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Maharashtra

Mumbai High Court Raps Govt, Police For Demolition, Violence Inside Vishalgadh Fort

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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court rapped the Maharashtra government and the police on Friday for demolition of alleged “illegal encroachments” around the Vishalgadh Fort in Kolhapur and the alleged violence on July 14.  The high court directed the senior inspector of the Shahuwadi Police station to remain present before it on July 29 to inform about the action taken by the police against those involved in the violence. 

The judges also warned that it would “come down heavily on authorities” if any residential or commercial structure was demolished in the Vishalgadh area from Friday. State advocate PP Kakade, on instructions from an officer, assured the bench that, as per the State government’s circular, no residential premises in the Vishalgad Fort area shall be demolished during the rainy season, whether they are petitioners or otherwise.

Asking for the police officer in-charge of the local police station, the bench asked Kakade to ask the officer to remain present on the next date of hearing. “Who is in charge of the law and order situation in Vishalgad? We would like the senior inspector of the said police station to come before us,” a bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla said. 

The court also said it was recording Kakade’s assurance that no further demolition would take place in monsoon. “We record your statement that you will not demolish till September, and if the same is breached, we will not hesitate to send the officer behind bars. We make it clear that if we find any structure demolished from today, commercial or household, we will come down heavily on your officers/ authorities,” the judges added. 

The HC was hearing a petition by some of the residents of Shahuwadi Taluka in Kolhapur urging the court to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by a former high court judge, to probe into the alleged violence by right-wing activists. Advocate for the petitioners Satish Talekar, showed a video to the court of the alleged violence  and the law and order situation at the Fort premises. 

Questions over law and order

“Where is the law and order? These are not your (state police) officers, right? So who are these men? Are you not responsible for maintaining law and order in the State? We want to know if any FIR is lodged in this matter,” the judges asked. The court then directed the senior police inspector to remain present in the court on July 29 and inform regarding the action taken against the persons in the video. 

Talekar has sought an urgent hearing alleging that “the right-wing activist led by Maratha Royal and former member of Rajya Sabha, Sambhaji Raje Chatrapati gathered at the base of Vishalgad Fort knowing fully well that prohibitory orders were issued by the Tehsildar, Shahuwadi”. They claimed the district administration had deployed police at the base of Fort to prevent ‘right-wing’ activists from going to Vishalgad so that Muslim residents and their properties would be protected.

Prohibitory orders violated?

Despite prohibitory orders proclaimed by the tehsildar of Shahuwadi, the police allowed at least 100 protesters to climb the fort leading to “an atmosphere of chaos and lawlessness prevailed in the village for almost two hours”, the plea alleged. The petitioners also sought to amend their earlier petition, filed in 2023, against the notices issued by the State Archaeology Department directing seven people to demolish their structures within the Vishalgad Fort area. They contended that the 300 acre Vishalgad Fort precinct was declared a protected monument only in 1999 while petitioners have been residing there since decades

They had sought stay on the demolition of the houses, shops or any other structures, including the Hazrat Peer Malik Rehan Dargah at Vishalgad. The HC, in February 2023, stayed the notices and directed no coercive or demolition action against the said petitioners. 

Maharashtra

No one’s father has India, MLA Abu Asim Azmi takes a dig at Nitesh Rane

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Mumbai: Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has expressed his anger over Nitesh Rane statement and has given a befitting reply and said that no one’s father has India. He said that Nitesh Rane constantly shows provocations and no action is taken against him. Many cases have been registered but no action is taken. Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid are in jail but they are free. They did not show any provocation. The Supreme Court has directed strict action against hate speech but why does the government not take action against such elements who spread hatred.

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Maharashtra

New details emerge in investigation into Mumbai Rohit Arya encounter… Rohit had asked for videos from Marathi artists and selected 80 children

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Mumbai: was shaken by the hostage drama at the Mumbai RA studio. Rohit Arya had taken young children hostage at the studio in Powai for the money owed. The police successfully rescued them, but Rohit Arya was killed in an encounter. Several Marathi artists will be questioned in this case, and the Human Rights Commission has also taken notice of it. New revelations are coming out every day in the hostage case.

