Mumbai News Today Live Updates: City records 454 fresh Covid cases, 5 deaths

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has recorded the statement of police inspector Bhimrao Ghadge in connection with its open inquiry in allegations of corruption against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, an official said on Saturday. 

In his complaint, Ghadge had accused Singh of corruption and taking money for postings of senior inspectors. Ghadge's statement was recorded by ACB officials on Friday, PTI reported.

On Saturday recorded 454 fresh Covid-19 cases and five fatalities. With 580 recoveries, the active number of cases in the city stand at 4,676.

#CoronavirusUpdates
25th September, 6:00pm#NaToCorona pic.twitter.com/ABPnQ4Fanx

— ???? Mumbai, ???? BMC (@mybmc) September 25, 2021

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday welcomed the Maharashtra government's decision to open places of worship from October 7 after a coronavirus-induced shutdown, but said several other parts of the country had taken this decision almost six months ago.

He also attacked the state government over the last minute cancellation of the health department's recruitment exams, for which over 8 lakh people were set to appear on Saturday and Sunday to fill up 6,200 vacant posts. (PTI)

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday asked elected representatives and officials from Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli to sit together with NHAI functionaries and solve the issue of flooding of national highways due to heavy rains.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of a highway project in Karad, the Union minister of roads, transport and highways said all stakeholders will need to understand the project details so that the problem can be solved permanently.

Speaking about waterway projects, he said 11 out of 17 issues that existed between states in 1970 have been solved, but those between Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa remain. "We don't have water scarcity, we have issues of water management," Gadkari remarked. (PTI)

A 60-year-old Nigerian national, Chima Collins Ejiofor alias Musiliu, was arrested near Mumbai Central railway station allegedly with 130 grams of cocaine worth Rs 39 lakh in the illicit market, an Anti Narcotics Cell official told PTI on Saturday.

The accused, currently living in New Delhi, was caught on a tip off by officials of the ANC's Worli unit on Friday evening, the official said, adding that the accused had claimed he had procured the contraband from Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.

Thane Municipal Commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma has suspended junior engineer Sandeep Gaikwad (Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar ward), executive engineer Prakash Khadtare (Vartak Nagar ward), deputy engineer Sandeep Sawant (Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar ward) and executive engineer Chetan Patel (Utalsar ward), an official said. 

The action has come a day after District Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde took a tour of the pothole-riddled roads in Thane and warned of severe action against officials responsible for poor road conditions.

As per the order, the engineers were responsible for proper maintenance of roads and check the quality of repair work, which they had not done, resulting in the problems of the roads getting damaged. (PTI)

In a few weeks, Navi Mumbai may just be a water taxi ride away from south Mumbai. The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) is planning to hold a trial run of the water taxi service between Belapur in Navi Mumbai and the domestic terminal at Ferry Wharf in Mumbai in October.

The trial will be the culmination of a three-decade-old plan which envisaged using Mumbai’s waterways for passenger transport, helping connect different points in the city as well as the satellite cities of Thane and Navi Mumbai.

“We are planning to start the trial run. I am in discussion with the chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust,” said MMB CEO Amit Saini. Read more.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Saturday stated that cinema halls and drama theatres will be allowed to operate from October 22 provided all Covid-related protocols are followed. SOPs in this regard will be issued soon, PTI reported.

The CM was addressing the state Covid-19 task force at a meeting attended by Shiv Sena's MP Sanjay Raut, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, filmmakers Rohit Shetty and Kunal Kapoor, theatre personality Makarand Deshpande, and Marathi actors Subodh Bhave and Aadesh Bandekar.

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis addressed a gathering of Mathadi workers at Navi Mumbai on the 88th anniversary of labour leader Annasaheb Patil, calling for a speedy resolution of the issues raised by them.

He stated that BJP "will again get an opportunity to come to power. Ups and downs are part of democracy."

Fadnavis added the issues of Mathadi workers would have been resolved had his government got more time. "Now, this (MVA) government has the opportunity to resolve the problems of Mathadi workers. I am confident that the issues will be resolved. Even if the issues are not resolved..we will get another opportunity (to solve them)," the former CM was quoted as saying by PTI.

