Beggar gang busted by cops, two kidnapped boys rescued from Aurangabad
Report by ABDUL AZIZ.
MUMBAI TIMES: The Kanjurmarg Police on Thursday said that two boys allegedly kidnapped last week from the eastern suburbs of Mumbai were rescued from Aurangabad in Maharashtra and three people including a woman were arrested in the matter.
According to the police, on December 4, the Kanjurmarg police received complaints of two kidnappings in the area. In one case, a boy aged one-year-old and in another case a boy aged five-year-old was kidnapped.
After studying the sequence of events in both cases, the investigators concluded that the kidnapping may have been done by a gang involved in begging, the police said.
"The senior officials formed multiple teams from police stations including Kanjurmarg, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Mulund, Parksite and Navghar under the jurisdiction of zone 7 of Mumbai Police were formed to investigate both kidnappings," said an official.
The teams used technical clues and information from their sources to locate the kidnapped boys and the suspects in the case. Some of the team members reached different districts in the state to locate the culprits, the police said.
The gang members had been constantly changing their locations. The officials investigated different railway stations in the state. The teams had reached Kalyan, Nashik, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad railway stations to investigate the whereabouts of the suspects and after eleven days of sustained investigations, the boys and the accused were traced to Aurangabad, the police said.
Both the boys were successfully rescued from the gang and three accused were arrested in the matter.
Those arrested have been identified as Tarabai Kale, 40, Chandu Kale, 54, and Harshad Kale, 35. Harshad is allegedly the mastermind of the case and he was nabbed from Yewla after a raid by the officials at his residence. The boys were kept at the residence of Chandu and Tarabai in Aurangabad, the police added.
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Arrested for threatening to kill NCP chief Sharad Pawar, will appear in court tomorrow
MUMBAI TIMES: The man who threatened to kill Indian National Congress (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has been arrested from Patna, the capital of Bihar.
The name of the accused is Narayan Soni and the police team will take him to Mumbai by this afternoon. The accused will be produced in the court on Thursday. An FIR has been registered against Narayan at Gaon Devi police station. He has threatened Pawar many times before also.
Let us tell you that 3 days ago, Sharad Pawar had received a death threat by calling his Silver Oak bungalow. After this, the police had registered an FIR in the matter.
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Mumbai’s air quality remains ‘very poor’ for third day consecutive day
Report by ASIF ANSARI.
MUMBAI TIMES: Mumbai city’s overall air quality continued to remain between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ on Wednesday morning. According to SAFAR, the city’s AQI was 297.
Mazagaon recorded the poorest AQI of 349, followed by 314 in Colaba and 313 in Malad. While Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) had an AQI of 311 and Chembur 321, Bhandup recorded an AQI of 256, followed by 239 in Andheri and 201 in Borivali. Worli’s AQI was 162.
The minimum temperature recorded on Tuesday morning was 23.8 degrees, three degrees above normal.
Meanwhile, the night temperature also showed a significant rise on Monday. The Santacruz observatory of India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 23 degrees Celsius, which is three degrees above normal.
Mumbai is experiencing south-easterly winds for the past few days, which are not strong enough to blow away the pollutants in the air. Pollutants are getting accumulated in the air and remaining suspended in the lower atmosphere for longer periods leading to poor AQI,” said Mahesh Palawat, meteorologist and climate expert from Skymet Weather.
In the morning, these particulate matters and water vapour suspended in the air are combining to form smog, which is affecting visibility. The low wind speed is the primary factor behind poor AQI. Being an island city, Mumbai’s AQI is determined by wind blowing from the sea,” Palawat added.
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Gautam Adani-led Adani Properties has bagged India’s one of the biggest redevelopment project, the revamp of the second largest slum colony in Asia – Dharavi.
According to sources, Adani Properties quoted Rs 5,069 crore as its investment in the project making it the highest bidder.
The project’s bidding criteria was kept on the basis of the highest investment amount quoted, over the stipulated Rs 1,600 crore.
The other two bidders that were in the fray were DLF and Shree Naman Developers. In the two months since the plan was floated for proposals from across the world, a total of eight companies had shown interest in taking up the project, including international players.
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Byculla Railway station gets UNESCO recognition for heritage conservation.
Report by ASIF ANSARI.
MUMBAI TIMES: The 169-year-old Byculla railway station in Mumbai is one of the oldest living railway stations in India. The Byculla railway station has today received UNESCO’s Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation award of merit for restoration work carried out over the last three years. As per media reports, the restoration work of the Central Line railway station of the Mumbai Suburban Railway station was done by the non-governmental agency (NGO) called ‘I Love Mumbai,’ and the Bajaj Group Charitable Trust. The UNESCO recognition stated that conservation is not only for fancy buildings and renowned monuments. Union minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw took to Twitter to share the news.
Restoration work of 169 years old, Byculla Railway Station, gets UNESCO recognition. ConservingHeritage," read the tweet. The Ministry of Railways has retweeted the tweet.
The restoration of the station included cleaning the basalt stone facade, and restoration of original doors, windows, grills, and gates. Restoration of the timber truss roof, Mangalore tiles, and smaller lean-to roofs along the facade was done. The addition of ramps, steps, etc., was also done to make the station accessible to all passengers.
