Rutuja Latke. Mumbai News Highlights, 17 October, 2022: Following requests by leaders across the political spectrum, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday withdrew its candidate, Murji Patel, from the Andheri (East) bypoll, clearing the way for Uddhav Thackeray-led Rutuja Latke to win. “I would like to thank all party leaders and workers for supporting me. I will work for the welfare of the public,” Rutuja said. Rutuja is the wife of late Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Latke.
On Sunday, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray urged the BJP to withdraw their Andheri East bypoll candidate Murji Patel, in reverence to late MLA Ramesh Latke, whose death has necessitated the election. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has fielded the late MLA’s wife Rutuja Latke from the constituency.
Who is Rutuja Latke, Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena candidate for Andheri East bypoll
In other news, on Sunday, the Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a “yellow” alert for Mumbai for the next two days, as the city has been witnessing the highest rainfall in October in a decade amidst a delayed withdrawal of monsoon. The city may record more “light” to “moderate” rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds on Monday and Tuesday, especially during the evening. The monsoon withdrawal is likely to be delayed by one more week, said the IMD. The Santacruz observatory of IMD has so far recorded 216.1 mm of rainfall — highest monthly total in the last 10 years — in Mumbai this October. The average rainfall expected during October is around 91 mm. Previously, the highest rainfall recorded in October was 197.7 mm in October 2012.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will be on a three-day visit to India starting Tuesday, during which he will pay tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, besides holding talks with his Indian interlocutors.
Maharashtra has seen a rise in new Covid cases this week – an increase by 17.7% as compared to last week. The state has also reported new sub variants of Omicron – BQ.1, BA.2.3.20 apart from XBB that is a recombinant of BA.2.75 and BJ.1.
Even as new Covid strains are emerging, Maharashtra surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate has sounded a note of caution especially with several festivals coming up apart from the onset of winter. He said that whole genome sequencing of samples has shown that the proportion of BA.2.75 has decreased to 76 % from 95%.
"However Maharashtra has reported XBB which is a new variant with a growth advantage over BA.2.75 and immune evasive properties. Apart from this, the state has reported BA.2.3.20 and BQ.1- variants for the first time in India," Dr Awate said.
Manoj Modi, Director of Reliance Retail Ltd, has sold two apartments in Raheja Vivarea at Mahalaxmi, having a total area of 5.2k sq ft for Rs 41.5 crore.
According to 'Indextap.com' which provided the sale agreement documents, the deal took place on July 7, 2022.
The new purchasers are Avneesh Aurobinda Prasad and Vikram Arun Chogle, who paid stamp duty of Rs 1.23 crore and Rs 1.26 crore respectively. The homebuyers along with the property buying has got two vehicle parking spaces for each apartment. The properties that were owned by Manoj Modi are located on the 28th floor.
The Mumbai Traffic Police issued an order directing its officials to take strict action against autorickshaw and taxi drivers who refuse short distance fares for people in the city.
Notices and signboards about the order have already been placed at bus stops and railway stations. Officials have been asked to act immediately as and when complaints were received about autorickshaw and taxi drivers.
The decision by the BJP to withdraw from the Andheri East Assembly bypoll contest was taken "collectively" respecting the "culture of Maharashtra", Union minister Raosaheb Danve said.
Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party's Murji Patel withdrew his nomination against Rutuja Latke of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena for the November 3 byelection.
"Looking at the political legacy of Maharashtra, the BJP decided to withdraw its candidate from the Andheri East bypoll. Such decisions are taken based on happenings in politics," Danve told reporters.
The BJP MP said if all parties are thinking similarly, then BJP will also think in the same manner. "Decisions in the BJP are taken collectively," he said, adding that NCP had played a similar role in the bypoll necessitated by the death of BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde in June 2014. (PTI)
As the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra is slated to enter Maharashtra next month, a delegation of the party met NCP president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray to invite them to be part of the initiative.
The delegation comprised party in-charge for Maharashtra H K Patil, former chief minister Ashok Chavan, former state chief Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap and party leaders Vishwajit Kadam, Amar Rajurkar, Naseem Khan and Sandeep Tambe.
A total of 771 of 797 delegates belonging to Maharashtra and Mumbai units of Congress cast their votes to elect the next president of All India Congress Committee (AICC) between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.
The Maharashtra Congress unit recorded 96 per cent voting and the Mumbai unit 97 per cent voting, Congress functionaries said. A total of 797 delegates of Congress from Maharashtra are eligible to cast their votes. Of them, 561 belong to the party's Maharashtra Pradesh unit and 236 are from the Mumbai unit. A total of 542 of the 561 delegates belonging to the state Congress unit and 229 of the Mumbai unit cast their votes. (PTI)
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The Western Railway has opened a new foot overbridge at the Khar Road station in its Mumbai suburban section. According to a press release, the foot overbridge is 44 m long and 6 m wide and was constructed at a cost of Rs 4.55 crore.
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Shortly after BJP candidate Murji Patel's candidature was withdrawn from the Andheri East bypoll race, the party's state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule told ANI, "This is an example for people that although we were winning, we've taken back our nomination. This is a good decision by Devendra Fadnavis."
