Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on November 1 began their ‘Satyacha Morcha’ Rally in Churchgate and reached BMC Headquaters. The morcha is held over the alleged irregularities in the state’s voter lists. In the video, sea of people were seen joining the protest.

The “Satyacha Morcha” began from Fashion Street and reached BMC headquarters, where a stage has been set up for speeches by top opposition leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayant Patil among others.

The opposition parties have been consistently alleging that the electoral rolls contain duplicate and bogus names across constituencies. They earlier met with the State Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer to present evidence of these anomalies. With rural and urban local body elections due by January 31, 2026, the opposition has insisted that polls must not be held until the voters’ lists are thoroughly corrected. The SEC, however, has maintained that the electoral rolls are being securely managed, and that no political party can interfere with or tamper with voter data.

On the other hand, The Maharashtra BJP also held a ‘silent protest’ to counter the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s ‘Satyacha Morcha’ against irregularities in the voters’ lists. The Maharashtra BJP claimed that the Opposition was attempting to “spread fake narrative” ahead of the civic polls. Leaders and workers of the saffron party sporting black tapes across their mouths staged their agitation in the Girgaon area of south Mumbai.

Earlier on October 28, Aaditya Thackeray had called out voter fraud in Worli and said, “We’ve found 19,333 voter anomalies in our post election study.” He added that mismatch was found in names, photographs, addresses and even gender.

Prior to that, Last week, while addressing party workers, the MNS chief Raj Thackeray had claimed that 9.6 million fake voters have been added in Maharashtra, adding that around 8 to 10 lakh fake names were added in Mumbai alone, with similar irregularities detected in Thane, Pune, and Nashik.

Navi Mumbai: A 70-year-old NRI from London, who enjoys a pension of 4000 pounds by the US government post retirement as a taxi driver there, has been arrested by the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Navi Mumbai along with a lady whose 10-year-old daughter was frequently raped and molested by the NRI.

According to police, the NRI used to buy them monthly groceries and helped them rent out a house against a heavy deposit, due to which the mother used to force her daughter to stay with the accused man during his every visit to India. He was arrested after an early morning raid at his house at Taloja on Friday.

The arrested accused has been identified as Farooq Allauddin Shaikh (70), originally from Puducherry but currently residing in London with his family. Two years ago, Shaikh had purchased a flat in Sector 20, Taloja, and would visit every few months for a few days. Shaikh is settled in the US with his wife and three children- all married. His two daughters work with a solicitor in the US, while his son, who got married recently, is settled in Bangkok. “One of his daughters also has a 10-year-old daughter, and the victim whom we rescued is also a 10-year-old girl,” a police officer who is a part of the investigation said.

While he had also visited India in the month of August for a few days, this time, he came on October 25. And after coming, he purchased groceries for the house of the victim. As per the investigations till now, the accused had started sexually abusing the victim along with another 15-year-old girl known to the victim, around two years back. He had helped the family of the 10-year-old to procure a house on rent against a deposit of Rs 2.5 lakh.

The AHTU received information from a reliable source regarding the sexual abuse that had happened with the girl in his flat, following which the team decided to raid the flat. “We got to know that the girl was sent to his flat on Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday, she celebrated her birthday at his flat and on Thursday night again, the mother dropped the child off at his flat. She was supposed to come pick up the child at 7 am when she brings breakfast for the accused, and hence we had to raid the flat before that, and we planned the raid at 5 am,” the officer added. Senior Police Inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade, Assistant Police Inspector Yogesh Deshmukh, and officers Nilam Pawar and Sarita Gude raided Shaikh’s flat on Thursday morning and rescued the child.

The police found four sex toys and Viagra pills in his cupboard, and one sex toy on the dressing table. They also found bottles of liquor, which the victim claimed that she was made to drink every time he abused her. The accused had become acquainted with the victim’s mother, who worked as a domestic help in the building and started offering monetary ‘helps’ in return for having her daughter at his flat. Whenever Shaikh visited India, the woman would send her 10-year-old daughter to his flat under the pretext of playing, police said.

“Both, the mother and the man, have been produced before the court and remanded to police custody till November 4,” senior police inspector Pravin Bhagat from Taloja police station said. The child has now been handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Both the accused have been booked under Section of BNS and POCSO.

Chennai, Nov 1: In a major push to make the Tamil Nadu city flood-resilient, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has prepared a comprehensive Rs 2,200-crore project to revamp and expand the stormwater drainage network across all 100 wards.

The initiative aims to eliminate waterlogging and flooding during monsoons, a recurring problem that has plagued the city for years.

At present, while underground drainage works are underway in several neighbourhoods, many residential and commercial zones continue to experience severe water stagnation and traffic disruptions due to inadequate stormwater infrastructure.

In several parts of the city, rainwater continues to flow on roads instead of being channelled into proper drains, causing accidents and damage to roads.

In the newly added areas of the corporation, the situation is worse.

Absence of stormwater drains has turned earthen roads into muddy and slippery stretches during rain, making life difficult for motorists and pedestrians alike.

Clogged existing drains filled with silt and garbage have compounded the problem by blocking the free flow of rainwater and leading to overflow in low-lying areas.

To tackle these long-standing issues, the CCMC’s engineering wing carried out an extensive field survey across all wards to pinpoint areas requiring new drains and identify existing ones that need repair or desilting.

Based on this survey, a detailed project report has been prepared, with high-risk flood-prone zones prioritised for the first phase of implementation.

According to corporation officials, the first phase of the project will cover the construction of 49 new drains spanning a total length of 116.29 kilometres across various zones. For this phase, the civic body has sought Rs 274 crore from the Directorate of Municipal Administration.

A senior official of the corporation said: “In the first phase, we have identified 49 roads covering 116.29 km and sought Rs 274 crore from the state government. Once approved, it will mark a major step towards building a flood-resilient Coimbatore.”

The project, which forms part of the city’s long-term urban infrastructure modernisation plan, is expected to be implemented in multiple stages, ensuring that both old and newly merged areas benefit from a comprehensive stormwater management system designed to withstand future monsoons.