Latest news with #Nitin
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
No helmet on bike ride: Minor among 2 dead
Nagpur: Riding a motorcycle without helmet proved fatal for two teenagers when a speeding pickup truck rammed their bike on road between Takdoji Putla and Manewada Square in Ajni in the early hours of Friday. The victims have been identified as 18-year-old Nitin Katre and 17-year-old Komal Yadav. The incident occurred around 12:45am on June 6, when the two were returning home from work. According to police, the duo was hit by a white pickup truck being driven in reckless manner. The impact of the collision threw both the riders off the bike, resulting in severe injuries. Passers-by rushed the injured to Govt Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where doctors declared both of them dead on arrival. Nitin, the rider, and Komal were residents of Balaji Nagar in Kalamna. Based on a complaint filed by Nitin's father, Rajendra Katre, Ajni police have registered a case of hit and run against the unidentified pickup truck driver under sections 281 (rash driving), 106(1), 134, 177, and 184 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Further investigation is underway. Police are also examining CCTV footage from the area to identify and trace the killer vehicle. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Man shot dead outside Amravati mall in Haryana's Panchkula, hunt on for two accused
A man in his twenties was shot dead and his cousin seriously injured when two assailants opened fire at them outside a mall in Amravati Enclave in Haryana's Panchkula district at 10.45pm on Thursday, police said on Friday. The deceased was identified as Sonu Nolta, a resident of Nolta village near Pinjore town, while his cousin, Nitin Panwar, alias Prince, 20, was rushed to Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, with a bullet wound to his thigh. Soon after the incident that triggered panic in the residential area along the national highway to Shimla, a video surfaced online in which the two accused are seen claiming responsibility, stating they had orchestrated the attack due to personal rivalry and on the directions of Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. In his statement to the police, Nitin, who is a diploma student at Government Polytechnic and a resident of Mallah village, Panchkula, said he had accompanied Sonu and his friend, Jaspreet Kaur, to a movie at the mall on Thursday night. 'Three of us went to the mall in Sonu's Mahindra Scorpio (HP 15D 1726) from Tipra in Kalka. After the film, Jaspreet's friends Neha and Priya joined us. The three of them were crossing the road from the mall, while Sonu and I waited in the SUV on the roadside when the two armed men, Piyush Piplani of Pinjore and Ankush from Chawla Colony, Pinjore, emerged from another car parked nearby, each brandishing a pistol,' he told the police. The duo walked up to the driver's window and opened fire at Sonu, who slumped into the seat with multiple bullet injuries, while Panwar sustained a gunshot wound to his left thigh. The attackers fled in their vehicle, which already had other men inside, possibly armed accomplices. Nitin managed to call his maternal uncle from his phone to report the attack. Haryana Police reached the scene after receiving the alert. However, by then, both the victims had been rushed to the Civil Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula. Doctors declared Sonu brought dead, while Nitin was given first aid and referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh. Sub-inspector Rajbir Singh from PGI police post recorded Nitin's statement at 3.40am on Friday. Nitin confirmed he knew both the accused, Piyush and Ankush, personally and demanded strict action against them and their accomplices. Based on his statement, a case was registered under Sections 103(1), 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act at Pinjore police station. The police are now on the lookout for Piyush, Ankush and their unidentified accomplices.
Hindustan Times
31-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Startup Mantra: Brining millets back to our plates
In Tetavali village, a five-hour drive 180 km from Pune, where traditional millets were once grown in every field, change had quietly crept in. Most of the youths in the village had migrated to nearby cities for jobs, and those who stayed back were cultivating only rice and had forgotten about the legacy of millet farming. Nitin Deodhar, 59, and his wife Meenakshi, 58, who visited the village quite often, saw both a crisis and an opportunity here. This gave birth to Sonkan in 2021, a startup that sells nutritious and wholesome millet-based foods, and other products of Konkan. How it started Nitin, who was at the time running a very successful MEP (Mechanical, Electrical Plumbing) Consultancy offering services across the globe, said, 'Our family roots are in Konkan and we'd go there regularly, and, on our trips, we saw that the locals were leaving the village to work in cities. The bright students would go to the cities to get jobs as clerks, and delivery men while the not-so-bright students would stay back to tend to the farm. In addition to this, their dietary habits were changing. Instead of eating what was over generations produced by their farms, they were switching to government-provided rice and wheat that came from ration shops and came with its own economic pitfalls.' Nitin and Meenakshi found this very disturbing. Says Nitin, 'The area traditionally would grow millets – the hardy crop. Hardy because it could withstand a drought as well as flood excess rainfall situations. Besides being a hardy crop, it was grown in the sloping wastelands of Konkan. However, falling prey to the