News Analysis India

Tag: Mumbai

  • Mumbai sees 5 COVID-19 deaths, lowest since March 16

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai on Tuesday reported five deaths from COVID-19, the lowest addition in a day to the toll after March 16, the silver lining in the fight against the pandemic coming a day after the country’s financial capital witnessed the lowest number of cases after April last year.

    The COVID-19 tally in Mumbai increased by 343 on Tuesday to touch 7,34,761 and the toll rose by five to touch 15,789, a civic official said. He said 466 people were discharged during the day, taking the recovery count in Mumbai to 7,11,315.

    With 28,058 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the number of tests in Mumbai went up to 80,18,377.

    On Monday, the city had seen 299 cases, the lowest daily addition since April last year, while a lower fatality count than Tuesday was recorded on March 16 when four people succumbed to the infection, he pointed out.

    Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation data also showed that Tuesday was the 12th day in a row when the addition to the tally was less than 500.

    As per the data, the growth rate of cases between July 20 and 26 was 0.05 per cent and the case doubling time was 1,377 days. The metropolis currently has 65 sealed buildings and five containment zones, it showed.

    This year, Mumbai had reported a record 11,163 daily cases on April 4, while the lowest number of additions, at 328, was on February 1, civic data showed. On May 1, the city had witnessed a record 90 deaths.

  • Kundra earned Rs 1.17 crore from ‘porn’ app in five months, cops tell court

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Raj Kundra earned at least Rs 1.17 crore between August and December last year from his business of production and online distribution of porn films, Mumbai Police told a court on Tuesday, seeking another extension of his custody.

    The magistrate’s court, however, remanded Kundra (45), who is married to Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, in judicial custody for 14 days. The Bombay High Court, meanwhile, refused to give him any urgent temporary relief.

    “Interrogation of Ryan Thorpe, another accused in the case, revealed that revenue from Hotshots (an online app or platform through which alleged porn content was made available) was Rs 1, 17, 64,886 (USD 1,58,057) between August and December 2020,” the remand plea of the police said.

    This revenue was earned from the app on Apple store and the police have sought information from Google too, it said.

    The app had more users on Google Play than the Apple store before it was removed, so he must have earned much more revenue, the police claimed.

    The investigators also wanted to scrutinize the documents recovered from nine files seized from Kundra’s office during a search on July 24, the remand application said.

    While the statement of a woman (who alleged that she was tricked into acting in a porn film) was recorded on July 26, more victims were likely to come forward, the police told the court.

    But the court, which had granted one extension of the custody earlier, rejected the police’s plea and sent Kundra in judicial custody for 14 days.

    His lawyers Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav then filed a bail application, contending that he should be released as investigation was over.

    The application will be heard in due course. Kundra was arrested on July 19 by the Mumbai police’s crime branch. He had plans to sell 119 adult films to a person for USD 1.2 million, the police had claimed during an earlier remand hearing. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to give urgent relief to Kundra.

    Justice A S Gadkari directed the police to file their reply by July 29 in response to a petition filed by Kundra challenging his arrest. His lawyers argued that the police failed to follow the procedure.

    They should have first issued a notice to him, asking him to be present to record a statement, instead of arresting him directly, advocates Ponda and Jadhav said. Prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai said a notice was issued to him.

    The HC asked Pai to file an affidavit but refused to give an interim relief to Kundra before hearing the police.

    Kundra has also contended that the films made by him which the police claimed to be pornographic did not depict direct or explicit sexual acts.

  • Gas agency staffer in Navi Mumbai held with 103 filled cylinders

    By PTI
    THANE: A gas agency staffer was arrested allegedly with 103 filled cooking gas cylinders in Navi Mumbai, police said on Saturday.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Suresh Mengde said reports of gas cylinders being stolen in Navi Mumbai area had come in and a Nerul police team set up to probe them zeroed in on Sriram Vishnoi in Panvel area.

