Maharashtra News Live Updates: Man held for highway robbery in Thane

Police have arrested a man on charges of committing robbery on a highway in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Thursday. A police team patrolling near the Mumbra Devi hills on Tuesday spotted three persons stopping a truck and attempting to rob the driver of his belongings, senior police inspector Nivrutti Kolhatkar said.The police caught hold of one of them, identified as Nadir Mohammad Tarique Siddiqui (25), while the other two managed to escape, the official said, adding that efforts were on to nab them.

The Western Railway has launched a mobile application which will allow commuters to check the live status of trains on its suburban network spread between Churchgate station in south Mumbai and Dahanu in adjoining Palghar district. According to the zonal railway, the 'Yatri' app also has several other features.

A 30-year-old man allegedly strangled to death his sister-in-law and her two minor children and later set the bodies on fire in Maharashtra's Pune city, police said on Thursday. The incident took place in Kondhwa area on Wednesday evening, they said, adding the accused was apparently miffed over his 25-year-old sister-in-law's alleged affairs with other men. The accused has been arrested and booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code, an official said.

The state cabinet on Wednesday agreed to declare incessant rain as a natural calamity, which will entitle farmers, whose crops are impacted, to compensation after surveys by the government.Earlier, the state had declared flooding and excess rain as natural calamities. All villages in revenue circles which experienced more than 65mm of rainfall in 24 hours were eligible for surveys for crop damage. Areas where crops have suffered more than 33% damage are eligible for compensation.

Two more patients succumbed to coronavirus in Maharashtra, taking the toll to 1,48,451 on Wednesday, while 569 people tested positive for the infection, down from 711 the previous day, said the state health department. With the addition of 569 new cases in the last 24 hours, the state's overall Covid-19 tally rose to 81,46,870, the department said in a bulletin. The state had recorded 711 cases and four coronavirus-linked deaths on Tuesday. Mumbai registered 211 new cases and one fatality in the last 24 hours.

The BMC has issued a public notice for the cutting and transplantation of 1,828 trees on a plot at Vikhroli for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. The notice said 1,687 of the trees are proposed to be cut and only 141 will be transplanted, and the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) will undertake compensatory plantation of more than 5,300 trees.

After a gap of 78 days, Mumbai registered a Covid-19 death on Wednesday when a 69-year-old Chembur resident passed away. The state recorded another fatality in Pimpri, taking the toll to 10 in April so far.The previous Covid-19 victim in the city was a 68-year-old male with kidney failure who died on January 17. Around 1.5 lakh people have died in Mumbai since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Angry that his hair was cut short, a 13-year-old boy allegedly leaped to death from the bathroom window of his 16th floor flat in Bhayander on Tuesday night.Navghar police said an accidental death case has been filed. Shatrughan Pathak, a class 8th student, was found in a pool of blood in the compound of his Sonam Indraprasth building in New Golden Nest, Bhayander (east) at around 11.30pm. The family told the police that in the day Shatrughan was taken for a hair cut by his cousin. Shatrughan was upset about the short hair cut. His parents and two elder sisters tried to pacify him but he remained upset.

Amid the water shortage complaints pouring in, the BMC has said that certain areas in the city could face a water cut above the 15% announced earlier, considering the geographical limitations - areas located at an elevation and at the fag end of its water distribution network - and the fact that water is being supplied through alternative channels to the Bhandup treatment plant.