The delayed transfers of over 180 deputy SP and Superintendent rank officers in Maharashtra were finally carried out on Thursday. Two DCP’s of the Mumbai Police against whom FIRs were registered have been shunted out of the city. DCP Rashmi Karandikar, who was investigating the sensitive ‘data leak’ case that has been challenged by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in the High Court, was moved out as DCP Cyber.
READ | Maharashtra: CM Uddhav Thackeray instructs officials to fast-track infra projects in Aurangabad
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday instructed the Aurangabad district administration to complete the development projects in a fast-track mode in the district. The CM passed the instructions in a review meeting on the various development projects in the Aurangabad district. However, the issue of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar was not discussed in the meeting.
READ | ‘Zamindars who can’t control their haveli’: Sharad Pawar takes dig at Congress
Taking a dig at the Congress, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the party no longer enjoys the control and power it once did across the country, from “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”. He added that it was time for his partner in Maharashtra’s ruling alliance to undertake a reality check. “There was a time when there was Congress from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. But not so anymore,” he said in an interview with India Today’s Marathi digital outlet Mumbai Tak. “This (reality) should be accepted. The closeness (with other opposition parties) will increase once there is a mentality (within Congress) to accept this (fact).”
The immersion of the 'one-and-half day' Ganesh idols began in Mumbai on Saturday, with 6,116 idols making their way into lakes and other artificial water-bodies till 6 pm, an official said. He said the idols immersed comprise 55 'sarvajanik' or public ones, 6047 household ones and 14 'hartalikas' (idols made to celebrate Teej falling in the monsoon), with 3,600 idols being immersed in artificial lakes. (PTI)
Mumbai reported 365 fresh covid cases and four deaths on Saturday. While 232 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, city has a total of 4666 active cases.
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Mumbai, the rest of Konkan, and Western Maharashtra are expected to receive `heavy to very heavy' rainfall in the next three-four days, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here on Saturday. "The low-pressure area developed in the Bay of Bengal is expected to get converted into depression and move north-north-west in next couple of days. It is expected to bring more intense showers over Western Maharashtra, Konkan including Mumbai region starting from Sunday," the official said. (PTI)
Pointing out that the Sakinaka rape has brought to the fore questions related to law and order in the state, Maharashtra Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday sought a speedy trial in the case.
“Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray should take the initiative and meet the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. He should seek a designated fast track court to ensure speedy trial,” the former chief minister said. Read More
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday termed the rape and murder of a woman in Mumbai's Sakinaka as a 'blot on humanity', and promised a fast-track trial in the case. He asserted that the perpetrator would be punished severely. (PTI)
A 25-year-old man was allegedly stabbed to death by two persons over a petty dispute at a village in Kalyan taluka of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Saturday.
The Thane district rural police have arrested brothers Sandeep and Deepak Damle for allegedly stabbing Anil Dudhale at Mharal village on Friday evening, the station house officer of the Kalyan taluka police station said.
The duo had a quarrel with the victim, during which they whipped out a knife and stabbed him multiple times, killing him on the spot, the official said.
An offence under section 302 (murder) of the IPC has been registered against the brothers, while the body of the victim was sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, he said, adding that further probe is underway. (PTI)
More than 125 years ago, the architectural executive engineer to the Bombay Government, John Adams laid down the plans for the police headquarters in the Mumbai city. Located right opposite Crawford Market, work on the Anglo-Gothic building started in 1894 and was completed in 1896.
For Dhanashree Goregaonkar, a 22-year-old restaurateur, the Office of the Commissioner of Police is reminiscent of the work done by her great-great-grandfather, Harishchandra Jagannath Goregaonkar. Harishchandra and his team carried out the actual construction of the office based on Adams’ designs. A plaque inside the commissioner’s office at an ornate staircase, solely used by the Commissioner of Police, attests to this little regarded detail and credits “Harishchundra Juggannath Contractor” for executing the plan. As it turns out, the contractor built more than just this iconic structure; he is connected with the city’s chawls and bungalows, railway lines and police chowkis.
