Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian has named a Superintendent of Police of NIA, alleging that he had told her on behalf of “higher ups” to go slow against the Malegaon bomb blast accused, months after she stoked a row by claiming she was pressurised in the case.

Salian gave a written affidavit in Bombay High Court in response to a Criminal Writ Petition filed by Sanjay Likhe Patil naming SP Suhas Warke.
In her affidavit, which forms a part of a PIL filed by Patil in the Supreme court, Salian had alleged “…I am disclosing the name of the NIA officer who had tried to interfere with the delivery of administration of justice, as a messenger. His name is Shri Subas Warke, SP NIA, Mumbai Branch.”

Reiterating her allegations, she claimed in the affidavit that the same officer came and had said that there are instructions from “higher ups, that someone else will appear instead of me and in the said case (Malegaon 2008)”.

Salian had to give an affidavit as Bombay High Court was hearing a criminal petition filed by Patil against NIA. However, as no hearing took place in last three months, Patil moved a PIL in the Supreme Court requesting that the petition be clubbed with earlier petition filed by Harsh Mandar.

Suhas Mushukar Warke is an IPS officer of 2000 batch from Maharashtra cadre and has been on central deputation with NIA since December 2012.

NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said a counter-affidavit had already been filed in the Supreme Court. “We will not like to comment any further as the matter is sub-judice,” he said.

The Bombay High Court has posted for final hearing on Wednesday a bunch of petitions challenging the beef ban legislation in Maharashtra.

The petitions would be heard by a bench of Justices Abhay Oka and V L Achilya for three days from October 14.

In February 2015, the President had granted sanction to Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act. While the Act had banned slaughter of cows way back in 1976, the recent amendments prohibited slaughter of bulls and bullocks.

According to the amended Act, the sale of bulls and bullocks in the state is an offence punishable with five-year jail term and Rs 10,000 fine. Besides, possession of meat of a cow, bull or bullock is also an offence for which the punishment prescribed is one-year jail and Rs 2,000 fine.

While hearing the petition, the HC had in April refused to grant an interim stay on the law on the issue of possession of beef.

Arif Kapadia, a city resident, and noted lawyer Harish Jagtiani, have challenged the provision of the law which says mere possession of beef in any place in the state is a crime.

According to Jagtiani, this provision of the law is arbitrary and hits upon the cosmopolitan nature of the city which houses people from all religions and communities.

Kapadia, on the other hand, has described as “draconian” section 5(D) of the Act which makes possession of meat of any cow, bull or bullock slaughtered outside the state a cognizable and non-bailable offence with punishment upto one year in jail and Rs 2,000 fine.

Other petitions have been filed by Vishal Sheth, a lawyer, and Shaina Sen, a student. The duo said “we are Hindus who are consumers of beef which is now part of our diet and nutrition sources. The ban on beef and criminalising its sale and possession violates fundamental rights of citizens.”

On September 21, the HC had rejected the plea in a bunch of petitions seeking the relaxation of beef ban in Maharashtra during a three-day period for Eid festival, also known as Bakri-Eid.

The HC was of the view that it cannot temporarily suspend the beef ban as it was hearing petitions challenging the Act.

The Bombay High Court said it was “appalled by Maharashtra government’s “lack of political will” to put an end to custodial deaths and the state seems to be a “consensual party” to such incidents.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said it was appalled by government’s “insensitivity” and “lack of political will” to address this problem.

The Judges made the stinging observations while hearing a bunch of petitions, including a PIL, on the increasing number of custodial death cases in the state.

“When we heard the matter for the first time we said the government should take steps to put an end to this. But it is still happening. In fact, incidents of custodial deaths have increased. What can the judiciary do when the executive is so insensitive?” Justice Kanade said.

“Despite such deaths taking place in custody, the entire machinery is insensitive and turning a blind eye as though it is not happening. The state seems to be a consensual party. We are appalled by the government’s insensitivity and lack of political will to address this problem. The government does not seem to be bothered and is silent towards this menace of custodial deaths,” the Court said.

The bench expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to comply with its January order, asking it to initiate steps to install CCTVs in all police stations.

“The government has not yet even filed an affidavit saying what steps it has taken so far. We feel that even if CCTVs are installed, police will come up with excuses that the cameras are not working. The mindset needs to be changed.”

It noted that though officers are prosecuted in custodial death cases, they are generally acquitted. “In the last 15 years, there has not been a single conviction in a custodial death case. If they are punished, then it will act as a deterrent,” the bench maintained.

The HC, which fixed October 21 for next hearing, has sought suggestions from petitioners’ advocates Yug Choudhary and Mihir Desai on how to tackle the issue.

As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, three city-based educational institutions have decided to adopt suburban Matunga railway station in a bid to convert it into a ‘world class station with the most modern facilities’.

“Ruia College, Podar College and Welingkar Institute have come together to adopt the Matunga station for the benefit of thousands of commuting students, people thronging the surrounding business district and local residents of Matunga,” WeSchool Group Director Dr. Uday Salunkhe said.

WeSchool refers to the Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, a business school with branches in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Salunkhe said the aim of the project is to go beyond the basics and use thinking and intelligence gathering through pain-points of various stakeholders and collectively design a better user experience and space management.

“Transforming self-organisation and then society through collective wisdom and creating multiple customised solutions which are inclusive and humane is WeSchool’s connect with the nation’s vision of smart cities,” he said.

“In our mission to groom the citizens for future, educational institutes must focus on their role of providing the young students with skill-sets that will contribute to the national agenda as well as global business, as India’s share in the global business is expected to rise by several billions by 2020,” he said.

Matunga has some of the best educational institutes and with a population of nearly 70,000 students, can we not look at the possibility of turning this ecosystem into a student-centric university township that will nurture our global citizen leaders,” he said.

A sessions court granted interim bail to former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh and four members of his family in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

“The sessions court granted interim bail to Singh and his family members– his wife, son, daugher and son-in-law on a bond of Rs. 25,000 each,” said a Mumbai police official.

Singh, the former chief of Mumbai unit of Congress, and his family members appeared before the court today. The case is likely to be heard next on October 21.

The court also allowed the intervener Sanjay Tiwari to file his application and posted the plea on the next hearing date.

“The court has asked us to file intervener plea and it will be taken up on October 21,” advocate Nilesh Tribhuvan, who appeared for Tiwari, said.

Tiwari had approached the Bombay High court seeking filing of a case against Singh and his family members.

A case was filed against Singh and his kin in February, 2012 after the Bombay High Court directed the Mumbai police to investigate the allegations of criminal misconduct and disproportionate assets.

Tiwari in his PIL before the Bombay High Court said that Singh and his relatives had assets of Rs. 320 crore disproportionate to known sources of their income.

In the petition, Tiwari claimed that Singh had been close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda who was in jail for alleged involvement in a multi-crore hawala scam.

He alleged that several monetary transactions had taken place between them. Singh’s son Narendra Mohan is married to Ankita, daughter of Kamlesh Singh, who was a minister in Koda cabinet.

Ankita had received Rs. 1.75 crore in her account from Kamlesh, the PIL said, adding that there were huge transactions from the bank accounts of Kripashankar’s wife Malti Devi too.