The intensity of rainfall is likely to reduce from Thursday in the city. IMD has forecast moderate rainfall till the end of the week for Mumbai. (File)Mumbai News Today Highlights and Updates: Under the influence of a low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal, widespread rainfall is likely in Konkan and Vidarbha region on Wednesday, IMD said on Tuesday. As per the district forecast and warning, Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar are under yellow alert indicating heavy rainfall at isolated places on Wednesday. Through the day on Tuesday, most parts of the city and suburbs received intermittent heavy to moderate rainfall. The entire Konkan region was on yellow alert for Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a fresh war of letters, days after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari wrote to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government asking it to consider a two-day Assembly session to discuss women’s safety against the backdrop of the horrific rape of a homeless woman in Mumbai earlier this month, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has replied suggesting Koshyari to write to the Union government seeking a four-day Parliament session to discuss the national issue of crime against women.
Mumbai: Healthcare workers inoculate Covid-19 vaccine to beneficiaries during a vaccination camp organised by Aditi Puri Charitable Trust at Valia College in Mumbai, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant has demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss atrocities against women.
This follows Maharashtra Governor B S Koshiyari asking the state to hold a two-day Assembly session to discuss the issue after the Sakinaka rape case, and saying that the Shakti Act which has been delayed needs to be passed.
Speaking to the media, Sawant said that during the Devendra Fadnavis government, in 2019 there were 47 gangrapes in the state and now the number is 20.
"In 2019, 37,144 crimes against women were registered and the Fadnavis government tenure was a dark era for women. During the MVA government, cases decreased to 31,954 by 2020. Hence, we second CM Uddhav Thackeray’s demand for a special session of Parliament to discuss atrocities against women as we are concerned about the state of women in BJP-ruled states," Sawant said.
The Vashi Government Railway Police have arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly killing his four-year-old son by banging his head on the Sanpada railway station platform on Monday.
The accused was identified as Sakalsingh Haridas Pawar. He allegedly committed the crime over a fight with his second wife, the police said.
The family stay beneath the Sanpada flyover and earn a living by doing menial jobs and begging.
According to the police, the incident took place around 9 am on Monday, when the family came to Sanpada station to beg. The accused beat up his son and threw him on the ground, killing him in the process, said the police.
The Central Railway (CR) will operate a 10-hour special traffic and power block on the Kalva-Mumbra UP slow line near Mumbai on Sunday for expediting the work on the 5th and 6th line on the Thane-Diva route.
The special block will be conducted from 8 am to 6 pm on September 26 in connection with slewing of Up slow line for Thane-Diva 5th and 6th Line, the CR said in a release.
Central Railway officials said this is the first major block planned in connection with Thane-Diva additional lines project, executed by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation. More such long-hour blocks will be needed in the coming months before commissioning of the additional lines, they said.
(PTI)
Amid a letter war between Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of crimes against women, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday said the CM should respect the governor’s post.
Days after Koshyari wrote a letter to Thackeray for convening a special session of the state Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, the CM on Monday hit back, saying the governor should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.
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The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court it will not appoint another Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) into the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus till October 14.
The court noted that the state government had removed Special Public Prosecutor Dhiraj Mirajkar, who was appointed to represent it in the case in September 2015, “without assigning any reason”.
A division bench of Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Nitin R Borkar was hearing a petition by Asiya Begum, mother of the 2002 Ghatkopar blast suspect Khawaja Yunus, who died in police custody in 2003, who challenged the government’s decision to remove Mirajkar from the trial.
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A 27-year-old biker sustained grievous head injuries after a policeman reportedly hit him with a baton in Kalyan East on Sunday. The victim received 10 stitches on his head after the alleged assault.
Nilesh Kadam and his friend, Bhupendra Dhukre (25), reached Tisgaon Naka area in Kalyan East on their way to Ulhasnagar, when a cop hit Kadam with his baton. The policeman is said to be attached with the Thane police station. The incident, however, took place under the jurisdiction of the Kolsewadi police station.
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The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the new committee at the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan, Shirdi, to refrain, till further orders, from taking policy decisions, sanctioning expenditures, making appointments or inducting new members.
A division bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Sanjay G Mehere was hearing a civil application in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by petitioner Uttamrao Shelke.
