A public interest litigation filed in the Bombay High Court has demanded that no water should be released for the ‘shahi snan’ (‘royal bath’) days during the ongoing Kumbha Mela at Nashik on the banks of Godavari as most of the state is reeling under an “unprecedented” drought.

The petition, filed by activists Sanjay Kale and Sandip Kulkarni, would come up for hearing before the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court.

The Kumbh Mela, touted as the largest religious congregation on earth, is underway at Nashik. The PIL objects to the state government’s decision to release water periodically from up-stream dams to Trimbakeshwar and Panchawati at Nashik between July 14 this year to August 2016.

On one hand, during the droughts, swimming pools are shut down and water supply for many other purposes is cut, but there is no regulation of water usage for religious occasions such as the Kumbh Mela, the PIL says, adding it shows “utter disregard for a uniform state policy with regard to use of water during the drought”.

According to the statistics released by the Water Resources department, almost eighty per cent of the state is facing a drought, Marathwada being the worst-affected, and most dams hold very little water, the PIL points out.

The petitioners allege that 3,000 mcft water has been reserved for ‘shahi snan’ days of the Kumbh Mela this year.

Opposition NCP demanded an ED probe into “money laundering” angle in finances of INX Media, founded by Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in Sheena Bora murder case, and her husband Peter Mukerjea, while hinting that such investigation will unravel a “big name”.

“If the investigation is done in details with proper monitoring, a big name will be exposed,” NCP spokesman Nawab Malik told reporters here.

The Mumbai police investigating the murder case had asked Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into and probe financial transactions of the accused in this case and into the business ventures floated by Indrani and Peter.

The NCP leader termed as a “damage control exercise” the Maharashtra government’s move to give a supervisory role to former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria in the Sheena Bora murder investigation even after his abrupt removal from the post on Tuesday.

Maria, who was frontlining the investigations into the murder case, was promoted as Director General (Homeguards) in the middle of probe ahead of his due promotion.

“The decision to give supervisory role to Maria even after shunting him out as Mumbai CP is legally not tenable. Even Maria, now DG (Home Guards) is not keen to continue his involvement in the investigation of the case,” Malik said.

The NCP leader alleged that Maria was shunted out as the name of an industrialist close to a top BJP leader had cropped up in the course of investigations into the case and that Maria was close to unearthing money laundering in INX Media.

“Even after Indrani was remanded in judicial custody, Peter was being interrogated about investment of Rs 500 crore from Singapore and UK (in INX Media)…And name of an industrialist close to a top BJP leader cropped up during the investigation. Maria was shunted out to stop the name from being revealed,” he claimed.

Malik said after he made this charge on day of Maria’s transfer, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who is on tour of Japan and the decision to keep Maria in supervisory role in the murder case was taken.

Indrani, her former husband Sanjiv Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai haave been arrested on charges of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora and disposing of the body at Pen forest in Maharashtra’s Raigad district in April 2012.

The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has halted the BJP-led state government’s bid to change the municipal limits of Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) asking it not to bring in any changes till the civic polls get over.

An order issued yesterday by the SEC said KDMC’s tenure ends on November 11 this year. “There should be no change in the municipal limits of a corporation, whose tenure ends in less than six months,” it said.

The process of finalising wards has been completed and the civic body has been asked to begin streamlining the electoral rolls.

The government, on September 7 had issued a notification excluding 27 villages from KDMC and forming a new municipal council.

The order said the government has not asked permission of the SEC before going ahead with the exclusion of 27 villages from the KDMC.

“Hence, there should be no change in the municipal limits of KDMC till the election process is completed,” the order read.

With estimates suggesting his state trailing Maharashtra in sugar production, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav alleged the western state is passing off imported sugar as its own resulting in the skewed data, and asserted that his state is leading the fray.

“Maharashtra feels that no one produces more sugar than it does. It is a different issue that you use the sea and the coast you have…sugar comes from outside, there are changes which are made, but those sugar quantities are treated as those coming in from Maharashtra,” Yadav said addressing an investor summit.

“Our cane harvest is the highest, our production of sugar is the highest,” he asserted.

According to the estimates by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), total production in the fiscal ending September 2015 is estimated to be 28.3 million tonne, which will include 10.47 million tonne from Maharashtra and 7.1 million tonne from UP.

Yadav acknowledged that there is a “jhagda” (fight) between the two states over who is the leader in sugar production.

