Palghar, Maharashtra, Dec 30: The Crime Detection Team of Naigaon Police Station has arrested two youths in connection with a case of forcible robbery that took place on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad National Highway in Vasai East earlier this month. A juvenile was also found to be involved in the crime.

According to police, the incident occurred on the night of December 21, 2025, near the Royal Garden Resort, close to the end of the Sasunavghar bridge on the Ahmedabad-bound carriageway at Vasai East in Palghar district.

The complainant was walking on the road when a white Maruti Suzuki S-Presso car stopped near him. Three unknown men, aged between 20 and 25 years, allegedly assaulted him with a steel bracelet and punches.

The accused threatened the victim, demanding cash and his mobile phone, and warned him of dire consequences if he resisted. They forcibly took his cash, mobile phone and charger.

The assailants also obtained the password to the victim’s Google Pay application under threat and later warned him not to inform anyone before fleeing the scene.

Following the complaint, Naigaon Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The senior police inspector of Naigaon Police Station formed two special teams from the Crime Detection Unit. After a detailed investigation, police apprehended Wasiulla Salim Khan (21) and Ranjit Sandeep Jaiswal (19), both residents of Naigaon, Vasai East.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to committing the robbery along with a juvenile in conflict with law. Police recovered two mobile phones and cash worth ₹31,700 from the accused. The car, valued at approximately ₹5 lakh, which was used during the commission of the crime, has also been seized.

Mumbai: The Congress party on Tuesday, December 30, announced the second list of 56 candidates for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Polls 2026 in Mumbai. The list includes candidates from key areas of the city, including Dahisar, Magathane, Charkop, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Versova, Andheri, Bandra, Kalina, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Chandivali, Kurla, Wadala, Mahim, and Mumbadevi. Voting for all 227 civic seats in Mumbai will be held on January 15, 2026, while the counting of votes and declaration of results will take place on January 16, 2026.

Yesterday, the party announced their first list of 87 candidates. With the second list announced, the total number of candidates announced is 143. Of the 57 candidates announced, the party has fielded 29 women candidates from the Open, SC, and OBC categories.

Ward No 3 (Magathane) Pradeep Ramakant Choubey

Ward No 8 (Dahisar) Ratnaprabha D. Junnarkar

Ward No 9 (Dahisar) Sadanand B. Chavan

Ward No 31 (Charkop) Bina Ramkubar Singh

Wards 37 (Dindoshi) Meena Dubey

Ward No 39 (Dindoshi) Madhu Brijesh Singh

Ward No 41 (Dindoshi) Rahul Ugale

Ward No 52 (Jogeshwari East) Swati Eknath,

Ward No 74 (Jogeshwari East) Samita Nitin Sawant,

Ward No 78 (Jogeshwari East) Siddiqui Shabana Bano

Ward No 79 (Jogeshwari East) Priyanka Manish Mishra

Ward 58 (Goregoan) Suryakant Mishra

Ward 60 (Versova) Gladys Shrier

Ward No 65 (Versova) Sufian Haider

Ward 72 (Andheri East) Gayatri Gupta

Ward 75 (Andheri East) Imran Khalil Shaikh

Ward No 86 (Andheri East) Nitin Salgare

Ward 87 (Bandra East) Pramod Narvekar

Ward 92 (Bandra East) Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Iqbal Qureshi

