Maharashtra

Mumbai, Dec 8 (PTI) Members of a farmers' organisation on Tuesday staged a 'rail roko' in Maharashtra's Buldhana district as part of the Bharat Bandh called by agitating farmer unions to press for repeal of the Centre's agri laws.

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna members stopped the Chennai-Ahmedabad Navjeevan Express at Malkapur station in Buldhana district while protesting against the farm laws.

Police detained Sanghatana leader Ravikant Tupkar and his supporters over the incident, after removing them from the rail tracks, an official said.

Pune, Dec 8 (PTI) Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday sat on a day-long hunger strike to support agitating farmers who have called Bharat Bandh demanding repeal of the Centre's agri laws.

Hazare also said the agitation should spread across the country so that the government comes under pressure to act in the interests of cultivators.

In a recorded message, Hazare appreciated farmers' protests at the borders of Delhi saying no violence has taken place in the last 10 days of the agitation.

Mumbai/Pune, Dec 8 (PTI) Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) remained closed in many parts of Maharashtra on Tuesday in support of the Bharat Bandh called by agitating farmer unions to press for repeal of the Centre's agri laws.

Wholesale markets in major cities like Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Aurangabad remained shut. Retail shops also downed shutters in many cities.

APMCs at Kalyan and Vashi in Navi Mumbai, which supplies bulk of vegetables and fruits to Mumbai, remained closed, with wholesalers and traders supporting the Bandh.

Mumbai, Dec 8 (PTI) Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party never supported the three farm laws in Lok Sabha as alleged by the BJP.

Taking a swipe at the Centre over farmers' protests, Raut suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah can hold talks with cultivators who are observing the Bharat Bandh against farm laws.

Pune, Dec 7 (PTI) A 24-year-old Dutch woman tourist, overstaying in India in violation of the visa norms, has been arrested for allegedly ramming her jeep into a car in Maharashtra's Satara district, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday evening near Vijaynagar on Patan-Karad road, and the vehicle which the woman was driving was a stolen one, they said.

She rammed her jeep into the car from its rear side, a senior official from Satara police station said.

Mumbai, Dec 5 (PTI) A court here on Saturday granted bail to Republic TV's western region distribution head Ghanshyam Singh, arrested last month in the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) rigging scam.

Singh, who is also assistant vice president at Republic Media Network, had been arrested on November 10.

The sessions court also granted bail to Vishal Bhandari, a former employee of Hansa Research Agency, who had been arrested on October 8 in the case.

The order was passed by judge D S Deshmukh.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday recorded his statement through his lawyer before a metropolitan court here in connection with the complaint of defamation filed by him against actor Kangana Ranaut.

Akhtar had last month filed a criminal complaint against Ranaut before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in television interviews. He had sought action against the actor under relevant sections of the IPC.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) A special NIA court here on Thursday said the trial in 2008 Malegaon blast case will resume from Friday and directed all the seven accused to remain present before it on December 19.

Special NIA court judge P R Sitre had earlier directed all the accused in the case, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, to remain present in the court on Thursday.

However, Thakur and three others did not appear in the court.

Only three of the accused turned up before the judge.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the condition of poet-activist Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, had improved but he will continue to remain at a private hospital till December 14.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik perused a medical report submitted by the Nanavati hospital here where Rao was admitted on November 18.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) A member of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee on Thursday sent a legal notice to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut over her tweet allegedly targeting farmers protesting against the new farm laws.

The notice was sent by advocate Harpreet Singh Hora on behalf of the committee member Jasmain Singh Noni.

The notice said that when Ranaut's premises (in Mumbai) were demolished, she used social media "to gather solidarity" from her fans, stating that the action was an attack on her fundamental rights.