crime is horrific and brutal, the case has gained attention for something much more serious, raising questions against Maharashtra’s Home Department, Pune Rural Police and the overall judiciary in India. The opposition leaders have pounced upon this and are targeting the ruling Mahayuti government over this issue.

The case has sparked a fierce political debate, with many leaders questioning how a “habitual offender” was allowed to roam free. On this topic, key leaders including Rohit Pawar, Harshavardhan Sapkal, Supriya Sule and others have reacted. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis offered a crisp response to their questions on Saturday — saying that the accused will be given a strict punishment.

Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed, Rohit Pawar, was one of the first people to question this. He had said, “The accused has a criminal record. He has allegedly assaulted two or three other minor girls in the past. If he was already known for such crimes, what was he doing on the streets? This is a serious failure of the administration and the law and order system. We demand a special one-day session of the assembly to pass the Shakti Act immediately.”

Indian National Congress Maharashtra Chief Harshavardhan Sapkal said, “Law and order in the state is at stake, and children are no longer safe. This is a total failure of the home department; the police have lost control over criminal elements. The accused is a repeat offender — why was there no surveillance on such a person?”

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) spokesperson Sushma Andhare said, “Maharashtra has become unsafe. When habitual offenders like this are free to commit such heinous acts again, it raises questions about the entire state’s security framework. Who is responsible for letting these monsters roam the streets?”

Baramati MP Supriya Sule of NCP-SP said, “The Maharashtra Women’s Commission does not have a chairperson today. Where are we supposed to go to ask for justice? The system caught this monster quickly, and I thank the police force for that. However, we are not satisfied with this. Considering the brutal manner in which this murder was committed, it is extremely horrific. Most importantly, this was the monster’s third crime. If this is his third offence, how did he get bail in the first two cases? Was the Maharashtra government waiting for our daughter to be murdered?”

On legal action and punishment, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The incident is highly reprehensible and deeply saddening. The entire community is shaken. The accused has been arrested, and we will request the High Court to try this case in a fast-track court. We will appoint a special public prosecutor and seek nothing less than the death penalty for the culprit.”

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar said, ‘As a mother, I can truly feel the condition of the victim’s family. Criminals with such distorted mindsets must be dealt with an iron fist. This incident is numbing and infuriating. We will not rest until the victim’s family gets justice and the monster receives the harshest punishment.”

National Commission for Women Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said, “Such acts constitute a severe violation of children’s rights. We have taken suo motu cognisance and urged the immediate filing of a charge sheet under the POCSO Act to facilitate a speedy trial.”

The Nasrapur case is a horrific criminal incident involving the sexual assault and murder of a four-year-old girl in the Nasrapur village of Bhor tehsil in Pune district. The incident occurred on Friday (1st May) and has triggered massive state-wide outrage due to the brutal nature of the crime and the accused’s known criminal history.

The four-year-old victim was visiting her grandmother for the summer holidays when she was lured away by a 65-year-old man while she was playing in front of her house. CCTV footage showed the accused, identified as Bhimrao Kamble, leading the child toward a cattle shed. He reportedly lured her by saying he would “show her a calf”.

After a frantic search by the family on Friday late afternoon and evening, her body was found hidden under a pile of cow dung in the shed. Forensic evidence confirmed she was sexually assaulted and then bludgeoned to death with a large stone. Angry villagers blocked the Pune-Satara highway for hours and observed a total bandh (shutdown) in Nasrapur. The police had to use a mild lathi charge to manage the crowds demanding that the accused be handed over to them for “instant justice”.

A Pune-based practising lawyer, speaking to media, explained the current situation on condition of anonymity. He said, “The Home Department is being blamed for not making the Shakti Act a reality sooner. This law would have provided much faster and harsher punishments. There is also no official list or registry to track people who commit such crimes after they leave jail. This lack of policy allows dangerous offenders to vanish back into neighbourhoods.”

He further said, “The local police also failed to monitor a known criminal. Bhimrao Kamble had been arrested twice before for similar acts. However, he was living in the village without any police check-ins or supervision. The police did not use their power to move him out of the area or keep him under watch. This allowed him to walk the streets freely.”

He also explained that the legal system is facing criticism for how easily it grants bail. In India, getting bail is often seen as a right even for serious crimes. Because the courts are slow and trials take years, dangerous men often get back on the streets. If the earlier cases against Kamble had finished quickly, he would likely have been in prison on the day of the attack.

According to available details, other countries handle these situations much differently. In places like the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), sex offenders are put on public lists. Neighbours are warned when a predator moves nearby. In some cases, these offenders must wear tracking devices for life. Canada can even keep dangerous people in prison indefinitely if they are a permanent threat.

However, in India, the system is fragmented and does not share information well. Once a person gets bail or finishes a short sentence, they simply disappear back into society. This creates a high risk of them hurting someone else. The Nasrapur case has pushed the public to their breaking point. Now, the government is rushing to use fast-track courts to finally find justice.

Mumbai: A shocking incident has come to light from Mumbai’s Kurla, where a man was shot and stabbed to death. According to the Mumbai Police, three accused have been arrested in the case.

the incident took place on April 29 at around 10 pm near Pipeline Block No. 3 in Kurla’s V B Nagar. The deceased, identified as Baba Pawar, was shot by one person while two others stabbed him.

After the information was received, Pawar was rushed to Bhabha Hospital for treatment. However, he succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment.

A case was registered at V B Nagar police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Arms Act for murder and other offences. Later, it was reported that the police arrested all the three accused involved in the crime. Currently, further investigation is underway to determine the circumstances and motive behind the gruesome killing.

Meanwhile, in another recent incident, a man allegedly stabbed a shopkeeper five to six times after thinking that he and his brother were laughing at him. The incident occurred in Agripada’s Baby Garden area, where two brothers were chatting and laughing over something in their shop.

When the accused arrived at the shop, he thought the two brothers were laughing and mocking him and in a sudden outburst, Mansuri pulled out a knife and attacked one of the brothers multiple times. 

Prior to this, another stabbing incident took place in Mira Road’s Naya Nagar, where a 31-year-old man, Zaib Zubair Ansari, attacked two security guards after being questioned about their religion. The attack took place near Asmita Grand Mansion in Mira Road East, where two security guards were on duty when Ansari approached them, initially asking for directions to a nearby mosque. Later, Ansari questioned one of the guards about his religion before attacking him with a knife. He then entered the security cabin and allegedly asked the second guard to recite the ‘Kalma’.

Ansari was arrested within hours after police reviewed CCTV footage. He was later produced before a Thane district court, which remanded him to police custody until May 4.