ongoing trends, the villagers of Konkan shifted to growing only rice and giving up ragi (finger millet) and varai (barnyard millet) which need very little tending. This was also changing their food habits. This not only affected their earnings but also impacted their health.' Initial steps The situation of the villagers of Tetavali had a deep impact on the Deodhars. Nitin thought that he should lead by example and bought 15 acres of land in the area (self-invested) to grow their traditional crops – ragi and varai along with cashew. He employed some locals to do the job hoping that it would spur the others to get back to the crops their land could bear. However, in 2020 Covid hit the country. Says Nitin, 'We put the 300 kgs of ragi in our car and came back to our home in Pune.' Not knowing what to do with the ragi, Meenakshi sprouted a few kilos, dried it and after roasting ground it in her kitchen grinder. 'We put it into 200 gms packets and distributed it to family and friends.' Soon those same people were asking for more and Meenakshi made some more. After all, she had 300 kgs of ragi at home. Says Nitin, 'Our friends said why don't you keep this ragi satva in a local store, so we won't have to nag you for it.' And Nitin did just that. He went to the local grocer near his house at Swargate and kept a few packets there. Soon they were sold. The grocer then said, 'Why don't you get a Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence and Nitin followed that advice. 'My daughter who's done her architecture offered to design the label, logo and other such marketing collateral. After the FSSAI registration, you need to have a trademark. We first thought of the name Deodhar's Konkan Sampanna. However, this was not possible because Deodhar being a proper name, Konkan was a geographic area and Sampanna was a brand owned by the Tatas. So, we coined the name Sonkan. In 2021 we had it registered. Learning the ropes What started with an effort to help their family village was soon turning out to be a small company. Nitin started by distributing his ragi satva for free and when the demand kept increasing, he got into the commercial and legal mandates required. He now had to charge for the satva. How did he figure out how much it costs? Says Nitin, 'I simply saw what was the price of the other satva products. They sold for ₹50 generally for 200 gms. I priced ours at ₹55/- because our process was more demanding and the product more nutritious.' Sonkan satva is made by sprouting, roasting and then milling the ragi. This meant that the fibre was available as the ragi was semi-cooked whilst roasting, making it easier to digest. Something that hooked his customers who kept repeating their orders. The 300 kgs of ragi would soon get over and be depleted. What next? At that time the couple invested in a flour mill and a weighing machine. However, grinding large amounts of ragi made the machine too noisy in the house. 'So, we bought a professional flour mill and shifted operations to our village where the ragi was being grown. At first, we employed a local lady who would grind the flour, weigh it and pack it. Once a week we drove down to our village and picked up the stock for sale.' Growing organically This pushed Nitin to procure the ragi from local aggregator agents. 'The village economy is different. A small farmer may approach an agent with the produce of his farm which may be a few 100 kilos. Instead of money he may need dal or rice or some such and do a barter. This is something I cannot offer. So, I procure the ragi but from our village only. The aggregator does agents do the settling of their dues.' But has this succeeded in increment of areas growing millets in the Konkan district? Says Nitin, 'It most certainly has. While I would not have the acreage of land, I now required that when we started when we had just one farmer, i.e. me, growing millets, but now 30 farmers are growing growing millets.' Finding opportunities Meenakshi, who has a deep knowledge of medicines, knew very well that eating right can keep you away from pharmaceutical products. So, she kept experimenting with the millets as the customers wanted more. 'They wanted to know if they could make idlis and cakes with millets.' With her PhD in pharmacy and study in psychology and nutrition, Meenakshi knew that people were getting health conscious, but also did not have the time or the inclination to slog over cooking. They wanted quick, easy-to-make nutritious foods.'Says she, 'No one would spend time and effort to make a jowari bhakri but would very easily flip it on a tawa to make a pancake or chila in minutes.' She started by making a ragi cake mix. But realisation dawned. 'Who would want to eat a healthy cake on their child's birthday? Celebrations are meant to be cheat days when the occasion overrides all health issues. So, I abandoned the cake mix and created a pancake mix that also doubles up as a cake mix' says Meenakshi. She took ragi and dal, and added soda bicarb to make a ready-to-cook idli mix. Added dals to make a chila. 'All healthy and tasty.' Growth compulsions Understanding that as a business grows one needs to prepare professionally for it, the couple has now hired a sales manager, four salesmen, and a brand consultant to help them. Says Nitin, 'Our brand consultant told us that we should position ourselves as 'the first meal of the day' largely because people may eat early or late but generally stay true to their 'breakfast.' So, we have added that as our positioning statement. Also, we are in talks with retailers to display our products as 'the first meal of the day' be it pancakes, chilas, breakfast cereals, satva, thalipeeth bhajanis and so on.' Future plan So far, the Deodhars have invested ₹40 lakh in this venture and Sonkan has grown 3X. Sonkan now has a total of 22 products consuming 800 kgs of millet per month with revenues of ₹90 lakh projected for this year. Last year his revenue was ₹36 lakh and the year before that ₹11 lakh. They started with three people and today they are employing 22 people. They aspire to become an international brand selling nutritious and wholesome millet-based foods, and other produce of Konkan.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Time of India
