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Time of India
07-07-2025
- Time of India
Teenage girl rescued from occult ritual, planned human sacrifice
Yavatmal: The Yavatmal city police uncovered a ritual in which a 16-year-old girl was scalded as part of an occult ritual intended to unearth hidden treasure. The girl later told the police that she was burned intentionally as part of the ritual and that she was to be sacrificed on Guru Purnima. The prime accused, Mahadev Palve, 44, attempted suicide by slitting his throat when police raided his residence in Vanjari Fail area. He was immediately shifted to a hospital and is under treatment. Police said Palve conducted the ritual with participation of two women and their daughters, including the 16-year-old victim. Yavatmal city police inspector Ramkrishna Jadhav led the operation following a tip-off. The police raided Palve's residence and found Palve, his wife Bharti, the victim, and her mother engaged in the ritual. Palve faces charges under various provisions including Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 118(2), 137, 138; Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act Section 75; Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, Section 3; and BNS Section 226 for attempted suicide. The police seized Rs7 lakh cash, a turtle, conch shells, and substantial occult ritual materials during the raid. District superintendent of police Kumar Chinta assured that all involved individuals will be brought to justice.
Economic Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Defence outshines all sectors with 35% rally in 2025: What's driving the surge and will it last?
Live Events Mutual fund inflows reflect rising retail interest Global momentum Outlook (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel India's defence sector has emerged as the strongest performer over the past six months, delivering a remarkable 34.82% return — far ahead of all other sectoral indices. While broader market benchmarks like the Nifty gained 5.49% during the same period, and sectors such as IT (-12.18%) and pharma (-6.43%) saw declines, defence has stood out as a clear winner.A large part of this rally has been driven by the strong performance of defence-focused public sector undertakings (PSUs) like Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), and Bharat Dynamics (BDL). These companies have reported healthy order books, consistent execution, and improved margins, supported by steady procurement from the Indian attribute this outperformance to increased investor confidence, driven by greater visibility into long-term orders, strong cash flows, and the ongoing re-rating of PSUs across sectors. With the Indian government prioritising indigenous defence manufacturing under initiatives like Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat, the outlook for domestic defence players remains to Sagar Shinde, VP of Research at Fisdom, 'PSU defence companies like HAL, BEL, and BDL have reported healthy order books, margin expansion, and earnings growth. Additionally, heightened geopolitical tensions have further increased interest in the sector, both domestically and globally.'The strong market performance in defence stocks has translated into impressive returns for mutual funds focused on the sector — particularly over the last three months. During this period, defence-based mutual fund schemes have delivered returns of up to 39%, with the category average standing at 36.98%.The Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence ETF led the pack with a 38.58% gain, followed closely by Groww Nifty India Defence ETF FoF and Groww Nifty India Defence ETF, which returned 38.32% and 38.48%, respectively. The HDFC Defence Fund, the only actively managed scheme in the category, posted a return of 30.04%.The surge in returns reflects growing investor interest in the sector, aided by themes like self-reliance, modernisation, and defence exports . However, financial advisors have warned that sectoral funds can be volatile and are best suited for investors with a high-risk appetite and a long investment Palve of Anand Rathi Wealth cautioned, 'These sectors often experience cyclical performance and require timely entry and exit to capitalize on momentum, which can be difficult for most investors to navigate. Chasing current momentum in such sectors is not advisable.'The sector has also gained from developments on the global front. A recent NATO announcement to raise defence spending significantly over the next decade has been viewed as a major export opportunity for Indian manufacturers. Indian defence firms, many of which are now part of global supply chains, are expected to benefit as countries diversify their defence procurement target of reaching $5 billion in defence exports by 2025 has also improved long-term sentiment. Recent bilateral defence deals with countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East point to a growing international the sector's rally is underpinned by strong fundamentals, analysts warn that valuations are stretched and the market may enter a phase of consolidation. 'The optimism around future order wins, export growth, and policy tailwinds may already be priced in,' said Palve. 'A phase of mean reversion would not be surprising.'As of mid-2025, the defence sector stands at the intersection of government policy, geopolitical developments, and investor optimism. Whether it can sustain this pace of growth will depend on continued execution and the ability to capitalise on both domestic and global opportunities.: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Defence mutual funds gain up to 39% in 3 months. Should you join the rally or stay cautious?