    “He works in a gas agency and was selling these stolen cylinders at Rs 3,000 each. He has confessed to four incidents that took place in Nerul and one in APMC police station limits. The seizure, of 103 filled cylinders and three tempos, is worth over Rs 10 lakh,” the DCP said.

  • Anil Deshmukh case: CBI records statement of dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze in prison

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recorded the statement of dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze, who is lodged in a jail, in connection with its probe into the corruption charges against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, an official said on Friday.

    Waze was quizzed at the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai by a team of the CBI which is probing the corruption charges against Deshmukh on direction of the Bombay High Court, the official said.

    The questioning took place on Wednesday and Thursday, he said.

    Last week, a special court had allowed the CBI to quiz Waze.

    Earlier, the central agency had interrogated the former encounter cop and recorded his statement in April.

    Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged role in recovery of an explosives-laden car from outside the south Mumbai residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani and subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, the owner of the vehicle.

    Following the HC direction, the CBI had registered an FIR in April against Deshmukh and others after a preliminary enquiry in connection with the allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

    Deshmukh, an NCP leader, had resigned from the state cabinet after the HC order.

    Waze had claimed he was asked to collect money from bar and restaurant owners allegedly on instructions of Deshmukh, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.

  • Maharashtra tightens curbs amid fear of 3rd wave, flags Delta plus as ‘variant of concern’

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Amid fears of a third wave of coronavirus and cases of its highly infectious ‘Delta Plus’ variant emerging in Maharashtra, the state tightened restrictions with effect from Monday, with essential shops allowed to remain open only till 4 pm on all days.

    Non-essential shops and establishments can remain open till 4 pm only on weekdays, as per a Maharashtra government notification issued last week which said the entire state will have ‘level 3’ restrictions.

    Restaurants are allowed to operate dine-in facility with 50 per cent capacity till 4 pm on weekdays and takeaways and home deliveries after that, according to the order.

    The suburban trains will operate only for medical staff and personnel engaged in essential services, while gyms and salons are allowed to remain open till 4 pm at 50 per cent capacity.

    The new order will impact cities like Nagpur, Thane and Pune as they had seen more relaxations than Mumbai, which continued to be under ‘level 3’ restrictions, despite qualifying for ‘level 1’ where all curbs are allowed to be lifted.

    The state government on Friday announced a ‘state-level trigger’ for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of the weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage.

    The weekly positivity rate regarding levels of restrictions will be determined on the basis of RT-PCR tests, and not rapid antigen or other tests, the state government had said while describing the ‘Delta Plus’ as a variant of concern.

    Restrictions in administrative units will remain at a level not below 3, the government had said, and also called for pushing for 70 per cent vaccination of eligible population in the state.

    Earlier this month, the state government had introduced a graded system of easing the lockdown-like curbs in each district, considering the COVID-19 weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds.

    Districts and municipal corporations were then classified under levels 1 to 5.

    Accordingly, some cities and districts in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions had lifted restrictions and some were in ‘level 2’.

    However, last week, the Maharashtra government modified the graded system and said the entire state will have ‘level 3’ restrictions.

    District administrations have been asked to take various steps, including testing, vaccination and enforcement of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and penalty for violators.

    If there is an upward trend in the number of coronavirus positive cases, the district disaster management authority will impose a higher level of restrictions, the order said.

    Attempts must be made to achieve 70 per cent vaccination of the eligible population, and focus should be on testing, tracking and treating methodology to contain the spread of COVID-19, it had said.

  • Ambani security scare case: NIA arrests ex-‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma

    By PTI
    The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested former cop Pradeep Sharma in Mumbai for his alleged involvement in the ‘Antilia’ bomb scare case and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, an official said.

    An NIA team had picked up Sharma from Lonavla near Mumbai late on Wednesday night, after which he was brought to the central agency’s office in south Mumbai for questioning, he said.

    “The NIA also conducted a raid at his residence located in J B Nagar in Mumbai’s Andheri (west) around 6 am, and the operation continued for several hours. The officials recovered some incriminating documents from his house,” the official said.