Shelke informed the HC that the state government had appointed a new managing committee for the Sansthan chaired by NCP MLA Ashutosh Kale through a September 16 order, and the said committee took charge on September 17.
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The Vashi Government Railway police have arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly killing his four-year-old son by banging his head on the Sanpada railway station platform on Monday.
The accused has been identified as Sakalsingh Haridas Pawar who committed the crime, allegedly over a fight with his second wife, the police said. The trio and other relatives stayed beneath the Sanpada flyover and earned a living by doing some menial jobs and begging.
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A 29-year-old doctor from Malad was duped to the tune of Rs 1.43 lakh after she tried to order wine online.
According to the police officials, a case was registered at the Malad police station on Monday under relevant sections of cheating and cheating by impersonation.
The complainant, who stays in the Liberty Garden area of Malad, told police that she was looking up a wine store online. “She found one with the name Sona Wines. She dialed the number and was asked to make the payment of Rs 2,000 for the wine,” said an officer.
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The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed CBI to respond within two weeks to the bail plea of Virendrasingh Tawade, a prime accused in the 2013 case of the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.
Tawade claimed that the special Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Court in Pune erred while refusing his bail on ‘flawed grounds’ and passed the order without ‘application of mind’ and in ‘ routine and mechanical manner.’
A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice N J Jamadar was hearing Tawade’s appeal filed through advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar against the September 15, 2020 order of the special court that rejected his bail plea, his third bail application since he was arrested.
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The BJP’s decision to field Sanjay Upadhyay, hailing from Basti in Uttar Pradesh, for the Rajya Sabha bypolls in Maharashtra is seen as a strategy to woo north Indian voters ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and UP assembly elections in 2022.
The bypolls were necessitated following the death of Congress MP Rajiv Satav in May. The Congress has fielded senior leader Rajni Patil as its candidate.
Upadhyay is the BJP Mumbai general secretary. A loyal worker, he has always retained a low profile, preferring to work in the background. Upadhyay said, “I am grateful to the party leaders for considering my candidature for the Rajya Sabha polls.”
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The body of a 38-year-old priest was found hanging at his home in Ulhasnagar township of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Wednesday.
The deceased's neighbours noticed a foul smell emanating from his flat on Tuesday and informed his brother, who then alerted local police, an official from Vitthalwadi police station said. The police later broke open the door and found the man hanging from the ceiling, the official said, adding that no suicide note was found in the house where the man used to live alone.
The body had highly decomposed and was sent to a government hospital for postmortem, he said, without divulging any further details about the deceased. As of now, the police have registered a case of accidental death, the official said. (PTI)
Mumbai reported 352 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday and one fresh fatality, the lowest death count in three weeks, while 363 patients recovered from the infection. Mumbai also crossed the milestone of one crore Covid-19 tests. The city reported less than 400 daily Covid-19 cases after a gap of six days and witnessed only one fatality for the first time since August 31.
Hitting out at the BJP for “using” central agencies against the Maharashtra government, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that everyone from the Governor to the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly were treating the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government like an enemy.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, Sena said that the BJP was using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to put pressure on the government. Despite the use of “Centre” tactics, the MVA government was not falling, which has frustrated BJP leaders, it added.
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A sessions court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail application of a 31-year-old, who worked as an Honorary Consul of the Democratic Republic of Congo, alleging that he misused his position for four years even after he was terminated in 2017.
The pre-arrest bail plea was filed by Ammeet Agarwal, who was booked on charges of cheating by Azad Maidan police. Agarwal submitted to the court that he had not been informed about the termination and that he had rendered honorary services.
He claimed that his name continues to be on the online directory and he was invited by other consulates to attend various functions from time to time.
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In a fresh war of letters, days after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari wrote to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government asking it to consider a two-day Assembly session to discuss women’s safety against the backdrop of the horrific rape of a homeless woman in Mumbai earlier this month, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has replied suggesting Koshyari write to the Union government seeking a four-day Parliament session to discuss the national issue of crime against women.