Live Events Defence sector based mutual funds have delivered stellar returns in the past three months, with some schemes offering gains of up to 39%. The average return for the category stands at a strong 36.98%. Around six funds in the category have marked their presence in the market in the said time period. Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence ETF offered a gain of 38.58% in the last three months, followed by defence funds of Groww Mutual Fund. Groww Nifty India Defence ETF and Groww Nifty India Defence ETF FOF offered a return of 38.48% and 38.32% respectively in the similar time the said time period, defence based two index funds - Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence Index Fund and Aditya Birla SL Nifty India Defence Index Fund posted a return of 38.27% and 38.21% respectively. HDFC Defence Fund , the only actively managed fund based on the defence sector, posted a return of 30.04% in the same time believe that the sharp rally in the sector was driven by several factors such as rising government expenditure on defence modernisation, supportive policies like Make in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat and increase in geopolitical Palve, Director at Anand Rathi Wealth Limited is of the opinion that the sector remains very sensitive to geopolitical events and similar sharp rallies have occurred in the past usually followed by phases of consolidation or corrections as the sentiment cools off.'Given this volatility, investing in sectorial/thematic funds is not recommended as it requires tactic entry & exit to ride the performance which is not suitable for regular investors,' Palve shared with similar opinion, Sagar Shinde, VP Research, Fisdom told ETMutualFunds that PSU defence companies like HAL, BEL, and BDL have reported healthy order books, margin expansion, and earnings growth. 'Additionally, heightened geopolitical tensions have further increased interest in the sector, both domestically and globally, fueling investor optimism,' Shinde funds have demonstrated similar performance in the last six months as the funds offered up to 39% return with an average return of 35.29%. Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence ETF offered a gain of 38.73% in the last six Read | JioBlackRock Overnight Fund opens for subscription. Who should invest? Motilal Oswal Nifty India Defence Index Fund delivered a return of 38.24% in the last six months. Groww Nifty India Defence ETF FOF and HDFC Defence Fund gained 36.60% and 21.94% respectively in the last six analysing the past performance of these funds, Shinde said that given the sharp rally, the current valuations appear stretched, making a large lumpsum entry risky and investors with a high-risk appetite and a 3–5 year horizon may consider selective the other hand, Palve while cautioning the investors said that one should keep in mind that investing in the defence sector, or any sectoral/thematic strategy, comes with its own set of challenges as these sectors often experience cyclical performance and require timely entry and exit to capitalise on momentum, which can be difficult for most investors to navigate, therefore, chasing current momentum in such sectors is not of six available funds based on the defence sector, five are passive funds whereas only one is active funds and with passive funds delivering stellar performance compared to active funds, Shinde mentions that, 'Passive funds are preferred, as they have consistently outperformed active peers by a wider margin and also have a better cost advantage. To manage timing risks, a staggered SIP approach is more prudent than a lumpsum investment.'According to a report by ETMarkets, recently defence stocks witnessed a surge after NATO allies agreed to hike defence spending and the move is being seen as a big export opportunity for Indian defence firms.'In a five-point statement issued on Wednesday, NATO leaders backed the big increase in defence spending that US President Donald Trump had demanded, and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit in the Netherlands,' the report Read | Beyond JioBlackRock: Eight other mutual fund NFOs open for subscription this week The further highlighted that the new spending target - to be achieved over the next 10 years - is a jump worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the current goal of 2% of GDP, although it will be measured differently and countries have pledged to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence - such as troops and weapons - and 1.5% on broader defence-related measures such as cyber security, protecting pipelines and adapting roads and bridges to handle heavy military an increase in investor confidence in the sector and hike in defence spending, the experts caution investors with short term volatility in the sector due to stretched valuations and potential profit believes that the investors should enter with calibrated expectations and a long-term mindset. 'The medium to long-term outlook remains constructive, supported by strong policy tailwinds, increasing defence exports, and greater focus on self-reliance. However, short-term volatility cannot be ruled out due to stretched valuations and potential profit booking. Investors should enter with calibrated expectations and a long-term mindset,' he mentioning that the sector has potential to move higher supported by favourable government policies and long-term capital commitments, Palve advises investors not to focus solely on any one sector rather focus on broad-based diversified equity funds.'Looking ahead, the defence sector has the potential to move higher, supported by favourable government policies and long-term capital commitments. However, current valuations suggest the sector appears overheated, with a high degree of froth. This shows that the optimism around future positive events such as order wins, export growth and policy tailwinds may already be priced in. Hence, a phase of mean reversion would not be surprising,' Palve commented.'Thus, it is not advisable for investors to invest solely in any single sector, as it increases the concentration risk. Instead they are recommended to invest in broad based diversified equity funds such as market cap based funds and strategy-based funds which gives exposure across sectors,' he or sector schemes invest most of their corpus in a particular sector, and the performance of schemes is based on performance of the sector. That is why thematic or sector funds are recommended only to investors with thorough knowledge about the should invest in these schemes only if you have a long investment horizon or have intimate knowledge about the sector to time the entry and exit in these schemes. Remember, every sector or theme can go out of fashion depending on the economic conditions. You should not make hasty decisions in those phases.: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@ alongwith your age, risk profile, and Twitter handle.
