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Centre to provide free Covid booster dose for 75 days

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The Centre will provide free booster doses of Covid vaccines for the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive from July 15, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Wednesday.

The free booster dose drive will be held for next 75 days as part of the government’s Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence and to boost the uptake of Covid precaution doses, he said.

“Under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, a 75-day free vaccination campaign will be conducted from July 15, in which all citizens above the age of 18 years will be given free vaccination doses at government centres”, Mandaviya said in a tweet. Mandaviya thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision.

Urging eligible population to get the precaution doses, he said in subsequent tweet: “With this decision, India’s fight against Covid will be strengthened and additional security of citizens will also be ensured. I urge that all adult citizens must get the prevention dose.”

Less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose, as per a source. The initiative has been undertaken to increase the uptake the precautions doses.

However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose.

To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government also had initiated the second round of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0’ across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

Maharashtra

28 structures affected by the Ghatkopar road widening project demolished.

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Mumbai: Yesterday (October 7, 2026), the ‘N’ Ward office of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation carried out a demolition drive targeting 28 structures in Ghatkopar (West) that were affected by the road-widening project between Jhunjhunwala College and the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road.

This demolition campaign was conducted under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner (‘N’ Ward) Jaydeep More.

Adequate police security was deployed alongside municipal officers and staff during the operation.

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Maharashtra

Man arrested in Mumbai for defrauding senior citizens and others using fake APK files.

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In a case involving the defrauding of a 72-year-old senior citizen in Mumbai on August 13, an unidentified caller—posing as Dinesh Kumar, a Senior Manager at Bank of India—gained the victim’s trust by promising to facilitate the issuance of a Senior Citizen Card. The caller sent an APK file named “Senior Citizen Card http://Verification.apk” to the complainant’s WhatsApp and coerced them into entering personal and bank debit card details, resulting in the misappropriation of ₹5,62,000. Initially, the Byculla Police Station registered a case (No. 497/26) under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the BNS and Sections 66(C) and (D) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. While the Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch was conducting a parallel investigation, senior officials ordered the transfer of the case to the Crime Branch; it was subsequently re-registered as Case No. 927/2026 for further investigation.

A thorough technical analysis of the aforementioned APK file was conducted, leading to the identification and arrest of the accused—a 36-year-old male software developer and resident of Madhya Pradesh—who was responsible for developing the fraudulent APK file. During a raid on the accused’s office in Madhya Pradesh, authorities recovered a pen drive, a CPU, three hard disks, a Wi-Fi router, and three mobile phones. Preliminary technical analysis revealed that the accused was utilizing servers from various service provider companies. Investigation confirmed that the accused had created and sold a total of 2,805 malicious APK files to other cybercriminal gangs. These files were used to defraud 9,673 people across India. Complaints regarding these incidents have been registered on the cyber helpline number 1930—specifically 1,074 nationwide, 143 in Maharashtra, and 36 in Mumbai—revealing a total fraud amount of ₹15.75 crore. Cases have been cracked involving 88 incidents across India, 8 in Maharashtra, and 5 in Mumbai.

This successful operation was executed by a team comprising Police Commissioner Devin, Joint Police Commissioner Anil Kumbhare, Additional Commissioner Krishna Kant Upadhyay, DCP (Crime) Raj Tilak Roshan, and the Crime Branch. DCP Raj Tilak Roshan stated that this action was taken in response to fraud targeting the elderly under the guise of issuing senior citizen cards; the police also regularly conduct awareness campaigns among the elderly regarding this issue.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai CSMT: Case Filed Against Garjana Morcha Over Demand to Scrap SIR; Nitesh Rane Defends Action, Calls for Aditya Thackeray Passport to Be Seized

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have registered a case against the organizers of the ‘Garjana Morcha’ (Roaring Rally), which was held without permission at Azad Maidan near the BMC headquarters. The protest, organized by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, saw the participation of party workers from across Mumbai and the state. During the event, demands were raised to cancel the FIR, and Raj Thackeray—in his address—termed the FIR itself illegal; he also proposed a boycott of the elections. The Mumbai Police have registered the case under Sections 223, 189, and 190 of the BNS. Authorities stated that the case was filed due to the unlawful assembly of a crowd. The Azad Maidan Police have initiated an investigation into the matter, and the case has been registered against the organizers as well as other leaders. A case must be registered for an illegal protest: Nitesh Rane
Following the police case registered after the Azad Maidan protest, BJP leader and minister Nitesh Rane stated that filing a case for an unauthorized, illegal protest is mandatory because the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar prevails here. He alleged that the protest was held for “Vote Jihad.” Furthermore, in a vitriolic outburst, Rane noted that Aaditya Thackeray was absent from the protest organized by Uddhav and Raj Thackeray; claiming Aaditya knew action would be taken against him and might flee, Rane demanded that his passport be confiscated.

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