File photo of the under construction Mumbai-Nagpur expressway. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)Mumbai News Today Live (August 2): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has declared that the state government intends to inaugurate the first phase of the project, which stretches on an area of 480 km from Shirdi to Nagpur, on August 15, said Radheshyam Mopalwar, Director General (War Room, Infrastructure Projects) and Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
Meanwhile, with the strengthening of low-level Westerlies over the west coast, the Konkan region including Mumbai is likely to get rain from August 5. For the past 15 days, the city has recorded no or very light rainfall. However, excess rain was recorded in July. From July 1, the IMD’s Santacruz observatory, which is representative of the city, has recorded 1,244.6 mm rain. The average rain for Mumbai in July was 919.9 mm.
In other news, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was sent to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till August 4. “I am proud of Sanjay Raut. He is real Shiv Sainik. He did not bow down to the pressure and those who did are not with us. Those who bow down to the pressure cannot be Shiv Sainik,”said Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on the MP’s arrest.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut after being detained by the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)
The Shiv Sena slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the arrest of Sanjay Raut by the Enforcement Directorate, saying such targeting of the Opposition did not happen even during the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena said democracy and a country perish if the Opposition is not treated with respect.
The Sena said Raut, Raya Sabha MP and Saamana executive editor, was arrested out of political revenge and many "false proofs" were produced to frame him in the alleged Patra chawl case. (PTI)
The Mumbai Police probing the criminal intimidation case against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is awaiting the original audio recorded by the woman complainant and will submit it to the forensic science laboratory in Kalina to identify the caller, an official said.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Raut on Sunday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including insulting the modesty of the woman on a complaint lodged by a witness in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, claiming she was threatened.
Recently, an audio clip in which a male voice can be heard threatening a woman using foul language went viral.
The official said the complainant had submitted the audio clip to the police in a pen drive, but the police want the original audio which was recorded in 2016. "Once we get hold of the original recording, we will seek the help of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to establish the identity of the caller," he said. (PTI)
In April, when the ED attached properties linked to the Sena MP’s wife, Sharad Pawar raised the issue in a meeting with PM Narendra Modi. This time, the NCP president and his party have mostly kept mum. Read why...
Mumbai logged 164 new Covid-19 cases while 176 patients were discharged today. The recovery rate in the city stood at 98 per cent.
Maharashtra police has organised a cycle rally from Mumbai to Delhi as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', a series of celebrations across the country to mark 75 years of Independence. (PTI)
Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari apologised for his comments about Mumbai losing its financial capital status if Gujaratis and Rajasthani people leave the city. His remarks had created a row across the state.
Alia Bhatt, who is turning producer with her maiden production venture Darlings, speaks about her career choices and upcoming projects in a conversation with Express Adda. Live updates here...
A petition was filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the decision of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government to stay circulars relating to appointments and developmental projects taken up by the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government, on Monday.(PTI)
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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Monday that central investigative agencies took action against an individual when they had documentary evidence, and suggested the Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was also backed by evidence. Read more here...
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has been sent the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody by special court till August 4.
Uddhav Thackeray met Sanjay Raut's family at Bhandup today.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut is scheduled to appear before a special court, where he will reach from the ED office in south Mumbai.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials took Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to a government hospital for check up, after which he will be produced in a special court.
Raut, who spent the night in ED's south Mumbai office after his arrest in a money laundering case, was taken to the hospital after 12.30 pm. He was seen waving to media personnel gathered outside the agency's office.
The Rajya Sabha MP of the Sena, led by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, will be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai later in the day, where the ED will seek his custody. (PTI)
The arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is an attempt to divert the anger brewing against Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari's remarks on Mumbai, party leader Arvind Sawant claimed on Monday. He said protests will be held in the state spontaneously against the arrest of Raut, a vocal critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Centre.
Koshyari had triggered a row with his remarks that if Gujaratis and Rajasthanis are moved out of Maharashtra, especially from Mumbai and Thane, "you will be left with no money and Mumbai will not remain a financial capital". (PTI)
There was additional police deployment outside senior Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut’s Bhandup residence as he was detained by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged money laundering case and taken to the ED office in Ballard pier on Sunday evening.
However, the police did not have much to worry about on the law-and-order front as only about 250 Shiv Sainiks turned up outside Raut’s residence to protest against the ED. Read more
A look at the statistics of fatal crashes or road accidents in Mumbai over the last few years shows a declining trend with casualties coming further down in the first six months of 2022 as compared to the corresponding period in pre-pandemic year 2019. On the flip side, in Maharashtra, the fatalities continued to rise this year as well.
Another trend witnessed this year was sudden decrease, as compared to last year, in enforcement cases in which people had to pay up the increased fines for violations. Read more
Following several representations and warnings of strike by the Mumbai Taximen’s Union – the largest taxi union of Mumbai, the country’s financial capital — the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) last week said that it has proposed a hike in fare and that a decision in the regard will be taken in the next meeting.
In an interview with Vallabh Ozarkar, the General Secretary of the union, A L Quadros, who has been pressing for the minimum fare to be increased from Rs 25 to Rs 35, says the process for fare revision is being delayed by the Maharashtra transport department. Read the full interview here
In his last column for the Shiv Sena’s official mouthpiece Saamana before being picked up by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with an alleged money laundering case on Sunday evening, senior leader and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut accused the Union government of misusing central agencies to harass the opposition leaders, calling it the ‘death of democracy’.
Stating that while there was no reason to oppose institutions like the ED, Raut, in his weekly column Rokthok, argued that it is wrong if such institutions are misused for political reasons. Read more
Shiv Sena has appointed Anand Dighe’s nephew Kedar Dighe as the head of the Shiv Sena’s Thane district unit. Shiv Sena had faced a huge vacuum after Eknath Shinde formed another group.
On Sunday, the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray met Dighe (35) and made him the Thane chief, while Anita Birje was made his deputy. She is a long term of Shiv Sainik and had not allowed Shinde to enter Shiv Sena shakha in Thane.
Even as the Congress and the NCP extended support to Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut whose Mumbai residence was raided by officers of the Enforcement Directorate on Sunday, NCP’s Ajit Pawar – who is the Opposition leader – appeared to distance himself from the raid, while others slammed the move as the BJP’s tactics against rivals.
“Income Tax, ED, CBI have every right to investigate anyone, including you and me… As for the raids on Sanjay Raut, only he can authoritatively explain why the ED is raiding him repeatedly…,” Ajit Pawar told reporters. Read more