Over 5,000 villagers from around Maharashtra’s Vasai town Sunday gathered to witness a solemn ceremony — presentation of the ‘General Reginald Dyer Award’ to Thane Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepak Devraj.

“The award was to acknowledge Deepak Devraj’s brutality against the people of Vasai, women, children, tribals, poor villagers and others who were peacefully protesting in Gandhian traditions,” Shramjeevi Kamgar Sanghatna (SKS) vice-president Sanjay Shirodkar told IANS.

Apparently frustrated with his having failed in his examination, a mechanical engineering student allegedly committed suicide at his residence in suburban Borivali, the police said on Friday.

Tension prevailed in the Vasai Taluka here on Friday when public transport was stoned even as police had to resort to lathi-charge to quell an agitated mob - all supporters of social activist Vivek Pandit, after the Independent MLA, who was on an indefinite hunger strike, was shifted to a hospital.

Sending out an unmistakably strong message to government officials who do not implement anti-pollution norms, a Thane court has sentenced four officials of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) to two years’ simple imprisonment for failing to control pollutants streaming into the Vasai creek.