A health worker collects swab sample of a resident for Covid-19 test at Sion in Mumbai onTuesday. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)Mumbai Live News: Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 1,193 fresh Covid-19 cases, a rise of 115 from a day ago, and 39 new fatalities, the health department said. With these additions, the statewide coronavirus tally rose to 66,14,158, while the death toll increased to 1,40,313, the department added.
Maharashtra’s case recovery rate now stands at 97.6 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent. Of the 39 deaths, the Thane region recorded 15, followed by 10 in the Pune region. Mumbai district reported the highest 319 new infections, followed by 119 in Pune district.
Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh has submitted an affidavit before an inquiry commission probing his corruption allegations against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, saying he does not have any further evidence to share in the matter. In March this year, the Maharashtra government formed the one-member commission of retired Justice Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal to probe Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh. Despite the commission issuing multiple summons and a bailable warrant against Singh, he has not appeared before the it so far.
Yes Bank Ltd has taken possession of Hotel Hyatt Regency building and a plot of land situated close to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the city, after its parent company Asian Hotel (West) Ltd defaulted on loan repayment of Rs 267 crore. Hyatt is an American hospitality company that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels. It is managing the Mumbai property on a contract basis on behalf of Asian Hotels (West).
A local organisation on Wednesday came out in support of NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who if facing constant attacks from Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik.
Hailing Wankhede's fight against drugs, members of the Shri Shiv Pratishthan Yuva Hindustan gathered outside the NCB zonal office in the morning holding placards and banners with messages in his support.
They showered flower petals on the IRS officer as he walked into the office in south Mumbai. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court's vacation bench on Wednesday rejected the pre-arrest bail plea by Sam D’Souza, the man who allegedly brokered a deal purportedly between actor Shah Rukh Khan's manager Pooja Dadlani and panch witness K P Gosavi in the Cordelia cruise ship drug raid case to "help" Aryan Khan after his arrest in the raid by the NCB.
The Dadra and Nagar Haveli bypoll defeat, coming on the back of the loss in Deglur assembly seat in Nanded, has jolted the Maharashtra BJP, with state chief Chandrakant Patil likely to convene a core committee meeting after Diwali to ascertain the possible reasons for the poor show.
The saffron party suffered the poll debacles despite an aggressive poll campaign.
In Deglur, Congress candidate Jitesh Antapurkar defeated BJP nominee Subash Sabane.
The Deglur bypoll was a “prestige issue” for Congress PWD minister Ashok Chavan. With the Congress candidate pulling off an easy victory, Chavan has been able to prove to his detractors that he still retains a lot of support among his home base. Read More
Over 300 civic body and government-run vaccination centres will remain shut for four days, starting Thursday to November 7, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said. The vaccination process will resume on November 8, the civic body added.
Even though BMC did not state a reason behind halting the vaccination process, the decision was likely taken in view of Diwali festivities. Earlier, BMC had halted the vaccination drive during the Ganapati festival for a day in September.
Meanwhile, a significant drop in the daily inoculation numbers is being reported in the city since October. The month saw a drop of 39 per cent in vaccination figures as compared to September. On Tuesday, only 32, 739 citizens visited 463 centres at the civic body-run, government and private hospitals, which have a daily capacity of inoculating 90,000 people. Read More
Sam D’Souza, who was named as the person who allegedly brokered a deal, purportedly between actor Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani and panch witness K P Gosavi in the Cordelia Cruise ship drug bust case to “help” actor’s son Aryan Khan, has approached the Bombay High Court with an anticipatory bail plea. He has sought three working days’ notice before any coercive action is taken against him.
A vacation bench of Justice S P Tavade, is likely to hear the plea this evening.
The Maharashtra government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into complaints of alleged extortion against NCB officers and other private individuals. In his plea, D’Souza has said that certain politicians from the ruling government have taken his name in press conferences and he feared his arrest over the same.
