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By:

Dr. Abhilash Dawre

19 March 2025 at 10:48:41 pm

Woman dies by suicide

Husband held over alleged dowry harassment, nine-month-old daughter left motherless Ulhasnagar: A 28-year-old highly educated woman allegedly died by suicide at her residence in Ulhasnagar on September 12, following alleged physical and mental harassment by her husband, mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law over dowry, domestic issues and the birth of a daughter, according to a complaint filed by her father. The deceased, identified as Nitya Gaurav Rai, was married to software engineer Gaurav...

Woman dies by suicide

Husband held over alleged dowry harassment, nine-month-old daughter left motherless Ulhasnagar: A 28-year-old highly educated woman allegedly died by suicide at her residence in Ulhasnagar on September 12, following alleged physical and mental harassment by her husband, mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law over dowry, domestic issues and the birth of a daughter, according to a complaint filed by her father. The deceased, identified as Nitya Gaurav Rai, was married to software engineer Gaurav Sanjay Rai in December 2021. Police have registered a case against the husband and two other family members, and Gaurav Rai has been arrested. Their nine-month-old daughter has been left without her mother. According to the complaint, Nitya was an MSc and BEd graduate, while her husband Gaurav is a software engineer. Her father alleged that despite his limited financial means, he had given around Rs 3.75 lakh in cash to Gaurav at the time of marriage, along with household articles and expenses towards the wedding. Nitya’s father alleged that after the marriage, she was repeatedly subjected to harassment over household work and was allegedly pressured to bring additional dowry from her parental home. He further alleged that Nitya’s mother-in-law Madhuri Sanjay Rai and grandmother-in-law Sharda Rai also subjected her to mental and physical harassment. The father further alleged that the situation worsened after Nitya gave birth to a daughter in December 2025. According to him, her grandmother-in-law repeatedly taunted her over the birth of the girl child and allegedly told her that she had increased their troubles by having another child. According to the family, Nitya generally did not disclose the disputes at her matrimonial home to her parents. However, on the night of the incident, she allegedly made a call to her father at around 11.30 pm and told him to come and take her home, stating that otherwise the family members would kill her. Her father said that he asked her what had happened and told her that he would speak to her in-laws. When he subsequently called again, her father-in-law Sanjay Rai allegedly informed him that Nitya had died. Nitya’s father said he then requested her in-laws to immediately take her to a hospital. He has also alleged that his daughter was killed and appealed to the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death and ensure justice for his daughter and family.

Congress bets on dual leadership in Pune

Writer: Rajendra Pandharpure
Rajendra Pandharpure
May 24
3 min read

Party’s unprecedented East-West division aims to curb factionalism and revive its fortunes ahead of 2029 polls

Dipti Chaudhari Prashant Jagtap
Dipti Chaudhari Prashant Jagtap

Pune: The Congress party has appointed two city presidents for Pune, marking the first time it has adopted such a structure in the city.


By geographically dividing Pune into eastern and western zones, the party has appointed former Mayor Prashant Jagtap to head the eastern zone and former MLA Dipti Chaudhari to lead the western zone. The entire selection process bears the distinct imprint of State Congress President Harshvardhan Sapkale.


While making these appointments, Sapkale sought to strike a balance between caste representation and gender representation by giving an opportunity to a woman leader. Prashant Jagtap had previously served as the city president of senior leader Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He had opposed the proposal to contest municipal elections in alliance with the faction led by Ajit Pawar. Standing firm on this position, he resigned from his post as city president of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction).


Positive Response

Jagtap’s decision received a positive response across Maharashtra. He later joined the Congress party, where he received a warm welcome. At the time, there was considerable speculation over whether the Congress would be able to secure even five seats in the municipal elections. However, largely due to Jagtap’s entry into the party, 15 Congress corporators were elected, effectively halting the party’s downward slide in Pune. Recognising both his performance and his studious approach to politics, Sapkale entrusted him with the responsibility of leading the city unit. The prevailing sentiment within the Pune Congress is that Sapkale has carefully nurtured a young leader and assigned him a role commensurate with his abilities.


Dipti Chaudhari, the newly appointed city president for the western zone, is a former Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and a former Mayor of Pune. She has remained consistently active in party work and is regarded as a dedicated grassroots leader. Party workers believe her image and organisational experience could benefit the Congress in western Pune.


To curb factionalism within the Pune Congress, the state leadership has introduced structural changes within the organisation itself. Even as the party declined after 2014, factionalism within the city unit continued unabated. On one notable occasion, during protests organised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, two separate demonstrations were held by rival factions of the same party. Many within the Congress believe the then state leadership should have intervened decisively at the time. Instead, no corrective action was taken and factionalism only deepened further.


Road Ahead

Congress workers are now hopeful that Sapkale’s firm decisions will help rein in these divisions. Sapkale has undertaken the task of rebuilding the party organisation with a clear focus on the 2029 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections. During the recent by-election in Baramati, he asserted the Congress party’s rightful claim over the seat and also declared that the party would contest the 2029 Assembly election from Baramati independently. In keeping with that broader strategy, he has now initiated efforts to expand the Congress party’s organisational presence in Pune.


At present, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also has two city presidents in Pune — Sunil Tingre for the eastern zone and Subhash Jagtap for the western zone. In the past, parties such as the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have similarly experimented with appointing multiple city chiefs.


Both the Congress and the BJP are national parties, and given Pune’s political significance, the prevailing practice until now had been to appoint a single city president to represent the entire organisation during city-wide programmes and political campaigns. The Congress has now departed from that model. It remains to be seen whether this revised organisational strategy succeeds in curbing factionalism and strengthening the party in Pune.

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