Palghar, Maharashtra: The Palghar Police have arrested six individuals for gambling during a late-night raid conducted in the early hours of Wednesday. The operation was carried out following a tip-off and is part of the district police’s ongoing efforts to eliminate illegal trades.

Raid Conducted on SP’s Orders to Curb Illegal Activities

According to a press release issued by the office of Superintendent of Police Yatish Deshmukh, all police stations and the Local Crime Branch in Palghar were directed to intensify surveillance and take strict action against unlawful activities.

Acting on these instructions, Police Inspector Anant Parad, in charge of Palghar Police Station, received confidential information that a group of individuals was engaged in gambling at a private residence on Morekuran Road, Palghar.

A police team was swiftly formed and dispatched to the location. During the raid, officers found six people actively gambling inside the home of Arun Sankhe.

Accused Include Local Residents of Palghar

The accused have been identified as, Parag Suresh Patil (47), Shanu Tahir Ansari (30), Amol Gangadhar Sankhe (45), Dharmshil Yashwant Jadhav (36), Rahul Satish Bade (31),and Akshay Sakharam Patil (33), all residents of Palghar.

Action Taken Under Maharashtra Gambling Act

The police seized gambling materials and cash totaling ₹4,45,000 from the scene. A FIR has been registered at Palghar Police Station under Sections 12 and 4(A) of the Maharashtra Gambling Act. Further investigation is underway.

Mumbai: The Khan Bahadur Bhabha Hospital in Kurla, a 90-year-old BMC-run facility, is under fire from local civic activists and former corporators who allege widespread corruption, mismanagement and systemic neglect.

Dilshad Ashraf Azmi, a former corporator and member of the civic Health Committee, claimed the hospital has been facing a severe shortage of medicines for the past one and a half years. “Medicines are being procured through spot quotations worth ₹25 lakh each time, but there is no regular or permanent supply,” she said. According to her, this has forced poor patients to purchase essential drugs from outside, often at the cost of skipping treatment.

Akil Khatik, a civic activist from the area, stated that the hospital, once known for quality care, has now turned into a “den of corruption.” “Patients rarely receive all the medicines prescribed by doctors. In most cases, they are forced to buy nearly half the medicines from outside pharmacies,” he said.

Although the hospital has four counters designated for free medicine distribution, only one remains open during OPD hours, leading to long queues. Khatik alleged that all counters are often shut in the evenings and at night, further burdening patients.

Operational inefficiencies are also being flagged. Toilets meant for OPD patients and their relatives are frequently kept locked, creating inconvenience, especially for women, as there are no public toilets outside the premises. Stray dogs have been spotted inside the X-ray and CT scan departments, and ongoing renovation work has left parts of the hospital littered with construction debris.

Attempts to reach the medical superintendent went unanswered. However, a senior hospital official claimed that there is no major shortage at present and that efforts are being made to streamline services.

Despite these claims, patients continue to report delayed doctor arrivals, non-functional equipment, and long wait times—raising questions over the true state of affairs at one of Mumbai’s oldest civic hospitals.

Mumbai: Eyeing the upcoming elections to the local and civic bodies, the BJP on Wednesday welcomed Annasaheb Dange back to the party fold. Once known as the senior-most BJP leader, he had quit the party 23 years ago. He was welcomed by Devendra Fadnavis at the state BJP office.

The CM recalled his days as a young party activist, who worked with Dange during the tanker-free campaign in scarcity-hit areas. Dange hails from the Dhangar community, which has a sizable presence in the districts of Solapur, Satara, and Sangli (his native) in western Maharashtra. After Mahadeo Jankar, who heads Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, parted ways with the BJP, the party appears to have been looking for prominent faces from the community.

Dange was the second-in-command among the BJP ministers when the Shiv Sena-led coalition government assumed power in 1995. He was the leader of opposition in the legislative council and later became the rural development minister. Dismayed over the alleged mistreatment by senior leaders, Dange had joined the NCP in early 2002. He hails from Islampur, Sangli, which was recently renamed as Ishwarpur by the state government.

With strong RSS links, he worked zealously for the BJP in a district known as the Congress bastion back then. Dange was closely associated with Gopinath Munde, who was deputy CM between 1995 and 1999. Almost all the important decisions of the BJP were taken by the duo and it was Dange who used to be aggressive for the party cause during the decisionmaking process of the then government.