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Maharashtra

Shiv Sena plea to ECI: Ban & probe BJP’s ‘illegal, unethical Rozgar Melas’

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A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide ‘Rozgar Melas’ to hand over appointment letters to some 75,000 youth, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has registered a strong protest with the Election Commission of India (ECI), here on Friday.

The Sena (UBT) National Spokesperson Kishore Tiwari has filed a petition with the ECI, seeking for an urgent ban and a probe into the entire “planted” Rozgar Melas which he said are “illegal and unethical as they violate the All India Services (Conduct) Rules and other regulations”.

The petition contends that the Rozgar Melas were grant events organised for sheer political gains by the BJP at the Centre and contrary to all he civil services, army rules, BJP banks and other public sector undertakings which took part in the jamboree organised simultaneously all over India, sponsored by government funds.

In Maharashtra, the Rozgar Melas were spearheaded by Union Ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai), Narayan Rane (Pune) and Ramdas Athawale (Nagpur) in the presence of various party leaders on October 22, when 800 youth were given their job letters amid much fanfare.

At that time, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders like Congress’ Atul Londhe, NCP’s Mahesh Tapase and Sena (UBT)’s Tiwari had slammed the BJP for giving only 75,000 jobs against Modi’s promise in 2014 to create two crore jobs every year.

Tiwari pointed out that the service rules of all these organisations “do not recognise” or allow such events for political mileage, that too, only for the ruling BJP as no representatives of any other political parties were present.

Besides violating the services rules and regulations which prohibit such appointment letters being distributed at the hands of a political party member, he said it was even “unethical” as the ECI has already set in motion the poll process for Himachal Pradesh and other states will follow suit soon.

“Any such event with eyes to benefit the ruling party politically is not only illegal but also contrary to several judgements of the Supreme Court and the ECI’s own guidelines and Model Code of Conduct for free and fair polls without any inducements to benefit only the ruling party without giving equal opportunity to other recognises/registered parties,” Tiwari said.

His petition cites apex court rulings under Article 32, the ECI’s directions/orders, and how all Central/state government departments and other public sector undertakings are duty-bound to follow.

Despite this, Tiwari said all government organisations were compelled to organise the Rozgar Melas spending public funds and violating all rules, regulations, norms and SC orders.

In the petition, Tiwari urged the ECI to immediately ban all future Rozgar Melas, adhere to the SC orders, and probe who actually authorised such programs at public expense for the politically-motivated job fairs intended to give an edge to the BJP.

The Sena (UBT) leader added that the manner in which the job events were carried out conveyed an impression that the candidates were getting government jobs not on their own merits, but courtesy the BJP.

“This is ridiculous, illegal and immoral� What kind of loyalty will these future public servants display toward their official duties or the common people? They might only do the bidding of the BJP leaders who allegedly did a ‘favour’ by giving them government jobs, that too, after the recruitment processes were completed at least one-two years ago,” declared Tiwari.

Earlier, he had said that at the rate of 75,000 jobs, it will take over a century for the BJP to give its promised 2 crore jobs per year in the past almost 9 years and termed the pre-election Rozgar Melas as “hoax and hogwash” for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while seeking a priority hearing from the ECI for his petition.

Maharashtra

Mumbai Police arrests 367 absconding and wanted accused

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Mumbai: Police has claimed to have arrested 367 wanted criminals, including 18 who were wanted for 20 years. All these wanted criminals were declared absconders. In this, an accused wanted since 1987 has also been arrested in Azad Maidan police station, similarly an accused wanted since 1988 has also been arrested in MN Joshi Marg. These accused have been arrested from January 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026. The police have arrested these accused in this special operation to search for the absconding criminals, which is highly successful. This operation has been carried out on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti.