In a bid to provide better civic facilities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has completed 3D mapping of the Worli, Mahalaxmi area as a pilot project.

A former corporator tendered an unconditional apology before a special court on Friday after he was pulled up for “not maintaining decorum” as he clapped during BJP MLA Mangalprabhat Lodha’s address seeking a permanent exemption from appearance in a case they are both booked in.

BJP Saturday demanded a CID investigation into the fiasco that led to the postponement of the examinations of the state Public Health Department to fill up 6,205 vacant posts of Group C and D categories.

An assistant police inspector of the Mumbai crime branch was caught taking a bribe of Rs 2 lakh, which was part of the amount that he had demanded for not initiating any action against an accused in a car theft case, an official of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Saturday.

API Nagesh Ambadas Puranik, 45, was caught red-handed at the crime branch's property cell in Byculla of central Mumbai on Friday, he said.  Puranik had demanded Rs 12 lakh bribe from the wife of a man, who is an accused in a luxury car theft case. He had told her that if the money is paid, no action would be taken against her husband and his friend, the official said.

Puranik had already received Rs 4 lakh bribe and was demanding the remaining Rs 8 lakh from the complainant, he said. However, she approached the officials of the ACB unit in Worli. After verifying the complaint, a trap was laid and Puranik was caught while collecting Rs 2 lakh bribe from the complainant, he said. (PTI)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab for questioning next week in the money laundering case registered against former state minister Anil Deshmukh and others, officials said on Saturday.

This is the second summons issued to Parab, 56, who also holds the parliamentary affairs portfolio in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The three-term party legislator in the Maharashtra legislative council was first summoned by the agency to depose on August 31, which he had declined citing official engagements and had sought more time.

The officials said the minister has now been asked by the ED to depose before the investigating officer of the case at the agency's office in south Mumbai on September 28. They said Parab is to be questioned in the money laundering case being investigated against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh after certain 'disclosures' have been made by other accused and those involved in the case. (PTI)

Car designer Dilip Chhabria’s son Bonito Chhabaria was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in the case registered last year in connection with the FIR registered last year on the basis of a complaint by actor Kapil Sharma. Kapil Sharma had alleged that he was cheated of Rs 5.3 crore by Dilip and Bonito among others.

Read more

Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey has proposed to the state Home department that IPS officer Parambir Singh and all other policemen named in five FIRs registered against former Mumbai Commissioner on charges of extortion be suspended.

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer-turned lawyer Y P Singh’s daughter Isha Singh qualified for the IPS in the civil service exams, whose results were declared on Friday. Isha (26) works as a lawyer with Singh and his wife Abha.

The Borivali Government Railway Police (GRP) early Friday arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly stealing the cellphone of a woman commuter.

The police said the woman was travelling in a south-bound train, when the accused, Pradeep Kumar Jaiswar, entered the compartment and tried to escape with her phone. However, as she held on, the woman was dragged till the gate of the compartment until she let go. The police identified the woman as Reshma Khatuun Sayyed, a resident of Malad.

Read more

Most visitors who come to Zaveri Bazaar or Crawford Market in Mumbai come here in search of a bargain. But only a few of them are dimly aware of the extraordinary vitality of the arabesque architecture of Juma Masjid, one of the largest and oldest mosques in Mumbai that lies at the intersection of the city’s premier commercial streets.

Read more

To give a boost to the tourism industry, the Aaditya Thackeray-led department is planning monsoon tourism along the state’s coastline, a five-star resort in Konkan’s beach-lined Sindhudurg, beach shacks, heritage tourism and local culinary fare among others. Around the world, the tourism industry has been among the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Centre’s affidavit in the Supreme Court ruling out a caste census and saying that collecting data on any castes other than Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) was a “conscious policy decision”, has put the BJP on the backfoot in Maharashtra.

Mumbai reported 446 new coronavirus cases on Friday, and six fresh deaths, while 430 more patients recovered from the infection. With these additions, the tally of Covid-19 cases in the city rose to 7,40,307, while the death toll increased to 16,074. 

