A health worker vaccinates a beneficiary under 'Har Ghar Dastak' Covid-19 inoculation campaign in Navi Mumbai. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)Mumbai on Thursday reported 279 fresh Covid-19 cases, highest record since November 11 this year, and 5 deaths, the state health department said. Maharashtra in total detected 877 new cases and 19 fatalities on Thursday. In the last 4 days, Mumbai has witnessed a rise in Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday will question the Akola Superintendent of Police, G Shreedhar, in connection with its probe into alleged corruption by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in the transfer and postings of police officers in the state.
Former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, facing trial for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, has written to the CBI from jail claiming that a fellow inmate had told her that she had seen Bora alive in Srinagar.
Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College and present Parish Priest of St Peter’s Church, has moved a plea in the Bombay High Court seeking to clear his late friend Father Stan Swamy‘s name pertaining to the observations and findings made against the Jesuit priest by the Special NIA Court while rejecting his bail pleas.
The plea, filed on Wednesday, referred to an instance of a political party disallowing Jesuits from naming a park after Swamy outside Mangaluru and said that the odium of accusations had “followed him to the grave”.
Emphasising that Swamy died without a trial, the petition sought “necessary directions asserting that the deceased Stan Swamy, in the eyes of law, is entitled to be seen as innocent and not guilty of the offences alleged against him irrespective of the (prima facie) findings of the special court”.
After the Supreme Court’s order on renotifying seats reserved for the OBCs in the local body polls, the Maharashtra State Election Commission has said that the elections to the seats initially meant for the OBC category will now be held on January 18. Elections to certain local self-government bodies were to be held on December 21, but the apex court said the seats meant for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) were to be treated as general seats.
Hence, the seats set aside for the OBC category will be de-reserved and elections to these seats will be held on January 18. The results will be announced on January 19.
The Bombay High Court on Friday concluded hearing and reserved its verdict in the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) appeal against bail granted to Naresh Gaur, an accused in the Antilia bomb scare case.
The central agency had approached the division bench of the HC barely a day after a single-judge bench of the High Court set aside a special NIA court order staying for 25 days the bail it had granted to Gaur.
Gaur was arrested in March, this year, for his alleged involvement in the procurement of SIM cards used by the other accused in the conspiracy.
AN ANALYSIS by an external forensics firm has claimed that the phone of activist Rona Wilson, arrested in 2018 in the Elgaar Parishad case, was “infiltrated” with Pegasus spyware before his arrest.
The recent report by the US-based Arsenal Consulting claims that two backups of an Apple iPhone belonging to Wilson had digital traces showing infection by the Pegasus surveillance tool, a Washington Post report has stated.
According to the Washington Post report, the backups of Wilson’s phone were provided to the forensic firm at the request of his defence team. “It (the report) has legal consequences on the case. So, appropriate action will be taken in due course,” senior counsel Indira Jaising, who represents Wilson, said. Read more
The Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) will conduct a survey to find out the number of homeless people in Mumbai after the Supreme Court-appointed Shelter Monitoring Committee raised questions over the findings of a previous study that pegged the number of homeless at 11,915 in a city with 1.24 crore people.
The corporation floated an Expression of Interest on Thursday to appoint an agency to conduct enumeration of the homeless in Mumbai.
The agency will have to conduct the survey with the help of a mobile-based app system, where the location of all the homeless will be geotagged and biometric registration will be done. Read more
Mumbai on Thursday reported 279 fresh Covid-19 cases, highest record since November 11 this year, and 5 deaths, the state health department said. Maharashtra in total detected 877 new cases and 19 fatalities on Thursday. In the last 4 days, Mumbai has witnessed a rise in Covid-19 cases.
A special court recently rejected the bail plea filed by a man who has spent 13 years in jail on allegations of being a member of the banned terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM). The trial in the case is yet to begin.
Mubeen Kadar Shaikh filed the bail plea last month on grounds, including that the trial is yet to begin, and hence, is not likely to be completed in the near future.