Thackeray wrote that Koshyari should request the Prime Minister and home minister to convene Parliament to talk about the image of Delhi as the “rape capital”, of Hathras, Unnao and Badaun gangrapes in Uttar Pradesh and similar incidents in Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
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Under the influence of a low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal, widespread rainfall is likely in Konkan and Vidarbha region on Wednesday, IMD said on Tuesday.
As per the district forecast and warning, Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar are under yellow alert indicating heavy rainfall at isolated places on Wednesday. Through the day on Tuesday, most parts of the city and suburbs received intermittent heavy to moderate rainfall. The entire Konkan region was on yellow alert for Tuesday.
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The BJP has demanded physical meetings of corporators who are fully vaccinated.
Complaining that during meetings of statutory and special committees via video conferencing, corporators have failed to raise civic issues, party group leader Prabhakar Shinde wrote a letter on Tuesday to Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal seeking their directions on physical meetings.
The party has also cited examples of local train travel, where the state government has allowed people to travel on local trains if they have taken both doses of vaccines.
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Maharashtra transport minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab on Tuesday filed a Rs 100-crore defamation suit against BJP leader Kirit Somaiya at the Bombay High Court for allegedly making ‘malicious, malafide and defamatory’ statements against him.
In his suit, Parab referred to tweets by Somaiya and said that the defendant made “motivated, unverified, frivolous, bogus and malafide” remarks against him in an effort to link him to a reportedly illegal construction in Dapoli, Ratnagiri district. Parab said that he had “no connection whatsoever” with the said construction as alleged by Somaiya.
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In its detailed order granting bail to Raj Kundra, the court observed that there is no “element of inducement” seen in the case against him to prove cheating. Kundra, who was arrested in July in connection with creation and uploading of pornographic films on mobile applications, was granted bail by a metropolitan magistrate’s court Monday. He was released from Arthur Road jail Tuesday.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch had alleged that the victim women were cheated by being told that they were acting in a web series. “…if the statements of witnesses are perused, then the element of inducement which is the prime ingredient of cheating appears to be missing from the case of the prosecution,” the court said.
The court also said that the Mumbai Police had recorded statements of witnesses before a magistrate and also had in its custody server, laptops and phones connected to the case. Due to this, it said there is no possibility of tampering of evidence, an apprehension shown by the police while opposing Kundra’s bail. The police had last week filed a chargesheet running into 4,000 pages naming 64 witnesses.
A 24-year-old autorickshaw driver was killed and a passenger suffered injuries in Goregaon (West) after the speeding vehicle hit a pothole, lost control and overturned on a bridge Sunday evening.
The deceased Kismat Shaikh (24), a Vile Parle resident, was driving the autorickshaw down the Veer Savarkar Flyover with Mehmood Khan (46) seated behind around 4.45 pm when the accident occurred. Khan was rushed to the hospital and discharged after being treated for his injuries.
“Even though the rickshaw overturned after hitting a pothole, the accident would not have occurred if he (the driver) was not speeding,” a Malad police official said.
A Maharashtra State Transport (ST) bus driver committed suicide by hanging himself inside a bus in the Sangamner depot in Ahmednagar district on Tuesday, an official said. The driver Subhash Telore was found hanging from a rod inside the bus by his colleagues, the official said. Telore was driving a bus from Pathardi to Nashik, but took a halt for a night at the Sangamner depot, about 250 km from Mumbai, he said. The exact trigger behind the drastic step is not known immediately but the preliminary information suggested that Telore ended his life due to some personal reasons, he said.
Businessman Raj Kundra on Tuesday walked out of a Mumbai jail, a day after a magistrate court here granted bail to the key accused in a pornographic films case in which he was arrested two months ago. Kundra was released from the Arthur Road jail shortly after 11.30 pm, a jail official said. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SB Bhajipale on Monday allowed Kundra's bail application on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000.
The 46-year-old businessman was lodged in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai under judicial custody.
There are more than 55 million people living with dementia across the world, with a new case developing every 3 second, the World Health Organisation has said in a report on the public health response to dementia.