#CoronavirusUpdates
24th September, 6:00pm

Positive Pts. (24 hrs) - 446
Discharged Pts. (24 hrs) - 430

Total Recovered Pts. - 7,16,941

Overall Recovery Rate - 97%

Total Active Pts. - 4809

Doubling Rate - 1187 Days
Growth Rate (17 September - 23 September)- 0.06%#NaToCorona

— ???? Mumbai, ???? BMC (@mybmc) September 24, 2021

The Shahu Nagar police are on the lookout of two unidentified persons for logging into an online class of a school in central Mumbai and allegedly performing obscene acts during the classes.

The Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that all places of worship in the state will be allowed to reopen starting October 7 which is the first day of Navratri.

A 33-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail for stalking a minor by a special court in Mumbai on Thursday.

Schools would reopen across Maharashtra from October 4, the state government said on Friday.

"All the schools in rural areas will resume physical classes for standards 5th to 12th. Physical classes for standards 8th to 12th would resume everywhere in urban areas," said state education minister Varsha Gaikwad.

"Physical classes would not resume yet for standards 1st to 7th in urban areas and standards 1st to 4th in rural areas. Though schools will reopen in the entire state, there is no compulsion for students to attend physical classes. Consent of parents will be necessary if they want to attend," the minister added.

As per a survey conducted by the school education department, more than 70 per cent parents favoured reopening of schools, Gaikwad said. Until now schools were conducting physical classes only in those areas which were reporting relatively fewer Covid-19 cases. (PTI)

A sessions court in Mumbai convicted a 27-year-old for possession of counterfeit currency while acquitting him of terror charges Thursday. It also ordered his release from prison considering that he had already served time in jail since 2015.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Thane police has arrested two more persons from Navi Mumbai in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl, an official said on Friday.

The Bombay High Court Friday asked the Centre and Maharashtra government to be “serious” about the issue of potholes on the Mumbai-Nashik Expressway and other highways in Maharashtra and take coordinated efforts to ensure precious lives are not lost due to the poor condition of roads.

The skeleton of the whale found at Benapatti beach in Vasai will soon be kept at Coastal and Marine Bio Diversity Centre in Airoli.

Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey said Friday that the police force will strictly implement eight-hour shifts for women personnel. While this has already been implemented in some places, the DGP said such shifts will soon be made the norm across the state in a phased manner.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra on Wednesday took a decision to reintroduce the multi-member ward system for all municipal councils and corporations barring the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), instead of the existing single-member ward system. The decision comes ahead of municipal council and corporation elections to be held later this year and early next year.

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The Maharashtra Highway Safety Patrol (HSP), better known as the highway traffic police, has collected e-challan dues worth Rs 5.52 crore from 1.20 lakh motorists in a week’s time with the help of the Lok Adalat. The motorists paid up fearing that they would have to be present before the court.

The Bombay High Court on Friday said the interim orders passed by various courts and authorities in Maharashtra and Goa after April 9 pertaining to eviction, demolition and dispossession, which are still in operation, will be kept in abeyance only till October 8 in view of the “gradually improving” pandemic situation, and not beyond that, unless the situation further deteriorates.

The fire in a seven-storey residential building in suburban Khar west, which has claimed the life of a 40-year-old woman, was doused after nearly four hours of efforts, a civic official said on Friday.

The blaze had broken out at Nutan Villa building at 7 pm on Thursday and it was extinguished by around 11 pm by the fire brigade team. Eight fire engines, seven water tankers and other equipment were used in the operation, he said. 
        
Hema Jagwani, who was trapped in a room at the building, suffocated and was declared brought dead at the Hinduja Hospital. However, a 10-year-old girl and a woman, aged 45, were rescued from the spot, the officials had earlier said. The flames had spread in the duct through which electrical wiring of the building passed. The fire brigade personnel had to use breathing apparatus during the rescue operation as smoke filled  up large parts of the building, they had said. (PTI)

A seven-feet-long Marsh Crocodile was rescued from the premises of Suraj Water Park in Thane on Thursday. The reptile was spotted by the park’s staff at 5 am on Thursday and soon after the authorities got in touch with NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) helpline and the forest department.

