Three police constables, who were on their way back to Saswad police station from deployment duty in Dawanewadi village, died after their patrol van fell into a 90-foot deep gorge after Saturday midnight. According to the Pune rural police, the incident took place near Panwadi village, around 8 km from Saswad. The incident came to light after some villagers spotted the van in the gorge. The three constables are Shashikant Nivrutti Raut (51), who was originally from Bhigwan in Indapur and currently stayed at Uruli Kanchan, Ulhas Anant Mayekar (48) who was originally from Karwar in Karnataka and currently stayed at Bhekrainagar near Hadapsar, and Avinash Tukaram Dhole (52). Additional Superintendent of Police Ravindrasinh Pardeshi said: “The three constables were attached to the Saswad police station and were sent for security deployment during Minister of State Vijay Shivtare’s visit to Dawanewadi village on Saturday night.” The patrolling van that was in constant communication with the control room lost contact after midnight, said the police. “After we lost contact, we started enquiring with other staffers if they had heard anything from them. We got no information,” said a staffer from the Saswad police station. Violence returns to Birbhum as BJP, TMC men clash Kolkata: After two months of lull, violence returned to Makrah village in Birbhum as villagers belonging to the TMC and the BJP clashed Saturday. At least four houses were set afire while several houses were looted in Makrah village. The incident took place after police camps were withdrawn from there. The police camps had been set up after three persons were killed at Makrah in September when the cadres of the TMC and the BJP clashed. The police had later recovered at least 1,000 live bombs from house in the village and from an abandoned health centre at Sattor. Sources said, a group of men led by the local TMC leader Sheikh Mustaq attacked Makrah village late Saturday night. The village is now dominated by BJP followers. The villagers said bombs were hurdled from both the sides and the clash continued through the night. The police have started conducting search operation in the area.