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The Maharashtra BJP unit on Saturday, while expressing shock at the rape and eventual death of a 34-year-old woman in Sakinaka, demanded death by hanging for the accused.
Maharashtra BJP’s vice-president Chitra Wagh said, “It is horrifying. It just numbs our senses. We cannot even imagine what the woman, who was subjected to such brutality, must have gone through. The state government must take immediate and strict action against the culprit. I just want to apologize to my sister. As a civilized society, we have failed to protect her and save her life.”
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A 32-year-old woman, brutally raped and hit with an unknown object in her private parts in Sakinaka, passed away at a government hospital Saturday.
The accused, identified as Mohan Chouhan, 45, has been arrested and booked for rape and murder.
The woman, who was homeless, was allegedly assaulted by Chauhan inside a tempo on Khairani road in Sakinaka on Friday morning. The accused had inserted some object in her private parts, which had led to heavy bleeding.
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Due to heavy rainfall in the catchment area of Bhatsa dam in Thane district of Maharashtra, five gates of the reservoir were opened on Saturday morning to discharge water, an official said. The gates were opened around 10 am, the irrigation department official from Bhatsa Nagar office said.
"The water level at the dam reached 141.70 metres around 9 am today. As the catchment area has been receiving heavy rains, five of its gates were opened," he said.
The authorities in downstream areas, including Shahapur, Bhiwandi and Kalyan, have been alerted to take precautionary measures. They have been asked to instruct the villagers living along the river banks not to venture into water, he added. Bhatsa dam is one of the seven reservoirs that provide water to Mumbai. (PTI)
Police have arrested a man and seized from him two sand boa snakes, worth around Rs 45 lakh, in Thane district of Maharashtra, an official said.
Officials of the property cell of the city police's crime branch arrested the accused, identified as Sujit Mohan Ghamandli, 39, at Khambalpada near Thakurli in the district on September 8, he said. Acting on a tip-off that a man would be coming to Khambalpada, carrying with him a sand boa, the officials laid a trap and nabbed him when he was found loitering in the area suspiciously with a sack on his back, an official release said.
During a search, two sand boas, collectively worth Rs 45 lakh, were recovered from him, it said. While one snake weighed over one kg, another weighed 800 grams, police said.
These non-venomous snakes are used in making certain medicines, cosmetics and in black magic, and are in huge demand in the international market, they added. An offence was registered under the Wildlife (Protection) Act against the man in this connection at Dombivli police station, police said. (PTI)
The Brihan-Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Saturday has predicted light to moderate rainfall in Mumbai city and suburbs with possibility of occasional intense spells.
A video of a policeman pushing a journalist at the famous Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh pandal in Mumbai went viral on social media on Friday. The video showed the policeman, sans a face mask despite Covid norms in place, asking the journalist of a Marathi news channel to step back.
BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, leader of opposition in Maharashtra Assembly, and some journalists organisations sought action in the incident. Fadnavis said it was not alright to use such a language while talking to a journalist. (PTI)
There is a low-pressure area, and its associated cyclonic circulation prevailing over east Rajasthan and the neighbouring areas, which is keeping rainfall activity steady over Maharashtra and parts of central India. Adding to this is the monsoon trough running to the south of its normal position.
The Met office has warned of isolated heavy spells (64.4mm to 115.5mm in 24 hours) and issued an ‘Yellow’ alert over Uttarakhand, Punjab and west Rajasthan till Sunday, and similar intense rain with ‘Orange’ alert for Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and Goa on September 13 and 14.
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A woman wanted in connection with a major drug seizure in Mumbai was held from Gujarat, Narcotics Control Bureau officials said on Friday.
Rubina Niyazu Shaikh was held from Unjha in the neighbouring state by an NCB team on Thursday, they said.
