A teenage college student has gone missing leaving behind a suicide note, police said.
“The girl — Shifa Chapra, a student of Sophia College has gone missing since yesterday. She has left a suicide note before she suddenly disappeared,” said, Rajaram Prabhu, senior inspector of Gamdevi police station.
Following a missing complaint, the Mumbai Police as well the sleuths of crime branch have started the probe in this connection.
A popular NGO of the Muslim community today distributed scholarships among others to the Hindu students.
Scholarships to the tune of over Rs. 50 lakh were given to students from Class VI to graduation level as well as to engineering and medical students from various schools and colleges of Mumbai by Jamiat Ulama E Maharashtra, said a release.
A total of 400 students would be benefited from the scholarships – of which 50 are from the Hindu community, the release said.
The cheques were distributed here in presence of Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi, state president of Jamiat-Ulama-E- Maharashtra, Gulzar Azmi, president of its legal aid cell, Maulana Halimullah Qasmi, secretary and Congress MLA Amin Patel.
“This is not the first time that we have extended scholarships…we have given it earlier too and would continue to do so,” the release quoted Gulzar Azmi speaking at the function organised to hand over scholarships.
Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi said that since its inception in 1919, the NGO has shied away from making any kind of religious discrimination while helping the society.
“There are many secular trusts and NGOs which readily provide help to needy Muslim students in the country. In its humble way, the JUM-AM attempts to reciprocate the noble gesture.
The area covered by mangroves in Mumbai has seen a substantial rise, the Maharashtra government said.
Replying to a debate on mangroves in the Legislative Assembly, state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that as per a 2014 report of Dehradun based Forest Survey of India, Mangroves are spread across 200 hectares area in Mumbai city and on 4,300 hectares area in Mumbai suburbs.
Whereas in 2000, Mumbai city’s mangroves area was 200 hectares while Mumbai suburbs was 3,200 hectares, he said.
“This shows that there has been significant increase in mangroves area since the year 2000,” Mungantiwar said.
The minister further said as per the Bombay High court order mangroves area in government land is “restricted forest” while on private land, it is “forest”.
“Accordingly, government declared mangroves area of 4,000 hectare in Mumbai city and suburbs as restricted forest while 1,774 hectare forest area in Mumbai suburbs on private land has been declared as forest,” he added.
Replying to supplementaries raised by Ashish Shelar (BJP) on whether mangroves area will be declared as open space in the proposed Development Plan and creation of Mangroves Park, Mungantiwar said decision would be taken in accordance with the High court directives.
To another supplementary by Manisha Chaudhary (BJP) regarding action to be taken against individuals responsible for destruction of mangroves, the forest minister said stern action would be taken against the guilty.
In a boost to Nestle India, the Bombay High on Thursday questioned the blanket ban on Maggi 2-minute noodles.
The Court asked the government why the entire product was banned if just one batch was found to be bad. The Bombay HC further questioned why a showcause notice was not issued before imposing the ban.
“If 32 out of 73 samples were found to have lead above permissible limits, didn’t it warrant a showcause notice?” said the High Court.
The observations by the court came a day after the Food Safety Standards Association of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday argued in the Bombay High Court that a mere suspicion about a food snack being sub-standard in quality would be a reasonable ground to take appropriate steps to stop the sale of the product.
This was stated by FSSAI Counsel Anil Singh after a bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabwala raised a query whether the food requlator should ban a particular batch of a food item whose quality was found sub-standard or stop the sale of the entire product line.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Nestle India against FSSAI’s June 5 order banning nine variants of Maggi and Maharashtra government’s order prohibiting the sale of Maggi.
A 32-year-old man was brutally killed and later allegedly set afire by his room-mate in Majilis Pada village, police said.
The murder took place yesterday when accused SS Prasad (30) attacked Manoj S Rajbar with a sharp weapon killing him on the spot, PI Narayan Patil of Valiv police station said.
Subsequently to destroy evidence, Prasad burnt the victim’s body, which was recovered in a partially charred state with stab wounds in the village, police said.
While the motive behind the murder is still being probed police have launched manhunt for the killer who is at large.
The duo, who lived together worked as small time labourers in the village.
Waliv police have registered offences under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC against the accused.
With the arrest of three women including a family member, Kalyan Railway Police on Thursday claimed to have solved a case of suspected human sacrifice involving a 12-year-old boy, whose body was recovered from Khadavli River in Kasara.
On Monday, the body of Daksh Kanjode was found from the river here after local fishermen spotted it and informed the police.
The body was found dumped in the river wrapped in a plastic bag tied to a bucket.
