Mumbai: A yoga instructor from Santacruz West was cheated by two men posing as policemen, collecting money to distribute clothes and food to the poor. The complainant, Anand Joshi, 67, lodged a complaint at Santacruz police station on Wednesday, saying that he was convinced with the narrative that his neighbour donated Rs10,000 and was shown a fake entry in a register.

When Joshi asked about payment, they asked him to scan a QR code, and he transferred Rs2,000. Later, his neighbour informed him that the men were impostors. It was found that their uniforms were fake and they had arrived on a motorcycle.

In a separate case on Thursday, a hotel and lodge owner, Ratikrushna Patnaik, 55, from Goregaon West, complained to Bangur Nagar police on Thursday of being cheated by a man posing as a crime branch officer named ‘Prakash’ seeking a room, purportedly for VIP bandobast duty. When the lodge staff later asked him for his ID or payment, he refused, allegedly threatened them, and left without paying.

In both cases, offences have been registered under Section 204 (personating a public servant) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Mumbai: A video circulating widely on social media shows an elderly woman standing at the door of a moving local train and hurling a large stone at an approaching train on the adjacent track. The video has sparked shock and confusion online, with many users claiming that the incident took place in Mumbai. However, a closer examination reveals that the video is not from Mumbai.

In the viral clip, the woman is seen holding a large stone and aiming at the motorman’s cabin of an oncoming train. After throwing the stone, she is seen shouting at the passing train, though her words are inaudible. The alarming footage prompted social media outrage, with several users tagging Mumbai Police and demanding strict action.

Even the official Mumbai Police account, initially misled by the viral posts, tagged the Mumbai Government Railway Police (GRP) on X (formerly Twitter) for investigation. However, railway enthusiasts and fact-checkers soon pointed out key details in the video that disprove the Mumbai claim.

Netizens are trying to decode and understand what might have prompted her to grab the largest rock she could find and assault the locomotive driver’s cabin while hurling insults. While most viewed this as a funny payback for a ‘missed train,’ others suspected she could be mentally impaired, and some believed she was protesting a certain issue and had carried out a ‘calculated’ assault.

The most telling clue is the front design of the train visible in the footage. It does not match the appearance of Mumbai’s local trains, which operate under Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) divisions. Instead, the train bears the marking “ER,” which stands for Eastern Railway, a zone operating primarily in West Bengal and nearby states.

Based on the evidence, the video appears to have originated from a region under the Eastern Railway network, not Mumbai. Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact location of the incident, but have responded to the viral post by stating, “The matter has been forwarded to the concerned authorities.@ErRpf” and then in the thread, the RPF Eastern Railway has tagged RPF of Howrah and Sealdah stations. Further information on this incident are awaited.

Mumbai: A BMC clerk was recently duped of Rs5.46 lakh in an online shopping scam. The complainant, Bhupali M, 32, a resident of Santacruz, placed a few orders using the Meesho app on September 30. Days later, she received calls from three unknown numbers.

The callers, claiming to be Meesho employees, informed that the parcels were ready for delivery, but the payment had not been received yet. The scammers then sent her a QR code and asked to enter a specific code, said Bhupali, adding Rs5.46 lakh got debited from her account in an unauthorised manner on October 8. After verifying the complaint, the police lodged the FIR a week later.