Ward 93 (Bandra East) Sharad Dinkar Shejawal

Ward 94 (Bandra East) Supriya Santosh Pathak

Ward 97 (Bandra West) Gauri Chhabria

Ward 99 (Bandra West) Sunita Suresh Vevekar

Ward 100 (Bandra West) Karen Demelo

Ward 101 (Bandra West) Reshma Zakaria

Ward 103 (Mulund) Manisha Santosh Sonawane

Ward 109 (Bhandup) Ajay Patel

Wards 112 (Bhandup) Shreya Rakesh Shetty

Ward 120 (Vikhroli) Khushboo Rajesh Gupta

Ward 126 (Ghatkopar West) Nasir Khan

Ward 133 (Ghatkopar East) Vaishali Phalke

Ward 143 (Anushaktinagar) Sheikh Farzana Reddy Vasha

Ward 145 (Anushaktinagar) Sufian Abdul Mubeen

Ward 149 (Kurla) Ganesh Awasthi

Ward 151 (Kurla) Sangeeta Subhash Bhalerao

Ward 159 (Chandivali) Prahlad Vishwanath Shetty

Ward 161 (Chandivali) Mohammed Imran Abul Hasan Khan

Ward 162 (Chandivali) Khan Mohammed Aamir Arif

Ward 163 (Chandivali) Jain Sonu Shailesh

Ward 166 (Kalina) Ghanshyam Bhapkar

Ward 180 (Sion Koliwada) Smita Shankar Mhatre

Ward 181 (Sion Koliwada) Kamlesh Ramdular Yadav (Pappu Yadav)

Ward 188 (Dharavi) Mariammal Muturamalingam

Ward 187 (Dharavi) Ayesha Aslam Khan

Ward 190 (Mahim) Dayashankar Ramgopal Yadav

Ward 200 (Wadala) Suresh Kale

Ward 205 (Shivadi) Apurva Praveen Salistekar

Ward 211 (Byculla) Khan Mohammad Waqar Nisar Ahmed

Ward 216 (Mumbadevi) Rajshree Mahesh Bhatankar

Ward 223 (Mumbadevi) Gyanraj Yashwant Nikam

Earlier on Sunday, the party announced its alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for BMC elections. Under the arrangement, Congress will contest 150 seats, while VBA will field candidates in 62 wards, leaving 9-12 seats for Rashtriya Samaj Paksha led by Mahadeo Jankar.

Mumbai: The ongoing tension between Samajwadi Party (SP) Maharashtra president Abu Asim Azmi and the party’s own MLA Rais Shaikh has taken a serious turn and could prove politically costly for the party in Mumbai and Bhiwandi. What began as internal differences has now escalated into an open power struggle, just as the bugle for municipal corporation elections across Mumbai and Maharashtra has been sounded.

For the past several months, relations between Abu Asim Azmi and MLA Rais Shaikh have remained strained. Sources within the party claim that Azmi had decided to completely sideline Rais Shaikh and hand over key organisational responsibilities to Yusuf Abhrani, a former Congress leader who recently joined the Samajwadi Party. This move reportedly deepened the rift, with speculation rife that Rais Shaikh might even switch allegiance to Ajit Pawar’s camp or return to the Congress, as he felt marginalised within his own party.

The simmering internal conflict has now spilled into the open with the start of civic election preparations. Rais Shaikh had requested party leadership to allot municipal tickets to some of his close aides, but the Samajwadi Party leadership allegedly refused to give tickets to any of his supporters. Feeling politically cornered, Rais Shaikh responded by fielding several of his associates as independent candidates.

More significantly, Rais Shaikh is said to have played a key role in ensuring that his personal assistant, Waqar Khan, received a Congress ticket from Ward No. 211—a seat that was earlier considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party. With Congress now officially fielding Waqar Khan from this ward, SP risks losing a seat it was once confident of winning.

Political observers believe that ignoring Rais Shaikh could cost the Samajwadi Party heavily not only in Govandi but also in Bhiwandi, where multiple seats may be affected due to rebel candidates and divided votes. Meanwhile, Yusuf Abhrani—projected as Rais Shaikh’s replacement—has fielded his daughter-in-law against Geeta Gawli, daughter of Arun Gawli, a move that too appears to have weakened SP’s prospects in that constituency.

As factionalism deepens, the Samajwadi Party now faces the possibility of significant electoral losses in key urban pockets. Whether the leadership will attempt damage control or allow the rift to widen further remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: internal discord may prove more damaging than opposition attacks in the upcoming municipal elections.