Mumbai, Sep 28: The Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has written to Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, raising concerns over alleged extortion and corruption within the department.

In his letter dated September 27, Raut commended Mundhe’s crackdowns on adulterated food, fake dairy products, and unhygienic hotel kitchens. However, he cautioned that corrupt FDA officials are using these actions to target local businesses for extortion.

Raut, who posted his letter on Monday morning on his X account, alleged that Designated Officers (DOs) and Food Safety Officers (FSOs) are threatening hotels, restaurants, and quick-commerce businesses with license suspensions to demand heavy bribes.

He also claimed “rates” for closing notices have skyrocketed. According to the letter, the rate to settle a “Closing Notice” has surged from Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000 to anywhere between Rs 75,000 and Rs 2,00,000 following recent high-profile enforcement actions.

Raut identified the FDA Headquarters in Bandra and its Thane office as primary centres for these activities. He said he has received numerous complaints from small business owners across Nagpur, Pune, Solapur, Wardha, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

The letter highlighted an incident in Thane where two DOs allegedly demanded Rs 17-Rs 18 lakh from a quick-commerce company to reinstate a suspended license.

Raut also criticised suspensions triggered by unverified social media complaints, such as rodent sightings, without proper independent verification. Raut claimed that while small food vendors face harsh actions, large pharmaceutical companies with serious non-compliance issues often escape scrutiny due to political backing and corporate influence.

Raut has appealed to Mundhe to conduct an immediate investigation into the alleged “Closing Notice rate card” and license restoration rackets in Bandra, Thane, and other regional offices. He demanded that mandatory physical verification is needed before conducting raids based on customer complaints to prevent fake allegations.

He also called upon Mundhe to initiate strict disciplinary action against officers who bypass statutory due process to extort funds, launch a standalone probe into the specific Rs 17-Rs 18 lakh extortion claim involving the Thane DOs, and digitally publish all details, dates, hearing summaries, and justifications regarding license suspensions and restorations to ensure accountability.

In the letter, Raut stressed that public health protection must not become a cover for extortion, urging Mundhe to clean up his own department alongside his public enforcement actions.

Raut has forwarded a copy of the letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also.

New Delhi, Sep 28: The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of recent cases of rape and sexual assault reported in Delhi-NCR, including the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at a park near Delhi’s Kalkaji Mandir and the alleged sexual assault of a minor inside a moving sleeper bus.

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran expressed concern over the recurring incidents of sexual offences in the National Capital Region and directed the apex court registry to register a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue and list it for hearing.

The Justice Pardiwala-led Bench observed that the incidents, considered alongside other recent reports of sexual offences across Delhi-NCR, raised serious concerns regarding the functioning of law-enforcement and public administrative authorities responsible for ensuring public safety.

The Supreme Court stressed that the right to live with dignity and without fear of violence forms an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

It further observed that public spaces, including parks, roads, buses, metro stations, subways and footbridges, cannot be allowed to become high-risk zones because of inadequate lighting, surveillance, patrolling or other preventable administrative deficiencies.

The top court called for a measurable response from the authorities and stressed the need to fix accountability on those entrusted with the prevention of crime, maintenance of public order and protection of vulnerable persons.

The Supreme Court’s intervention comes amid a series of sexual offences reported in Delhi and the adjoining National Capital Region in recent weeks.

In the latest incident that triggered concern, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men posing as policemen at a park near Kalkaji Mandir in Delhi.

According to police, the girl had gone to Kalkaji Mandir with a male friend on September 22 and later entered a nearby park. The three accused allegedly approached them, claimed to be police personnel, threatened them and took their mobile phones.

The survivor later told police that two of the men took her towards an isolated part of the park, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted. She also alleged that one of the accused, identified as Asif, displayed a firearm while threatening her.

Following a PCR call, police reached the spot. Asif was subsequently apprehended after an encounter and sustained a gunshot injury. Efforts to trace the other two accused were underway.

The Supreme Court’s suo moto proceedings also cover the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl inside a moving sleeper bus in the Greater Noida-Delhi region.

The incident, reported in August, involved a girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri who had travelled towards Noida and later boarded a sleeper bus after missing her stop.

The driver and conductor of the bus allegedly sexually assaulted her and later abandoned her near Kashmere Gate in Delhi.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and issued notices to the Police Commissioners of Delhi and Gautam Buddha Nagar and the Superintendent of Police, Mainpuri, seeking reports on the investigation and compensation, if any, provided to the survivor.

Police arrested the driver and conductor and seized the sleeper bus for forensic examination. Investigators also collected CCTV footage along the route to establish the movement of the vehicle and the sequence of events.

New Delhi, Sep 28: Union Minister J.P. Nadda on Monday hit out at Congress and the INDIA bloc, accusing them of lacking policies and vision and alleging that they were now devising new ways to spread confusion and anarchy across the country.

Speaking to reporters, Nadda said that while 140 crore Indians were working tirelessly to realise the vision of a developed India and the country’s reputation was growing globally, Congress and the INDIA bloc were frustrated with the country’s progress.

“Today, when 140 crore Indians are proving the resolve of a developed India through their tireless hard work, and India’s fame is echoing on the global stage, unfortunately, Congress and the entire INDIA bloc are frustrated and hopeless seeing this progress of the country,” he said.

Nadda claimed that allegations made by the Opposition had repeatedly been countered by facts.

“All the fabricated allegations of the Opposition have been repeatedly shattered on the touchstone of facts. From the Election Commission to the highest courts of the country, the air has been blown out of every single one of their lies,” he said.

He alleged that the Opposition was attempting to create confusion in the country in the absence of policies and a clear vision.

“When they lack policies and vision, they now plot new schemes to spread confusion and anarchy across the country. We all saw a few days ago how an uproar was created across the nation over a fabricated piece of news,” Nadda said.

Referring to the ongoing political controversy surrounding the Election Commission, he accused the Opposition of attempting to undermine constitutional institutions.

“Now, when all members of the Election Commission exposed every lie they levelled, they are trying to ruin the atmosphere anew from scratch. Rahul Gandhi, listen with open ears: repeating a lie a hundred times does not make it the truth, nor does the truth get defeated,” he said.

Nadda further alleged that the ‘sole agenda’ of Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee was to ‘defame and weaken’ the country’s autonomous and constitutional institutions.

“This is the same toolkit mentality, which creates a new conspiracy every morning. Accuse, deteriorate the atmosphere of the country, and run away. This is their way of working. They don’t care about the people or the country’s pride. They only want to get into power,” he said.

His remarks came amid protests by Congress and other INDIA bloc leaders over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been at the centre of the political controversy surrounding the Election Commission of India. It was reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised concerns over certain decisions of the poll body, particularly those related to the SIR exercise. This was, however, denied by the ECI, saying all decisions were approved unanimously.