He also claimed that Gosavi took Rs 50 lakh from Dadlani to get Aryan released and said that panch-witness Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail are “fraud and main conspirators’. D’Souza said he ensured money was returned to Dadlani through her husband. Read More
The Covid-19 vaccination will remain suspended at civic and government-run centres in Mumbai for next four days in the wake of the festive season, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Wednesday.
The civic body in a statement also appealed to citizens to cooperate with it. The vaccination drive will remain suspended at the civic and government-run centres from November 4 to 7, it said.
The BMC has sufficient stock of vaccines, so the inoculation drive will resume from Monday, it said.
According to the BMC's data, a total of 1,42,62,513 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 were administered in Mumbai till Tuesday. So far, 53,63,755 citizens have received both doses of vaccine. (PTI)
The Income Tax Department has provisionally attached assets allegedly linked to the family of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (PBPT) Act, 1988, as part of an ongoing investigation, sources told The Indian Express.
The tax authority has also issued show cause notices to owners of the attached properties, the sources said. However, Pawar’s lawyer said in a statement that no assets have been seized or any notice issued, and that the IT Department has only “sought clarifications on some issues”.
According to sources, the properties under the scanner include the Jarandeshwar Sahakari Sugar Karkhana (Jarandeshwar SSK) in Satara, a resort in Goa, a flat in an upscale Delhi locality, an office at Nirmal Tower in South Mumbai, and 27 land parcels across Maharashtra. Read More
An 11-year-old boy from Andheri lost his left eye on Monday evening while bursting firecrackers near his house at Gilbert Hill road in DN Nagar area.
The DN Nagar police said that the boy, identified as Sai Bharankar, was bursting firecrackers along with his friends when the sparks from burning crackers injured his left eye and nose.
“He lit a firecracker and covered it with three boxes. But as it did not burst, he went close to check on it and as soon as he picked up the boxes, the firecracker burst and caused injuries on his eye and nose,” said senior police inspector Milind Kurde of DN Nagar police station. Read More
Right-wing outfit Shri Shiv Pratishthan Yuva Hindustan (SSPYH) on Wednesday came out in support of Narcotics Control Bureau zonal chief Sameer Wankhede in Mumbai. A group of activists belonging to SSPYH gathered outside the NCB office in Mumbai to express solidarity with Wankhede for fighting against drugs.
The organisation showered flower petals as Wankhede walked to the office. They also presented him a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The organisation assured their support to Wankhede in the fight against illicit drugs across the state.
The Kurar police have registered a case of extortion against an unknown person who allegedly posed as a Gujarat police inspector and tried to extort money from Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu. The incident occurred last Thursday when the Kurar Police received a call from a person who claimed to be “Police Inspector Ramesh Singh from Sanjan Police Station in Gujarat”. Singh needed information about a case that he was investigating. When Police Inspector Manoj Chalke, who is the complainant in the case, called Singh back, the latter claimed he had arrested a person with illegal firearms who had confessed to a murder.
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Nearly 41 lakh passengers travelled on local trains on Monday, the first working day after the state government allowed fully vaccinated people to buy single or return journey tickets apart from the monthly, quarterly and six-monthly season tickets. Approximately 4.24 lakh people bought the single or return journey tickets on Monday. The railways expect that since daily tickets are being issued now, the number of daily passengers is likely to touch 60 lakh after Diwali.
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The Mumbai police have rescued two minor girls from a hotel in Dongri area and arrested three men who allegedly kidnapped them with a promise of providing jobs abroad, an official said on Tuesday. The police recently arrested Abdul Latif Mainuddin (24), a native of Assam, Amar Farooq Irshad Mandal (40), a resident of Santacruz, and Kais Abbules Sheikh (45) from Govandi, the official said.
The matter came to light when the mother of one of the 15-year-old girls approached the police from Oman, claiming that she had left the girl in the custody of one of the accused persons, who had promised to send her daughter to her in a month's time, he said. When the accused did not send the girl, the complainant became worried and reached the city to lodge a complaint of kidnapping, the official said.
