Mumbai Beat

The driver, while reversing his vehicle, had caused injury to a woman Megha following which her husband Mahendra Tusbe beat up Pal. The driver was rushed to LTMG Hospital at Sion where he succumbed at around 1.30 pm. Tusbe was arrested and charged for murder under section 302 of Indian Penal Code IPC.

FDA raids masala units, 4 held

FOUR persons were arrested following raids on masala producing units by officials of the Food and Drug Administration FDA at Parel, Nerul and Mahape today.

Following the simultaneous raids masalas worth over Rs 50 lakh were also seized. The raids were carried out on the Hind Masala, Tata Mills Compound at Parel, Volga Spices and Masala Mills in Nerul and another Volga Spices Mills at Mahape. The seized material included chilly, turmeric, coriander powders which were found adulterated with rice husk, poha andother inedible oils.

The arrested included Tulaf Ahmed Naushad Ali Shaikh, proprietor of Hind Masala, Javed Ahmed, Krishnamurthy and Mushirkhan Mansookhan, owners of Volga Spices and Masala Mills. Samples of masala have been sent for chemical analysis. While a case against the owners of the Volga Masala factory in Mahape has been registered no arrests were made.

HC stays Thane civic body meeting

The Bombay High Court today stayed Thursday8217;s General Body meeting of Thane Municipal Corporation until June 28 following a petition filed by Congress corporator Manoj Shinde challenging the election of a new leader of the opposition in the wake of a split in Congress.

The stay was granted by Justice Arvind Sawant and Justice Rajan Kochar who adjourned the matter until Thursday. Shinde, the leader of the opposition, prayed that the splinter group had issued a whip to its members to elect Devram Bhoir as leader of the opposition. He had challenged the whip issued by Subhash Bhoir, member of the othergroup.

Shinde urged the court to direct the Mayor and the Commissioner not to appoint anyone else in his place as the leader of the opposition. He claimed that the splinter group of 13 members should not be recognised because this was the second time they had split in the five year tenure of the civic body.

He said they broke away from the Congress for the first time in 1997 to form Pramukh Congress and rejoined Congress. Now they left Congress to join Nationalist Congress Party. Both the groups of Congress together have a strength of 27 members. Shiv Sena leads the house with 39 members, while BJP has 10 members followed by Samajwadi Party 3, Janata Dal 4, Republican Party of India 1 and Independents 11.

The splinter group claimed that it was the largest party in the opposition and hence had a right to stake its claim for the post of leader of the opposition. Besides, the petition was not maintainable because the divisional commissioner was competent to hear such a complaint.