Shaikh is one among the 26 people booked in the case, 14 among whom are behind bars. The prosecution has claimed that an email was sent to media organisations on August 23, 2008, claiming responsibility for the Gujarat serial bomb blasts that had taken place on July 26 in the same year. Read more
The BJP on Thursday accused the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of undermining the Governor’s authority to appoint vice-chancellors for state universities. The state Cabinet on Wednesday had passed a proposal to reduce the scope of Governor in appointment of vice-chancellor (V-C) of various universities and also created a post of pro-chancellor for Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant.
Former education minister Ashish Shelar said, “Changes have been made in the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016, and a new Section 9(A) has been inserted, in which the government has removed the powers vested in the Governor.” Read more
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will Friday question the Akola Superintendent of Police, G Shreedhar, in connection with its probe into alleged corruption by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in the transfer and postings of police officers in the state.
Shreedhar, an IPS officer, was earlier posted with the State Reserve Police Force in Nagpur. After receiving the ED summons in the case, Shreedhar had said he would co-operate with the agency in its investigation. Read more
Maharashtra on Thursday reported 877 new coronavirus positive cases, and 19 fatalities, which took its infection tally to 66,46,938 and death toll to 1,41,317, the state health department said.
No new case of Omicron variant was reported in the state, it said in a health bulletin. On Wednesday, the state had reported 925 Covid-19 cases and 10 fatalities.
A total of 632 patients were discharged during the day, taking the overall recovery count to 64,95,249. Maharashtra's Covid-19 recovery rate is 97.72 per cent, while the fatality rate stands at 2.12 per cent.
"There was no new patient of Omicron variant reported in the state today," the health bulletin said. Maharashtra had recorded four cases of the Omicron variant on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which had classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern', recently said that it is spreading at a rate not seen with any previous strain. (PTI)
An MLA from Mumbai recently lodged an FIR with Dahisar police station alleging that an unknown person made video calls to him in which a woman was seen doing obscene acts, and that later a person from the same number tried to extort money from him by morphing his video.
Prakash Surve, a Shiv Sena MLA from Magathane, told the police that he receives several phone calls and WhatsApp messages from people asking for help.
On November 11, around 9.20 pm, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number where a person said, “Hello, How are you.k”. Again, on November 13 around 3 pm he received a WhatsApp message, “Hi”. Surve said he did not respond to these messages as they were from an unknown number. Read more
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to Maharashtra starting December 18 during which he will inaugurate a new building of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Pune and interact with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, officials said.
Shah will also attend the convocation of the Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM) in Pune and the national awards function of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in Mumbai during his visit.
On December 18, the home minister will visit the Shirdi temple in Ahmednagar and present the Vithalrao Vikhe Patil literary awards at a function in Loni, besides attending the ICSI function in the metropolis, the officials said. (PTI)
Mumbai regional Congress committee chief Bhai Jagtap on Tuesday “unconditionally” withdrew his plea from the Bombay High Court seeking permission to hold a rally at Shivaji Park here on December 28, the party’s foundation day. Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi was likely to address the rally.
The plea, filed through advocate Pradeep Thorat, had stated that the Congress, which is a part of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, had applied for permission to hold a rally and use portions of the ground to G-North ward of BMC, state urban development department and other authorities. It said the party would abide by all norms laid down by the civic body and public health department.
A division bench of Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja was hearing Jagtap’s plea. Read more
The Bombay High Court Thursday deferred beyond January 25 proceedings before a magistrate court in the city in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The case has been filed over the former’s “commander-in-thief” remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep K Shinde extended the relief to Gandhi while hearing his plea seeking quashing of the defamation case. Read more
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the resumption of bullock cart races in Maharashtra in view of the amendments made by the state to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Live Law reported.
A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilar and CT Ravikumar noted that after the apex court’s ban on Jallikattu and bull races in 2014, the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had passed amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to continue practicing the tradition of such animal sports. However, a Constitution Bench of the top court is yet to determine the validity of these amendments after writ petitions were filed against them. The Court did not order an interim stay to the amendments in the meantime.
