Dacoits strike at 3 places; 12 hurt

An attempt to commit a dacoity at the Pathare Vasti near Kharadi was foiled as the perpetrators were forced to flee after a young farmer, Ramdas Namdeo Pathare, opened fire at as many as ten youths who targeted his residence and some neighbouring houses early on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old sister-in-law of Ramdas, Meena Udaykumar Pathare, was seriously injured in stone-pelting by the unidentified men. She has been admitted to a private hospital, police said.

The residents of Pathare Vasti were fast asleep when the desperadoes locked the watchman, Madhukar Kedari, inside a hut. They began pelting stones at Pathare’s house when Ramdas and Meena stepped stepped out of their house to find out what was going on. Ramdas immediately rushed inside and fetched his 16 bore gun. They ran away after he fired a shot. In a separate incident at Wagholi earlier on the same night, some unidentified dacoits forced entry inside the servant’s quarters on the campus of Ganga Retreat Club and attacked three persons with swords, axes and iron rods. The injured have been hospitalised.

The members of Pawar family as well as Harjan and Mahendra Pratap Singh were fast asleep inside a residential block when the unidentified men broke open the doors of the quarters with the help of a crowbar around 11.30 pm.

Pawar, Harjan and Mahendra Pratap Singh were thrashed when they tried to protest. The unidentified men decamped with some cash and the ornaments worn by Pawar’s wife. Earlier on Monday, eight members of a family residing at Dhanore village near Shikrapur were injured when six unidentified men armed with iron rods and sticks raided their house.