Mumbai, June 25: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast widespread rainfall across Maharashtra on Thursday and issued weather alerts for 31 districts. Of these, 25 districts have been placed under a yellow alert, while six districts are under an orange alert, indicating the likelihood of continued rainfall, thunderstorms and strong winds.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported 113 incidents of tree and branch falls across the city in the last 24 hours.

According to BMC records, 40 such incidents were reported in the city area, 23 in the eastern suburbs and 50 in the western suburbs, as heavy rainfall and gusty winds swept through the financial capital.

The southwest monsoon has now covered the remaining parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, bringing widespread rainfall across the state. Heavy showers lashed Mumbai and neighbouring Thane as monsoon activity intensified over the past two days.

The districts under yellow alert include Thane, Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Solapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Parbhani, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha and Washim.

Meanwhile, Pune, Yavatmal, Latur, Dharashiv, Chandrapur and Satara have been placed under an orange alert due to the possibility of heavier rainfall and adverse weather conditions.

The monsoon has become active across nearly all regions of Maharashtra, bringing heavy rainfall to some areas and light to moderate showers to others. Rain intensity has been particularly high in Mumbai, the Konkan region and adjoining Goa, providing much-needed relief from the prolonged summer heat.

Rainfall has also been recorded in several districts, including Nashik, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Jalna, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur and Chandrapur. The monsoon has simultaneously advanced further into parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Meteorologists said the sudden surge in rainfall was not the result of a single weather system. Instead, it was triggered by the interaction of three atmospheric systems that collectively enhanced monsoon activity over Mumbai and surrounding regions.

The IMD has also predicted a gradual decline in temperatures. Maximum temperatures across Maharashtra are expected to fall by 2-4 degrees Celsius over the next two days before stabilising. Minimum temperatures are also likely to decrease gradually over the next four to five days.

Overall, monsoon conditions remain active across Maharashtra, with several districts experiencing widespread and, in some places, intense rainfall. The showers have brought significant relief from the heat, and the IMD has indicated that strong monsoon activity is likely to continue over the next few days. Residents have been advised to monitor weather updates and take necessary precautions.

New Delhi, June 24: A Delhi court on Wednesday extended till July 8 the judicial custody of two accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The accused P.V. Kulkarni and Shivaraj Motegaonkar were produced before the Rouse Avenue Court on the expiry of their earlier 14-day judicial custody.

The court directed that both accused remain in judicial custody till July 8.

According to the CBI, Kulkarni, a retired Chemistry professor from Maharashtra’s Latur, was the mastermind behind the alleged paper leak network.

The probe agency has claimed that he was associated with the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) question paper-setting process for several years and misused his access to leak examination content to selected candidates through special coaching sessions conducted in Pune.

Motegaonkar, the director of Latur-based RCC Coaching Institute, is alleged to have played a key role in the dissemination of the leaked paper.

Investigators claim that examination questions and their answers reached him nearly 10 days before the conduct of the NEET-UG 2026 examination.

According to the CBI, Motegaonkar allegedly procured the leaked paper through Kulkarni and co-accused Manisha Mandhare, who is suspected to have played a crucial role in the Biology paper leak.

The CBI had earlier arrested Motegaonkar, stating that he owned the RCC Coaching Institute, which operates nine branches with its main centre in Latur and prepares students for the NEET-UG examination.

The probe agency said searches conducted at the institute and Motegaonkar’s residence led to the recovery of a Chemistry question bank containing questions identical to those that appeared in the now-cancelled NEET-UG 2026 examination held on May 3.

The CBI registered the case on May 12 based on a written complaint received from the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education. Following registration of the FIR, special teams were constituted, and searches were carried out at multiple locations across the country.

Earlier this month, the Rouse Avenue Court extended till June 29 the judicial custody of 10 other accused in the case, including Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Dhananjay Lokhande, Tejas Harshad Shah, Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar and Dr Manoj Shirure.

