Thane: A Thane court has sentenced three people to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for kidnapping a baby of five months in the city. Additional sessions judge Suryakant S Shinde found the accused, including two women, guilty of charges under BNS for the crime that took place in Oct last year.As per the case details, the infant’s mother, Vanita Rakesh Pawar, a scrap collector, reported that the baby was abducted while the family was sleeping under the Rabodi flyover bridge on Oct 12, 2024. The CCTV footage from nearby buildings was analysed, and it captured a woman in a red dress picking up the baby and later meeting two other accused to hand him over. Based on a tip-off, a police team raided a premises in Rabodi, rescued the baby, and arrested Javed Amjat Ali Nhavi (35), Jayashree Yakub Naik (45), and Surekha Rajesh Khandagale (34).The court acquitted them of charges under section 143 (trafficking), noting that while kidnapping was proven, the “exact purpose” (such as sale or forced labour) was not established by the prosecution.

Thane: A 55-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly possessing mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 7.2 lakh in Ulhasnagar, police said on Sunday.Ismail Mohammad Safhi Abbasi, a native of Indore, was caught with the contraband on Friday afternoon, an official said. “A patrolling team from Vitthalwadi police station spotted the accused moving around in a suspicious manner. When he was questioned and searched, 36.3 g of MD powder was recovered from his possession,” he said.

Mumbai: An FIR has been registered against a man for allegedly stealing jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh from a woman after claiming to perform rituals to ward off ‘black magic’ at her residence.According to police, the accused identified as Ramchandra Sutar, told the complainant that somebody had cast a black magic spell on her family, and he could perform rituals to counter it. Sutar visited her house in Oct and performed a ‘puja’ by charging a huge sum of money. During his next visit, he allegedly asked the woman to put all her gold jewellery in a steel container, claiming it would improve her and her family’s fortunes, and not to open it till he asked her. Later, when the woman opened the container for a wedding, she found it empty.

JAMMU: Terrorists stormed a villager’s house in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Saturday evening and forced him to provide food before fleeing into a nearby forest, prompting security forces to launch a massive search operation.“The entire forest belt surrounding Chore Motu village and its adjoining forest hamlets in the Majalta area was cordoned off, and a coordinated combing operation was launched from multiple directions on Sunday morning to track down the absconding terrorists,” an official said.Earlier, on Dec 15, a special operations group officer was killed in an encounter with Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists at Soan village in Majalta area.On Oct 28, three suspected terrorists appeared at a villager’s house in the upper reaches of Basantgarh in Udhampur and demanded food at gunpoint.

Mumbai: Fire broke out in the kitchen of a Colaba bar and restaurant, behind Taj, on Sunday evening. It was extinguished in a few minutes. Two people suffered around 5-15% burn injuries. The fire started in the basement of the Hotel Diplomat Building, housing the Social Bar and Restaurant. The building is a basement plus ground plus five storeyed building. A fire official said that the workers in the kitchen were injured. Sunil Singh, 28, suffered 5%, while Subrat Barai, 25, suffered 15% burn injuries. They were taken to St George Hospital, both are stable. According to Police, the fire was a result of a short-circuit in the chimney of the kitchen.

Mumbai: Three persons were injured of whom one suffered over 95 percent burns, following an explosion of accumulated gas and accompanying fire in a chawl at Andheri East at around 7.15 am on Sunday. “The three injured were on the ground floor plus one chawl structure, and one of the injured women was trying to light the gas stove for starting cooking, when gas accumulated due to leakage exploded. As a result, the women suffered burns over 95 percent. Due to the impact, even the door of a neighbouring room was damaged,” According to a BMC release, the fire, that broke out at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar chawl in Vijay Nagar, was confined to electric wiring, electric installation, apparel, mattresses etc. in room number 10 on the first floor of ground plus one chawl like structure. “The three injured were moved to Cooper hospital by the locals, even before we reached the spot. Subsequently, the three were shifted from Cooper hospital to Kasturba hospital for further treatment,” said a fire official. The three injured are Namdev Sakpal (75), who sustained 20-25 % burn, Lakshmi Sakpal (70), who sustained 30-32 % burn and Veena Bhoite (50), who suffered 95 to 98 % burn injuries all over body. All of them are admitted to Kasturba Hospital.