Mumbai: To facilitate the construction of the 6th line between Goregaon and Kandivali stations, the Western Railway (WR) will carry a major block of 3.30 hours on UP & DOWN Fast line and 5th line from 00.15 am to 04.45 am during the intervening night of Wednesday, September 25 and Thursday, September 26.

During the block, all UP Fast line and 5th line trains will run on the UP Slow line between Borivali to Goregaon/Andheri. Due to this block, few suburban trains will be affected and will be cancelled/short terminated during the block period.

Check below the WR list of trains cancelled/short-terminated during the block.

The WR has requested passengers to take note of the change in trains arrangement due to the block and said that detailed information will be available with the concerned station masters.

During the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, i.e. on 24th/ 25th September also a block was undertaken by western railways to facilitate the construction of the 6th line between Goregaon and Kandivali stations.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil announced withdrawal of his hunger strike on Wednesday afternoon. Announcing the withdrawal he said to his followers that the courts have asked him to take care of his health. On the ninth day of his hunger strike, Jarange’s health was deteriorating.

Several ministers have visited the Maratha quota activist on his protest site in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna in last eight days assuring him of implementing the Maratha reservation and urging the withdrawal his hunger strike. This was Jarange’s sixth hunger strike which started on September 17.

His main demand is the grant of the OBC quota to Marathas in government jobs and education.

Antarwali Sarathi has become the epicentre of the ongoing Maratha reservation movement. OBC activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare have also been staging a counter-protest at Wadigodri village, 2 km from Antarwali Sarathi, to oppose the inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category.

Posters featuring Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis holding gun emerged in Mumbai and surrounding cities on Wednesday (September 25), just two days after death of Akshay Shinde, the accused in Badlapur school sexual assault case. The posters read ‘Badla Pura’ (The revenge is complete). Fadnavis can be seen brandishing a pistol as well as a rifle in what are most likely to be doctored images on these posters.

The posters looked like apparent attempts to link and credit the deputy CM for the death of the accused in a police encounter. There was immense public anger against Shinde, who was accused of sexually assaulting two four-year-old girls in toilet of a school in Badlapur.

Although Fadnavis was active on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, there was no immediate comment from him about the posters in the city.

Something fishy?

The police are being accused of having meted out ‘quick justice’ through what is being accused as having been a staged encounter.

As per version given by the police, Shinde was being transported from Taloja jail to Badlapur when he snatched a gun from a police official and opened fire. Police say that Shinde died as officials retaliated in self-defence and shot him. A police officer by the name Sanjay Shinde was injured due to bullets fired by the accused, say the police. The accused was killed near Mumbra bypass.

Akshay Shinde’s parents have refused to believe the police account and have alleged that he has been killed by the police.

“My son was scared of bursting crackers. How could he snatch a pistol from a police officer and open fire?” claimed Anna Shinde, Akshay’s father.

Akshay’s father moved the Bombay High Court on Tuesday and urged it to look into his custodial death. He has sought an urgent hearing. The court will hold a hearing on Wednesday.