Vasai: In a shocking incident that has tarnished the image of the ‘Khaki’ uniform and brought embarrassment to the Maharashtra Police force, three police personnel have been caught red-handed and arrested by the Vasai Police for helping a murder accused escape from the Vasai Court premises. Driven by greed, the cops directly utilized digital payment methods to accept the bribe.

The arrested police personnel have been identified as Police Constable Eknath Talpade, Prashant Rathod, and Wasim Sheikh.

The details emerging from the police investigation are startling. The accused policemen had allegedly accepted a bribe of ₹45,000 from the criminal and his family members to facilitate the escape. Instead of taking cash, the bribe was transferred digitally via Google Pay (GPay) in multiple installments of ₹5,000 each.

Upon bringing the accused near the court’s prison van, the corrupt policemen deliberately loosened the handcuffs of the accused, Vinod Soni. Seizing the opportunity, Soni made an excuse to relieve himself, and the police gave him a clear window to flee. The police have also arrested the fugitive’s wife, Sakshi Soni, and son, Atul Soni, for actively conspiring and assisting in the escape.

The incident has sparked widespread outrage within the police department. The anger stems from the fact that the Crime Branch Unit 3 team had recently cracked a highly complex, 16-year-old murder case and arrested Vinod Soni from Madhya Pradesh after an intensive investigation, only for local security personnel to let him go for monetary gain.

Mumbai: Several parts of Mumbai under the BEST Undertaking supply network have witnessed repeated power outages over the last two weeks, raising concerns over infrastructure stress during the ongoing heatwave and record electricity consumption in the city.

Multiple transformer and feeder faults disrupt supply in Dadar, Wadala, Girgaon and nearby areas as power demand crosses 4,500 MW this week

On Friday night, residents in Dadar, Wadala, Parsi Colony and Girgaon faced fresh disruptions after multiple faults were reported at the Kingsway Receiving Station in Dadar and at Girgaon Chowpatty.

According to preliminary information, the first incident was reported around 9.25 pm at the Kingsway Receiving Station after air trips occurred in Transformer No. 2 and 3, leading to interruption in electricity supply.

BEST officials said repair work was immediately taken up and restoration was expected within four hours. Almost simultaneously, another disruption was reported at Girgaon Chowpatty due to a fire in the transformer of the High Voltage Distribution Board, affecting supply in Girgaon Chowpatty and Gaondevi areas for nearly an hour.

In an official statement, BEST said the Kingsway Receiving Substation operates through four 33,000-volt Extra High Voltage feeder lines. One feeder connected to Transformer No. 1 was already under repair due to an earlier cable fault, while the load was being shifted through Transformer No. 4. Around 6.30 pm on Friday, another fault developed in the feeder supplying Transformer No. 3. The load was then diverted to Transformer No. 2 and supply was restored by 8 pm. However, within 30 minutes, a fresh fault hit the feeder supplying Transformer No. 2, resulting in a complete outage in Dadar, Maheshwari Udyan, Naigaon, Wadala East and nearby areas.

Officials said restoration work was being carried out on a “war footing.” The repeated outages come at a time when Mumbai’s electricity demand has crossed an all-time high of 4,500 MW this week due to continuous use of air conditioners amid rising temperatures. On Saturday, the city’s power demand touched 3,878 MW till 12.30 pm.

Earlier on May 14, nearly 3,000 consumers in Dadar, Sitladevi and Matunga Road areas faced prolonged outages after a cable fault at the Sitladevi Receiving Substation. Officials had then termed the city’s load condition as “critical” because of unusually high demand and feeder failures.

Mumbai: Skill development minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha will head a high-level committee to create awareness against drugs in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The six-member committee will include the Commissioner of Police, collectors of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, and two non-official members.

The formation of the panel comes in the backdrop of the Centre’s strict stance against drug menace. The committee will coordinate with various departments to prevent the cultivation of narcotic plants as well as the production, trade, transport, sale and consumption of drugs. It will also undertake awareness campaigns against drug abuse.

Meanwhile, thwarting a major drug smuggling bid connected to interstate racket, the NCB seized 702 kg of ganja worth ₹3 crore and arrested a duo, agency sources said on Friday.

Acting on specific inputs on Thursday, an NCB Mumbai team intercepted a truck in Gondia and its search led to the contraband’s recovery. Accused duo, Prakash MD & Padamlal NM, revealed that the drug was sourced from Odisha. “It also came to light that the consignment was meant for drug syndicates based in Nagpur, Gondia, Pune and Mumbai. It was noted that these syndicates collaborated for the transportation in single bulk consignment rather than separate shipments,” said an NCB official.

In a separate case being probed by the Kalyan police, a notorious criminal, who was externed from Mumbai and Thane, has been arrested in connection with the recent seizure of 9.7 kg of heroin worth ₹34.18 crore.

The police said that he is the kingpin of an interstate drug syndicate. Amjad Pathan, 47, has as many as 20 criminal cases, including murder, against him. After being externed from Mumbai and Thane, he allegedly shifted his narcotics base to Nashik.