The court had also permitted the CBI to interrogate certain accused inside jail as part of its continuing investigation. The CBI has so far arrested 13 accused in connection with the alleged network involved in procuring and circulating NEET-UG question papers before the examination.

Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency successfully conducted the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21 after the original examination was cancelled amid concerns over irregularities.

More than 20 lakh medical aspirants appeared at 5,440 examination centres across India and 14 centres abroad. Authorities deployed nearly 7 lakh personnel, including examination staff, police officers, observers and administrative officials, to ensure the smooth conduct of the re-test.

Over 95,000 examination rooms were monitored through more than 1.38 lakh CCTV cameras, while over 51,000 signal jammers were installed to prevent electronic malpractice.

The re-examination was conducted under extensive security measures, including Aadhaar-based biometric verification, facial authentication, two-layer frisking, real-time surveillance and command-and-control centre monitoring, aimed at ensuring transparency and preserving the integrity of one of the country’s largest entrance examinations.

New Delhi, June 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday levelled serious allegations of land grabbing and corruption in Karnataka against Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and his son, Priyank Kharge, involving the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, claiming that there are multiple instances where the Kharge family has “usurped land belonging to the poor”.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari stated that Mallikarjun Kharge and his son are involved in corruption and land grabbing in Karnataka through a trust named the Siddharth Vihar Trust.

The trust includes Mallikarjun Kharge, his son Priyank Kharge, his son-in-law, and his wife as members.

“Mallikarjun Kharge and his son, through a trust, are involved in land grabbing and corruption in Karnataka. The name of this trust is Siddhartha Vihara Trust. The trust includes Mallikarjun Kharge, his son Priyank Kharge, his son-in-law, and his wife. I will place before you not one but multiple cases of alleged corruption, showing how Mallikarjun Kharge, through this trust, occupied different parcels of land and used his power and influence to grab land belonging to the poor and attempted land loot at various locations.”

Bhandari presented multiple cases of alleged corruption involving Mallikarjun Kharge, demonstrating how the Congress chief used the trust to take possession of various land parcels, leveraged his power and influence to “usurp land belonging to the poor”, and attempted to “grab land” in several locations.

The first case of land loot, Bhandari claimed, is when in 2024, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) allotted five acres of land to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust when the Congress government was in power, “under the pretext of research and development in aerospace and defence”.

The BJP spokesperson stated that the land was for industrial use but was instead granted to the trust.

“The question arises: did Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyank Kharge misuse their power and influence to grab five acres of industrial land in Karnataka, worth Rs 100 crore, through a private trust? Remember, Rahul Gandhi and the entire Gandhi-Vadra family – Robert Vadra, his brother-in-law – have also faced similar land grab allegations, and cases are ongoing. The same modus operandi that the Gandhi-Vadra family used for land loot has been repeated by Mallikarjun Kharge through the Siddharth Vihara Trust — a prime industrial land worth Rs 100 crore,” he added.

Bhandari stated that the Congress government in Karnataka allotted 19 acres of land to Kharge’s private trust.

“This meant that 19 acres of government land effectively became the private property of a trust whose members include Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Did Mallikarjun Kharge use his power and influence to usurp this 19-acre plot in Gulbarga? The Congress party must answer why this land was misappropriated; Kharge faces allegations of corruption regarding this land grab and needs to come forward with a response,” he stated.

Referring to another instance, he remarked that the Siddharth Vihar Trust engaged in a “highly unusual act by fielding a ‘dummy’ seller”.

“The trust intended to transfer the land, and it ultimately ended up permanently with Mallikarjun Kharge’s private trust in Gulbarga. To this day, no one knows the identity of this seller. Thus, as a third method of corruption, Mallikarjun Kharge employed a dummy seller,” Bhandari added.

“Just as Robert Vadra grabs land wherever he sees it – and cases are ongoing against him – exactly the same is happening with the Siddhartha Vihara Trust. Wherever there is land in Karnataka, Mallikarjun Kharge, using his influence, grabs it through this trust. Kharge will have to answer for this,” the BJP leader added.