4 pistols, 55 live bullets, 500g heroin seized in Amritsar near Pakistan border; 3 arrested
Representative Image (AI) NEW DELHI: The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), Punjab, Border Range Amritsar, arrested three drug traffickers near Shankar Dhaba on Attari Road and seized a huge cache of arms and drugs. The arrested individuals have been identified as Maninderjit Singh, Peter and Lovejit Singh, also known as Raja, police said on Wednesday. Acting on a tip-off, officers seized four PX5 Storm pistols, 521 grams of heroin, seven magazines and 55 live cartridges. An FIR has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Arms Act at the ANTF police station in SAS Nagar. Punjab Police said the task force is pursuing both forward and backward linkages to dismantle the entire network. A day ago, a man was killed on Tuesday morning in a powerful explosion near Decent Avenue in Amritsar. Police suspect he was attempting to retrieve an explosive device planted by 'terror handlers'. Authorities are investigating possible links to terror groups such as Babbar Khalsa International. The victim, identified as Nitin, a man in his 20s from Chheharta and son of an auto driver, was believed to be a drug addict and likely a 'foot soldier' sent to collect the explosive as part of a cut-out module, where handlers share location images without direct contact. DIG (Border Range) Satinder Singh described the incident as a 'prima facie case of terrorism' and said circumstantial evidence suggested Nitin was trying to recover the explosive when it detonated. Items found in his pockets linked him to terrorist organisations and police noted a pole at the site appeared to mark the hiding spot of the device.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Man dies in Asr blast while ‘trying to retrieve explosive'
Amritsar/Chandigarh: A man was killed in a powerful explosion near Decent Avenue in Amritsar on between 9.30 am to 10.00 am on Tuesday, with police believing that the blast occurred when he tried to retrieve the explosive. Police suspect that the man, identified later in the day by a senior police officer as Nitin, in his twenties, son of an auto driver and hailing from Chheharta, was a "drug addict" and likely a "foot soldier" who had come to "retrieve the explosive on the directions of his handlers in a cut out module modus operandi where location of the explosive is shared with the foot soldier". While deputy inspector general (DIG) Border Range Satinder Singh described it as a "prima facie case of terrorism", another senior Punjab police officer privy with the investigations said "nothing conclusive could be said about his handlers as of now since he died" and "did not even have a mobile phone since his family is very poor". The officer said, "Even his father, who is an auto-rickshaw driver, has a basic phone. " The officer said, "Though he did not have any phone, but he must have used someone's phone for sure for getting in touch with handlers. In the absence of the phone he used to get in touch with his handlers, it may be painstaking investigation to ascertain that at the behest of which organisation he had come to retrieve the explosive." The officer added, "He could have been tasked by any Pakistan intelligence officer. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký It could be Harwinder Rinda group or the one which carried out grenade attack on [BJP] leader Manoranjan Kalia's house. We are working on it." Punjab police suspect that the explosive that caused the blast could have been "improvised explosive device or a pressure bomb", but would wait for the forensic report to say anything conclusive on that. "It may be an IED which might have gone off due to its trigger mechanism getting on while retrieving it. It is unlikely to be grenade as there has been no recovery of pin or safety lever from the spot," said the officer. The DIG said the police had uncovered a recurring modus operandi in such cases, where terror organisations hide explosives like grenades or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at abandoned places. "An operative is sent a picture of the location to retrieve the device and carry out planned attacks. In this case, a pole indicated where the explosive was hidden." The DIG said, "The circumstantial evidence suggests the deceased was tasked with retrieving the explosive, which accidentally detonated while he was handling it." Hinting that "items recovered from his pockets strongly link him to terrorist organisations," the DIG said a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team was analysing the explosive to determine whether it was an IED or a grenade. Confirming that "the man injured in the blast succumbed to injuries," the DIG said ongoing investigations point to the involvement of terror groups such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Police suspect the man was attempting to retrieve an explosive device when it detonated between 9.30am and 10am near Decent Avenue. Unconfirmed reports have fuelled speculation that the man intended to target policemen, but the DIG declined to comment, citing the sensitivity of the investigation. "We have recovered several clues from his personal belongings, but I cannot reveal them at this stage," he said.
