Heena Sharma Blog

  The Mumbai Police on Friday registered an FIR against the captain of barge P305, which sank on Monday in the Arabian Sea, 35 nautical miles from Mumbai under the impact of the Cyclone Tauktae . The barge captain Rakesh Ballav, along with others, has been booked on the basis of a complaint by rescued barge engineer Mustafizur Rehman Shaikh. According to the police, the case has been registered in Mumbai's Yellow Gate police station. "A case has been registered against Barge P305 Captain Rakesh Ballav and others on the complaint of a barge engineer. The case has been registered under section 304(2), 338 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the police said. Police also said it has launched a search for the Captain. According to the FIR, despite receiving alerts on Cyclone Tauktae approaching, Captain Rakesh Ballav and others did not make any arrangements for the safety of the staff on board, due to which the barge sank in the cyclone storm and many lost their...

  With stricter restrictions to check the COVID-19 spread coming into force in Maharashtra, the state police on Friday reintroduced the e-pass system for inter-state and inter-district travel in "extreme emergency" situations, a top police official said. Fresh restrictions on travel, attendance in offices and wedding functions announced by the Maharashtra government came into force on Thursday night. The state, which has facing an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases , was already under severe restrictions since April 14 and the fresh "lockdown- like" curbs were announced on Wednesday. Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey said, "The e-pass system has been reintroduced from Friday and citizens should use it in case of absolute emergency." People have to apply onhttps://covid19.mhpolice.in/ and submit the necessary documents and mention the reason for their extreme emergency travel. "But those who do not have access to online e-pass system, can v...

  The Mumbai Police are on " high alert " and have put in place "anti-sabotage and anti-terror" measures considering the threat to the financial capital during the New Year celebrations , an official said on Thursday. Around 35,000 police personnel will be deployed on the streets of Mumbai to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incidents on New Year's Eve, the official said. "We are on high alert. We have put in place anti- terror and anti-sabotage measures in view of the New Year celebrations," Mumbai police spokesperson DCP S Chaitanya said. "There will be adequate deployment of police in the city. Nakabandi (road blockades) will be put in place on important roads," he said. The Maharashtra government has put in place a night curfew between 11 pm and 6 am, prohibiting gathering of five or more persons in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

  Increased patrolling by police, heightened vigilance and curbs on timings of bars and pubs are back in Mumbai as it has come under fresh restrictions to check the spread of COVID-19 amid concerns over detection of a new variant of the virus. Police have been conducting marches and going around streets requesting people to stay indoors as the night curfew from 11 pm to 6 pm came into force from Tuesday, a police official said on Wednesday. Those involved in emergency, medical and essential services are exempted from the government order. Increased police patrolling was seen near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Haji Ali areas of south Mumbai in the wee hours of Wednesday. Police personnel were also seen conducting a march in Dindoshi area here. They were seen conducting checks in suburban Goregaon and Malad and asking people, who were out on streets, to go to their homes and adhere to the government's order. Read More  

  Police conducted a raid on a club near Mumbai airport in the early hours of Tuesday and arrested 34 people for allegedly violating the COVID-19 prevention norms, an official said. The police action came after the Maharashtra government on Monday declared a night curfew in municipal corporation areas as a precautionary step amid growing concerns over a new coronavirus variant spreading in Britain. Acting on an information, the police raided the club located in Sahar area near the airport around 2 am. They arrested 27 customers present in the club and seven staff members, the police official said. Those arrested were booked under relevant Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections, including 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), he added. Read More

  The Mumbai Police has busted a racket where three channels -Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema - manipulated (TRP) Television Rating Points. So far, the police have arrested four persons in the case. Tune in to the podcast to better understand why TRP is a big deal for TV channels and how does it actually work. Read More

  Sushant Singh Rajput 's family lawyer Vikas Singh Tuesday alleged that the FIR registered by Mumbai Police against Rajput's sisters and others on Rhea Chakraborty's complaint is illegal and they will take serious action in the matter. The senior advocate said the case related to Rajput's death was serious where multiple agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Narcotics Control Bureau are probing the issue and they will not allow the accused to deflect the investigation by filing of such complaints. He said a decision will taken during the day whether the Rajput family, which has accused actress and Sushant's live-in partner Chakraborty of abetting his suicide, would file a contempt plea or quashing of her complaint in this matter. Read More

  Whenever there is a need for an impartial probe, be it criminal or corruption, there are demands to hand it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). This is because not just people and the government, even the judiciary fear that state investigative agencies may work in the interest of politicians or could botch-up cases due to sheer incompetence. A similar demand was recently made in Sushant Singh Rajput death case . Investigations by CBI, a central agency, which is supposedly free from interference of states and their politicians, are expected to be fair, fast and thorough. That is why the Supreme Court ordered the agency to probe Sushant Singh Rajput's death case . However, question remains whether the agency has lived up to expectations. According to data, at least 65 per cent of the cases which have been probed by the federal agency between 2015 and 2018 are still awaiting closure. And in cases where the prosecution complaints (popularly known as chargesheets)...

  Holding that the FIR registered in Bihar's Patna over the death of Sushant Singh Rajput was legitimate, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the case. The single-judge bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy also said that the Bihar Government was competent to recommend transfering the case to the CBI. The apex court also asked Mumbai Police to hand over all the evidence collected so far in the case to the CBI. State of Maharashtra refused the option to challenge the order, Justice Roy said. The apex court had, in its last hearing on August 11, reserved its judgment and asked all the parties to file their respective submissions in the case. Former Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the Bihar Government, had submitted that Bihar Chief Minister had not interfered in the case and added that the recommendation for a CBI probe was based on the advice of the concerned authorities. Read More

Security outside Mumbai's two Taj hotels - Colaba and Bandra - and the nearby areas has been tightened after a bomb threat call from Karachi said the Mumbai Police on Tuesday. "Security tightened outside Taj Hotels and nearby areas after a threat call was received yesterday from Karachi, Pakistan to blow up the hotels with bombs," said the Mumbai Police. The police further added that the call from Karachi came in the late hours on Monday. Taj Hotel was one of the venues which was targeted during the 26/11 attacks in 2008. Mumbai had come to a standstill on November 26, 2008, when 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who entered the city via sea route from Pakistan carried out a series of coordinated shootings and bombings that injured over 300 and claimed the lives of 166 people in India's financial capital. Read More

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has asked Tik-Tok India to immediately remove a video showing a man committing violence against women and directed the Maharashtra police to take action against the person responsible for making the clip. The NCW, in a letter to Grievance Officer of Tik-Tok India Anuj Bhatia, said it has come across a Twitter post in which a Tik-Tok video shows a man committing violence against women. It also asked the Maharashtra police, in a letter, to immediately take action against the person responsible for making the video. Read More

Two persons were killed and three injured after a four-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai's congested Dongri area Tuesday, trapping about 40 to 50 people under the debris, civic officials said. TV channels showed dramatic visuals of a child, wrapped in a cloth bundle, being carried out of the debris by rescue workers. There was no word about the child's condition. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has opened a shelter at Imamwada Municipal Secondary Girls' School after the building collapse, a civic official said. "A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is reaching the spot. We are assuming that 10 to 12 families are still under the debris," Mumbadevi MLA Amin Patel told reporters at the spot. The building was owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and its officials reached the site to assess the situation. Another legislator Bhai Jagtap said residents had been complainin...