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Cancer patients can now receives radiation therapy at Cama Hospital
Mumbai: A 50-year-old woman with breast cancer became the first patient in two years to receive radiation therapy on Friday at the women-only Cama & Albless Hospital. This followed the arrival of a long-delayed linear accelerator machine used for targeted treatment. Hospital officials stated that this is still a "trial run" ahead of the official inauguration. The previous machine was deemed unfit for treatment two years ago, after serving the city for over a decade and helping thousands of women receive advanced cancer care. Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to kill or shrink cancer cells. Doctors carefully aim the radiation at the cancer so it affects as little healthy tissue as possible. The treatment can cost over a lakh private centres but would be offered for free here. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai Dr Tushar Palve, the hospital's Medical Superintendent, said the radiation therapy room—also known as the "bunker"—is a specially shielded space designed to prevent radiation leakage. The bunker's walls, floor, and ceiling are constructed with thick layers of lead or concrete to absorb and block radiation. The total cost of the machine and the renovations was Rs 38 crore, sanctioned by the medical education department. "We largely see patients with ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, uterine cancer, and some mouth and bowel cancer cases. We had chemotherapy available for patients and now there are more options," said Dr Palve. The burden of patients needing radiotherapy will now be shared between Cama, BYL Nair Hospital, and Tata Memorial Hospital. A doctor from Nair Hospital said they also plan to procure the same machine, but for now, their radiotherapy centre remains functional with a cobalt machine. These machines are an older type of radiation therapy device, but they are less precise than newer machines. "We only use cobalt machines, which means we can provide only 2D radiotherapy. About 40 to 50 patients on a daily basis require that machine," the doctor said.
Indian Express
24-06-2025
- Indian Express
How cybercrime rackets are operating from rural Maharashtra: Ahilyanagar arrests reveal the ugly trend
Earlier this month, when the Pimpri-Chinchwad cyber police raided a small village in Ahilyanagar district as part of a probe, they caught a man with nine mobile phones, 23 bank passbooks, 18 cheque books and 35 debit cards. What came to light was a sophisticated cyber crime racket involving young men and a well-organized funds siphoning operation suggesting that cyber fraud rackets were now not just limited to traditional hotspots or cities but have even come to rural Maharashtra. A team from the cybercrime police station of Pimpri-Chinchwad police were probing a case, in which online fraudsters had posed as a serving police inspector with the Maharashtra police and an officer from Reserve Bank of India. The cyber fraudsters conned a 47-year-old general manager of an auto parts company of Rs 52 lakh after telling him that a probe into his finances had revealed that funds laundered from an international crime had been parked in his bank accounts and threatening him with digital arrest. In over a week in April this year, the victim was coerced into transferring the money in dozens of transactions to fraudulent mule accounts on pretext of verification of his accounts by the RBI. Realising that he has been cheated, the complainant approached the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber crime police station and an FIR was registered on June 7. Within a couple of days of registration of the offence, the police arrested two suspects— Akash Babasaheb Pathare (28) and Avinash Shrikant Tungar (30) —from Bolhegaon village, around 50km from the district headquarters of Ahilyanagar. The duo had rented out their bank accounts to receive funds siphoned from the victim in the case. A name came up during their interrogation, one Vishal Palve (27), a resident of Ghodegaon village in Newasa taluka of Ahmednagar. A probe into Palve's background revealed that Palve used to be a stock market trader and also ran a scrap dealership but later came in contact with the cyber criminals. He then started working as mule handler and running the systems to funnel the siphoned funds abroad via the cryptocurrency route. Investigation further revealed that Palve was using multiple SIM cards. In a raid conducted in the second week of June, police arrested Palve and recovered from him nine mobile phones, dozens of SIM cards, 23 bank passbooks, 18 cheque books and 35 debit cards. 'Investigation revealed that Palve was recruiting mule account holders and was also managing their accounts with the help of two more suspects. Palve used to withdraw cash from the mule account holders and deposit the same into other accounts using a cash deposit machine to be finally converted to Tether or USDT cryptocurrency. This cryptocurrency was further sent to their international handlers operating from foreign countries,' said Assistant Inspector Praveen Swami. All the five arrests in the case were made in the first and second week of this month, said said. The police subsequently arrested Akshay Sadashiv Galve (27), who ran private coaching classes, and Mayur Sunil Anecha (25), who worked as a goods trader. The duo are from villages in Jamkhed taluka and were helping Palve in converting funds into cryptocurrency and funnelling them to international handlers using decentralised crypto wallets. 'All these suspects are aged between 25 and 30 and are well educated. They all belong to small villages in Ahmednagar district. This is a clear indication of how the cyber crimes are no more limited to traditional hotspots in Rajasthan or Jharkhand or other cities in India but have reached our doorstep and in villages of Maharashtra,' said senior inspector Ravikiran Nale of cybercrime police station, who is investigating the case. The probe was conducted under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Doiphode and Assistant Commissioner of Police Vishal Hire. Earlier, while speaking to The Indian Express, Vinoykumar Choubey, Police Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad had said, 'Mule accounts remain a central concern in cybercrimes, as they facilitate the movement of siphoned money without detection. Addressing this issue is key to disrupting the operations of cybercriminals. Our teams will continue to work on dismantling the network of mule accounts and its handlers.' Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010. Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune. Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More
