Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested five more accused from Karjat in connection with the Baba Siddiqui murder case, as informed by the police.

The accused have been identified as Nitin Sapre (32), Sambhaji Pardhi (44), Ram Kanojia (43), Pradeep Thombare (37), and Chetan Pardhi (27). So far, the police have arrested a total of 9 accused in connection with this case.

When the five accused were presented before court, they were remanded to police custody until October 25. Nitin Sapre, one of the accused, has three cases registered against him, including charges of murder and attempted murder.

He is a resident of Dombivli and works as a parking attendant, as informed by the police. The police have speculated that a Turkish Tisas weapon might have been used in the shooting of Baba Siddiqui. During the investigation so far, the police have seized a country-made pistol, along with Australian and Turkish Tisas weapons.

It has been revealed that the five accused arrested today had provided these weapons to the other accused, Dharamraj Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam, according to the police. In the Baba Siddiqui murder case, the Crime Branch has arrested five more accused from the Karjat area.

The arrests were made after a night-long search operation in the area, where the accused had been hiding since the murder. The police gathered information from informants, technical evidence and managed to trace the accused.

Wanted accused Shubham Lonkar and arrested accused Ram Kanojia were both in contact with notorious wanted criminal Zeeshan Akhtar.

How the five accused came into contact: In 2017, five individuals committed a murder in Ambernath. In this case, Nitin Sapre, Chetan Pardhi, and Sambhaji Pardhi, along with two other accused, were held in Kalyan’s Aadharwadi Jail. Ram Kanojia was also incarcerated in the same jail for a separate attempted murder case. This is how all the accused met each other at Aadharwadi Jail. Ram Kanojia used to work at a construction site.The police have informed that Nitin Sapre and others were granted bail in 2022.

Mumbai: The total ridership on Mumbai’s Aqua Line, also known as Metro 3, has exceeded the 200,000-passenger mark just 10 days after opening to the public, according to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC). The highest number of commuters has been recorded at Marol Naka station, which serves as an interchange with the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar (VAG) Metro 1 line.

An MMRC official confirmed that the ridership surpassed 2,00,000 a few days ago, though the latest data was still pending, as reported by Hindustan Times. Between October 7 and October 15, over 198,000 passengers travelled between Aarey and Bandra Kurla Complex on the Aqua Line. On the first day of service, October 7, 18,015 commuters used the line, while the average daily ridership during the first nine days was around 22,043 passengers.

MetroConnect3 Mobile App Used By Several Passengers For Ticket Booking

Of the nearly 200,000 commuters, 11,213 purchased their tickets using the MetroConnect3 mobile app, which allows passengers to book tickets from anywhere in the city and requires them to begin their journey within three hours of booking.

Marol Naka station saw the highest footfall among the Aqua Line stations, with 39,887 passengers recorded over nine days, resulting in a daily average of 4,432. Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) station also saw significant traffic, with 31,977 passengers and a daily average of 3,553.

Additionally, Marol Naka station on the blue line (Metro 1) saw a rise in passengers, with a daily average of 45,700 between October 7 and October 11, a 10.12% increase from the daily average of 41,500 recorded between September 30 and October 4.

Arrangements To Manage Increased Footfall

To manage the increased footfall, MMOPL (Mumbai Metro One Private Limited) officials made several adjustments at Marol Naka, including expanding the passage area, adding more security checkpoints, installing additional fare collection gates and setting up directional signage to guide passengers towards the Aqua Line.

Transport experts attribute the increased footfall to Marol Naka’s role as an interchange station. AV Shenoy, a member of the Mumbai Mobility Forum, while speaking to HT, emphasized the importance of connecting multiple modes of public transport, noting that similar integration with suburban railway networks will be crucial as more metro lines are introduced.

During the October 7-11 period, the VAG Metro 1 corridor saw an average of 502,500 passengers daily, compared to 498,500 between September 30 and October 4. MMOPL officials noted that weekend ridership tends to drop by more than 50%.

The first phase of Metro 3, Mumbai’s first underground metro line, opened on October 7 and operates from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm on weekdays and 8:30 am to 10:30 pm on Sundays, with fares ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 50.

Mumbai: With the monsoon withdrawn, the post-monsoon weather and high humudity is taking a toll on Mumbaikars. Accompanied by the ‘October heat’, the city is also witnessing cloudy skies and light rains. The residents, however, need to prepare for similar weather conditions over the weekend too as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast says the city will see a ‘partly cloudy sky with possibility of moderate rain or thunderstorm’ for next three days.

On Saturday, October 19, the maximum temperature and minimum temperatures in Mumbai will be 34.4 degrees Celsius and 25.2 degrees Celsius respectively. The humidity level as of 8.30 am was at 90 per cent.

As per IMD Mumbai, for the next seven days starting from October 19, the minimum temperature in the city will be 26 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature till October 22 will be 33 degrees Celsius. However, for October 23 and 24, the maximum temperature will see a high and is predicted to reach 35 degree Celsius. The skies will continue to remain cloudy, with the possibility of rains.

On Friday evening, the IMD has issued a nowcast warning for rains with thunderstorms in Mumbai. The city witnessed some relief from humidity after light showers on Friday. As per the Regional IMD forecast and weather warning report, over the weekend (October 19 and 20), Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts are very likely to have ‘thunderstorm accompanied with lightning, light to moderate rainfall & gusty winds (30- 40kmph) at isolated places’.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region has a ‘yellow alert’ signifying probability of moderate rains.

Apart from Mumbai and Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Pune Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Chhatrapati Samhbajinagar, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Dharashiv, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola, Buldhana and Washim districts of Maharashtra have also received ‘yellow alert’.