"In raids held here on July 18 and 19, we had seized 109.8 grams of mephedrone, Rs 77.92 lakh cash and 585.5 grams of gold worth Rs 29.4 lakh. Three people were arrested, and their questioning revealed Shaikh's role," an official said. (PTI)
NCP chief Sharad Pawar's comment suggesting that Congress's situation was now like impoverished landlords who have no land and can not maintain their houses evoked a sharp reaction from Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Patole also made a veiled reference to Pawar's exit from the Congress over two decades ago. "The leaders who were entrusted with power by the Congress eventually betrayed it," the state Congress chief said.
"Congress was never a party of zamindars....Congress gave its land to several leaders for upkeep but they stole it over the years," Patole added.
There will be a Congress prime minister in the country in 2024, he said. Speaking to Marathi news portal Mumbai Tak on Thursday, Pawar had said that there was a time when Congress had presence from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. But the party should now accept that it was no longer the case, he had said. (PTI)
A factory manufacturing paints and chemicals was completely gutted in a massive fire in an industrial area at Boisar in Palghar district of Maharashtra in the wee hours of Saturday, an official said.
Nobody was injured in the fire that broke out around 2 am at the unit located in Tarapur MIDC, Boisar, said Vivekanand Kadam, chief of the district disaster management cell. "It was a major fire and the flames could be seen from a distance. Due to it, several drums containing paints exploded, which created a loud sound. Since Friday was a holiday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi, only two guards were present in the premises when the incident occurred," he said.
Three fire engines of the MIDC fire station were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control after over three hours, he added. Apart from the local fire brigade staff, teams of the disaster control cell and the police went to the site after being alerted.
"Cooling operation is currently underway. The fire at the factory generated foul smell in the area," Kadam said. The cause of the fire is being probed, he said. (PTI)
Mumbai Friday reported 441 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths, taking the total tally in the city to 7,34,337 and death toll to 16,011. Over 175 people were discharged during the day, taking the recovery county to 7,11,322. Mumbai has 4,537 active cases now.
A 45-year-old man has been arrested and booked on charges of rape and attempted murder after he allegedly attacked and brutalised a woman in Sakinaka early on Friday morning. The 32-year-old survivor is now in critical condition.
The incident took place at 3 am when the accused, Mohan Chouhan, pulled the homeless woman inside a tempo and assaulted her. A watchman who saw the woman being beaten up inside the tempo alerted the police control room.
The survivor has been admitted to the Rajawadi Hospital and is yet to regain her consciousness. Her statement will be recorded once she wakes up. For now, an FIR has been registered based on the testimony of the watchman.
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Maharashtra reported 4,154 new coronavirus infections and 44 fatalities on Friday, according to health official, taking the tally of COVID-19 cases in the state to 64,91,179 and death toll to 1,38,061.
The number of daily cases and fatalities witnessed a marginal dip. On Thursday the state had reported 4,219 new COVID-19 cases and 55 fatalities.
Mumbai city witnessed 441 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths. (PTI)
Taking a dig at the Congress, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar said that the party no longer enjoys the control and power it once did across the country, from “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”. He added that it was time for his partner in Maharashtra’s ruling alliance to undertake a reality check.
“There was a time when there was Congress from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. But not so anymore,” he said in an interview with India Today’s Marathi digital outlet Mumbai Tak. “This (reality) should be accepted. The closeness (with other opposition parties) will increase once there is a mentality (within Congress) to accept this (fact).”
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With the addition of 286 new coronavirus cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 5,53,920, an official said on Friday. These new cases were reported on Thursday, he said.
Three more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the death toll in the district to 11,333, the official said. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 count was 1,34,992, while the death toll stood at 3,294, another official said. (PTI)
The body of a 33-year-old woman was fished out from a lake in the wee hours of Friday in Thane district, civic officials said.
Santosh Kadam, chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation's Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), said the fire department got a call about a body floating in the Ganesh Lake at Saba village in Diva at around 1.30 am.