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Maharashtra govt has decided to reduce the working hours of women police personnel from 12 hours to 8 hours: Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey

(File pic) pic.twitter.com/boa7jUJVtY

— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2021

Mumbai court grants bail to TV actor Gaurav Dixit in a drugs case, on a surety of Rs 50,000 & the conditions that he can't leave in the city without the court's permission & that he will report to NCB office on every Monday, Wednesday & Friday till filing of charge-sheet pic.twitter.com/YbLzSK2NIB

— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2021

Mumbai reported 497 new coronavirus cases and five fresh deaths on Thursday, taking the infection count to 7,39,861 and the toll to 16,068. 395 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recovered cases to 7,16,511. Mumbai now has 4,801 active Covid-19 cases.

#CoronavirusUpdates
23rd September, 6:00pm

Positive Pts. (24 hrs) - 497
Discharged Pts. (24 hrs) - 395

Total Recovered Pts. - 7,16,511

Overall Recovery Rate - 97%

Total Active Pts. - 4801

Doubling Rate - 1203 Days
Growth Rate (16 September - 22 September)- 0.06%#NaToCorona

— ???? Mumbai, ???? BMC (@mybmc) September 23, 2021

With states across the country easing travel restrictions, Mumbai airport saw a steady flow of passengers during the 10-day Ganesha festival that concluded on Sunday.

Amid the recent tussle between Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday said that governors in non-BJP-ruled states, including Maharashtra, are acting like rogue elephants who are being controlled by mahouts in Delhi.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday approved an ordinance to restore OBC reservation in rural local bodies. The approval comes a day after the state Cabinet sent a revised proposal to the Governor’s office after he raised issues over its previous proposal.

At least 20 women and five children have tested positive for Covid-19 in Byculla women’s jail last week. A separate section for male inmates also witnessed 10 cases.

With states across the country easing travel restrictions, Mumbai airport saw a steady flow of passengers during the 10-day Ganesha festival that concluded on Sunday.

From September 5 to September 19, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) recorded a total passenger traffic of 7,29,240, airport officials said. While celebrations for the 10-day festival began from September 10 this year, passenger traffic started rising from September 5.

The figure of 7,29,240 is a significant recovery from the recorded traffic of approximately 2,51,520 last year from August 16 to September 1, 2020. A four-fold increment in passenger traffic saw a total of approximately 3,68,110 arrivals and over 3,61,130 passengers departing across 5,783 flights operational during the 2021 Ganeshotsav period.

A fire broke out at Notan Villa building on sixth road in Khar West on Thursday evening, killing one person.

The victim, identifed as Hema Jagwani (40), was rushed to Hinduja hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Fire brigade officials said the fire erupted in a room in the building. Sangita Thakur, 45, and Palak Jagwani, 10, were safely rescued from the bungalow.

Eight fire engines, six jumbo water tankers, along with ward level staff, have been rushed to the site.

The villa is the residential premises belonging to owners of a jewellery store in Bandra West.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday reserved its orders in pleas by Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s wife and two daughters, booked in connection with the alleged fraud in the DHFL money-laundering case, against a special CBI court order rejecting their bail pleas. The HC will pronounce the verdict on September 28.

A single-judge bench of Justice Bharati H Dangre was hearing pleas by Kapoor’s wife Bindu and daughters Roshini and Radha Kapoor-Khanna.

A special court had on September 18 rejected the bail applications of the three, who were named as accused in the DHFL case but were not initially arrested during the probe. The court had sent them to judicial custody till September 23. On Friday, the special court extended their judicial custody till October 1.

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped multiple times at different places in Thane district of Maharashtra over the last eight months, and police have arrested 24 persons and detained two minors in this connection so far, a senior official said.

Based on the girl's complaint, the Manpada police at Dombivli in Kalyan have registered a case on Wednesday night against 33 accused under IPC sections 376 (rape), 376 (n) (repeated rape), 376 (d) (gang-rape), 376 (3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (East region), Dattatray Karale, said the offences were committed between January 29 this year and September 22.

