Mumbai News Updates: City logs 293 new Covid-19 cases, five deaths

The Bombay high court appointed wetlands protection panel has directed Cidco to open up five choke points at Panje in Uran, in order to allow free flow of tidal waters into the drying land. The panel took this decision at their meeting on Monday, which has been welcomed by green activists. Full story here

Calling officers of central investigating agencies as national extortionists, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the BJP is acting like it owns all the central investigating agencies. Full story here

A man accused of raping a mentally unwell woman in Deolapar area of Nagpur tried to end his life by consuming poison, a police official said on Tuesday. Bandu Uikey (55), a resident of Ramtek tehsil who was booked for rape after a 25-year-old woman's mother lodged a complaint, has been hospitalised and his condition is stable, he said. "As per the complaint, Uikey and the victim had taken cattle for grazing on August 20. He then raped the 25-year-old woman several times in the jungle near Navegaon village and also threatened her with dire consequences if she said anything about the ordeal to anyone. Her kin got to know when the victim got pregnant," he said. (PTI)

Mumbai Police have seized "high quality" Charas worth Rs 14.44 crore, which was brought from Kashmir in a car, and arrested a man, his wife, daughter and one other person in this connection, an official said on Tuesday. Acting on a specific information received by units 6 and 7 of the Mumbai crime branch, the police laid a trap on Monday morning at Dahisar highway in western suburbs here and intercepted the car, he said. (PTI)

Due to nullah repair work between Malad and NL High School on SV Road by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), motorists are likely to be impacted for three months. Full story here

The accused used to steal a few parts from the Metro casting yard from time to time. After Metro site workers gradually discovered that several parts were missing, an FIR was registered at Aarey police station in August. Full story here

Mumbai on Tuesday recorded 293 new coronavirus positive cases, taking the tally to 7,54,249, while the death toll climbed to 16,225 with eight more deaths. Active cases in the city stand at 4,101. Also, 329 patients were discharged today, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,31,394. Mumbai's average recovery rate now stands at 97 per cent. At present, 43 buildings have been sealed in the BMC limits due to the presence of Covid-19 positive persons in them.

A five-member team of NCB will go from Delhi to Mumbai tomorrow to probe the allegations of corruption made by Prabhakar Sail, who is a witness in the drugs-on-cruise matter of Mumbai. The team will comprise DDG NCB Gyaneshwar Singh along with 4 other NCB officers: Sources (ANI)

Two accused in the cruise drugs bust case have been granted bail by the special NDPS court. The accused are Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu.

"They say they have WhatsApp chats recovered from my phone for years 2018, 2019, 2020. It is important to note they are not regarding the cruise party," Mukul Rohatgi said. NCB zonal director yesterday said the controversy is because of a political personality and today they are putting the controversy on me to suggest an attempt to interfere but I have nothing to do with it. I have a good case to argue, he said. Rohatgi cites judgments to show that at the stage of bail court doesn't have to go beyond seeing that there is no recovery and at the highest is a case of attempt to consume or consumption and nothing more. He cites judgments where bail was granted when no possession or recovery was done. "At the end of it where are we today. What the NCB may use is the chats. Today do you put in a person for more than 20 days? He has roots in society. This case has attracted media gaze because of his father," Rohatgi said.

These chats are over a year old and have nothing to do with the cruise. There may be some lady in London somewhere and there are chats and the NCB is trying to link these to this case, said Mukul. There is nothing to show that there is any meeting of mind with any of the co accused on the cruise or others, Mukul said. He added, "None of the chats deal with cruise There is no case that any of the chats has anything to do with onset of the saga of October 2 on the cruise day." The chats have nothing to do with the current scenario and then to use general phrase like conspiracy is not right apart from that there is no recovery, he said.

Recounting what happened on Oct 2, Mukul Rohatgi said that Aryan Khan had gone there with Arbaaz. That's all. "The law provides that for small quantities the maximum punishment is one year. And there is also immunity from prosecution after they go to a rehabilitation centre. There is no evidence of any conspiracy," Rohatgi said. As far as Aryan is concerned, there is no recovery and no consumption.

NIA files its reply before Bombay HC to oppose Sachin Waze’s petition for ‘house custody’ for post operative care till he recovers. Says he has not challenged a September 29 order of jail authorities. HC asked Waze to show what does 'till he recovers' mean as some statement on expected time of recovery must be mentioned. Once you make an averment, we can call for reply.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued an order allowing the common people, irrespective of the nature of their jobs, who are vaccinated fully against Covid-19 to board suburban trains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). In this order, the state government has extended the definition of fully vaccinated people to cover even those people who are working in non-essential sectors. This means people who have taken both the doses of vaccines against Covid-19 and completed 14 days after inoculation can travel in local trains.