Fire brigade personnel and a team of the RDMC along with the police reached the spot and fished out the body, which was later identified as that of woman named Seema Chandrakant Kamble, a resident of Mumbra Devi Colony, he said. A case of accidental death has been registered and further probe was on, the police said. (PTI)
In 2020, the first year that Ganesh festival was celebrated in the time of Covid-19, the organisers of Lalbaugcha Raja had decided they would rather not have a Ganpati idol than set up one that is only four-ft tall. They instead decided to spread awareness about coronavirus.
It was the first time in the history of the famous Ganpati pandal that there was no idol.
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The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed that residents of a village in Thane, who get water only twice a month for approximately two hours, be given water at the earliest by the state government through tankers during Ganesh festival.
A division bench of Justice S J Kathawalla and Justice Milind Jadhav was hearing a petition filed the residents of Kambe village in Bhiwandi, who had alleged that as the village has 300 illegal water connections, they are not provided regular supply.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told HC that the state intends to remove the illegal connections and ensure regular supply of water to the village. Kumbhakoni said the authorities will come up with a plan of action.
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The Maharashtra Director General of Police on Thursday issued a directive to the chiefs of city and district police to avoid giving night patrolling duties or other such stressful work hours to lower rank officials on the day prior to their weekly offs.
Acting DGP Sanjay Pandey in his order stated that his office has learnt that police officers and constables are given night patrolling or 24-hour duties on the day before their weekly offs, and this causes them mental and physical harassment.
“It becomes meaningless because the officials get tired when they are assigned too much work or given stressful working hours on the day before their weekly offs,” read the directive.
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A 25-year-old man has been arrested for duping several unemployed youngsters and relieving them of their mobile phones by promising jobs at the civic-run Cooper hospital here, police said on Thursday.
The accused was identified as Hamid Salim Sheikh, resident of Mumbra area of Thane, said a police official. He had cheated at least a dozen people and four FIRs have been registered against him at the suburban Juhu police station alone, the official said.
Sheikh would approach young men on the hospital premises and tell them that he worked in the medical data analysis department where people were needed for data entry jobs. If anybody expressed interest, he would ask the person to bring a high-end 4G mobile phone, saying it would be needed for the job. Later he would take the mobile phone `to install hospital's software' and vanish.
"We suspect that he has committed similar crimes in other hospitals too," said police sub-inspector Haribhai Biradar, adding that Sheikh has been booked under IPC section 420 (cheating). (PTI)
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday instructed the Aurangabad district administration to complete the development projects in a fast-track mode in the district.
The CM passed the instructions in a review meeting on the various development projects in the Aurangabad district. However, the issue of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar was not discussed in the meeting.
Read more
The delayed transfers of over 180 deputy SP and Superintendent rank officers in Maharashtra were finally carried out on Thursday. Two DCP’s of the Mumbai Police against whom FIRs were registered have been shunted out of the city.
DCP Rashmi Karandikar, who was investigating the sensitive ‘data leak’ case that has been challenged by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in the High Court, was moved out as DCP Cyber.
Read more
Cautioning Mumbaikars about the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale through a video address on Thursday evening made it clear that no one will be allowed to visit any Ganpati mandal in Mumbai and darshan would have to be online for everyone.
Mumbai Police also issued an order stating that assembly of more than five people will not be allowed in any public place including Ganpati mandals during the 10-day Ganpati festival (September 10 to 19) and FIR will be registered under Section 188 of IPC against those violating the order.
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Mumbai Thursday reported 458 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths. The caseload in the city rose to 7,48,066 and the death toll reached 16,010. The number of active Covid-19 cases increased to 4,010 on Thursday.
In a pleasant news for several crores of Lalbaugcha Raja devotees across the globe, the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal this year has made arrangements to provide 24/7 online darshan of the Lord Ganesha's idol from Friday 11 am on their website.
The 10 day festival will begin at Lalbaugcha Raja with a ceremonial Pooja at 10.30 am on Friday and within half an hour the 24/7 live coverage will begin for next 10 days and will end on September 19.
