A lady police constable who allegedly demanded and accepted a monthly bribe from women hawkers was arrested by the Thane unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) late Thursday evening, an official release said.

According to superintendent of police (ACB) Sandeep Karnik of the Thane unit, Government Railway Police (GRP) lady constable Vidyulata P Baramatikar, attached to its Thane unit, used to demand a bribe from female hawkers operating in and around the Thane railway station and on suburban local trains, the release said.

Allegedly, she used to extort a sum of Rs. 100 per month from each of the women hawkers who sold cutlery articles on local trains.

She hiked her bribe amount to Rs. 250 per month from each hawker and if they failed to pay her the bribe, she used to allegedly file false cases against them, the release said.

Women hawkers were also allegedly threatened of dire consequences by the lady constable that if she registered an offence against them and they would have to be produced in court, they would have to pay a fine of Rs. 1200.

However, women hawkers lodged a complaint with the Thane unit of the ACB, which laid a trap at the Diva railway station at last evening and arrested the lady police constable while accepting a bribe amount of Rs. 250 from three hawkers each and Rs 300 from another hawker, totalled at Rs. 1050.

The Thane unit of the ACB lauded the initiative taken by women hawkers to lodge a complaint against the police constable who had extorted them, the release said.

A group of women hawkers who took the lead in lodging the complaint with the ACB were also honoured at the ACB headquarters here and appreciation letters were given to each one of them, the ACB release said.

The Bombay High Court upheld a police order barring Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi from speaking on ‘Hindu Muslim harmony’ at a function in Thane, saying it could not interfere with administrative order.
A division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achiliya rejected a petition filed by Abdul Rauf Khan, member of ‘My Mumbra Foundation’ which is organising the programme on February 8, asking the court to direct police to allow Owaisi to address the event.

“That is the job of the administration. Even they (police) cannot say for sure that there will be a situation. You never know when a peaceful mob can go violent. All these issues are the administration’s lookout. We cannot interfere,” Justice Patil said.

According to the petition, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Owaisi is among several speakers invited. Thane police refused to grant permission to the NGO to hold the function, fearing law and order problem.

“Yesterday, Owaisi was informed that an order under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been passed against him, banning his entry in Thane jurisdiction. Such an order is a curb on his fundamental rights of speech and expression,” the petition said.

Advocate General Darius Khambata, representing the government, argued that police were willing to grant permission to the function if the NGO agrees to remove Owaisi’s name from the speakers’ list.
The High Court said it was not in the position to judge whether the programme will cause a law and order problem.

The court also noted that Owaisi can challenge the order passed by the police banning his entry in a separate petition. “Why are you as an NGO deviating from your original cause and fighting for one person? The NGO can still hold the function,” the court said.

The bench, while dismissing the petition, added that the NGO can submit a fresh application to the police seeking permission to hold the function after dropping Owaisi.

Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who is behind bars in the July 13, 2011 blasts case, had planned to blow up a police van in the crowded Dadar area, but could not do so as it had moved away by the time he reached there, sources in the Maharashtra ATS said here today.

“He wanted to kill the policemen in the van,” the sources said.

Bhatkal could not find the vehicle on the fateful day after which he planted the fourth explosive in a nearby dustbin, which failed to blow up, they said.

Three powerful blasts had ripped through crowded areas in Mumbai on the evening of July 13, 2011, killing at least 21 people and injuring 141.

The first explosion had rocked Zaveri Bazar, a popular jewellery market, at 6.50 pm. A minute later, another blast shook the busy business area Opera House. The third blast ripped through the crowded Dadar (West) area in Central Mumbai at 7.04 pm.

Interrogation of Bhatkal has revealed that the home-grown terror group had actually planted four explosives at four spots, but the fourth bomb, placed in a dustbin near a crowded flower market at Dadar (East) area, did not go off.
“Bhatkal and wanted accused Tehseen Akhtar Shaikh, who carried two explosives with them, had plans to attach a bomb to a police van usually stationed near the flower market at Dadar (East).

“However, on that particular day, the van was not found by Bhatkal in the area. He was running out of time, because of which he placed the explosive in a dustbin. But the bomb did not explode,” said an ATS official after interrogating Yasin and his aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Tabrez.

However, the unexploded bomb was never found, the officer said adding that, “It might have been lifted away along with other waste by the garbage trucks.”
On Wednesday, Bhatkal and his aide Akhtar were arrested here by the ATS in the 2011 Mimi terror attack case after being brought to the city from New Delhi. The two were produced before a MCOCA court, which remanded them to ATS custody till February 18.