(PTI)

The Shiv Sena accused the governors in non-BJP-ruled states, including Maharashtra, of acting like rogue elephants and trampling under their feet democratic constitution, laws and political culture.

Without taking the name of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the party, in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana' also alleged that the Centre was using governors to destabilise those states that are being ruled by non-BJP parties.

The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government shares an uneasy relationship with governor Koshyari. Among other issues, Koshyari has been under fire from the state government over the delay in approving the appointment of 12 MLCs from his quota.

(PTI)

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Maharashtra's Thane has awarded a compensation of over Rs 87 lakh to the family of a 36-year-old businessman who was killed in a road accident in 2016. In an order issued on September 14, copy of which was made available on Thursday, additional sessions judge and MACT member M M Walimohammed directed the owner of the offending truck and the insurance company to jointly and severally pay the compensation to the deceased man's family along with an interest of 7 per cent per annum from the date the claim was filed.

If the opponents failed to pay the compensation within two months, the interest amount will be hiked to 8 per cent per annum, the order stated. The claimants, including the deceased Jivraj Singh' wife, three children and parents, hail from Churu in Rajasthan. (PTI)

Observing that “it was disheartening to note the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) is a defunct body at present,” the Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Maharashtra government for not filling up vacant posts of chairpersons and other members of the panel within two months as directed by it on July 12.

I'll meet the victim & meet police officers over this matter. Where are BJP leaders now? The victim sought help from MLAs & MPs of BJP but to no avail: Mumbai Mayor & Shiv Sena leader Kishori Pednekar on sexual harassment of a BJP worker allegedly by another worker in Borivali pic.twitter.com/oFHY82TDH5

— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2021

A special squad of cyber police retrieved 285 mobile phones worth Rs 58.05 lakhs stolen in Mumbai. The phones were retrieved from various parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, and Gujarat. In one case, a mobile phone was traced to Dubai as well.

Read more

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to a plea by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh seeking quashing of summons issued by the central agency asking him to appear before it in connection with a money laundering and corruption case.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar on Thursday was hearing Deshmukh’s plea.  Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who was representing the ED, sought an adjournment stating that Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta would like to address the court in connection with the plea.

Read more

Senior Shiv Sena leader and former Union Minister Anant Geete on Monday (September 21) attacked the NCP and its chief Sharad Pawar, calling him a backstabber. The attack has again underlined the fact that even though the senior leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress have kept aside their differences after the formation of the coalition government around two years ago, party leaders continue to have differences at the local level in many districts.

List of CVCs administering Covaxin on September 23.

50% online and 50% on-spot registration.

Kindly carry your first dose certificate.

Time: 9am - 5pm#MyBMCVaccinationUpdate pic.twitter.com/qhzTt5Eo9g

— ???? Mumbai, ???? BMC (@mybmc) September 22, 2021

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has completed 40 per cent physical work of the Rs 12,000 crore-worth coastal road project from Marine Drive to Worli, including a one-km-long tunnel, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Thursday.

The project will be completed in November 2023, he said in a statement. The work completed so far includes a tunnel of one-km length and 40-feet diameter under the Malabar Hill in south Mumbai. Only work on 900 metres of the tunnel is remaining now, Chahal said. It is the "first-of-its kind" under-sea tunnel project of 40-feet diameter executed in the country, he claimed.               

According to Chahal, the coastal road project being executed by the civic body between Marine Drive and Worli is 27-km-long and includes 16-km-long interchanges. The project also includes a 125-acre garden on the reclaimed land abutting the coastal road with an underground parking facility for 1,852 cars. (PTI)

A 24-year-old man has been booked by Mumbai police for allegedly running an unauthorized parking lot at Colaba in south Mumbai.

Maharashtra BJP MLA Manda Mhatre has praised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying he is “doing good work” in the state.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against a BJP worker here on Wednesday for allegedly molesting a colleague, police said. According to the complainant, the incident took place last year when she was trying to join the party.

The accused, who had promised to help her become a BJP member, molested her inside the office of a party corporator in suburban Borivali, she alleged. A case under IPC section 354 (molestation) was registered but no arrest has been made so far, a police official said. (PTI)