"Due to the pandemic no Mukh darshan will be allowed this year. So, we earnestly request all Lalbaug cha Raja devotees not to come here and to stay at home, stay safe and take darshan of our dear Raja on our website www.lalbaugcharaja.com or through our social media handles," said Sudhir Salvi, 49, secretary of the mandal.
A day after the State Industry Department announced concessions up to Rs 1.50 lakh on e-vehicles, Industry Minister Subash Deshmukh Thursday said e-vehicles will henceforth become mandatory for all government, civic and Zilla Parishad offices.
"Last month, we came up with a new e-vehicle policy. Yesterday, we announced a rebate for e-vehicle buyers as part of our e-vehicle policy," Desai told The Indian Express Thursday.
The Minister said in the next four years, 10 per cent of all public transport buses will be e-vehicles. "Similarly, 25 per cent state transport buses will be e-vehicles. As of now, the percentage of e-vehicles is much lesser than imagined”.
But the big move, Deshmukh said, will be the mandatory use of e-vehicles in all government offices.
Cautioning Mumbaikars about the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19, Hemant Nagrale, Mumbai Police commissioner, through a video address on Thursday evening made it categorically clear that no one will be allowed to visit any Ganpati mandals in Mumbai for darshan and everyone will have to take online darshan of the lord's idols from their homes.
The Mumbai Police also issued an order stating an assembly of more than five people will not be allowed in any public place including Ganpati mandals during the 10 day festival (September 10 to 19) and a FIR will be registered under section 188 of the IPC against those violating the order.
A woman police constable and two of her acquaintances have been arrested for allegedly killing a 54-year-old policeman in Navi Mumbai and trying to pass it off as an accident, police said.
The woman constable, attached with Mumbai Police, had allegedly given a contract to one Vishal Jadhav, 18, and Ganesh Chavhan, 21, to kill the man with whom she allegedly had an illicit affair.
According to the police, the victim was found unconscious outside Panvel railway station on August 15 after a car had mowed him down. He was rushed to hospital by the police but died during treatment.
More than 300 two-wheeler riders have been booked in the last eight days for taking the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link road flyover which was partially shut from last Thursday owing to repair works, said a notification by the Mumbai traffic police.
The repair works were initiated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after receiving several complaints of bikes skidding on the flyover, inaugurated on August 1. On Wednesday, the entire flyover was reopened for four-wheelers and light commercial vehicles after completing repair works.
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A special court allowed the discharge applications of Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seven others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case.
Besides Bhujbal, the special court hearing cases related to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), discharged his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and five others in the case.
They had sought discharge, claiming that there was no evidence to prosecute them in the case. They submitted that all the allegations against them were false and based on wrong calculations assumptions and presumptions.
Despite the voluminous charge sheet running into thousands pages filed in 2016 there is no sufficient evidence to proceed the trial, they argued.
(PTI)
Rainfall is expected to increase in Mumbai and surrounding areas on September 12 and 13, according to KS Hosalikar, head of IMD’s surface instrument division in Pune.
A Yellow alert will be in place in Raigad district on September 10 and 11, Thane and Raigad districts on September 12, which will extend to Mumbai and Palghar on September 13.
NCP leader and Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Chhagan Bhujbal was discharged by a special court on Thursday in the Maharashtra Sadan case being probed by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Along with Bhujbal, his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and five others were cleared of all charges by the court today. Bhujbal, in his plea filed through lawyers Sajal Yadav and Sudarshan Khawase, had argued that there was no evidence of any irregularities or corruption by him as the then deputy chief minister and the state minister of Public Works Department (PWD).
A case was filed in 2015 against Bhujbal and 16 others by the ACB, alleging that a developer firm was favoured by him for a project on land owned by the Regional Transport Office. Bhujbal was the PWD minister from 2004 to 2014.
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The BJP has decided to express solidarity with Karuna Sharma, who has claimed to be the second wife of Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil told the media.
