24-yr-old hired hitman to kill husband, held

A 24-year-old woman was arrested by the Manor police on Sunday for allegedly paying a hitman Rs1 lakh to murder her husband. Two of her accomplices were also held in connection with the murder.

The woman, Gajshri Phad, told the police that her husband Pandurang Dattatray Phad, 30, would assault her as he wanted to marry her sister. Pandurang, a conductor at the Thane state bus depot, was dissatisfied as the couple had a daughter. He thought that Gajshri’s sister could give him a son.

As Gajshri refused to entertain Pandurang’s demands, the couple fought daily, said Manoj Chalke, assistant police commissioner, Manor police station.

Unable to bear the harassment, Gajshri decided to murder Pandurang. She hired Shivaji Gaikwad, 46, an Owla-based truck driver to carry out the murder. Shivaji asked Kailas Gaikwad, 32, a cleaner, to help him, promising to pay him Rs10,000, said Chalke Kailas called Pandurang to a Ghodbunder bar. After Pandurang was sufficiently intoxicated, the accused strangled him to death using a nylon rope.

Later that night, they dumped the body near a desolate spot at Padospada, in Haloli village on the Mumbai-ahmedabad Highway.

“An alert citizen discovered the body and informed us. We registered a case of murder against unidentified people and started to investigate,” said Chalke. “We found a wad of blank ST bus tickets bearing the MSRTC logo, a whistle used by conductors and a chit bearing the number of a colleague in Pandurang’s pockets.”

The police called the colleague, who identified Pandurang’s body. “We questioned Gajshri to ascertain whether Pandurang had any enemies, but she gave us conflicting answers. She then confessed to the crime and identified her accomplices,” Chalke added. “The three accused were produced before the Palghar court and have been remanded in police custody till March 1 We

INS Viraat, the oldest serving aircraft carrier, will be decommissioned on March 6, marking the day as a feat of sorts in naval history.

She has served the Indian Navy for 29 years. She is the last of the Britist-built ship serving them. She has served a combined 56 years for the navy in two countries.

Commissioned into the Royal HMS Hermes, she served the British for 27 years before being then bought the vessel and rechristened it INS Viraat to be Navy on May 12, 1987.

INS Viraat sailed under her own power for the last time from Mumbai to Kochi in July 2016. In October 2016, she was towed out of Kochi and returned to Mumbai, where she will be formally decommissioned on March 6.

Soon after commissioning, it saw active operations when it became part of Operation Jupiter in July 1989 as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka, after the Indo Sri Lankan accord broke time that she had seen active operations. While with the Royal Navy, she had played a major role in the Falkland wars.

The last of operational duties forins Viraat came when she was deployed in the International Fleet Review in Viskhakapatnam in February 2016.

But then, the Navy had to decide on its fate, primarily due to the increasing operational costs to keep her battle