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Maharashtra

Amit Shah’s Ganeshotsav trip to Maharashtra may be devotional-cum-political

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 Over two months after the alliance government of Shiv Sena rebel faction leader and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to visit Mumbai on September 5, at the height of the Ganeshotsav festival.

Shah’s customary annual visit to the state’s biggest festival for the past few years used to be a largely religious affair – visiting the Lalbaugcha Raja and other important venues, and taking ‘darshan’ of Lord Ganesha at the homes of several BJP bigwigs in the city.

This year, however, the devotional menu may be laced with a subtle political docket intended to strengthen the Shinde-Fadnavis regime – currently bedevilled by internal, external and legal hassles, plus other political ghosts.

Fadnavis acknowledged all the possibilities with a grin, indicating “there will be a political agenda” during Shah’s visit on Monday, but declined to elaborate.

The Shinde-Fadnavis government has been struggling to attain credibility among the masses after it toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, led by Uddhav Thackeray.

The MVA has viciously targeted and vituperatively lampooned them for the manner in which the government came to power, with embarrassing choruses of “Khoke Ok” (boxes, implying Rs 50 crore), “traitors”, etc. haunting the “ED sarkar” and needling the 40-odd legislators of the rebel group who sneaked out from June 10 onwards.

The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena even went a step ahead comparing them with a famous Arabian Nights tale of 40 dubious characters, attracting howls of protests and bitter counter-attacks from the “turncoats”.

Shinde faced flak for the massive delays in the cabinet expansion with 18 Ministers – which took place 41 days after he and Fadnavis took oath on June 30 – followed by the hiccups in allocating portfolios, and the hanging swords of the legal tussle in the Supreme Court.

Now, he confronts discontent afresh with many MLAs from his and BJP side clamouring for ministerial berths, and while a second round of expansion may take a while, Shah may cast a benign “glance” and placate the restless legislators.

There is the pending issue of the proposed tie-up with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, which the BJP has been hoping for since the past over a couple of years.

Once a sharp BJP-baiter, Raj Thackeray apparently sobered up his pilgrimage to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August 2019, and now the “ED sarkar” is “after” him for a much-anticipated partnership, ahead of the upcoming crucial civic polls.

After recovering from a hip surgery, Raj Thackeray has been the flavour of the season for the BJP with a host of leaders calling on him, like Shinde, Fadnavis, state and city party heads Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar, respectively, and others.

There’s intense speculation that Shah may home in on the reluctant Raj Thackeray and nudge him into a cooperative alliance – for the mutual benefit of MNS-BJP-Shinde Group – in the civic elections, to begin with, and get a “Thackeray” on the BJP side.

In recent weeks, some prominent Congressmen like ex-CM Ashok Chavan, have been doing multiple rounds of several BJP leaders, rattling the party’s state unit.

However, Congress leaders and Chavan have been claiming that these meetings pertain to “official or constituency-related works”, but the political grapevine is furiously spreading into a vineyard!

It is not immediately clear whether Shah will devote any attention to this new political development – that may well spell further doom for the MVA.

Maharashtra

Mumbai Mankhurd ATM card fraud two accused arrested

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has claimed to have arrested two accused who committed fraud by changing ATM cards. On August 5, the complainant had gone to the ATM center at Mangal Murthy Junction to withdraw money. While withdrawing money from the ATM, an unknown person standing behind her saw the PIN of the card. After that, she cleverly changed the ATM rod and withdrew Rs 19,000. The police have registered a case of fraud in this matter and started investigating it. The police had seen three suspicious people from the CCTV footage of the scene who were found withdrawing money from the ATM card. After that, the police identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage. Later, they were arrested. The accused have been identified as Qasim Ali Barkat Ali, 30, and Parvez Akbar Ali Sheikh, 38, both residents of Kalyan. The police are investigating further regarding both of them. Along with this, the police are also finding out how many people they have cheated before. This action was taken by DCP Sameer Sheikh on the instructions of Additional Commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni.

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Maharashtra

7 accused arrested in cyber fraud case of over Rs 1 crore in Mumbai

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Mumbai: The Cyber ​​Police Station has claimed to have solved the mystery of a cyber crime in which the complainant was threatened with digital arrest on WhatsApp from April 2 to April 18, 2026, and was involved in a money laundering case and was defrauded of Rs 16.74 crore online by sending fake electronic documents. During the technical investigation, the police have arrested 7 accused, identified as Sanjay Hiralal, 57, who used to generate OTPs, the 32-year-old female accused used to hide the fraudulent money, Rishi Ramchandra Meena, 38, who used to transfer the fraudulent money to bank accounts, Naushad Ali, 31, who digitally arrested the complainant and the victim and worked in this gang digitally, Muhammad Khalid Hafeezuddin Saif, 27, a digital expert, Jogesh Mehta, 43, and Zubair Hussain, 27, who helped them deposit the fraudulent money in their accounts. 613 mobile phones, 2 laptops, 5 digital sign devices were recovered from the possession of the accused. SIM cards of several companies, 10 cheque books, 2 passbooks and 2 ATM cards have been seized. DCP Bajrang Bansode told the press conference that there is no such thing as digital arrest and in such a situation, do not keep in touch on unknown social media accounts. If someone threatens digital arrest, do not believe them.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Mystery of Santa Cruz robbery solved during police operation, person who deposited stolen money in bank also identified, one arrested

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Mumbai: After solving the mystery of a robbery in Santa Cruz area, the police have claimed to have seized cash and other jewelries worth Rs 76.36 lakh. According to the details, between June 20 and June 27, an unknown thief broke into a house on Juhu Tara Road in Santa Cruz area for the purpose of robbery and escaped with the jewelries, cash and gold biscuits in the cupboard. In this case, the police arrested the accused Chandan Kamlesh Mukhiya, 26, a resident of Darbhanga, during technical investigation. His transit remand was obtained and he was produced in Mumbai. In this case, another absconding accused is being sought. During the investigation, it has been revealed that with the help of the absconding accused, the thief had asked his acquaintance Kailash Shah to buy land with the money and stolen property. Therefore, Kailash Shah collected the cash and transferred it to a bank account. During the investigation, the police found that Kailash Shah had collected the stolen money of Rs 46.31 lakh, therefore, the police have issued a notice to him. 200 grams of gold jewelry and Rolex watches have also been recovered. This operation was carried out under the guidance of Mumbai Additional Commissioner Abhinav Deshmukh and DCP Mohit Kumar Garg, while Santa Cruz Senior Police Inspector Dattatreya Masvekar played an important role in solving the mystery of this theft.

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