The BJP has threatened to launch street agitation across Maharashtra if elections to local bodies are held without Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation. This comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the State Election Commission of Maharashtra to notify 27 per cent seats in the local bodies, which were reserved for the OBCs, as general category so that the poll process can be taken forward.
While describing the development as unfortunate and detrimental to the political growth of the OBCs, Fadnavis said, “Holding local bodies elections without OBC reservation, as directed by the Supreme Court, is an outcome of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s lack of political will.”
Former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, who is currently facing trial for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, has written a letter to the CBI claiming that a fellow inmate has told her that she had seen Sheena alive in Kashmir.
Mukerjea is facing trial for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena on April 24, 2012. She was arrested by Khar police on August 25, 2015, and has been lodged at the Byculla Jail since September 2015. Her former husband Peter Mukerjea, ex-CEO of Star India, and Sanjeev Khanna are the co-accused in the case. Peter was granted bail last year. Read more
Banking services in the state have been hit as close to 60,000 bank employees from various public sector banks are on a two-day nationwide strike beginning Thursday, to protest against the government's decision to privatise two more public sector banks, unions said. Unions claimed that about nine lakh employees of state-run banks are observing strike across the country. The government had in Budget 2021-22, announced its intent to take up privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) during the year.
To boost the pace of vaccination in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has opened centers at night. The corporation will either have mobile teams or vaccination centres in all 24 administrative wards to cover the population who are yet to received their second doses.
The night centres will be operational from 6 pm to 10 pm, and will mainly be set up in crowded areas like railway stations, slums, construction sites or areas where there is poor vaccination rates. Officials said that from Tuesday, all wards will have at least one night vaccination centre.
Underworld gangster Suresh Pujari (46), deported from The Philippines on Tuesday night, was on Wednesday produced before a Thane court that remanded him to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) custody for 10 days in connection with an extortion case. Sources said that it was his visit to India in 2013 following his son’s death and the social media activities of a female friend in The Philippines that helped agencies locate Suresh in the island nation and get him to India. Read more
Prakash Surve, a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Mumbai, recently lodged an FIR at the Dahisar police station, alleging an unknown person made video calls to him where a woman was seen doing obscene acts, and later a person from the same number tried to extort money from him by morphing his video. Read more
Sanjeev Khanna, an accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, on Wednesday told a special court here through his counsel that he is suffering from various ailments in jail which require urgent medical attention and sought physical production before the judge to explain his health condition, a plea which was allowed. He will now be produced in the court on December 28. Khanna is a former husband of Indrani Mukerjea, the victim's mother and the prime accused in the murder case. Lodged in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai, Khanna, through his lawyer, moved an application, saying he has not been produced before the court, presiding over the case, since March 2021. (PTI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government and State Election Commission (SEC) to renotify the 27 per cent seats reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local body polls and hold elections to them along with the polls to the remaining 73 per cent.
On December 6, the SC had stayed the elections to the 27 per cent reserved seats stating that the decision to earmark the quota was done without following the mandatory triple-test laid down by the top court.
Hearing it Wednesday, a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said there is no reason to modify the December 6, 2021 order but added “however, the hiatus cannot continue forever." Read more
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday suffered a double setback in the Bombay High Court which dismissed its petitions for forming an SIT to probe the corruption case against former home minister Anil Deshmukh on the ground that CBI's investigation was not impartial and seeking quashing of summons issued by the agency against ex-state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte and incumbent DGP Sanjay Pandey in connection with the case.
A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and SV Kotwal passed scathing comments against the Maharashtra government's conduct through the entire Anil Deshmukh-Param Bir Singh episode in its judgement.
The bench even went on to say that it found merit in the CBI's submission that the state government's plea was an attempt to scuttle the ongoing probe against Deshmukh.
The CBI is conducting a probe into allegations of misconduct and corruption made against NCP leader Deshmukh earlier this year by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Though the Maharashtra government had maintained that its opposition was not to the probe itself but only the manner in which it was being conducted by the CBI, the HC refused to accept the argument. (PTI)
Gangster Suresh Pujari, wanted in several extortion cases in the Mumbai region and adjoining Karnataka who was on the run for over 15 years, has been deported to India, a senior police official said on Wednesday.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday took custody of Pujari in Delhi and brought him to Mumbai in connection with cases registered against him in neighbouring Thane city, an official said.
