Mumbai beat — Bail plea rejected

According to police investigations, Patil carried out all cash dealings with the shooters and another conspirator Bharat Nepali. Patil, a resident of Dombivali, had withdrawn Rs one lakh from the bank on January 16, the day Dr Samant was assassinated outside his Powai residence. He handed over this money to Nepali later in the afternoon on the same day, the police said. Nepali had met Patil in Dombivali on January 15 and had discussed the matter. Patil also had 23 telephonic conversations on his mobile with Nepali and other members of the gang, including the actual shooters, a few minutes before and after Dr Samant was shot dead. The police had submitted the timings and telephone numbers in court. The bank documents were also produced before the judge. Advocate Deshmukh maintained that all this evidence put together implicated Patil was involved in the conspiracy. Advocate Gupte in his defence said Patil and Nepali knew each other and the money transacted was part of the dealings earlier struck between the two.

M S Gill praises "punctual" WR

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill today complemented Western Railways for its on-time service and punctuality.

“After a long time I travelled by the Rajdhani Express from New Delhi to Mumbai. I was highly impressed by the food served in the train and also punctuality and the coaches were also well maintained,” Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill said.

“I feel that top politicians and bureaucrats responsible in the process of policy formulation, should travel by train so that they get real grasp of the ground level situation,” Gill added.

Gill remarked that maintaining regularity in such a large network was very difficult. “It started on scheduled time and reached Mumbai central before time,” he said. Showering praise on the railway administration, Gill said in fact several foreign countries have borrowed rail technology from India.