On Sunday, Karuna Sharma was arrested shortly after reaching Parli in Beed district where she was supposed to hold a press conference and expose the alleged wrongdoings of the NCP minister. The BJP had earlier demanded a probe into her arrest.
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The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it would decide on September 13 whether the petition filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh against the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case should be heard by a single or division bench.
Deshmukh had last week filed the petition seeking to quash the five summons issued by the ED.
When the petition came up for hearing before a single bench of Justice S K Shinde, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, brought to the court's attention a note addressed by the HC registry department, saying the plea ought to be heard by a division bench (comprising two judges).
"If the registry has raised an objection, then it ought to be cleared first as a single bench might not be able to decide on certain issues and challenges in a petition," Mehta said.
Senior counsel Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam, appearing for Deshmukh, however, opposed and said the single bench had the jurisdiction to hear the plea. Justice Shinde said he would consider the issue and pass orders on September 13. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to transfer alleged Naxal operative Nirmala Uppuganti to a hospice for palliative care from Byculla women’s jail where she is currently lodged in connection with an IED blast at Gadchiroli in 2019.
A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said that she should be shifted to the hospice by September 15.
Uppuganti had approached the court last month stating that she is terminally ill with stage four cancer. The 59-year-old’s petition stated that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and is now suffering from multiple skeletal metastases, lung metastases.
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The BJP Thursday demanded the state government compensate farmers for crop loss due to the incessant rains in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
All eight Marathwada districts — Aurangabad, Beed, Latur, Parbhani, Jalna, Hingoli, Osmanabad, Nanded — were lashed by very heavy rains last week.
State BJP spokesperson Ram Kulkarni said, “The torrential rain lead to deaths of 12 persons who were swept away in flood waters. Apart from this, an estimated 800 small and big animals drowned across the region.”
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The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking quashing of criminal defamation proceedings initiated by a Magistrate Court against her following a complaint by lyricist Javed Akhtar in 2020.
Justice Revati Mohite Dere pronounced the judgment.
In his complaint, Akhtar had alleged that Ranaut had made defamatory statements on national and international television, “in what appears to be a clear campaign to malign and tarnish (Akhtar) in the eyes of the general public”.
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A Delhi Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Anand Daga — former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s lawyer — who was arrested in connection with alleged leaks of documents connected to the ongoing probe against Deshmukh.
Special CBI Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav rejected Daga’s bail application stating that the investigation was inconclusive and that Daga may influence the probe.
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With green cover of less than 10 per cent and more concretization, areas like Dongari, Bhuleshwar and Kurla are warmer than other parts of the city, according to the green cover map study by World Resources Institute (WRI) India. Areas like Mulund and Borivali with up to 70 per cent green cover recorded lower temperatures.
The data was shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday during a webinar on Urban Greening and Biodiversity for Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP).
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally reopened the 2.9-km-long Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road flyover for four wheelers and light commercial vehicles after completing repair works.
However, officials from BMC said that it will remain shut for two wheelers and heavy vehicles.
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Noted women’s rights activist Sonal Shukla passed away at a hospital in Mumbai on Thursday. She was 80.
The chief founder trustee of Vacha Charitable Trust, she had been working with adolescent girls and women from the 1980s. Popularly known as “Sonal Ben”, she had been actively involved in feminist movements for many decades and was also the co-founder of the group Forum Against Rape, which is now known as the Forum Against Oppression of Women. In early days, Shukla had turned a room in her home as a support centre for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
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Under the influence of a fast-moving weather system — a low pressure that has formed over the Bay of Bengal — Mumbai city and suburbs received heavy showers through Tuesday night.
The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded 78.7 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am Wednesday, while the Colaba observatory recorded 38 mm rain during the same period. High relative humidity at 92 per cent was recorded in the morning.
As per the district forecast and warning issued by IMD on Wednesday, Mumbai is likely to receive moderate rain till the end of this week. Increase in rainfall activity is likely over Thane and south Konkan – Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg – over the weekend. The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in south Konkan.
