Kandivali Housewives Turn Vigilantes In Thakur Village
Every night for the last few weeks, a group of women patrol the lanes abutting their societies in Kandivali's Thakur Village, ensuring the drunks and the drug addicts don't spill over to the pavements, and sex pests don't dare target their daughters.
These women are a part of the squad of around 20 housewives from four societies - Evershine, Raheja, Gundecha, and Viceroy - who have taken it upon themselves to ensure their area remains safe, after the police turned down their request for a chowkie, citing staff shortage.
The women decided to turn safety vigilantes three weeks ago, after a teenage girl from the area was groped late in the evening in one of the lanes by unidentified men. The girl was traumatised, her parents equally so, and the residents of the societies along the lane made a resolution that they'll never allow another resident to suffer such a trauma.
The women from the four societies held a meeting one Sunday, formed a WhatsApp group, and are now taking turns monitoring the lanes from around 7.30 pm to 11pm daily.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
HC Pulls Up Cops For Not Filing FIR In Sex Racket
A division bench of the Bombay High Court was furious while hearing a petition on Monday filed by a Chartered Accountant against the Malad Police, for failing to register a case against a history sheeter allegedly running a sex and drug racket. The petitioner’s daughters are believed to be with the accused.
The bench of Justice Ranjeet More and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai have questioned why an FIR had not been filed against the accused, saying that there could be other victims, like the petitioner’s daughters and has asked for an officer, not below the rank of DCP, to remain present during the next hearing on April 19.
In the petition filed by advocates Sandesh Patil and Varsha Bhogle, Patil has accused ‘cult leader’ Sunil Kulkarni of running a sex and drug racket under the name ‘Shifu Sanskriti’. The organization claims to be ‘a mystic who will touch your inner animal, show its extreme and then drag you to your Soul Nature.’
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
ED Finds Proof of Laundering Against Zakir Naik’s CFO
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing charges of money laundering against Aamir Gazdar, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of controversial Islamic preacher and Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) founder Zakir Naik, has highlighted a spate of transactions that prove the financial irregularities Naik is accused of.
Sources said these transactions vindicate the ED’s claim that Gazdar is responsible for handling and managing funds for Naik and IRF. Gazdar was arrested under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on February 16 this year.
The ED has maintained that through “accommodation entries” and to park tainted money, Gazdar harnessed his personal bank accounts and those belonging to children Bilal, Madha and Umair.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Clip Surfaces of IG Prisons Telling Junior to Give Prisoner 'VIP Treatment'
Accused getting VIP treatment in jails is old news. But now, an audio clip of a senior officer from the prisons department ordering his junior to ensure that an accused in judicial custody is taken care of has surfaced.
The phone conversation is between Rajvardhan Sinha, IG (prisons), and Hiralal Jadhav, former superintendent of police, Thane Central Jail, who was suspended after being booked for sexually assaulting a woman constable, and also charged with giving VIP treatment to prisoners.
(Source: Mid-Day)
Bombay High Court Kicks Out Son Who Stole Malad Flat From Father
Retired naval petty officer Mohd Mehboob Ali (79) and wife Hamida (68) have won a battle for scores of senior citizens suffering in silence over property disputes. The High Court on April 3 passed an order evicting the couple's elder son and his family from their flat, ending a three-year-long legal battle. The son and his family had staked their claim to the 900-sqft flat at Malwani, whose value is estimated to be in crores.
The couple's advocate Dinesh Tiwari, said the collector of Mumbai allotted a plot of land at Malwani in 1985 for housing facilities for retired naval officers. Ali, who retired from the navy in 1976, bought a flat in the housing society, and took possession of it in 1996. All documents pertaining to the property were in Ali's name, said Tiwari.
The Alis' son, Shamshad, is a merchant navy captain and has been staying with the couple at their Malwani flat for over two decades. His wife, Shakila, a homemaker, too, lives in the same flat.
(Source: Mid-Day)
BMC Offers Builders Squat & Grab Chance to Usurp Open Spaces
It’s like an open invite to squatters and builders to join hands to gobble up the city’s last remaining open spaces.
The newly submitted report of the Planning Committee on the draft Development Plan (2034) has proposed that if a plot reserved as open space is encroached by slums, it must be allowed to be developed under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority with 67% of the land going to the developer and only the rest retained as a public open space.
Activists fighting to save open spaces hope the new provision will be voted down when it comes up for hearing in the next general body meeting because they believe that this could sound the death knell for the city’s open spaces.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Father of CST Will Receive a Visit from Great-Great-Grandchild
Nearly 130 years after Frederick William Stevens built the iconic Victoria Terminus — which has since come to be known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) — his brainchild will for the first time be visited by his great-great-grandchild. Fourth-generation descendant Diana Robertson (59) will make her very first visit to the city on April 20, to catch a glimpse of her forefather's creation and pay respects at his final resting place, also in Mumbai.
(Source: Mid-Day)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)