Mumbai: Faheem Khan is the mastermind and responsible for the communal violence in Nagpur over the demand to remove the tomb of Aurangzeb (Rahmatullah ‘Alaihi). This has been revealed in the FIR lodged with the police. According to the FIR, Faheem Khan had instigated the crowd and also lodged a complaint against the demonstration of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, but the crowd gathered again in the evening and violence broke out. To instigate the crowd, he had said that the police is with them and is not doing anything, after which the crowd became violent.

Faheem Khan is also the city president of the Minority Democratic Party. 38-year-old Faheem Khan is also accused of instigating the crowd and gheraoing the police station. He gathered the crowd and then led it. 5 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violence in Nagpur. One FIR has also been registered against the protesters of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal. So far 51 people have been arrested after the Nagpur violence. Along with this, curfew has been imposed in Nagpur after the violence. In such a situation, the police has also started a search operation.

The search operation and one-sided arrests have created an atmosphere of fear and panic in Muslim localities. Muslims and local people have alleged that the police is forcibly entering homes and conducting search operations and there are also allegations of one-sided arrest of Muslim youth.

When Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singhal was questioned in this regard, he denied all the allegations and justified the police action and said that the situation was peaceful after the violence that took place, but tension remains. Ravinder Singhal was asked whether communal violence broke out in Nagpur due to delay in filing FIR for spreading religious hatred? On this, he said that whatever action the police has taken, it has been done within the stipulated time. The situation is peaceful, but curfew is still in force and the police is fully alert.

Mumbai, March 19: NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday defended the comparison of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, stating that their governing styles bear similarities.

Amid the ongoing demand for the removal of Aurangzeb’s grave, the opposition in Maharashtra has intensified its attacks on the government, drawing parallels between the Mughal emperor’s rule and Fadnavis’s leadership.

Speaking to media, Pawar explained, “Aurangzeb’s governance favoured the powerful, whereas Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj believed in uplifting society without any discrimination — a philosophy we (NCP-SP) follow.”

He further argued that the current administration prioritises contractors over common people.

“If we compare governing styles, this government appears to be only for contractors and is doing nothing for the common man. That is why, in terms of style, this government can be compared to Aurangzeb’s rule,” he said.

Pawar also strongly condemned the recent violence in Nagpur, calling it a “government-sponsored” incident.

He pointed out that both the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister had acknowledged the violence as a pre-planned event, which, according to him, suggests an intelligence failure.

“If such incidents keep happening and people lose their lives, who will be held responsible? If it wasn’t an intelligence failure and the violence still occurred, then it was government-sponsored,” Pawar said.

He demanded the government clarify whether the unrest was due to a lapse in intelligence or not. “Anyone involved in stone-pelting or contributing to violence in any way should be identified and jailed,” he added.

The NCP-SP leader further alleged that the Nagpur violence was orchestrated to divert public attention from pressing issues affecting ordinary citizens.

“Farmers are struggling, unemployed youth face uncertainty, and women’s safety remains a concern, yet no one is addressing these issues. The government is doing nothing for them. Now, public resentment is growing. To divert attention from these real problems, they raised the Aurangzeb and Chhatrapati Shivaji issue out of nowhere, and then the violence followed,” he said.

Mumbai, March 19: The Maharashtra government has tabled the bill to amend the Maharashtra Stamps Act, 1958. This was necessitated after the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar in his budget for 2025-26 proposed to mobilise additional revenue by revising stamp duty charged on certain documents.

The bill was presented late Tuesday evening by the Minister of State Yogesh Kadam in the state Assembly.

“Section 4 of the Stamp Act is proposed to be amended with a view to increase the rate of stamp duty, which is fixed long ago at the nominal amount of Rs 100 to Rs 500 in case of supplementary document if more than one document is used to complete the transaction,” reads the bill.

“Sections 10 and 10D of the Stamp Act are proposed to be amended with a view to facilitating online mode for payment (e-payment) and “certificate of stamp duty” in State Government Treasury a new provision for ‘e-stamp certificate’, so that people can pay stamp duty online at any time from anywhere,” reads the bill.

Further, the bill says, “Subsection (1) of section 31 of the Stamp Act is proposed to be amended with a view to increasing the adjudication fee from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 for changeability of the instrument, applying to have the opinion of the Collector and to provide for depositing the certain amount of stamp duty specified therein while filing an application for adjudication of the executed instrument.”

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has presented the Rs 7 lakh crore budget for 2025-26 projecting a revenue deficit of Rs 45,891 crore, fiscal deficit of Rs 1.36 lakh crore and debt stock of Rs 9.32 lakh crore.

He had projected the state’s own tax revenue worth Rs 3.87 lakh crore for 2025-26 against the revised estimate of Ra 3.67 lakh crore in 2024-25.

Pawar had said in his budget speech that amid the constraints to propose new taxes or increase the prevailing taxes in the GST regime, he hoped to mobilise additional revenue of around Rs 1,200 crore by proposing revised stamp duty and Motor Vehicle Tax.