Monitor Lizard (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

In the most unbelievable incident ever, four men were arrested for allegedly raping a Bengal monitor lizard in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR). The reserve is spread over four districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.

The gruesome incident took place at Gothane village in Ratnagiri district on March 31 when the four accused illegally entered Chandoli National Park (part of the reserve). One of the four was also carrying a gun for hunting.

The Maharashtra Forest Department checked the mobile phone of one of the accused and that’s when he learnt about the incident. The officials found the recording of the act, which showed the accused allegedly gang-raping the monitor lizard.

A forest official said the four accused were identified as Sandeep Tukaram Pawar, Mangesh Kamtekar, Akshay Kamtekar and Ramesh Ghag.

The official said, “During the investigation, the forest officials found that the accused had allegedly raped a Bengal monitor lizard. Their act was also recorded in a mobile phone of one of the accused persons. We have recovered all the related evidence from the accused and they were granted forest department custody initially, but are out on bail now. They have been asked to mark their presence before the forest officer, who is probing the case, every Monday.”
“The four accused have been booked under various sections of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972,” said field director of Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR), Nanasaheb Ladkat.

Sanjay Raut

Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Tuesday, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attached Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut’s property in ₹1034 crore Patra Chawl land scam case. The ED, in February, had also arrested his close friend Pravin Raut.

The ED attached Raut’s plot in Alibaug and one flat in Mumbai’s Dadar area.

After ED attached Raut’s properties, the latter tweeted, “Asatyamev Jayate (the lies win)”

The attachment is linked to a money laundering probe linked to an alleged scam related to the re-development of a chawl in Mumbai.

More details are awaited. 

Anil Deshmukh

Wheelchair-bound former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who is currently lodged at Arthur Road Jail, was hospitalised at JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Saturday after suffering a shoulder injury. The senior leader would undergo a surgery according to ANI.

Param Bir Singh