Brave RTI activist hacked to death by Pune goons
Prashant Aher / DNA
Mumbai: A prominent right to information (RTI) activist was murdered in Talegaon Dabhade district of Pune on Wednesday morning.
Satish Shetty, 38, was attacked by three to four masked men with butcher’s knives when he was reading a newspaper at a kiosk at around 7 on his way home from a morning walk.
Shetty had shot to fame after exposing corrupt land deals and illegal constructions in Lonavala and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Recently, he had complained against a Lonavla sub-registrar, Ashwini Kshirsagar, to the inspector-general of registration and commissioner of stamps, following which the official was suspended.
Shetty had alleged that Kshirsagar was involved in illegal land transactions worth lakhs. “Shetty had filed an application a few days back with the Talegaon police station claiming he was facing a threat to his life,” said Pratap Dighavkar, superintendent of police (rural), Pune.
“We sent the application to Lonavala’s deputy superintendent of police for investigation.” He said Shetty had met him two days ago, but did not specifically speak about the threat.
After he was attacked, Shetty started running away from the kiosk, with the goons in pursuit.
But they soon overpowered him and repeatedly stabbed him with the knives in the head and hands, before fleeing. The local residents contacted Shetty’s brother Sandip, who rushed him to hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
The police pressed into service sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts to identify the suspects. Dighavkar said four police teams have been formed to probe the incident.
Prashant Aher / DNA
Mumbai: A prominent right to information (RTI) activist was murdered in Talegaon Dabhade district of Pune on Wednesday morning.
Satish Shetty, 38, was attacked by three to four masked men with butcher’s knives when he was reading a newspaper at a kiosk at around 7 on his way home from a morning walk.
Shetty had shot to fame after exposing corrupt land deals and illegal constructions in Lonavala and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Recently, he had complained against a Lonavla sub-registrar, Ashwini Kshirsagar, to the inspector-general of registration and commissioner of stamps, following which the official was suspended.
Shetty had alleged that Kshirsagar was involved in illegal land transactions worth lakhs. “Shetty had filed an application a few days back with the Talegaon police station claiming he was facing a threat to his life,” said Pratap Dighavkar, superintendent of police (rural), Pune.
“We sent the application to Lonavala’s deputy superintendent of police for investigation.” He said Shetty had met him two days ago, but did not specifically speak about the threat.
After he was attacked, Shetty started running away from the kiosk, with the goons in pursuit.
But they soon overpowered him and repeatedly stabbed him with the knives in the head and hands, before fleeing. The local residents contacted Shetty’s brother Sandip, who rushed him to hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
The police pressed into service sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts to identify the suspects. Dighavkar said four police teams have been formed to probe the incident.
10 comments:
No point in talking, why cant we financially help his family.
Agree with Anonymous post earlier.
Is there any NGO which does that? I would not mind donating to such NGO.
PAID NEWS: The Story’s Not Over
MMRDA's mantra: If you can't sell, lease it out
what I don't understand is why MMRDA want get the fact that there was bubble and the prices were inflated. What is point in waiting? They should sell the land at current market prices. They should be not in business of RE speculation.
There is saying in Gujarati,
When the ruler becomes businessman, the citizens become beggers.
@Shailesh,
On the paid news front. Its a given that in a free enterprise economy there will be collusion between the opinion shapers(media) and people whose livelihood depends on public opinion.
If the govt. starts appointing a commission to look into media, it will end up making media a slave of the govt. and thus in the end causing what the commission is supposed to prevent.
On the MMRDA front - MMRDA is clearly unable to sell the land at good rates and does not want to crash the realty market (no doubt due to pressure from the "top") by selling the land at "actual rates". So they are trying to raise money by leasing. However by leasing the land for say 99 years they might be selling out to an interested part for bargain rates, prime land in exchange for some "pocket money" for senior officials and politicians...
Anon @6:34
What we need is something on similar lines as FCC in US. There might be faults in FCC approach, but it is better than Biz purchased Media content. There has to be carrot and stick approach. Also we need some protection and rewards for Whistle blowers. Government has a role to play in Media, it can not be let open to private business to do or say whatever they want.
On topic of MMRDA, the issue is market meddling by government. You seem to be ok when MMRDA is trying to time market and become businessmen, while not ok when govt is involved in Media. In reality, Land is commodity, it should be sold off to private party. Government should not be in business of Land hoarding. Real Estate prices go up and go down, government should not be concerned about prices. If the land is to be developed by private biz, used by private biz, then why the hack govt has to own the land. Sell it, it serves no benefit to common citizens. The money generated can be used to build infrastructure for surrounding cities, which helps millions, not just few. Let the prices come down and become affordable to masses. Let the free market work.
@Shailesh... 5:36AM
Paid news
Nice to see the the logo of "The Paid news of India" like that of Times of India :)
This is true, lots of developers give their advertisements in Times Property section... but as a News... confusing the buyers
Raghu
Rs 30,000 cr loans may turn bad in 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Rs-30000-cr-loans-may-turn-bad-in-2010/articleshow/5446757.cms
But... this article from TOI makes some sense
About the RTI activist's murder, it is surprising to see that NDTV and Timesnow are almost silent. Only CNN-IBN has a story on it and they seem to be following up.
Are the perpetrators so big and strong that they have hushed up the media as well?
Who wants to stay in Slumbai and other metro's with all the congestion, pollution and high cost of living?
Article on Demand Shift to Tier II and III cities.
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