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Maharashtra

Public representatives should cooperate for effective implementation of SIR program in Mumbai: Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide

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Mumbai: As per the instructions of the Commission of India, the Special In-depth Review (SIR) programme is being implemented for the electoral rolls in Mumbai city and suburban districts of Mumbai. District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has appealed to the public representatives and political parties to cooperate in implementing this programme in Mumbai in a very effective manner.
In connection with the Special In-depth Review (SIR) programme, a meeting was held with representatives of various political parties at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters today (April 24, 2026). Leader of Opposition Kishori Pednekar, group leaders of various parties, representatives of various political parties were present at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation House. Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) Dr. Vipin Sharma, Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr. Ashwini Joshi, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijeet Bangar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Eastern Suburbs) Dr. Avinash Dhakne, District Collector (Mumbai City) Aanchal Goel, Joint Commissioner of Municipal Commissioner (Mumbai City) and Local Government Commissioner etc. were present.
At the beginning of the meeting, detailed information about the Special In-Depth Review Programme was provided to the representatives of political parties through a computer presentation. Apart from this, various issues were discussed in detail.
District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said that earlier a Special In-Depth Review was conducted in Maharashtra in the year 2002, i.e. about 24 years ago. The change in the voter list is necessary due to migration, double registration, illegal registration of dead voters or foreign nationals. In this regard, a Special In-depth Review (SIR) programme is being implemented in the Brihanmumbai region along with other parts of Maharashtra. This Special In-depth Review (SIR) programme will be implemented in a total of six phases, namely, pre-review period, counting period, preparation of AASD (Already Enrolled, Absent, Transferred, Dead) list, publication of draft voter list, claims and objections period and publication of final voter list. The work of voter mapping in the Brihanmumbai region (Mumbai city and Mumbai suburbs) is underway under the pre-review period. Accordingly, voters in the Special In-depth Review 2002 electoral roll are being mapped in the BLO app by searching the details in the 2024 electoral roll. Meanwhile, the cooperation of political parties is important for more effective implementation of the Special In-depth Review (SIR) programme in the Mumbai region. The Municipal Corporation has appointed Polling Station Level Officers (BLOs) for this work. On this basis, Mrs. Ashwini Bhide also appealed to the political parties to appoint Polling Station Level Assistants (BLAs) in the respective local bodies so that the revision process can be completed more efficiently, transparently and expeditiously.

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Crime

Goa Cyber Police Arrest Maharashtra Man In ₹61.84 Lakh Digital Arrest Scam Case

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Panaji: The Goa Cyber Police apprehended a 48-year-old man from Maharashtra for his alleged involvement in a major cyber fraud case amounting to Rs 61.84 lakh, police officials said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Dayanand Baburao Devalkar, a resident of Ajara in Kolhapur, was traced following an in-depth technical investigation, the office of the superintendent of police (cyber crime), Raibandar, said in a statement.

Police officials said that the funds were transferred into Devalkar’s bank account before being routed to multiple accounts belonging to his associates.

An investigation was initiated after a complaint filed by a resident of Quepem on April 13. According to the police, the fraudsters, acting as Mumbai Crime Branch officers through a WhatsApp number, allegedly threatened the complainant with fabricated allegations of money laundering linked to the banned organisation, PFI.

The accused shared fake documents, including a fraudulent bank statement and an arrest warrant, to intimidate the victim, the police said.

The complainant was subjected to a ‘digital arrest’ and coerced into transferring Rs 61,84,200 to settle the alleged case, the police statement said.

A team led by Sub-Inspector Navin Naik, alongside constables Sidaramaiyya Math and Vinay Amonkar, conducted the raid in Ajara to secure the arrest of the accused.

The investigation is being conducted by Inspector Deepak Pednekar under the supervision of Assistant Superintendent of Police BV Sridevi and Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Raju Raut Desai.

This arrest follows a surge in ‘digital arrest’ scams across the coastal state.

In February, a Porvorim resident lost nearly Rs 15 lakh in a similar ruse involving fake narcotics officials. In late 2023, the Goa Police issued a public advisory after several professionals reported being held on video calls for hours by individuals posing as officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The arrested accused is being produced before the court to seek police custody.

The police are currently tracking the secondary bank accounts to identify the wider network involved in the syndicate.

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