‎Rohit Arya encounter Investigations are also underway about the ‘artists’ who met Rohit Arya.
‎Last week, on Thursday, October 30, there was a big commotion in Mumbai in the afternoon. Some young children and senior citizens were taken hostage at the Mumbai RA. After the work done for the education department, a person named Rohit Arya had called some children for an audition for payment of dues and he made several demands while holding some children hostage. After this, the police entered the washroom and rescued a total of 19 people, including 17 children. And during the encounter, Rohit Arya was shot dead.

This hostage drama has shaken not only Mumbai but the entire Maharashtra and new revelations are being made in this case every day. The post-mortem report of Rohit Arya, who was killed in the encounter, has also come out recently. The post-mortem report confirmed that Rohit Arya died due to bullet injuries. The report says that given the nature of the bullet, there was no chance of his survival.
Meanwhile, another revelation has been made in this case. RA Studio in Powai, where this hostage drama Rohit Arya conducted some auditions, was visited by some famous actors of the Marathi world. Many actors like senior actor Girish Oak, actress Urmila Kothare, Manal Kapoor, Swapnil Joshi, Teja Pradhan, Ankash Joshi were present in the studio. Now in this matter, those actors who were in contact with Rohit or were going to participate in the shooting will also be questioned. The Human Rights Commission has taken serious notice of the Rohit Arya encounter case and a committee has been appointed to investigate. In this matter, the artists who went to RA Studio and met Rohit Arya will also be questioned. It has been said that the statements of everyone who was in contact with Rohit Arya will be recorded. According to the information received, Rohit had made a lot of preparations before implementing the plan to take children hostage in the studio. He asked for videos of hundreds of child artists for the short film and selected 80 of them. After that, he organized a four-day workshop for 35, 20 and finally 17 child artists. According to the information received, during these four days, artists Manal Kapoor, Swapnil Joshi, Teja Shri Pradhan, Ankash Joshi had visited the studio and returned, so now all these artists will be questioned.

‎Rachita Jadhav was also contacted.
‎It has been told that actress Rachita Jadhav was also invited to the same Raw studio. Rohit pretended that he wanted to do a film and an audition was held for her. Under the same conspiracy, he also contacted actress Rachita Jadhav. He called her, I am doing a film, he asked if you will work in it. When she agreed, he called her to the studio, and he also arranged a meeting. However, at the same time, due to a medical emergency at Ruchita’s house, she told that she could not come to the studio. Hence, Rohit and Ruchita did not meet.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Polls 2025 To Be Held On December 2, Counting Of Votes On December 3

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Mumbai: The State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare on November 4 announced the dates for the long-awaited Maharashtra Polls 2025. While addressing the press conference, the SEC said that the local body polls will be held on December 2 while the couting of votes will be held on December 3. The results for the Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayat will be declared on December 10.

According to the SEC, polls dates were announced for all local bodies , except for the 29 municipal corporations. The dates were announced for 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayat. The nomination process for the polls will begin on November 10.

The high-stakes polls will be against the ruling Mahayuti consisting of BJP, Shinde’s Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP vs the Mahayuti (consisting of UBT Sena, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Congress). In addition to this, MNS is also set to join hands with the MVA for the polls. For the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections, there are one crore sixty lakh voters and 13,155 polling stations

The last BMC elections were held in 2017 and since then, the elections were not been held. In 2017, the elections were held in a single held on February 21 while results were announced on February 23.

Off all the 227 seats, the United Shiv Sena won 84 seats while BJP won 82 seats. Both the parties were in alliance during that time. The Congress had won 31 seats while the united NCP secured 13 seats. Raj Thackeray’s MNS had won 7 seats.

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