1. Armaan Kohli Assault Case: Bombay High Court Quashes FIR
The Bombay High Court on Friday quashed an FIR filed against actor Armaan Kohli, after he submitted an affidavit expressing remorse and regret for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, Neeru Randhawa. He also assured the court that he would not indulge in such an act in future.
The court noted in its order that Randhawa had filed an affidavit “in the nature of a consent” for quashing the FIR filed by her at Santacruz police station. The affidavit states that the parties have arrived for settlement and Kohli has paid Rs 50 lakh to Randhawa in full and final settlement of their disputes.
Another affidavit was filed on Friday, by Randhawa, which says that after further talks that took place between the parties on Thursday and Friday, Randhawa is to receive another Rs 50 lakh from Kohli.
Source: The Indian Express
2. Heavy Rain Likely to Resume From Sunday in Mumbai, Says IMD
The intensity of rain in the city, which has been experiencing a dry spell through the last week, is expected to increase from Sunday.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city is likely to receive rain at most places with heavy rain likely at isolated places on Sunday and Monday. Meanwhile, the IMD has issued an alert for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts for Monday predicting “rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall likely at isolated places”.
The intensity of rainfall in these districts is also likely to increase from Saturday with “rainfall at most places with heavy rainfall likely at isolated places”. On Friday, parts of the city received light showers with the IMD’s Colaba observatory recording 0.6 mm rainfall. On Thursday, the Santacruz observatory had recorded 7.2 mm rainfall and Colaba received 0.6 mm rainfall.
Source: The Indian Express
3. MSRTC Bus Fare Hike Will Come Into Effect From Tomorrow; Private Bus Fares Likely to Rise, Too
The 18% fare hike for Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus tickets comes into effect on Saturday. This means, your journey from Dadar to Pune on an air-conditioned Shivneri bus will cost you Rs530 instead of Rs430, and Rs290 instead of Rs253 on Shivshahi.
The State Transport Authority (STA), chaired by Maharashtra’s transport secretary, approved the hike on Friday, to partially mitigate the MSRTC’s financial burden, worsened by rising fuel prices and the revised wage agreement with labour unions. As a result, passengers will have to shell out Rs635 for an AC Shivneri to Nashik, instead of Rs 529. Similary, your journey to Alibaug on an AC Shivshahi bus will cost Rs200 against the earlier Rs170.
The MSRTC will also round off fares in multiples of Rs5. This means that passengers will be charged Rs10 if the fare for a distance is Rs8, but Rs 5, if the fare is Rs7. The corporation has taken this decision to avoid disputes between conductors and passengers over change.
Source: Hindustan Times
4. NCP Corners Shiv Sena, Asks If It Will Admit Bal Thackeray Was Wrong to Back Emergency
Two days after the Shiv Sena criticised the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar for playing dangerous politics, the party asked the Sena to clarify its stand on the Emergency, imposed in 1975 by then Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, considering that its founder late Bal Thackeray had supported it.
The NCP has put the Sena in an awkward position as it is a partner in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Maharashtra government, which has decided to give pension to those jailed during the Emergency. The NCP now wants to know whether the Sena thinks Bal Thackeray was wrong in supporting the Emergency, and if so, to admit it.
“The Shiv Sena must clarify its position on the pension decision as Balasaheb openly supported Emergency, saying that it was in the interest of the country. The party should clarify whether the decision taken by Balasaheb on Emergency was wrong,” said Nawab Malik, the NCP’s chief spokesperson.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. No Furlough for Rape Convicts on Grounds of Sympathy: HC
The Bombay High Court has upheld the state government’s rule to deny furlough to a certain category of convicts, saying ‘kindness to convicts must not result in cruelty to society’. The court made this observation while dismissing a petition challenging the rule as well as seeking furlough by the owner of the Kavdas shelter home – Pundlik Gole.
Gole, who owned the Satkarm Balgriha at Shahpur, was convicted in December 2013 under sections related to rape, unnatural sex, attempt to murder, among others, and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Sessions Court. His appeal against the judgement is still pending before the HC..
Adivision bench of acting Chief Justice VK Tahilramani and Justice MS Sonak, while dismissing Gole’s challenge, and referring to the state’s intent behind such a rule observed, “It would be dangerous to the society to release such a person on furlough merely out of consideration of penal reform and humane treatment. Consideration of sympathy for him cannot be permitted to overshadow the consideration regarding security of the society.”
Source: Mumbai Mirror
6. MHADA’s Eviction Notice Stuns Tambawala Tenants
The redevelopment of their building was proposed in 2009 and they were promised rehabilitation by March 2012.
Nine years later, forget moving into their new homes, the tenants of the 80-year-old Tambawala Building in Mazgaon are living in perpetual fear of being evicted from their flats in the midst of monsoon.
On June 6, the Mhada issued a notice to the tenants, asking them to vacate their flats within seven days to facilitate redevelopment of the cess building by the Sumer Group, which claims to have got the consent of 48 out of the over 100 tenants. While the residents, under the aegis of United Tambawala Welfare Association (UTWA), rushed to the Bombay High Court the very next day and got interim relief from Justice AK Menon, who halted the Mhada action till the next hearing, the Mhada ruing has stunned them. The next hearing is on June 19.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
7. Over 30 Car Owners Lose Vehicles, Money
The victims, who rented their cars to the travel firm, approached cops after cheques bounced. More than 30 people from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have registered a case against a Kandivali-based tours and travel company alleging fraud.
The complainants have alleged that the owner of Economy Travels (ET) Mutthu Raj not only issued them bogus cheques in lieu of rent for their vehicles but that he is also obfuscating on their cars’ location.
According to the police, ET facilitates vehicles on rent for travel companies in other states. For this, it pays the owner of the vehicle a fixed sum every month. The vehicles range from SUVs, sedans, and luxury cars including Mercedes and BMWs.
The complainants have told the police that Raj had allegedly bragged about having tie-ups with several five star hotels and vehicle service providers at popular tourist destinations across the country.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
8. Maharashtra Has Highest Number of Atms in Country, Says RBI
Maharashtra continues to have the highest number of automated teller machines (ATMs) in the country at the end of financial year 2017-18, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. The state had 25,651 ATMs. That means more than one out of every 10 cash dispensing machines in the country are located in Maharashtra.
During the financial year 2017-18, the number of ATMs in the state has declined marginally from a year ago, as the total number of ATMs in the country has also declined slightly to 2,22,066 from 2,22,318 in the same period. According to experts, the slight decline in the ATMs in the country is due to “consolidation and re-alignment” of the ATM deployment business post demonetisation.
“There are two factors that have led to a slight decline in the existing ATM count in the country. Post cash crunch, older ATMs were replaced with newer ones and based on the data gathered during demonetisation, ATMs are being re-deployed from places where there are fewer number of withdrawals to places where the ATM withdrawals are more. In a way, 2017-18 has been a year of consolidation and re-alignment of the commercial business,” said Navroz Dastur, managing director, NCR Corporation, India & South Asia, a leading ATM service provider.
Source: The Indian Express
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