Mumbai News

Mumbai Top News: Kirit Somaiya says firm owned by Maharashtra CM’s brother-in-law engaged in money laundering – The Indian Express

Mumbai Top News: BJP leader Kirit Somaiya Friday alleged that Shreeji Homes, a company linked to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s brother-in-law Shridhar Patankar, has engaged in money laundering of Rs 29.62 crore.

Somaiya alleged that Shreeji Homes has an office in Bandra and it constructed a building in the Shivaji Park area. “The firm has two entries of Rs 5.86 crore and Rs 23.75 crore. The company is used to hide black money,” he said.

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Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has attacked NCP chief Sharad Pawar, accusing him and his party of indulging in appeasement politics and polarising the society on communal basis. Fadnavis posted a series of tweets on Tuesday, calling Pawar the first person to use the word “Hindu terror”.

Take a look at more stories from Mumbai here:

Soon, ‘Introduction to Indian Constitution’ a must in all state varsities

‘Introduction to Indian Constitution’ will be made a mandatory subject for students of all universities in the state irrespective of the stream. The Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Department has taken the decision on the occasion of the 131st birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, who headed the committee that drafted the Indian Constitution.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), which is building the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) – a sea link that will connect South Mumbai with Navi Mumbai – will set up a museum dedicated to one of the longest sea bridges in the country.

An official said the museum would showcase the highlights of the MTHL.

Five months after they began their indefinite strike in November last year, nearly 50 per cent of staffers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) have resumed work. A substantial chunk of these employees – around 6,000 – resumed work following an order of the Bombay High Court last week.

Nearly 90,000 employees of the MSRTC, one of the largest inter-city bus systems in the country, went on a strike last year demanding the state-owned corporation be merged with the state government to enable them to avail the benefits of being a government servant.

Sanjay Raut.

A day after the Bombay High Court granted interim protection from arrest to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, booked in the INS Vikrant cheating case, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that there exists people with a “certain ideology” in the judiciary and that those associated with a certain party were getting relief from courts.

NCP leader and Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil echoed similar views.

Speaking to mediapersons on the interim bail granted to Somaiya, Raut said, “It is clear that there are people of a certain ideology in the judiciary. In Maharashtra and the country, there is a serious trend of providing security and relief to the people of a particular party from arrest. Why don’t the leaders of MVA get this relief? Why shouldn’t they be protected from arrest? Why do people of a particular party get protection? People are skeptical about the circumstances in which the accused got bail.”

The MMOPL said that it will be the first Mass Rapid Transit System in the world to offer such a service. (File)

From Thursday, commuters traveling on the Mumbai Metro 1 corridor (Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova) could get their tickets on their WhatsApp numbers. As part of the green initiative in the field of ticketing and to save paper, R-Infra’s Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), which runs the Metro services, are offering e-tickets on WhatsApp.

The MMOPL said that it will be the first Mass Rapid Transit System in the world to offer such a service. Officials said this will be an extension of the ‘paper QR ticket’ available at the ticket counters.

Central Railway to organise light-n-sound show at CSMT to mark ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’

The Central Railway (CR) said it will organise a light and sound-cum-performance show called ‘Navarasangam  “Ek Gatha CSMT Ki’ at the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), a UNESCO heritage site here, on the coming Sunday.

The show is meant to celebrate the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and to mark the 170th year of the Railway’s in India, the CR said in a release. “The show will depict the history through the various emotions of the nine rasas (emotions) of ‘Natyashastra’,” it said, adding that it is to commemorate the first journey of Railways in India, ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and the Railway Week and World Heritage Day (on April 18).

Petrol sold for Rs 1 per litre in Solapur to protest rising prices

To protest against rising prices of petroleum products and also to mark Dr B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, a local organization sold petrol at just Rs 1 per litre to 500 persons in Maharashtra’s Solapur city on Thursday.

Every buyer was given only a litre of the fuel. Still, people thronged the petrol pump, leading to serpentine queues. Police were also deployed to control the crowd.

Mumbai logs 56 new Covid-19 cases, one fatality; active tally at 346

A Covid-19 vaccination drive in Vashi. (Express Photo: Narendra Vaskar, File)

Mumbai on Thursday recorded 56 new cases of Covid-19 and one casualty that raised the tally of infections to 10,58,623 and toll to 19,561, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. After a rise in infections over the last three days, the daily cases in the metropolis have witnessed a dip, while the city reported the second casualty of the month. The city had on Wednesday reported 73 new Covid-19 cases and zero fatalities.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-top-news-developments-april-15-7870189/