The gangster was later produced before a Thane court which remanded him in ATS custody till December 25 in connection with an extortion case. Pujari, wanted in extortion cases in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar and Dombivli near Mumbai, was brought back to India late Tuesday night after he was arrested and deported from the Philippines.
Intelligence Bureau (IB) and CBI officials took his custody after he landed at the Delhi airport, the official said. (PTI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted protection from arrest to businessman Raj Kundra in connection with an FIR registered against him for allegedly distributing pornographic videos.
In July this year, Kundra, who is married to actor Shilpa Shetty, was arrested by Mumbai Police in another case where he was accused of distributing porn films through an app. He was granted bail in September.
A bench of justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose on Wednesday issued notice to the Maharashtra government on an appeal filed by Kundra against a Bombay High Court order rejecting his anticipatory bail. The apex court sought the state government's reply within four weeks in connection with the FIR filed by the cyber cell of the Mumbai police. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court Wednesday dismissed a plea by senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla challenging the FIR lodged by Mumbai Police in March this year under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, against unidentified persons for allegedly tapping phones and leaking confidential documents following a complaint by the State Intelligence Department (SID).
“Both prayers for quashing of FIR and transfer of probe are rejected,” the High Court said.
However, the court directed the police that a seven-day advance notice to Shukla be issued in the event of any coercive steps to be taken against her. Read more
Located adjacent to Mumbai’s Western Coast in Breach Candy, the ideal time to visit Amarsons Garden is just after the sun goes down. The park, which is open till 10 pm, provides the citizens with a cool, breezy escape from the heat of the city, thanks to its seaside location.
Like Tata Gardens and PDP, Amarsons Garden is one of the many locations in Mumbai to have been co-opted for the city’s Coastal Road Project. Outside the park, where there was once water, now lies a swath of reclaimed land and where citizens could once lounge peacefully on the rocks, now serves as the home to imposing machines. Read more
Flowers, attractive decorations and cartoon characters welcomed students back to classes 1 to 7 of civic schools in Mumbai after being shut for over 20 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, some private schools here decided to reopen after Christmas holidays, while adopting a cautious stand and citing late communication by authorities.
In the morning, many children wearing uniforms and carrying schools bags appeared happy and excited while entering the premises of various civic-run institutions after a long gap. At some schools, the children looked pleasantly surprised on being welcomed by persons dressed up as some of the popular cartoon characters. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court allowed a plea by actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan seeking modification and relaxation of some of bail conditions, including weekly attendance at NCB Mumbai office, in the cruise ship drug bust case.
The court said that Aryan Khan will have to be present at the office of the NCB SIT, Delhi as and when required, provided a 72-hour notice is given by the Central agency.
Police arrested a 60-year-old man for allegedly raping a minor girl working at his house in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said.
The accused committed the offence on several occasions since May this year at a village here, Ganesh police station's assistant inspector Sunil Jadhav said quoting the victim's complaint.
The 14-year-old victim lost her father some years back and her mother abandoned her. She worked as a babysitter at the accused of the house and also grazed cattle there, he said.
The accused allegedly raped her on a number of occasions when she used to go out to a forest nearby to graze the cattle, and also threatened her with dire consequences, the official said. (PTI)
Gangster Suresh Pujari, wanted in several extortion cases in Mumbai region and Karnataka, was deported to India on Tuesday night.
Pujari, also wanted in extortion cases in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar and Dombivli near Mumbai, was brought back to India after he was arrested and extradited from the Philippines.
Intelligence Bureau (IB) and CBI officials took his custody after he landed at Delhi airport. He will be handed over to Mumbai Police after the central agencies interrogate him.
Pujari, who was on the run for over 15 years, was nabbed in the Philippines in October. Altogether 23 extortion cases have been registered against him in Thane.