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A 34-year-old unemployed man lost Rs 2.58 lakh to a cyber-fraudster, who promised him a part time job for Amazon where he has to buy their products to increase their sales and in return, he would get a hefty commission after each sale. The fraudster said once the commission is received, he can cancel the order and get his money back as well.
The complainant lodged an FIR with the Andheri police station on September 6. In his complaint, he said that he was unable to find work due to the pandemic and his wife works in a private company. He was desperately looking for a job and received a text message on his phone where a job to work for Amazon was offered to him along with a mobile number for further queries.
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In a bid to fully vaccinate more people in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to hold a special drive on Thursday for those eligible for a second dose. A similar drive was conducted on September 4, when civic-run centres administered second doses to 81,705 people.
To get the maximum number of people immunised, the BMC continues to conduct special vaccination drives for lactating mothers, pregnant women, those who are bedridden and people without any identity proof.
With civic body elections due in February 2022, the NCP youth wing on Wednesday started a campaign against potholes by gheraoing Rajan Talkar, BMC’s chief engineer in the roads department.
NCP spokesperson Amol Matele, who hails from Ghatkopar, presented Talkar with a list of 3,510 potholes in the city. He maintained that if the potholes were not filled, the NCP will start a major agitation.
“Last year, Mumbaikars could not celebrate Ganesh festival due to the pandemic and this time, it will be because of potholes that have not been filled up by BMC despite having a huge budget,” said Matele.
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The redevelopment of Motilal Nagar, a Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority-owned colony, which was pending for many years was cleared by the state cabinet on Wednesday along with special concessions.
Motilal Nagar 1, 2 and 3 is spread over 50 hectares and includes 3700 structures and 1600 slums. Since most of Motilal Nagar is made of ground plus one or ground floor structures, the density of galas was just 106. For the redevelopment scheme, a density of 450 galas or structures per hectare (as per DCPR of 2034) was needed.
After redevelopment, nearly 33000 flats will be available. Each residential structure will have 1600 sq foot flats and each non-residential structure will have 976 sq foot flats.
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A special court on Wednesday discharged Pankaj Bhujbal and Sameer Bhujbal, the son and nephew respectively of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, and two others in a cheating case filed against them in connection with a development project in Raigad district in 2015.
Special Judge H S Satbhai allowed the discharge applications of the duo along with those of Rajesh Dharap and Satyen Kesarkar, linked to a development firm, clearing them of charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust, along with those under relevant sections of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963.
The complaint dated back to a 2015 case filed with the Economic Offences Wing in Taloja. It was claimed that the directors of Devisha Infrastructure Private Limited were to develop a project called Hexworld on a 25-acre land plot. It was alleged that it was hidden that the developers did not have the land in its name, nor its possession or construction-related permission to develop it.
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Maharashtra on Wednesday surpassed its previous best tally of single-day vaccination by administering 14.39 lakh doses against Covid-19 to beneficiaries.
Mumbai, on Wednesday, administered 1.84 lakh doses, the highest for the city in a single day. As many as 13,1757 or 71 per cent of the total vaccines were administered at 322 civic and state-run vaccination centres. The remaining 52,532 vaccines were administered at private hospitals.
With this, the number of fully vaccinated people in Mumbai now stands at 29,45,437. At least 75 per cent of the adult population (72,80,431) have received one dose of the vaccine.
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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Government of India on Wednesday signed a 300-million-dollar loan agreement as additional financing to scale up rural connectivity in Maharashtra.
The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 km in 34 districts. The project, with $200 million financing, approved in August 2019 is already improving and maintaining 2,100 km of rural roads across Maharashtra.
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Mumbai on Wednesday recorded 530 new coronavirus positive cases, the highest since mid-July this year, and four deaths. With 48,521 tests conducted in a 24-hour-period, the daily positivity rate was 1.09 per cent. Since September 1, the city has been recording more than 400 cases daily, with the positivity rate hovering over 1 per cent. With this, the city's infection count rose to 7,47,608 and death toll to 16,004.