Unfortunately, despite being the 7th leading cause of death and a major cause of dependency amongst elderly, public awareness about early signs and symptoms of dementia remains incredibly low, says Dr Jayashree Dasgupta, Project Director and Co-Founder, Samvedna Senior Care.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and accounts for over 60 per cent of cases of dementia. (Read more here)
Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 97.18 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent, the official said. With 1,35,925 new tests, which are the lowest in recent times, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra went up to 5,71,64,401. A total of 2,75,736 patients are in home quarantine in Maharashtra and 1,677 are in institutional quarantine.
Maharashtra on Monday reported 2,583 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest since February 9, taking the total tally to 65,24,498. The state also recorded 28 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 1,38,546. Meanwhile, 3,836 patients recovered.
BSERVING THAT ‘pressurising tactics on part of political leaders would paralyse the government machinery’, a sessions court in a recent order rejected the anticipatory bail application of a BJP corporator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), who allegedly abused and threatened an assistant engineer over water supply in a residential society.
A complaint was filed at Kurla police station by an assistant engineer, water supply department of the BMC against Harish Bhandirge, 41-year-old corporator of ward 164 (L Ward). The assistant engineer alleged that on September 13, he was working at the ward office and had directed a sub-engineer to visit a site to resolve the problem of water supply in a residential society. (Read Sadaf Modak's report here)
The Central Railway on Sunday ran its 600th Kisan Rail, a multi-commodity train, from Sangola in Maharashtra to Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The Kisan Rail has been operational since August 7, 2020, and has transported around 2.08 lakh tonnes of fruits and vegetables across India.
According to the Central Railways, the facility became popular among the farmers as it also carries relatively small quantities of produce brought by small, individual farmers.
Central Railway presently runs six Kisan Rails between Devlali in Maharashtra-Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Sangola, Maharashtra – Muzaffarpur, Sangola-Adarsh Nagar Delhi, Sangola-Shalimar in West Bengal, Raver, Maharashtra-Adarsh Nagar Delhi and Savda, Maharashtra-Adarsh Nagar Delhi.
A metropolitan magistrate’s court Monday granted bail to businessman Raj Kundra, who was arrested in July in the case pertaining to the alleged creation and publishing of pornographic films on mobile applications. He was granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000 with certain conditions.
Kundra had filed a fresh bail plea last week after the Mumbai Police’s supplementary chargesheet in the case had named him as an accused.
Kundra, in his plea filed through lawyer Prashant Patil, had submitted that he was being made a “scapegoat” without any conclusive evidence, and he should be released as the probe against him has been completed.
(PTI)
As many as 44 people, including 20 from the same Ganesh mandal in Parel, were booked in Mumbai for violating Covid-19 pandemic guidelines on the last day of the 10-day Ganeshotsav on Sunday.
A police officer from Kalachowki police station said, “The Ganesh mandal gathered a large crowd at Dattaray Lad Road at the time of Visarjan and violated Covid-19 norms and orders of police.”
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Some MNS workers on Monday vandalised a toll booth in Kasheli on Thane-Bhiwandi road to protest against the poor condition of the stretch, police said.
Two people from the group were detained and taken to Bhiwandi police station, an official said.
Local Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leaders later said they had warned the government several times about the hardship people were facing while commuting on the stretch.
(PTI)
Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya claimed he was stopped by police at Karad in Maharashtra while he was on way to Kolhapur, after the district authorities cited law and order as well as security concerns following his allegations of corruption against Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif.
After being stopped, Somaiya addressed a press conference in Karad, alleging that attempts were made by Mumbai police on Sunday night to prevent him from boarding a Kolhapur-bound train and he was also jostled.
The BJP leader also said he would soon go to Kagal in Kolhapur, the Assembly constituency represented by Mushrif, and file a police complaint against the minister over alleged irregularities committed by him.
A few days back, Somaiya had accused Mushrif of indulging in corruption and holding 'benami' entities in the name of his kin, allegations dismissed as baseless by the latter.
(PTI)
Every rupee in his foundation is "awaiting its turn" to be used to reach the needy and save lives, actor Sonu Sood said in a statement in response to the CBDT's allegation that he and his associates evaded tax of Rs 20 crore.
Speaking for the first time since multiples searches at his premises and those related to his associates last week, the 48-year-old actor stated that he had been busy "attending to a few guests", the reason why he was unable to be at the service of the people for four days.
"Here I am back again in all humility. At your humble service, for life. My journey continues. Jai Hind," he wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.
