QMumbai: Reliance Eyes Seven Hills Hospital; Heavy Rain Forecast

Reliance joins the race to by Seven Hills Hospital and other city stories.

1. Reliance In Race To Buy Seven Hills

The Nita Ambani-led Reliance Foundation has joined the race to buy the troubled Seven Hills Hospital in Marol.

Reliance Foundation is now among 15 entities who have submitted their expression of interest documents to buy the hospital, once touted as Mumbai first 7-star health facility.

According to sources in BMC, which holds a stake in the hospital alongside Seven Hills Healthcare’s Jitendra Das Maganti, the base price for an outright sale will be close to Rs 2,100 crore.

The 1,000-bed Marol hospital was declared bankrupt by the Hyderabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal after Seven Hills Healthcare defaulted on bank loans worth Rs 1,300 crore.

Among others interested in buying the hospital are investment banking company JP Morgan Chase, which owns 49.9 per cent in Seven Hills Healthcare, Apollo Hospital, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore-based Narayan Health, Bain Capital, AION Capital, and Aster DM Healthcare.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

2. Shiv Sena Mocks BJP Hours Before Amit Shah And Uddhav Thackeray Meet In Mumbai

Hours before Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s meeting with BJP president Amit Shah, the party mouthpiece Saamna criticised its ally’s outreach programme ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ and reiterated that it would contest the 2019 polls “independently”.

An editorial ‘Saamana’ on Wednesday questioned the reason behind Shah’s meetings with the NDA allies and pointed to the BJP’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls. “The Shiv Sena showed its strength in the Palghar bypoll. In such a situation, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls can be one reason behind the BJP chief’s Sampark Abhiyan,” the editorial said.

Making fun of the BJP, the Sena said the party has launched a global outreach programme, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a world tour and Shah on a domestic one. “The BJP has lost sampark [contact] with the people of the country, and it should introspect why it has happened,” the Marathi daily said, pointing out that the BJP won just one of the four Lok Sabha seats and one of the 10 Assembly seats where bypolls were held in May.

(Source: Hindustan Times)

3. 5 Held Over Maoist Money Trail To Elgaar Parishad

Five Dalit activists and “top urban Maoist operatives” were arrested by the Pune police from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi on Wednesday for allegedly channelling funds from Maoist organisations to organise Elgaar Parishad in Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017.

Elgaar Parishad sought to commemorate 200 years of the victory of Dalits, who fought along the British, over Peshwas in the Bhima Koregaon battle, but the police say provocative speeches allegedly made by activists of left-leaning organisation Kabir Kala Manch led to violence — which left one dead and several injured — at Bhima Koregaon in the district a day later. The violence led to a massive statewide Dalit agitation.

Those arrested — Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling — are suspected to be members of the banned CPI(Maoist). Gadling was among the Dalit activists whose offices and residences were raided by the Pune police in April.

Ravindra Kadam, joint commissioner of police, Pune, says those raids helped establish a Maoists link to Elgaar Parishad. “Emails and documents showed a money trail to Elgaar Parishad. We have substantial evidence. Those arrested will be produced in court on Thursday.”

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

4. 21-Yr-Old Held For Pushing Man On Mulund Tracks

The Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a final year Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) student who is accused of pushing a commuter Deepak Patwa, 56, in front of a running rain on April 21at Mulund railway station. The student along with another commuter, Manisha Khakadiya, 38, allegedly shoved Patwa, a trader, towards the edge of platform 3 after an altercation.

Khakadiya, a resident of Chembur, after her arrest told the police that Patwa groped her while she along with her cousin were climbing the foot overbridge on platform 3.

Twenty-one-year-old Akshay Mange was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of GRP on Wednesday from his house in Wagle Estate, Thane. He was traced on the basis of the location of his mobile phone.

According to the STF officials who arrested him, on the day of the incident, Mange was on his way to collect his mark sheet from his college in Vidyavihar. Deputy Commissioner of Police Samadhan Pawar of GRP said, “He (the accused) took a bus from Wagle Estate to reach Mulund station. From Mulund, he was to catch atrain to reach his college in Vidyavihar.”

However, after he reached the platform and was waiting for his train, he saw Patwa and Khakadiya locked into a heated argument.

“He rushed to help the woman and got into a scuffle with Deepak Patwa. He then pushed him on the tracks,” said Baba Chavan of the GRP team that is handling the case.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

5. Foreign Currency, Gold Worth Rs 2.5 Cr Seized At Mumbai Airport

The Air Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Customs seized $3,25,100 (about Rs 2.17 crore) from seven Sudanese nationals at the Mumbai airport.

Based on specific intelligence, Customs units searched the Sudanese nationals, including six women, while boarding Air Arabia, Ethiopian Airlines, and Indigo flights to Dubai, Khartoum and Sharjah.

The officials also seized four gold plates valued at Rs 34.51lakh from an Indian passenger, Shaikh Zulfekar Ali, who arrived by a Jet Airways flight from Dubai. The gold was concealed in a baggage trolley.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

6. Money Laundering Case: Sameer Bhujbal Granted Bail

The Bombay High Court Wednesday granted bail to Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Chhagan and Sameer in 2016 on the charges that Chhagan and his associates allegedly misused their office and caused financial loss of Rs 845 crore to the state exchequer.

Justice AS Gadkari granted bail to Sameer on the primary ground that all other 31 co-accused in the case, including Chhagan Bhujbal had been released on bail.

On May 4, the HC had granted bail to Chhagan. The court also held that the charges against Sameer attract a maximum punishment of seven years and Sameer has been in custody for over two years. The court directed Sameer to appear before the investigating agency whenever required and also present himself before the special PMLA court in Mumbai on fixed dates without fail. Sameer is also asked to submit his address and passport to the investigating agency. The court has allowed Sameer to travel within Maharashtra and has directed him to furnish a surety of Rs 5 lakh to secure bail. Sameer’s counsel, Vikram Chaudhri, along with lawyers Sujay Kantawala and Shalabh Saxena, told the court that on November 23, 2017, the Supreme Court had declared Section 45 (offences to be cognizable and non-bailable) of the PMLA as unconstitutional.

(Source: Indian Express)

7. Extremely Heavy Rainfall Expected In Mumbai This Weekend, Stay Indoors: IMD

The weather bureau has issued an ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall alert for the city from June 9 to 11 (Saturday to Monday), and has asked citizens to stay indoors as much as possible on these three days.

Under the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rainfall in 24 hours is considered moderate, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is heavy, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy and more than 204.5mm qualities as extreme.

“Widespread rainfall activity with over 75% of weather stations reporting heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over south Konkan and Goa from June 7 onwards. Weather systems will gradually extend over north Konkan, including Mumbai, from Friday onwards, and continue till June 12 [Tuesday],” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD. “Between Saturday and Monday, the maximum intensity of rainfall is expected over Mumbai and the surrounding areas, with heavy to very heavy rain; the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas cannot be ruled out.”

The advisory released by the IMD reads: “Active to vigorous monsoon conditions are likely to prevail, leading to persistent very heavy rainfall along the west coast, especially between June 10 and 11. In view of intense rainfall forecast, people are advised to abstain from outdoor activities as much as possible during the period and also watch for weather updates from Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai.”

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also forecast in central Maharashtra between Thursday and Friday, as well as heavy showers in some parts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, the weather bureau said.

(Source: Hindustan Times)