Srinagar, Oct 29: Bollywood actor Mukesh Rishi on Wednesday watched the proceedings of J&K Assembly from the Speaker’s Gallery as members cutting across party lines welcomed his presence.

The Assembly warmly welcomed Rishi, who was present in the Speaker’s Gallery during the ongoing session.

Members across party lines greeted the actor with applause as Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather announced his presence in the House.

Rishi belongs to J&K and was born on April 19, 1956, in a Gujjar Chaudhary family in Kathua district.

Growing up in Jammu, graduating from Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, and working for two years in Mumbai, Rishi moved to Fiji for work, where he met his future wife, who is of Indo-Fijian ancestry. Her family ran a traditional departmental store. He has a lucrative investment portfolio, including warehouse investments.

He later worked as a model in New Zealand before beginning his acting career in India.

An actor known for playing villainous and supporting roles and a film producer, he has worked in Hindi, Telugu, and other films. Among his better-known Bollywood movies are “Gunda” (1998), “Sarfarosh” (1999), and “Koi… Mil Gaya” (2003).

The Autumn Session of the J&K Assembly will end on October 31. With its conclusion, all the top offices of government, including those of the Chief Minister, his cabinet colleagues, the Chief Secretary, administrative secretaries and the Director General of Police (DGP) will move to the winter capital Jammu.

The move is called the “Dabar Move” and will see the offices functioning for six months from the winter capital, Jammu.

The over one and a half century old practice of shuttling offices between Srinagar and Jammu was stopped by the Lt Governor in 2021, but has been restored by the elected government headed by Omar Abdullah.

Mumbai,: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday spoke over the phone with family members of a woman doctor who allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtra’s Satara district, assuring them of support in their fight for justice.

The doctor’s family members, while demanding justice for her, asked Gandhi to put pressure on the government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a probe into her death.

They said it has been a week since the doctor’s death and feared that evidence would be wiped out.

Gandhi spoke to the woman’s parents and siblings over the phone of Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal when he visited them at Kavadgaon village in Beed district.

The Congress MP assured them that he would pressure the government to set up an SIT to probe the woman’s death.

The 28-year-old doctor was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan town of Satara district on the night of October 23.

The postmortem mentioned the cause as asphyxia due to hanging, indicating the doctor had died by suicide. In a note written on her palm, she alleged police sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped her on multiple occasions, while Prashant Bankar, a software engineer, mentally harassed her, police have said.

Both of them were arrested on October 25.

According to police, there was no evidence of forced entry into the hotel room, ruling out the presence of anyone else during the incident.

The victim’s relatives have demanded an SIT be constituted, alleging that crucial data was deleted from her mobile phone after her death.

Her uncle claimed that her phone was accessed using her fingerprint after she died, leading to the erasing of “vital information related to the incident.” Residents of Wadwani in Beed observed a bandh on Tuesday, demanding a probe by an SIT into the alleged suicide of the doctor who hailed from the region.

Navi Mumbai: The city witnessed heavy traffic chaos on Wednesday morning after a truck accident at the beginning of the Ghansoli flyover on the Thane-Belapur route. The container loaded on the truck fell off, blocking both the flyover and the road below, bringing traffic to a standstill within minutes. Long queues of vehicles stretched all the way to Airoli before traffic partially resumed around 9 am.

The incident took place around 7 am when a truck coming from JNPT towards Thane climbed onto the divider while descending from the Ghansoli station flyover.

The impact was so severe that the container detached from the truck and fell onto the Belapur lane, along with the rear wheels. Initial reports suggest that the accident may have occurred due to a collision between two trucks travelling in opposite directions.

The fallen container caused a complete traffic jam towards Belapur, halting both heavy and light vehicles. Traffic Police Inspector Tukaram Pawale and his team immediately reached the spot to manage the situation and made a temporary passage for small vehicles to move. A hydra crane was called to lift the container and clear the road, after which single-lane traffic was restored post 9 am.

The morning rush worsened the congestion, affecting vehicles heading towards Mulund as well. By late morning, traffic police managed to move the damaged vehicle to the side, allowing slow movement on one lane. “The accident-affected vehicle will be completely cleared soon and traffic will return to normal,” said Senior Police Inspector Tukaram Pawale.

Local commuters have expressed concerns over the lack of proper signage on the Thane-Belapur route. No boards or radium signs are indicating where the flyover begins or ends, which often confuses drivers. Just two days ago, a similar container accident occurred on the Ghansoli-Rabale flyover, causing massive congestion in the area.