Navi Mumbai: The Additional District and Sessions Judge at Belapur has sentenced two accused to life imprisonment in connection with a 2020 murder case that occurred under the jurisdiction of the Rabale MIDC police station. The convicts have been identified as Jisat alias Jisan Siddiqui and Lakshmi Rupesh Waghe.

Investigation revealed that Lakshmi Waghe was in an illicit relationship with Jisan, and together they conspired to murder her husband, Rupesh Waghe, who had become an obstacle in their affair.

Lakshmi Waghe, a resident of the Rabale MIDC area, was living with Jisan Siddiqui, with whom she shared an extramarital relationship. Frequent quarrels over this issue led to Lakshmi and her husband living separately. In January 2020, Rupesh visited his wife’s house to meet their daughter and discovered that she was living with Jisan. Angered, he confronted Lakshmi, which enraged both her and Jisan. The duo first assaulted him with fists and kicks, after which Lakshmi attacked Rupesh on the head and limbs with an iron sickle. Jisan then threw a cement block at Rupesh, attempting to kill him.

Rupesh sustained severe injuries and was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment. Following the incident, the Rabale MIDC police registered a case against Lakshmi Waghe and her lover Jisan alias Jisan Siddiqui under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 4 and 25 of the Arms Act, and arrested both the accused.

Then Police Inspector Anil Patil investigated the case and submitted the charge sheet to the Belapur Sessions Court. The trial was conducted in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge P. A. Sane. During the hearing, Special Public Prosecutor Yogendra Patil presented strong arguments and credible witness evidence, which the court accepted. On October 28, the court convicted both accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 500 each, and in default, one month of simple imprisonment.

Senior Police Inspector Sunil Waghmare and Crime PI Kalpana Jadhav supervised the case. Police Sub-Inspector Ghodke (paravi officer), Court Constable S.N. Kamble, Rajesh Salgar, and Police Constable S.T. Shinde played key roles in ensuring the conviction through their dedicated efforts.

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.