Suresh is a close relative of gangster Ravi Pujari and separated from him in 2007. Early in his career in crime, he worked with underworld don Chhota Rajan and Ravi Pujari and later formed his own gang. (PTI)
Maharashtra reported eight new cases of Omicron today, seven from Mumbai, one from Vasai Virar. Total Omicron cases till date in the state are 28.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) sealed four buildings in Bandra and Khar on Tuesday after Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora tested positive for Covid-19. Officials said the civic body also organized testing camps in these four buildings on Tuesday to check the spread of infection among other residents.
On Sunday, Kapoor and Arora’s test results came positive. They were tested on Saturday after showing mild symptoms. Following the development, the civic body did contact tracing of all 30 high-risk contacts of both actors. They have been asked to remain in home quarantine.
An inquiry revealed that Kapoor and Arora attended a party at director Karan Johar’s house last Wednesday. The party was also attended by Seema Khan (wife of actor Sohail Khan), who had already tested Covid positive.
The Mumbai unit of the Congress has decided to postpone its December 28 rally at Shivaji Park in the wake of the threat posed by the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus. Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap had earlier moved the Bombay High Court for permission to conduct the rally as the state government had refused to allow it. On Tuesday morning, however, he withdrew the plea.
The G North ward of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had cleared the proposal though the Mumbai police was against it. The file was awaiting a final nod from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The use of Shivaji Park for public functions and rallies is controlled by the high court.
Even after the passage of more than a fortnight, the police are clueless about the whereabouts of a 22-year-old MBBS student who went missing from Bandstand in Bandra (West) on November 29.
The Indian Express had earlier reported that after a missing complaint was filed by her parents at Boisar police station in Palghar district, special teams were formed to track her but till date, the police have no leads.
Swadichchha Sane, a student of the government-run Grant Medical College, also known as JJ Hospital, had left her home in Boisar to reportedly appear for an internal preliminary examination on the morning of November 29. However, later it was found that she never reached the college located in the Nagpada area.
The BJP on Tuesday won the Nagpur and Akola-Washim-Buldhana seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections held last Friday (December 10) with big margins. The party, which had earlier won unopposed from Dhule-Nandurbar and one of the two Mumbai seats, has now emerged victorious in four of the six Legislative Council seats. Congress (Kolhapur) and Shiv Sena (Mumbai) had secured the other two seats unopposed.
In Nagpur, BJP’s Chandrashekhar Bawankule beat Congress-backed independent candidate Mangesh Deshmukh by 176 votes.Bawankule got 362 votes and Deshmukh 186. Meanwhile, Ravindra alias Chotu Bhoyar, who was the official Congress candidate till the eve of the polls before the party decided to support the independent candidate, got just one vote.
In Akola-Washim-Buldhana, Vasant Khandelwal (443 votes) registered a comfortable win against the nearest rival and three-term Shiv Sena legislator Gopikisan Bajoria (334 votes) as the BJP wrested the seat.
Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Bhai Jagtap has moved the Bombay High Court seeking permission to hold a rally at Shivaji Park in the city on December 28, the party’s foundation day.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Jagtap said, “We have moved the HC seeking permission to hold the rally. Our request for the same is now pending with the chief minister and they are yet to let us know about its status. We will at least need a week to prepare for the rally. Hence, we have moved the HC.”
The matter will come up before Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja on Tuesday. Yogesh Naik reports
Maharashtra on Monday reported two more patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 — both with travel history to Dubai — taking the state’s tally of those affected with the new strain to 20. Both are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, officials said.
Among the new cases is a 39-year-old woman who returned to Pune from Dubai, according to a report released by the National Institute of Virology. The other is a 33-year-old man who returned from Dubai and tested positive for the variant in Latur. Read more here
The weather department has forecast dry weather over the state in the next five days. While no large change in the maximum and minimum temperature is expected over the region in the next two to three days, a gradual decrease in the night temperature is likely after three days. The minimum temperature is likely to drop below 20 degrees Celsius over the weekend in the city. Read weather forecast here