A through probe into the crime led the police to the victim’s step mother Lata Kanjode, who allegedly along with two other relatives killed the minor by strangulating him with a rope.
Later, the trio transported the body packed in a bucket by train to Kasara in the wee hours of July 1, which was found early this week.
Apart from Lata Kanjode (35), her sister Varsha Jadhav (25) and sister-in-law Latika Jadhav (30) were arrested in connection with the case.
According to the boy’s maternal uncle, who lived nearby and had lodged a missing complaint with local police on July 9, the trio were often seen performing late night rituals but was unaware for their purpose and motives.
“We are now trying to find out if the boy’s father was in anyway involved in the crime,” said API M K Dhakane of Kalyan Railway Police.
According to police, this was the third marriage of the boy’s father, Ramdas Kanjode. His first wife died in 2010 after which he re-married. Subsequently, his second wife too deserted him following which he tied the knot with accused Lata.
Police had earlier registered a case under Section 363 (kidnapping) of IPC after the boy went missing.
Later, when his body was found a case under sections 302, 201, 120B and 182 of the IPC was registered, police said.
The trio was presented in the court yesterday and have been remanded into police custody till July 30, the officer said, adding that they are probing into the human sacrifice angle too.
More than 20 years have passed but trials are still on. One more accused Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a death row convict in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, will be hanged at 7 am on July 30 in Nagpur Central Jail. It will be the first execution in the 1993 blasts case.
The Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition of the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, saying his punishment adheres to the principles of natural justice. A two-paragraph order passed by the bench in their chambers away from the public eye, said a curative plea would stand had Yakub Memon not been made a party in the lis (litigation) or being a party he was not issued notice of the lis or if the judge concerned was proved to have some prior “connection” with the case, which might give an apprehension of bias. Since none of the three instances have been agitated or proved by Yakub Memon, the curative would not stand, the court held.
There are still around 7 more days to go for the execution to happen. I am sure the pseudo-secular brigade would try some more tactics and try the “human rights” route to somehow save this terrorist. So far, the government agencies and judiciary have followed the rule book to the last sentence. It should also be appreciated that both the BJP led Central Government and the BJP led State Government have not tried to hide information about the hanging, like what the Congress regime did in the case of Afzal Guru. I hope that the execution will take place on said date and that gives a good chance to the brother of the condemned man – Tiger Memon and his friend Dawood Ibrahim to contemplate on the whole purpose of their lives. The execution would give solace to the relatives of the innocent people killed in the bomb blasts; for no fault of theirs.
The 1993 Mumbai bombings were a series of 13 bomb explosions that took place in Mumbai. The co-ordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history. The single-day attacks resulted in over 257 fatalities and 700 injuries. The attacks were co-ordinated by Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, don of the Mumbai-based international organised crime syndicate named D-Company. Kaskar is believed to have ordered and helped organise the bombings in Mumbai, through one of his subordinates, Tiger Memon. The bombings are also believed to have been financially assisted by the expatriate Indian smugglers, Haji Ahmed, Haji Umar and Taufiq Jaliawala, as well as the Pakistani smugglers, Dawood Jatt. The Indian authorities have not successfully proved the involvement of the Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI) in the blasts. Several of the terrorists according to Indian government allegedly received arms, ammunition and explosives training in Pakistan but Indian authorities have failed to provide any evidence confirming these allegations.
The 53-year-old Memon, whose mercy plea was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee in April this year, filed his second review petition before the Supreme Court which was heard on July 21. However, the state government is making all preparations for the hanging with the warrant issued earlier this week. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the state government would follow the directives given by the Supreme Court over the execution of Memon.
Memon was awarded the death sentence by a Special TADA Court in Mumbai on July 27, 2007 for his role in the blasts, including arranging finances for carrying out the 13 serial explosions which left 257 dead and over 700 injured across the city on March 12, 1993.
Subsequently, Memon – the brother of one of the main absconding accused Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon – appealed against the sentence in the Bombay High Court, Supreme Court and later filed a mercy petition with the President, followed by a review petition, and now a second review petition which is rejected.
His hanging may deter and shake the underworld operators.1993 bombings were carried out at the behest of gangster Dawood Ibrahim to avenge the destruction of an ancient mosque by Hindu zealots in 1992 and subsequent riots in which many Muslims were killed. A special anti-terrorism court had convicted 100 people in the attacks. Unnecessarily the innocents had to give away their lives.
