The rape and murder of a four-year-old girl has left Maharashtra grieving and demanding accountability from a system that failed to stop a known offender. She was only four years old. She was spending her summer holidays at her grandmother’s house in Nasrapur, a quiet village in the Bhor area of Pune district. She liked playing outside. On the afternoon of May 1, 2026, a 65-year-old man from the same village walked up to her and said he would show her a calf. She smiled and f

Deceased belong to same family, six children included Nashik: Nine members of a family, including six children, were killed after their car fell into an open well in Nashik district, police said on Saturday. The accident occurred in the Shivaji Nagar area of Dindori town around 10 pm on Friday, an official said. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief over the deaths of children in the tragic incident, and said that he has ordered an immediate safety audit of open we

The man well past 70 years of age, dressed in simple shirt and trousers, wearing a faint yellow scarf around his neck, with a broad grin on his face and briskness in his walk, was a part of the powerful Central Committee of the proscribed organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist) … till he surrendered last year before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Gadchiroli. His surrender made national and international news, because he was treated as the ‘brain’ or ‘ideological t

Few things unsettle a government more than a constitutional grey zone exposed in full public view. That ambiguity was recently dragged onto the floor of Maharashtra’s Legislative Council and briskly tidied up by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. His intervention, delivered amid a rancorous debate, did more than settle an immediate dispute. It reaffirmed a basic, if often blurred, principle that legislatures may question and even censure, but they do not govern. At the heart o

Mumbai: In a high-voltage courtroom packed with tension, the Nashik Sessions Court extended the police custody of fake godman Ashokkumar Eknath Kharat till March 29, as investigators sought time to probe shocking leads pointing at suspected human sacrifices and huge wealth besides the alleged sexual exploitation crimes. In a startling revelation, the police said that they recovered a black revolver with 21 bullets from his Mirgaon farmhouse, but five shells are missing. The

CM takes a tough stand after drama over deputy Speaker Neelam Gorhe’s order to suspend SP of Satara Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday drew a firm line regarding the constitutional powers of presiding officers in the state legislature. He categorically stated that the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the Chairperson of the Legislative Council do not possess executive authority. While they can issue directives to the state government, they cannot pass b

Fiery BJP-Shiv Sena clashes rock politics Devendra Fadnavis Eknath Shinde Mumbai: Another episode of the cold war between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy Eknath Shinde was seen on Monday when the state legislature gathered for the day’s business. A visibly angry Shinde came down heavily on Satara Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi for allegedly manhandling

The recent arrest of Ashok Kharat, a self-styled ‘godman’ accused of rape, blackmail and occult manipulation, has rightly horrified Maharashtra. Yet to view this as the story of a lone predator is to miss the larger, more uncomfortable truth. Men like Kharat do not rise in isolation. They are legitimised and ultimately shielded by networks of influence that extend deep into the state’s political and social elite. The investigation, now in the hands of a Special Investigation

Mumbai: A belligerent Opposition and women activists on Saturday intensified their demand for criminal action against NCP State Women’s Wing President Rupali Chakankar, urging that she be booked as a co-accused alongside self-styled godman ‘Captain’ Ashok Kharat. Under fire, Chakankar resigned late Friday night as Chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women – enjoying a Minister of State rank - on the orders of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. She submitted her