Addressing reporters later, Yadav said there is a strong fight between the two states on sugar production every year with either Maharashtra or UP racing ahead on a yearly basis. He, however, was quick to add that despite the difficult circumstances, UP takes better care of its farmers.

Against the backdrop of drought, demands are being made in Maharashtra to stop sugarcane cultivation in pockets like Marathwada which lack sufficient irrigation facilities.

Two minor sisters have been rescued from flesh trade in Munirpada area of Shilphata in Thane, following which their mother was arrested.

Acting on a tip-off, with the help of a non-government organisation, police on September 8 raided premises in Daighar and arrested two women, including the victims’ mother for allegedly running a brothel, Senior Police Inspector of Anti-Human Trafficking Cell, SI Shaikh said.

The victims aged 16 and 17 respectively were rescued from the place and sent to remand home. Their mother pushed them into flesh trade, he said.

Cash worth Rs. 4,000 and 2 mobile phones were recovered from the accused, police said.

A case under relevant sections of IPC, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) 2012 was registered in this regard, the officer said, adding investigations are underway.

Slamming Jains for their insistence on banning sale of meat during their festival ‘Paryushan’, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said the community’s stance on practicing “non-violence” comes as a surprise now as they purportedly supported violence during the 1993 riots in the city.

The party accused the Jains of doing a volte-face for altering their position on “non-violence”.

“Until now, only fanatic Muslims used to bully people in the name of religion. If the Jains too are going on the path of Muslims, then God save them. During the 1992-93 Mumbai riots, Marathis had protected Jains, who were saved because violence had been answered by violence. At that time too ‘Paryushan’ was on. But Jains were at the forefront of supporting violence then,” the Sena said in an edit in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

“Scores of Jains used to come to Matoshree then and thank (late Sena Supremo) Balasahab then for helping them. Today these people talking about non-violence…It’s surprising. What caused this sudden change of heart?” the Sena questioned.

The party said that it needs to be made clear what does violence exactly mean.

“Does only banning slaughter of animals mean non-violence? Violence is in the mind and in the action. Are Jain brothers free from this kind of violence? Many builders in the city are Jains where the game of black and white money is being played. Accepting black money too is a sin. Will Jains stop taking black money in this festival?” the Sena said.

It said that to think that only Jains are vegetarians was wrong.

In Maharashtra Brahmins, in Gujarat Patels and Maheshwaris, in Haryana Vaishnavas, at Karnataka and Maharashtra border Lingayats and a large section of people in MP and Rajasthan are vegetarians but nobody has ever demanded a ban on meat sale, the Sena said.

Two days after he was shunted from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner, Rakesh Maria’s supervisory role in the Sheena Bora murder case remained clouded in uncertainty and the Maharashtra government was working on legal procedures to soon give him statutory powers.

In a surprise decision, Maria was on Tuesday promoted as DG (Home Guards) and senior DG-rank officer Ahmed Javed was made Mumbai Police chief, triggering speculation over the timing of the decision and the reasons behind it.

Marking a climbdown, the Home Department clarified on the same day that Maria will continue to supervise investigations in the Sheena Bora case in which he had played a key role right from the start and interrogated the accused and others in connection with the sensational case.

Though Maria had refrained from making any public comments on his involvement in the probe, local media have been rife with speculation that he is reluctant to monitor the investigation in the high profile case after taking over the new assignment.

According to the Home department, granting statutory status to Maria to carry forward investigation requires some procedural amendments and it would be finalised very soon.

“It is a legal process which would be completed very soon and our process is on,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi told when asked who will head the probe and if Maria has been officially communicated about it.

Javed, on his part, declined to make any comments on the matter despite reporters persistently asking him who will head the probe.

He also parried question whether Peter Mukerjea, husband of Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukherjea, would be called for further interrogations.

Meanwhile, when asked about the procedural tangles involved in the issue, former IPS officer and lawyer Y P Singh said the DGP (Home Guards) is an ex-cadre post, which fell outside the police force of Maharashtra. “Therefore, in that position, Rakesh Maria does not have statutory police powers.”

“Under the provisions of section 36 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, only superior officers of police hold authority on statutory investigation within the specified local area for which they have been appointed. Such statutory investigation is being done in the Sheena Bora case under Chapter – XII of the CrPC,” he said.

Till the government does not issue a due notification conferring statutory jurisdiction of supervision to Maria and removing the jurisdiction of the present Commissioner Ahmed Javed, any supervision done by Maria, though an administrative arrangement would not be consistent with the law, Singh said.