The police checked over 40 hotels in the city and finally found the minor at a hotel in Dongri along with another girl, he said. The trio has been booked under section 365 (kidnapping) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and further probe is underway, the official added. (PTI)
One person was killed and six injured after the beam on the pillars of an under-construction bridge in Uran in neighbouring Navi Mumbai collapsed on Tuesday, police said. The incident took place in Jasal at around 4 pm, a police official said.
"One person has died and six are undergoing treatment for their injuries. One of them is in a serious condition," he said. As per the preliminary information, 13 people were working on the under-construction bridge at the time of the incident. (PTI)
Sam D’Souza, who was named as the person who allegedly “brokered a deal” — purportedly between Pooja Dadlani, actor Shah Rukh Khan’s manager, and K P Gosavi, a panch witness in the Cordelia cruise ship raid case — for a payoff to “help” Aryan Khan, has claimed that Gosavi was paid Rs 50 lakh, but he (D’Souza) made him return the money.
Speaking to a TV channel, ABP Majha, on Monday, D’Souza said NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede had no role in the alleged deal, and Gosavi had only pretended to be in touch with him. D’Souza claimed he made Gosavi return the money after realising that he was a “cheater”.
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Prevailing weather conditions and firecracker emissions will aggravate the high smoke level and push the air quality into ‘very poor range’ a day after Diwali, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). The air quality is likely to improve from November 6.
The concentration of fine particles, PM 2.5, on November 4 is expected to be 111 ug/m3 without firecracker emissions. But with 50 per cent cracker emissions, the PM 2.5 is expected to reach 129 ug/m3 and further increase to 182 ug/m3 the next day. The 24-hour permissible level is 60 micrograms per cubic meter.
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The Bombay High Court was recently informed by the central government that the process is under way to obtain the President’s assent to a Maharashtra government amendment that allows the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to redevelop or repair dilapidated and cessed buildings to protect the interest of occupants of such structures.
The occupants of cessed buildings pay Cess Tax or repair fund and such structures, which date back to the pre-Independence era, are mainly present in south and Central Mumbai. The Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) under MHADA has been assigned to conduct structural repairs of such old cessed buildings.
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Yes Bank Ltd has taken possession of Hotel Hyatt Regency building and a plot of land situated close to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the city, after its parent company Asian Hotel (West) Ltd defaulted on loan repayment of Rs 267 crore. Hyatt is an American hospitality company that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels. It is managing the Mumbai property on a contract basis on behalf of Asian Hotels (West).
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Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 1,078 fresh Covid-19 cases, a rise of 269 from a day ago, and 48 new fatalities, up from 10 the previous day. With this, the statewide coronavirus tally rose to 66,12,965, while the death toll increased to 1,40,274, a department official said. More than a dozen districts/municipal corporations did not record any fresh Covid-19 case. A total of 1,095 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 64,53,581 and leaving the state with 15,552 active cases. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court recently allowed plea by the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), clearing way for the construction of a passenger jetty at Kelwa and a Ro-RO jetty at Kharwadashri in Palghar and another passenger jetty at Kharekuran in Thane, while holding that the projects are being undertaken without substantial destruction of mangroves and approvals granted by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
The HC asked MMB to provide within two weeks an undertaking that it will strictly comply with all terms and conditions set out in the approvals of the projects. Refusing to stay its order, it said that the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), an intervenor, has exceeded its role, as apart from assailing approvals given to the project, it attempted to suggest alternative sites to the petitioner.
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The Income Tax Department has provisionally attached assets allegedly linked to the family of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (PBPT) Act, 1988, as part of an ongoing investigation, sources told The Indian Express.
The tax authority has also issued show cause notices to owners of the attached properties, the sources said. However, Pawar’s lawyer said in a statement that no assets have been seized or any notice issued, and that the IT Department has only “sought clarifications on some issues”.
Read more