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took “active interest” in the Patra Chawl redevelopment project and there was material on record to show his involvement in the money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court.
The ED on Monday completed its arguments on the Rajya Sabha MP's bail plea in the money laundering case pertaining to irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon in north Mumbai.
Raut was produced before special judge M G Deshpande at the end of his judicial custody on Monday and his jail custody was extended till Tuesday, when his bail plea will be further heard. (PTI)
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray thanked Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the BJP's decision to withdraw its candidate from the bypoll to Andheri East Assembly seat in Mumbai.
In a letter written to Fadnavis, Thackeray referred to the senior BJP leader as his “dear friend” and said it is essential to have a positive political culture.
He said the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is always in favour of proliferation of such a positive culture. “I am thankful that you responded to this (appeal),” Thackeray said. (PTI)
Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel under the Central Railway have saved 62 lives so far this year as part of its ‘Mission Jeevan Rakshak’, officials said.
According to a release issued by the Central Railway on Monday, as many as 24 of the incidents in question took place under the Mumbai Division, while 14 cases were reported in Nagpur Division, 12 in Pune Division, eight in Bhusaval Division and four in Solapur Division from January to September this year. Read more
On Sunday, the Meteorological Department issued a “yellow” alert for Mumbai for the next two days, as the city has been witnessing the highest rainfall in October in a decade amidst a delayed withdrawal of monsoon.
The city may record more “light” to “moderate” rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds on Monday and Tuesday, especially during the evening. Read more
Until August this year, 3,301 FIRs for cyber crimes were registered by the Mumbai Police but in only 182 of them, i.e., 5.5 per cent cases, arrests could be made. Hemraj Singh Rajput, Deputy Commissioner of Police, cyber, speaks with Jayprakash S Naidu on the awareness needed to reduce cyber crimes, measures being taken to solve them, and hurdles faced by police while tackling the cases.
Read the full interview here
A day after leaders across the political spectrum urged that Rutuja Latke be elected unopposed from the Andheri East Assembly constituency, the BJP withdrew the candidature of Murji Patel.
Rutuja Latke is the widow of former Sena MLA from Andheri (East), Ramesh Latke, who died after a heart attack in May 2022 in Dubai. Ramesh latke was a two-time MLA from Andheri (East), and prior to that, he was a civic corporator of the area.
Read more about Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Andheri East bypoll candidate here
Dhyaneshwar Dhekade is clueless when asked about the future of soyabean even as farmers in his village of Kamargaon in Karanj taluka of Washim district get ready to harvest their crop. Dhekade, who is also the director of the Pariwartan Farmers Producer Company (FPC) in the area, blames the ban on the commodities futures trading on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) for the lack of direction.
“Before the ban, we could get a clear indication about how prices would hold, say three months from harvest. That allowed us to either sell outright or offload in tranches. Without any data point, this year is going to be tricky,” he said. Read more.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Sunday assured property developers of discussing their demand for stamp duty waiver and premium discount in the next cabinet meeting.
Fadnavis, who also holds the housing portfolio, was speaking at the CREDAI-MCHI property exhibition that concluded in Mumbai. He took note of the comparative analysis of premiums in various metro cities presented by the real estate apex body.
CREDAI-MCHI president Boman Irani said, “We are confident that the four-day exhibition helped bring all the stakeholders together to deliberate on many critical issues, and it has set a tune to bring MMR real estate market on the global map. Moreover, we are optimistic that in the coming days, the government will take a positive step toward our recommendation, especially on stamp duty reduction and premium discounts.” Read more.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a 26-year-old man arrested in a rape case, but set a condition that he would have to marry the victim, who is currently untraceable, if she is found within a year.
The man, however, would not be bound by this condition beyond one year, a single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre said in the order passed on October 12.
The court said the accused and the 22-year-old woman were in a consensual relationship, but a rape and cheating case was registered when the man started avoiding her after learning that she was pregnant.
The woman lodged a complaint with the Mumbai Police against the man in February 2020 after which he was arrested.
In her complaint, the woman claimed they were in a relationship since 2018 and that their families were aware of the same and had not objected to it.
In 2019, the woman realised she was pregnant and informed the accused, but he started avoiding her. The woman left her house as she did not want to reveal about the pregnancy to her family members. On January 27, 2020, she delivered a baby in a city hospital.
On January 30, the woman abandoned the baby in front of a building. A separate FIR was then lodged against her for abandoning the child.
Justice Dangre in her order said this "may be a possible reason why she is fleeing from the course of justice".
The accused assured the HC that he was willing to marry the woman and accept paternity of the child.
However, the police informed the court that the woman was not traceable and the baby, who was admitted to a child care centre, has already been given in adoption.
"In such circumstances when the incident was reported, the victim was major and she has already stated that the relationship was consensual," the HC said.
"I deem it appropriate to release the applicant on bail subject to compliance that if the victim is traced within a short while and say in a period of one year, he shall solemnise marriage with her, but he shall not be bound by the statement beyond one year," the order said.
The court granted bail to the man on a bond of Rs 25,000. PTI