1. Somali Pirates Get Seven-Year Jail Sentence
Sixteen Somali pirates were held guilty and sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the sessions court on Monday. They were arrested six years ago near Lakswadeep Islands for hijacking a merchant vessel.
Additional Sessions Judge Jayendra Jagdale convicted them on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, as well as sections under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and fined them Rs 14,000 each. Following a treaty signed between Somalia and India on Tuesday, the pirates will be deported to Somalia once they have served their sentence.
Lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Prison, the pirates are part of a group of 120 Somali pirates apprehended by the Coast Guard and the Indian Navy in four separate anti-piracy operations undertaken between January and March 2011. The accused have been tried in four different cases.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
2. Shiv Sena Defends Subhash Desai, Says No Truth In Graft Charges
With opposition members in Maharashtra baying for the resignation of ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena government on charges of corruption, the Shiv Sena on Monday came out in defence of Industries Minister Subhash Desai, who the Congress has accused of irregularities in releasing land acquired for industrial development. The Opposition had last week accused Desai of denotifying 400 hectares of land acquired in 2007-08 from farmers in Gonde Dhumala village in Nashik district and handing it over to a private party.
“The opposition has tried to level baseless allegations against Industries Minister Subhash Desai. These allegations won’t stand as there is no truth in them,”said an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana. “These lands were denotifed and given back to farmers at their own behest,” the editorial added.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. ‘Fake Encounter’: Sohrabuddin’s Brother Challenges Discharge Of Vanzara, Dinesh In HC
Rubabuddin Sheikh, the brother of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has approached the Bombay High Court, challenging the discharge of former Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat D G Vanzara, and Rajasthan IPS officer Dinesh M N in connection with the alleged fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati.
A CBI court had recently discharged both the senior officials stating there existed no prima facie evidence against them. Rubabuddin, however, has claimed in his plea that there exists sufficient evidence on record to establish that Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were “abducted, kept in wrongful confinement,” and that the two of them, along with Prajapati, “were killed in a fake encounter.”
(Source: Indian Express)
4. BEST Strike On Raksha Bandhan Strains Road And Rail Traffic
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking workers showed no brotherly love for the city on Raksha Bandhan. Thousands of daily commuters were severely hit yesterday as over 3,500 buses of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking went off the roads.
Over 36,000 BEST employees went on strike from midnight, crippling transportation across the city. The BEST operates on 483 routes, ferrying over 30 lakh passengers daily. The strike was called to demand regular wages and better financial planning in BEST.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
5. Mumbai Civic Body To Invite Big B And Ratan Tata To Be Part Of Waste Processing Exhibition
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will write to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and industrialist Ratan Tata inviting them to be part of a large-scale waste-processing exhibition to be held on September 1 , 2 and 3 at the National Sports Complex of India (NSCI) grounds in Worli.
This is part of the civic body’s effort to spread awareness about waste-segregation and composting.
Bachchan is already the brand ambassador of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan. At the exhibition, 115 companies are expected to display different waste-processing units. A senior civic official said, “By roping in celebrities, we are trying to spread the message far and wide.”
BMC has set an October 2 deadline for societies to start segregating wet and dry waste and compost wet waste.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Mumbra: Attempt To Frame Man By Planting Explosives Backfires
A PLOT to take revenge and make some money for providing information to police backfired for a Mumbra resident after he and two others were arrested by the Shil Daighar police in Mumbra for misleading the police. Police said that Mahinsa Ganur alias Mahesh, along with two others, had placed 10 kg of ammonium nitrate, 9 detonators and 6 feet of wire in a vehicle belonging to another person whom Ganur wanted to implicate. He then tipped off the police about the explosives. The police foiled the plot and arrested the three accused for misleading them and handling explosives without permission.
An officer linked to the case said that Ganur used to supply four-wheelers to one Ismail Shaikh. Over a period of time Ganur owed money to Shaikh and was not able to repay it. To recover his money, Shaikh had seized one of the four-wheelers used by Ganur. “Ganur was angry with Shaikh since he knew that the latter was economically doing well and did not need to seize the vehicle. He had been waiting for an opportunity strike back at Shaikh,” an officer said.
(Source: Indian Express)
7. Kids Below 14 Barred From Dahi Handi, But Height Restrictions Go
Children below 14 will not be allowed to participate in dahi handi, but there will be no curbs on the height of human pyramids formed to break the pots.
The Bombay high court on Monday declined to place restrictions on the age of govindas and the height of dahi handi pyramids. But it accepted the state government's statement that kids below 14 will not be allowed to participate.
The court said it is for the state to enact laws in that respect. "We are of the considered view that it would fall within the exclusive domain of the legislature. It is for the legislature if it finds there has to be restriction on children and that height should not exceed (sic). If we enter into that arena, we would be encroaching on the legislative domain," said a bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and Makarand Karnik.
(Source: Times of India)
8. Baadshaho Trailer Released In Mumbai by Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi
The trailer of Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi’s upcoming action flick Baadshaho is out and by the look of it, here’s a potboiler at hand. A drama set during the Emergency era in 1975, it revolves around six people who plan a daring heist. Throw in a lot of puns on sona, dusty desert trails, raj gharanas, six packs, hard punches, flying cars, and of course, intense ishq, and... you get the idea.
Directed by Milan Luthria, Baadshaho also stars Ileana D’Cruz, Esha Gupta, Sanjay Mishra and Vidyut Jamwal, the last possibly being the bad guy with a fake mooch putting a spanner in the plans of the “badasses”.
See more pics and the trailer on The Quint.
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