    After questioning him for a few hours, the NIA placed him under arrest on Thursday, he said, adding that Sharma will be produced before a local court once a medical examination is conducted on him.

    Around two months ago, the NIA had questioned Sharma at its office for two days after his name cropped up in the case.

    Sharma is the fifth person from the police department to be arrested in the case by the NIA. This is the eighth over arrest in the case.

    ALSO READ | Deshmukh bribery scandal: CBI questions Sachin Waze, Param Bir Singh, Sanjay Patil

    Earlier, the agency had arrested police officers Sachin Waze, Riyazuddin Kazi, Sunil Mane. After their arrest, they were dismissed from service.

    The agency had also arrested former police constable Vinayak Shinde in this connection along with cricket bookie Naresh Gor.

    On June 11, the NIA held Santosh Shelar and Anand Jadhav from suburban Malad, saying that both of them were involved in the conspiracy to plant the explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence.

    The SUV was found abandoned near Ambani’s south Mumbai residence ‘Antilia’ on February 25 this year.

    Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that he was in possession of the vehicle, was found dead at a Mumbra creek on March 5.

    Sachin Waze, the prime accused of placing an explosives-laden vehicle near Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s house Antilia in Mumbai on February 25, has been arrested by the NIA as well.

    Waze was also accused of the murder of Mansukh Hiren, the owner of the vehicle that was found containing explosives materials outside Anitilia.

    Waze, an API in the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of Mumbai Police was dismissed from service in May 2021.

  • Mumbai housing society vaccination fraud?: Police begins probe 

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police launched an investigation after a housing society in suburban Kandivali suspected “fraud” by some persons who had organised a COVID-19 vaccination camp for its members by claiming to represent a private hospital and also expressed apprehensions that the vaccine that was administered could be spurious.

    A senior officer said on Wednesday no FIR has been registered so far but the police will probe the case from different angles. “We have not registered an FIR in this case and not arrested anybody. We have also not detained anybody. We are just investigating,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone 11, Vishal Thakur told PTI.

    In a complaint submitted to the police, the Hiranandani Heritage Residents Welfare Association (HHRWA) had said that a vaccination camp was arranged by the residential complex on May 30.

    But later it found that the Co-WIN portal did not have any record of the people who participated and they received certificates in the name of different hospitals.

    “If the vaccine is found to be spurious, the people who got vaccinated will have a medical emergency to deal with. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the whole episode so that such fraudulent activities are not repeated at other places,” the complaint said.

    The HHRWA had orgainzed the camp through a person who claimed to be a sales representative of a reputed private hospital in suburban Andheri.

    As many as 390 members received the jabs at the camp at Rs 1,260 per person, it had said in the complaint which stated that some unscrupulous elements have taken the society for a ride.

    They were shocked to receive vaccination certificates in the name of Nanavati Hospital, Lifeline Hospital and NESCO Covid Camp, among others, it said. Nanavati Hospital had said in a statement that it had not conducted any such vaccination camp.

    “We have informed the authorities and are lodging a formal complaint,” said its spokesperson on Tuesday.

    The HHRWA also said that none of the people who got vaccinated had the usual after-effects like fever or body ache.

    According to the complaint, one Sanjay Gupta was the coordinator for the camp, but he did not give receipts for the payment for vaccines. He had asked the association to make payment to one Mahendra Singh. Local BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar had also demanded that police conduct a thorough probe.

    The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already made signing a Memorandum of Understanding between private vaccination providers and housing societies mandatory if such camps are organized.

  • Mumbai logs 660 new COVID-19 cases, lowest since February 23; death count rises by 22

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai reported 660 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the lowest since February 23 this year, and 22 fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

    With this, the city’s infection tally rose to 7,14,450 and death toll to 15,122. On Wednesday, Mumbai had recorded 788 cases and 27 deaths. The country’s financial capital had reported 643 new infections on February 23 this year.

    After that, the daily COVID-19 infection count in the city had remained in four to five digits for a sustained period during the second wave.