Sood routed his "unaccounted income in the form of bogus unsecured loans from many bogus entities", the Central Board of Direct Taxes claimed after the Income Tax Department raided the actor and a Lucknow-based infrastructure group.
(PTI)
The body of a 17-year-old, who had gone to immerse a Ganesh idol at Versova beach on Sunday night with his elder brother and three friends, was found Monday morning. Search operations are underway to find two of the friends who are feared drowned. The two others were saved.
The deceased, Shubham Nirmal, had ventured into the sea around 8.30 pm near Versova Jetty with his brother Shivam Nirmal (19) and friends Vijay Masne (16), Vijay Patil (19) and Sanjay Tawde (22) to immerse an idol brought by Tawde. As they got pulled in by the waves, local fishermen rushed in and saved Shivam and Masne. (Read more here)
he Narcotics Control Bureau has seized various banned drugs worth over Rs 150 crore in the last one year from Mumbai, adjoining Navi Mumbai, Thane and other areas, a senior NCB official said. "From September last year till now, we have registered 114 cases under the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act and arrested more than 300 people, including 34 foreigners and a few Bollywood celebrities," NCB's Mumbai Zonal Director Samir Wankhede told PTI on Sunday.
He said over last one year, they seized more than 100 kg of Codine drugs, 30 kg charas, 12 kg heroin, two kg cocaine, 350 kg Ganja, 60 kg ephedrine and 25 kg MD (mephedrone) from the city and other neighbouring areas. (With PTI)
Actor Kangana Ranaut appeared before Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Monday in the defamation proceedings filed against her by poet lyricist Javed Akhtar, days after the court said it would issue an arrest warrant against her if she doesn’t appear before it.
Ranaut’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddiqui, informed the court that she has filed a transfer application before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court seeking that the case be reassigned to another court. Siddiqui said that the plea was filed as she has “lost faith” in the court hearing the matter.
A total of 34,452 idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Gauri were immersed in water bodies across Mumbai on the last day of the Ganpati festival held under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic for the second year in a row, civic officials said on Monday.
Out of the total immersed idols, 5,043 were of 'sarvajanik' (public) mandals, 29,060 household Ganesh idols, and 349 idols of Goddess Gauri. Among the idols immersed in artificial lakes here, 11,387 were household Ganpati idols, 1,890 of public mandals and 165 of Goddess Gauri, the official said.
The Bombay High Court recently directed 16 anticipatory bail applicants booked for ‘forgery’ in an educational institute to pay Rs 5,000 each to Maharashtra Police Welfare Fund (MPWF), as it did not appreciate practice adopted by their advocates of seeking time to take instruction to respond to queries of the court.
The HC was hearing pre-arrest bail pleas on Monday, September 13, from the 16 accused in connection with a case registered in Pune for ‘forgery’ of appointment approvals in an educational institution. The applicants included persons employed as teachers since 2007 among others and claimed that their approvals were rightly granted by an education officer.
Their anticipatory bail pleas were rejected by a sessions court on January 22 prompting them to approach the high court. (Read Omkar Gokhale's report here)
The newly formed Nirbhaya team under Khar police rescued a 19-year-old woman who ventured over 100 metres into the sea at Carter Road in Bandra (West) in a bid to end her life following a quarrel with her husband Friday.
Confirming the development, Khar police said the Nirbhaya team was patrolling on the Khar end of Carter Road around 12.45 pm when they received information about a woman who had ventured into the sea, climbing over the rocks.
“Fortunately, water had retreated at the time due to a low tide. We rescued her with the help of local fishermen,” said Sub-Inspector Sheetal Mengade, who led the Nirbhaya team.
The number of immersions of Ganesh idols across Mumbai have gone up by 16 per cent when compared to last year, figures put out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) showed.
A total of 1.57 lakh immersion were recorded over the 10-days-long festival. Last year, 1.35 lakh immersions were reported at the natural water bodies and artificial lakes.
Given the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had appealed to the citizens to celebrate the festival in a restricted and symbolic manner. The civic body had urged citizens to avoid visiting the seashore for idol immersion owing to the pandemic. Civic officials had said that they want residents to use their nearest artificial ponds for visarjan.