Mumbai: Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested 33-year-old Sagar Shevale for allegedly abandoning his grandmother, who is battling skin cancer, at a garbage dumping site in Aarey Colony on June 22. The shocking act of neglect has sparked widespread outrage and also led to the intervention by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission.

The accused, an office boy from Hanuman Nagar in Kandivali, reportedly confessed to police that he abandoned his grandmother, Yashoda Gaikwad, out of frustration. According to media reports which quoted his statement, he had spent a lot of money on his daughter’s treatment and was frustrated by repeated refusals by hospitals to admit her due to her deteriorating condition. Along with Shevale, police also arrested a relative and the driver of the autorickshaw used to transport Yashoda to the dumping site.

On June 22, around 8 am, police received an alert about an elderly woman lying in a garbage heap near Unit 32 in Aarey Colony, Goregaon. The woman was found in a severely injured and distressed state, with visible symptoms of a serious skin condition. She identified herself as Yashoda Gaikwad and informed authorities that her grandson had abandoned her earlier that morning.

Following this, the Aarey Police registered an FIR against Sagar Shevale under Section 24 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act and Section 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Shevale initially denied the allegations, claiming that Yashoda had left home while the family was out and he had no knowledge of her whereabouts. However, police dismissed this version, citing the implausibility of a seriously ill woman walking all the way from Kandivali to Aarey.

CCTV Footage Shows Shevale Accompanying Grandmother

To ascertain the facts, police reviewed CCTV footage from the area, which reportedly showed Shevale accompanying his grandmother toward the location where she was later found. Based on the evidence, authorities moved to arrest him, along with others involved in the act.

Yashoda Gaikwad was rushed to Cooper Hospital, where she is currently receiving treatment and remains under medical supervision. The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has demanded a comprehensive report from both police and civic authorities. Meanwhile, several NGOs have come forward, offering assistance and care for the elderly woman during her recovery.

Mumbai: Mumbai Anti Narcotics Cell and Mumbai Police have jointly launched anti-drug awareness campaign and today on the occasion of Anti-Drug Day various programs were organized in which awareness against drug abuse and banner display against drugs and skits and dramas were also presented. Rallies were taken out against drug abuse in Kandivali, Borivali, Kasturba Marg, Samtanagar Dandoshi of Mumbai. On this occasion, NSS students of Shailendra College participated in the anti-drug campaign. Along with this, a rally was taken out by putting banners and posters on vehicles. 150 to 200 students participated in it. Anti-drug awareness campaign in Mumbai was organized at 7 places in Mumbai in which 4500 students participated and 40 schools and colleges also participated. This campaign was led by Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and Joint Commissioner of Police Crime Laxmi Gautam DCPANC. Along with these rallies, students and participants involved in the rallies took a pledge to stay away from drugs and make the society free from it.

New Delhi, June 27: Amid plans to hold two protests against imposition of Hindi in schools in Maharashtra, senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday announced that there would be only one demonstration and the two Thackeray brothers would participate in it together.

Even though there has been no formal announcement on this till now by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or the Shiv Sena (UBT), but Sanjay Raut’s post on X, in which he has also put up a picture of the two cousins together with a photograph of the late Bal Thackeray in the background, has fuelled speculation of rapprochement between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray and the possibility that they might hold the protest jointly.

Earlier, close to Raj Thackeray’s birthday Uddhav Thackeray had also hinted at a rapprochement between them but nothing concrete had come out of it.

On Thursday MNS chief Raj Thackeray announced the change in morcha date to July 5 instead of July 6 to protest the imposition of Hindi in Marathi and English-medium schools for classes 1 to 5 in Maharashtra.

This was done as the auspicious Ashadhi Ekadashi falls on July 6 when the devotees fast for the day and walk all the way to Pandharpur to pay tribute to the presiding deity Vitthal.

Significantly, Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday extended his party’s support to a morcha organised on July 7 in Mumbai by The Tribhasha Sutra (Three language formula) committee.

Raut’s post is significant because even though both the brothers and their parties had declared that they would not allow the imposition of Hindi, they had announced two different protests.

Insiders from both the parties said that efforts are on to fight as one, in order to avoid a split in the Marathi speaking people opposing the imposition of Hindi.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Sanjay Raut’s post was his own initiative or whether it had the blessings of the leaders of both the parties and the two estranged brothers have finally decided to come together for a cause close to their heart and fight for it jointly.