    According to the BMC officials, the city currently has 15,811 active cases of COVID-19 as 768 patients recovered during the day.

    With this, the tally of recovered patients jumped to 6,81,288 and the recovery rate is 95 per cent, they said. As 25,396 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the overall test count in Mumbai reached 65,34,969.

    Mumbai’s average growth rate of COVID-19 cases between June 3 and 9 was 0.12 per cent, while the average doubling rate was 566, they said. The number of active containment zones in the city has came down to 25, while there are 93 buildings that have been sealed to curb the break the chain of the virus.

    During the second wave of the pandemic, Mumbai had reported the highest number 11,163 coronavirus positive cases on April 4, while it had witnessed the highest 90 deaths on May 1.

  • 8 injured as Mumbai-Kolkata flight hits severe turbulence

    By PTI
    KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Eight passengers on Vistara’s Mumbai-Kolkata flight were injured on Monday as the aircraft encountered severe turbulence just before landing, officials said.

    The flight, UK 775, landed safely at the Kolkata airport at 4.25 pm, airport director C Pattabhi said. “Due to turbulence, three passengers were injured critically and five passengers had minor injuries inside the aircraft,” he said.

    The critically injured passengers were sent to Charnock Hospital for treatment. The five passengers who received minor injuries were sent to their destination after being administered first aid, the airport director said. There were 123 passengers on board the aircraft, he said.

    The incident happened around 4 pm owing to bad weather when the flight was around 25 nautical miles from Kolkata, Pattabhi said.

    A Vistara spokesperson said the airline is saddened by the unfortunate experience its customers had, and is closely monitoring the health status of those injured.

    “We are investigating the incident on priority, and will share a further update at the earliest,” the spokesperson said.

  • Mumbai Diary: All that is happening the ‘City of Gold’

    Express News Service
    NCP proposes singer Anand Shinde’s name for MLC seat

    The Nationalist Congress Party had proposed singer Anand Shinde’s name for the MLC. However, the file contining names of the 12 nominees, four from each party – NCP, Congress and the Shiv Sena – are gathering dust at the Raj Bhavan for the last six months.

    Maharashtra governor has to fill these 12 vacancies from various fields like art, literature, sport etc. But,  the NCP has asked Anand Shinde, who was waiting for his MLC nomination to be confirmed, to sing songs on the life of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the works of Supriya Sule and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Anand Shinde may be waiting for Godot, but the NCP has decided to make use of his talent as singer to reach out to the public.

    BJP MP Chhatrapati Shambhaji campaigns hard for Maratha quota

    BJP Rajya Sabha MP Chhatrapati Shambhaji has met some very prominent state leaders including CM Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray over the issue of reservation for the Maratha community.

    Chhatrapati Shambhaji is now scheduled to meet the Dalit leader Dr Prakash Ambedkar over the issue. Earlier, BJP Rajya Sabha MP tried to meet even Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has written three letters to the PM, requesting a meeting to discuss the Maratha reservation.

    Sambhaji’s relation with other leaders in his own party has become strained. Now he is is trying to create his own space in the state’s crowded political arena by being the leading voice for the quota

    Staffers told not to bother Uddhav Thackeray

    A senior minister in Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government told his staffers that they should not bother Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for anything and everything. The chief minister is not someone who would be available round the clock to address all the administrative and personal issues, the staffers were told.

    As chief minister, Uddhav will only meet prominent ministers, including deputy chief minister and senior-most Congress ministers. Therefore, it is better to curtail their expectations and adjust with the working style of Thackeray, the staffers were told. 

    Karuna Munde launches legal battle against spouse

    Karuna Munde’s sister earlier alleged that she was raped and assaulted by NCP minister Dhananjay Munde. Munde had two children from Karuna who are staying with him at his official residence. Both are fighting legal battles, one for detachment and the other for a share in the property.

    Sources say Karuna tried to malign Munde’s image by making allegations against him public and filing an FIR. Now, Karuna wants to pen her side of the story. She is reportedly writing a book about her relationship with Munde and other issues.