Mumbai Beat — Accused in forex racket arrested

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) yesterday arrested a key accused involved in the Rs 11-crore foreign exchange racket busted in July. Shambunath Mishra was arrested by DRI sleuths after a raid on his shop `Kaiser General Store’ at Null Bazar. A search yielded foreign currency worth Rs 47,470 and two Pakistani notes valued Rs 1000 each.

The racket was busted on July 14, 1997 when DRI officers caught two persons, Rajesh Mhatre and Hanif, while they were receiving forex worth $ 45,000 from a Colaba-based merchant finance company. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S B Dhumal Mishra remanded Mishra to judicial custody till December 10.

Pulse polio immunisation

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is using pagers and mobile phone services to spread awareness among people about its pulse polio immunisation programme and to ask them to get their children vaccinated. This is the first time such a method is being adopted by the corporation. Health officer Alka Karande informed the BMC has set up more than 7,000 centres throughout the city for the immunisation programme on December 7 and January 18.