Gold worth a cumulative Rs. 1.72 crore was seized from four different Indian passengers at the Mumbai International Airport with one of them having been placed under arrest, a senior Customs official said.

According to the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs, Abdul Hammeed Mahshook Bedira, who arrived from Dubai on an Emirates flight was intercepted and found to be carrying a total of 5.13kg gold, valued at Rs. 1.38 crore.

The yellow metal was cut into 134 pieces and concealed inside a synthesiser and solar lanterns, the official said, adding that the accused was subsequently arrested.

In the second case, passenger Samsher Moidin, who arrived from Riyadh on a Jet Airways flight, was intercepted and five gold bars valued at Rs. 12.34 lakh found hidden in his wallet, which he was carrying inside his jeans pants.

A third passenger, identified as Shereefu Kunhi, who arrived from Abu Dhabi on a Jet Airways flight, was found to have concealed 350gm gold, valued at Rs. 9.39 lakh, in a trolley bag.

The fourth case involves one Ashraf Hameed, who arrived from Saudi Arabia on a Saudia flight. Gold worth Rs. 12.45 lakh was seized from him.

As per norms, air passengers who try to smuggle in gold worth Rs. 20 lakh or above, are usually arrested.

However, the last three passengers were detained for a while following seizure of the gold found in their possession. They were later allowed to go after a warning, the official said.

The trio would be called in for questioning as and when required, the official added.

A 42 year-old man died of asphyxiation in the wee hours after fire broke out in his sixth floor flat in a residential building here, fire officials said.

The incident took place around 1.30 AM when the fire station here got a call informing about the blaze in the building near Nitin company, said Fire Officer G S Patil of Wagle Estate Fire Station.

When firemen reached the spot and broke into the house, they found victim Sandesh Raje Bhosale lying on the drawing room floor in an unconscious condition.

He was immediately rushed to Kaushalya Medical Hospital in the vicinity, where he died while undergoing treatment.

His body was later sent to the Civil Hospital for postmortem, police said. The cause of the fire is not known yet. Wagle Estate police have registered a case of accidental death.

At the time of the incident, the man was alone in the house, they added.

A sessions court granted anticipatory bail to a Shiv Sena legislator for allegedly behaving indecently with a woman corporator of the same party.

“Court granted pre-arrest bail to MLA Vinod Ghosalkar on the bond of Rs. 15,000,” public prosecutor Nileema Kasture said.

Ghosalkar, who had moved a pre-arrest bail application on February 13, had told the court through his counsel that he has been booked only under bailable offences and he is co-operating with the police for investigation and sought anticipatory bail.

On February 5, Dahisar police in suburban Mumbai had registered a case against Ghosalkar under section 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman).

According to the woman corporator, Ghosalkar was threatening her after she complained against a builder, who had dumped debris in mangroves.

Later, she started getting obscene calls from unknown number as, according to her, her phone number was scribbled on the walls of a roadside public toilet.

After this incident, she had approached the Dahisar police.

Special edition Sachin Tendulkar silver coins, with his face, name and signature embossed on them, will be launched on March 14 in the presence of the Indian cricket legend himself.

Valuemart Gold & Jewels and Diamond India would launch 15,921 coins, corresponding to the number of runs that the batting maestro scored in Tests during his glittering 24-year international career between 1989 and 2013.

The special edition coins would also have the batting icon’s name at the top, 200th Test match-2013 written below, where his face is engraved, and “ST” logo, as per the details in the invite issued for the launch function.

The coins, minted in 200gm silver, have been crafted by Switzerland-based precious metal refiner Valcambi SA.

Silver coins named after the legend are already available on the market. These weigh 20gm and 10gm, carry his photo and signature, but are without the figure of 200, signifying the number of Tests he had played before retiring in November last year.

Last year, Valuemart Gold & Jewels had launched 1 lakh Tendulkar gold coins, each weighing 10gram, but no information is available as to how many of these were bought by the public.