After that incident, Mumbai had bled at many occasions. On 10 August 2003, two large and destructive bombs left in taxis exploded in south Mumbai – the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in the busy Kalbadevi area – killing 52 people and injuring more than a hundred others. Two Pakistan based militant groups, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, were found to be responsible for the attacks. Along with the 11th July 2006 train bombings in Mumbai, these attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the 2002 Gujarat riots in which more than ten thousand persons, including 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed which was in turn triggered by gruesome burning of Hindu pilgrims in the Sabarmati Express train, though the Gujarat government denies such a connection. Terrorist groups based in Pakistan were suspected to be responsible for these bombings, and evidence uncovered pointed to the involvement of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
The then Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the blasts, Sharad Pawar, admitted, on record, that he had “deliberately misled” people following the 1993 Mumbai blasts by saying there were “12 and not 13” explosions, adding the name of a Muslim-dominated locality to show that people from both communities had been affected. He tried to justify this deception by claiming that it was a move to prevent communal riots by falsely portraying that both Hindu and Muslim communities in the city had been affected adversely. He also admits to lying about evidence recovered and misleading people into believing that some of it pointed towards the Tamil Tigers as possible suspects.
The bombings also caused a major rift within the D-Company, the most powerful criminal organisation in the Mumbai underworld headed by Dawood Ibrahim. Infuriated at the bombings, Ibrahim’s right-hand man Chotta Rajan split from the organisation, taking most of the leadership-level Hindu aides such as Sadhu Shetty, Jaspal Singh and Mohan Kotiyan with him. Rajan’s split divided the Mumbai underworld along communal lines and pitted Chotta Rajan’s predominantly Hindu gang against Dawood Ibrahim’s predominantly Muslim D-Company. The ensuing gang war took the lives of more than a hundred gangsters and continues till today. Seven of the accused (Salim Kurla, Majeed Khan, Shakil Ahmed, Mohammed Jindran, Hanif Kadawala, Akbar Abu Sama Khan and Mohammed Latif) were systematically assassinated by Chotta Rajan’s hitmen.
There after lots of politics, riots and gang war happened in India, especially Mumbai suffered a lot.
Pakistan has prepared a dossier on India’s alleged role in instigating terror activities in Karachi and Balochistan.
Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz has confirmed that the dossier will be handed over to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval when the two will meet in Delhi next month.
As per report, the dossier will contain alleged evidence of India’s involvement in unrest in Karachi and Balochistan.
During their meeting, both the NSAs are likely to discuss all issues related to terrorism.
Last month, a worker of Pakistan’s MQM party had given a statement about India’s RAW funding unrest in Karachi to London’s police HQ, Scotland Yard.
Today’s developments come in the backdrop of July 10 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Russia which India and Pakistan had decided to revive the stalled dialogue process and quicken the Mumbai attack case trial.
In their first bilateral talks in over an year, the two leaders had met for nearly an hour in Ufa’s Congress Hall on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and had decided that Doval and Aziz would meet in New Delhi either next month or in September to discuss “all issues connected to terrorism”.
Modi and Sharif had held bilateral talks in May last year in New Delhi when the Pakistan PM came to attend swearing-in ceremony of the Indian leader.
They came face-to- face in Kathmandu in November last for the SAARC Summit but only exchanged pleasantries.
Foreign Secretaries of the two countries were to meet in August last year in Islamabad but the talks were cancelled by India which protested the Pakistani envoy in Delhi meeting Kashmiri separatist leaders ahead of the parleys.
A day after Congress President Sonia Gandhi pulled up party leader Shashi Tharoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised him for his speech at the Oxford University.
“Whatever Shashi Tharoor said in the Oxford debate went viral on YouTube,” said Modi.
Lok Sabha MP Tharoor made a passionate argument demanding reparation payments from the UK to India for 200 years of its colonial rule, prompting a vigorous debate online with his speech becoming a hit on social media like Facebook and YouTube.
“India’s share of the world economy when Britain arrived on its shores was 23 per cent,” Tharoor said at a debate at the University of Oxford recently.
Days after being granted permission to return to The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) premises, environmentalist RK Pachauri was reportedly sacked as the director general of the institute on Thursday.
Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), has been named as his successor.
Pachauri, who is accused in a sexual harassment case, had last Friday been allowed by a court to visit all the offices of Teri — barring two establishments in one of which the complainant worked.
After the sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri, who denied all allegations, stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February and proceeded on leave from TERI as it’s director-general.
Citing several SMS texts, e-mails and WhatsApp messages as evidence, the woman accused Pachauri of sexually harassing her soon after she joined Teri in September 2013 and filed a complaint in February.
Pachauri was granted anticipatory bail on March 21 but was directed not to enter the Teri offices till the investigation is complete and not to leave the country without the court’s permission.
