1. Padmaavat Protests: Karni Sena Workers Detained Outside Censor Board Office In Mumbai
Around 100 Shri Rajput Karni Sena workers were detained on Friday for protesting outside the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) office at Peddar Road, Mumbai, in connection with the release of film ‘Padmaavat’.
Protesters said changing the name of the film from ‘Padmavati’ to ‘Padmavat’ was not enough.
“The police are detaining us without any reason. We are not here for any type of rebellious activity, we just wanted to talk to the CBFC and tell them that ‘Padmaavat’ film violates Indian history and request them to not release it,” said Prakash Singh Parmar, a Karni Sena worker.
He added that Karni Sena wanted to request the censor body to not do anything that would hurt anyone’s cultural beliefs. “We all came here to have a discussion, but they have detained us. They have changed the name of the film, but that does not change anything,” Parmar said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Bhujbal’s Prima Facie Involved In Money Laundering: Court
IN a detailed order rejecting bail for former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his nephew Sameer Bhujbal, a special court said they they were prima facie involved in money laundering. The court had on December 18 rejected the bail plea of Bhujbal who has been in custody since March 2016.
“The applicant (Bhujbal) who was enjoying high position secured the contract of Maharashtra Sadan. He received kickbacks in the said project. Accused persons systematically laundered the crime proceeds by offering shares of various companies.which were not found at their given address,” the court said. It said they had caused a loss to the state exchequer.
The court also considered the Enforcement Directorate’s submission alleging that the co-accused in the case who had moved applications to become approvers had been threatened. “The act of the applicants shows that there are allegations of threatening the co-accused who had moved applications to become approvers, therefore tampering with witnesses cannot be ruled out,” special judge MS Azmi said.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Nine More Restaurants Sealed, 52 Demolished
The BMC continued with its crackdown on the illegal structures and violation of licence and permission-related norms by the restaurants in the city on Friday. The civic body inspected 397 restaurants and sealed nine of them. About 52 other restaurants were demolished during the day, bringing the total to 913 so far. This is in the aftermath of the Kamala Mills fire.
Mumbai Mirror has been reporting how hundreds of city restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs have come under the hammer in the aftermath of the Kamala Mills fire. The BMC has undertaken a sustained drive against the establishments which do not have necessary permissions or which have flouted licence conditions or construction permissions. On the very next day of Kamala Mills fire that that took on December 29, around 300 such establishments came under the hammer.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the BMC inspected 795 restaurants, of which 12 were sealed off. Demolition was taken in the case of 135 while notices have been served to 438.
The restaurants sealed include Jafferbhai Delhi Darbar, Ambience Bar and Kitchen, Bluewater Peninsula Club.
A total of 319 gas cylinders were seized in two days. On Friday, around 52 restaurants and bars across the city came under the hammer, with their portions being demolished. These include Courtyard, Northern Tadka in Andheri west, Air Lounge, Tully Gully in Malad West, Mirchi and Mime in Powai, among others.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
4. Sanjay Dutt Was Not Out Of Jail Even For A Second In Breach Of Law: State To Bombay HC
The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Friday that not even for a single minute or second was Sanjay Dutt out of jail in breach of law while serving his sentence in the 1993 bomb blasts case.
Appearing for the state, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said, “Not even for a single minute or second was he (Dutt) out of jail in breach of law. We (the state) can account for every single minute that he was permitted to stay out of jail. We follow a strict standard procedure for granting parole for every inmate in the state.”
The state’s submissions came while a bench of Justice S C Dharamadhikari and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing a PIL challenging Dutt’s early release from jail, and questioning the frequent paroles granted to him when he was in jail in the blasts case.
(Source: Indian Express)
5. 8-Year-Old Reunited With Maternal Granny
A four-year-long custody battle between two grandmothers of an eight-yearold child saw the minor girl being handed over to the maternal grandmother in an emotional reunion at the Bombay High Court on Friday.
Paternal grandmother Firoza Popere and maternal grandmother Usha Dhananjayan were locked in a legal battle over the custody of their granddaughter since 2014.
Dhananjayan’s daughter Nimmi, a resident of Dombivli, had married Popere’s son Aatif from Raigad in 2008, after which the couple had settled in Dubai. They had a daughter in 2009. In 2013, when the child was four, Aatif murdered his wife. At the time the crime was committed, the couple’s daughter was with Popere in Raigad. Aatif was subsequently convicted and given the death penalty in 2014.
After the last rites of the child’s mother were conducted in Raigad, Dhananjayan asked Popere her custody, but Popere refused. Dhananjayan then filed an application before Mangaon court in Raigad, seeking the girl’s custody. The district court ordered the custody of the child to be given to Dhananjayan. Later, Popere appealed against the order before the Bombay High Court, and got a stay in the matter. But access was given to the maternal grandmother during the child’s school vacations.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
6. Trombay Bouncer's Rs 2 Lakh Gone In Four Months
In July 2017, Akbar Sheikh's grandfather sold a shop he owned in Kurla for a considerable chunk of money. Soon after, the elderly man distributed the money between his children. Akbar Sheikh's father, Jaffar Hameed Shaikh, received Ra 2 lakh in two installments from the senior citizen. While Jaffar received the first installment of Ra 1 lakh in July, he got the remaining amount in September. Jaffar made sure to immediately deposit the entire amount in their joint account at Hindustan Co-op Bank. All was fine until a bank transaction on January 7 revealed that only Rs 796.50 was stored in the account. Akbar rushed to the cops who found that a card cloning gang had conned the family of lakhs, over the past four months.
Akbar, 24, who works at a bouncer at a city-based pub said that the family is devastated with the news. In his statement to the cops, Akbar said, "I went to an ATM in November to withdraw Rs 400 and I remember seeing the balance as Rs 1,69,000. It should have struck me then because the balance in the account should have been Rs 2,00,000. But, I thought there was some problem with the ATM machine. After purchasing a mobile phone on January 7, I used my card to find only Rs 796.50 in it. I rushed to the nearest branch of the bank and they gave me my account statement which shows cash withdrawal records from across the country."
Police sources suspect a single card cloning gang is responsible for the incident. Speaking to mid-day, a Trombay police officer said, "We checked the bank records, including the passbook, of Akbar to find that this card cloning gang, over the past four months, made at least 31 cash withdrawal transactions. The gang used the card details to withdraw cash from cities like New Delhi, Ghaziabad and Thane."
(Source: Mid-Day)
7. Thieves Rob Store In Dadar And Take Owner's Pet Dog Along
Representational image of a crime scene.
Nikki is old and has a problem with her vision. She requires regular attention. I am constantly gripped by the fear that the thieves may have abandoned her or sold her to some breeder," Shinil told mid-day. The incident dates back to December 28, when burglars broke into Shinil's pet store, I Love Pets, in Dadar, around 2.30 am. "The thieves entered the store after breaking open the shutter," said Shinil.
While the men escaped with cash worth Rs 44,000, CCTV footage also shows one of them pick up her dog, before fleeing the spot. "For me, the money was not important, but what shocked me was that they also took my pet," she added.
Shinil adopted Nikki, when she was around two years old. "Initially, I had planned to keep her home with my other pets. However, the dogs would just not get along, and Nikki too, was having a lot of problems adjusting in my house," said Shinil. "I then decided to leave her at my store as I spend most of my day there. Nikki has been with me for nearly 10 years," she added.
(Source: Mid-Day)
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