The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has decided to build new railway stations in Navi Mumbai, including Bonkawade, which is the homeplace of guardian minister Ganesh Naik, and Digha. The issue was discussed at a meeting between chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday at the Sahyadri guesthouse.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday took a jibe at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi by saying that “some people” have started dreaming of becoming the prime minister. He accused him of creating conflict in the name of caste and religion to get sufficient seats and fulfill his dreams. Mr Pawar was referring to the communal riots that occurred at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

Ashfaq Shaikh alias Babu, 27, the fifth accused in the July 31 gangrape of a 19-year-old Bhandup based telephone operator in Shakti Mills compound, was freely roaming around the NM Joshi Marg police station while on the run.

While reviewing the enrolment under Aadhar, direct benefit transfer (DBT) and implementation of food security schemes, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan directed collectors and regional revenue commissioners across the state to speed up the Aadhar enrolments and push the schemes to enable them to reach their beneficiaries. He undertook the review through video conferencing (VC) at Sahyadri guesthouse on Friday.

The state government on Friday informed the Bombay high court that it has prepared a list of all the beneficiaries in double allotments of flats under the chief minister’s quota and it would submit the same in a sealed envelope on September 30.

The BMC has issued a circular and appointed 28 public information officers (PIOs) with immediate effect. While 10 PIOs would serve as deputy municipal secretaries, 17 are assistant municipal secretaries and one is the mayor’s personal assistant.

Onion prices in Nashik markets plummeted as fresh “pol” onion arrived in the state. Prices dropped by an average of `900 in various Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) yards in Nashik. “The fresh onions in Nashik, Ahmednagar and Pune APMCs have affected the prices,” Nanasaheb Patil, newly elected chairman of Lasalgaon APMC told The Asian Age.

The Kharghar post office, which was opened in 2005 to serve a population of 26,000, is now serving more than two lakh people but with the same strength of employees who have to work amidst the crumbling infrastructure of the post office. Eighteen postal employees are working in the 526 square feet space.

The investigation in the Pune German Bakery blast case could take an ugly turn after a sting operation showed prosecution witnesses in the case claiming they had been tortured, tutored and coerced by Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers to depose before the court in a manner that would incriminate the main accused, Himayat Baig. Ironically, Baig was commuted a death sentence by the lower court, based on the false testimonies of these witnesses.

Two of Baig’s closest friends — Rehan Sheikh and Mohammad Ansari — told the court that Baig subscribed to the ideology of terror. When a journalist spoke to them, they said they were forced by the ATS into lying before the court.