Mumbai: Panic gripped the Mumbai Police force on Thursday evening after the control room received a call from an unidentified person claiming that a bomb would be detonated inside a suburban local train — the city’s lifeline. Within hours, the Azad Maidan police special team traced and arrested the caller, identified as Suraj Dharma Jadhav (32), from Kalina, Santacruz.

According to police officials, Jadhav, who is addicted to alcohol, has a past record of making similar hoax bomb threat calls to the police.

About The Case

On Thursday, after consuming liquor, he allegedly phoned the police control room and declared that he would trigger a blast in a suburban train before abruptly disconnecting the call. When police dialed back, the number was found switched off.

With Independence Day around the corner, senior police officials took the threat very seriously and directed the local police, Railway Police, and the Crime Branch to conduct immediate checks. Security was tightened across railway stations, with increased deployment, baggage checks, and inspection of suspicious individuals. However, no suspicious object was found.

Investigators traced the call to Kalina and picked up Jadhav for questioning. During interrogation, he confessed to making the hoax bomb threat. Police revealed that he had earlier been arrested for a similar offense and was out on bail. Despite having been bound down previously under preventive action by the Assistant Commissioner of Police’s office, Jadhav repeated the offense. Authorities have now warned that stricter action will be taken if he violates the bond conditions again.

Meanwhile, the Railway Police Force (RPF) and local police continued heightened vigilance at key stations following the threat.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has ordered recovery of nearly Rs 90 crore from Honest Shelters Pvt Ltd, the current promoters of the Palais Royale project in Worli, for failing to comply with earlier directives regarding delayed possession of flats. The action follows an execution application filed by IIFL Finance Ltd, which had complained of non-compliance with a January 16 order.

MahaRERA’s adjudicating officer, Ashok Alaspurkar, issued four separate orders directing warrants for recovery of interest payments related to four flats in the project. In addition, recovery orders were also passed for three more flats belonging to IIFL Finance. Collectively, the warrants account for about Rs 90 crore in dues,The orders were issued on different dates, including July 27, July 28 and August 4.

The January 16 order had directed Honest Shelters to hand over possession of IIFL’s flats in the Palais Royale project, pay interest for the delay, and complete pending construction. The order also instructed the official liquidator to hand over flats in his custody to the promoter to ensure completion. However, IIFL Finance reported non-compliance on March 21 and later sought enforcement through MahaRERA, which has now resulted in the latest recovery orders.

Palais Royale, once touted as India’s first super-luxury residential skyscraper, has faced repeated legal, financial and construction setbacks over the years. The towering project, a prominent part of Mumbai’s luxury real estate landscape in Worli, has been mired in disputes, leaving buyers and financiers caught in uncertainty.

With MahaRERA’s latest directives, warrants for recovery empower authorities to initiate proceedings similar to revenue recovery, compelling promoters to meet their obligations. For IIFL Finance, this step secures a path to claim pending interest dues on delayed possession.

For now, Honest Shelters faces mounting scrutiny as enforcement measures move forward, with the fate of the beleaguered Palais Royale project again under the spotlight.

Mumbai: A special POCSO court in Dindoshi sentenced a 50-year-old Malad businessman, who owns an imitation jewellery factory, to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting a minor girl from April 2021 to February 2023 on the promise of marriage.

Observation Made By The Court

The Dindoshi court, while convicting the businessman, held that, “it is indigestible that a married man who at the relevant time, which is, from 2021 to 2023, was the father of four children, still enticed the victim expressing his desire to marry with her. This itself goes to show that the accused not only had a culpable mental state of mind but also the accused committed the offence of rape, not on one occasion but repeatedly.”

The court noted that the accused exploited the victim’s minority and her family’s status as his tenants, with her mother working in his factory. “The victim was influenced by the accused to marry her once she attained majority. The innocence of the victim reflects from her understanding that she had no idea about the consequences that the accused is quite older than her, he is already married and has four children,” the court added, noting the victim’s lack of maturity and understanding of reality.

In a separate case, a Thane sessions court sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, with a Rs 10,000 fine, for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter in April 2019, along with a one-year sentence under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and a Rs 1,000 fine.