Further, the building also underwent alterations and additions such as the blocking of archways and windows, the addition of toilet blocks, the blocking of verandahs, etc. After restoration, ticketing areas which have been restored and upgraded are now open in verandahs. The old ticketing counter revealed a historic cast iron grill design which was restored to the original.
The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2022 went to the restored Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum, which is part of the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai World Heritage property in India.
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MUMBAITIMES: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will pay tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai.
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11 dead, 38 injured as bus rams into truck at Nashik
Report by MUMBAI TIMES TEAM.
MUMBAI TIMES: Eleven people died and 38 were injured when a bus rammed into a truck near Nandur naka in Nashik city early on Saturday.
Nashik Municipal Commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar said, “The accident took place at around 5.20 am. This bus rammed into the truck whose diesel tank exploded and caught fire. Most of the people in the bus were sleeping. We have found 10 dead bodies and the remains of another which is why we presume that 11 people have died so far. Of those injured, two people are in a serious condition and have been admitted to the ICU of a local hospital.
Talking about the accident, Jayant Naiknaware, the Police Commissioner of Nashik, said: “The bus had left from Yavatmal on Friday at 3:30 pm. At half past five in the morning, it met with the accident. The locals rushed to the spot and saved 2-3 people. Identification of the deceased is underway. The driver of the truck is absconding.
Reacting to the accident, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said: “This is an unfortunate incident. I am in continuous contact with the officials in Nashik. All the necessary assistance is being provided.
The Guardian Minister of Nashik, Dada Bhuse, announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased. “The compensation has been announced by CM Eknath Shinde. I am also reaching to the spot to assess the situation and provide help,” Bhuse said.
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7 medical students, including BJP MLA’s son, killed in Wardha accident
Report by MUMBAI TIMES TEAM.
MUMBAI TIMES TEAM: A killed in a road accident around 11.30 pm on Monday.
They were passing through Selsura when a wild animal suddenly appeared in front of their car. According to a preliminary probe, the person driving the car, in order to avoid the animal, swerved hard on the wheel, resulting in the vehicle falling into a ditch under a culvert. The impact killed the students, said Wardha SP Prashant Holkar.
BJP MLA from Tirora constituency Vijay Rahangdale’s son Avishkar was among the deceased.
The other victims were identified as Neeraj Chauhan, Nitesh Singh, Vivek Nandan, Pratyush Singh, Shubham Jaiswal, Pawan Shakti.
While coming to Wardha from Deoli, an accident has taken place near Selsura. The vehicle lost control and crashed into a river bridge near Selsura. A four-wheeler fell off a 40-foot bridge, causing a tragic accident. All the dead were reported to be between 25 and 35 years of age.
The accident took place around one o’clock in the night and the work of removing the bodies started till four o’clock in the morning.
Meanwhile, Wardha Sub-Divisional Police Officer Piyush Jagtap and Sawangi Police Inspector also rushed to the spot after getting information about the accident. It is learned that all the students who died in the accident were students of a medical college in Sawangi. Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims were brought to Wardha General Hospital for autopsy.
The third major accident in the last 48 hours
The state has witnessed a series of catastrophic accidents since Sunday night. A tragic accident had taken place on Pune-Nagar highway on Sunday. Five people were killed in the accident. On the other hand, three siblings were killed in a truck and two-wheeler accident in Parbhani. In just 24 hours, eight people were killed in road accidents in Maharashtra. Similarly, another tragic accident took place on Monday night and now the number of casualties in road accidents has increased even more. Seven students have been killed in a car accident in Wardha and now 15 people have been killed in the last 48 hours.
Work begins to identify the dead
Meanwhile, the identity of the students who died in the Wardha accident has not been ascertained yet. Police and administration are conducting further investigation into the accident and the families of all the seven students have been severely affected by the accident.
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Two arrested from Goregaon for 'selling fake COVID vaccine certificates' for Rs 1,500 each
MUMBAI TIMES: In a major breakthrough, the crime branch of Mumbai Police has arrested two persons from Goregaon area for allegedly selling bogus COVID vaccine certificates.
The gang used to operate from the Mumbai suburbs. The accused were charging Rs 1,500 for each vaccine certificate.
The fake certificates were supposedly meant for those people who did not take COVID vaccine doses. Now, it has come to light that at least 80 people who did not take vaccines were given the certificates.
Meanwhile, police said they are on the lookout for more people in connection with vaccine certificate fraud.
The arrested duo allegedly duplicated the vaccines by putting out false details on COWIN portal. The crime branch made the arrest after officials received a tip-off on the fraud. Cops are also searching for other accused who were part of the racket.
In a similar incident on Jan 8, a 36-year-old man was arrested by Dharavi Police for selling fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates. The accused was identified as Francis Nadar. Certificates were sold at high prices to people who were not vaccinated against COVID-19.
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MUMBAI TIMES: People died, one injured after a lift collapsed at an under-constructed building in Worli, Mumbai. Injured have been shifted to the hospital: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
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