Mumbai: In a shocking incident, a 78-year-old woman was brutally murdered in Bandra East, and the Kherwadi police solved the case within 24 hours, arresting the accused from Thane. The victim, identified as Saubhagyamma Kathimyunar, a resident of Dharavi, was found unconscious on a footpath near an RNA building in Bandra East on April 27.

She was rushed to Sion Hospital, where doctors declared her dead before admission. Initially, the case was registered as an accidental death.

However, the post-mortem report revealed that the woman had been strangled and assaulted with a blunt object, prompting police to register a murder case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 

During the investigation, police examined CCTV footage and tracked a suspect seen near the crime scene. The accused, identified as Bhanudas Vitthal Kamble (44), was later arrested from Thane. According to police, the incident occurred on the night of April 26.

The accused had come to Bandra for a function and was urinating on the roadside when the elderly woman objected and abused him. Enraged, he picked up a brick and hit her on the head. When she continued shouting, he strangled her, killing her on the spot. 

The accused later fled the scene but was traced using CCTV footage and local intelligence inputs. He has confessed to the crime and is currently in police custody. 

Chaos unfolded at Virar station on Monday morning as thousands of commuters took to the tracks, halting train services in protest against a key timetable change by Western Railway. The sudden conversion of the 8.28 am Virar Churchgate local into an air conditioned service triggered widespread anger, with passengers raising slogans against the administration.

The protest quickly escalated, bringing peak hour traffic to a standstill. Several trains on the Western line were delayed by 10 to 15 minutes, affecting thousands of daily travellers. Police personnel were deployed at the station to control the situation and disperse the crowd.

commuters expressed frustration over what they described as poor planning. An AC local was already operational at 8.33 am, and the addition of another at 8.28 am left only a five minute gap between two premium services. Passengers argued that this effectively reduced the number of regular locals, worsening overcrowding in the remaining trains.

Protesters said that while modernisation is welcome, it should not come at the cost of affordable travel. Many demanded that new AC services be introduced without replacing existing non AC trains.

The 8.28 am train is considered a lifeline for office goers, students, and workers travelling from the Virar Vasai belt. With AC fares significantly higher, many commuters said the shift has disrupted their daily budgets.

Angry passengers pointed out that overcrowding is already a major issue, and the reduction in regular services forces them to travel in unsafe conditions. “We are being pushed into more crowded trains or expensive options,” said one commuter.

Railway passenger groups have urged authorities to reconsider the decision and restore normal services. Officials are working to stabilise operations, but the protest has once again highlighted the delicate balance between infrastructure upgrades and commuter affordability in Mumbai’s lifeline rail network.

Mumbai: The Charkop police have arrested a woman wanted in a fraud case linked to a Kandivali-based overseas education consultancy accused of cheating students by promising admissions abroad.

The arrested accused, Shraddha Vitthal Gadekar, had been absconding for five months. The firm owners, Stella Rakesh Mehta and Rakesh Mehta, are co-accused and remain at large.

Police said similar cases have also been registered against the couple in Mumbai and Thane. According to the complaint filed by Kandivali resident Dr Nehal Joshi, he approached the consultancy, Career and Options, for his daughter’s admission to a Master of Trade and Logistics course at Wittenborg University in the Netherlands.

Police said the accused assured the family of admission and asked them to transfer fees to the firm’s account. Joshi later obtained an education loan and transferred over ₹10 lakh.

However, the university informed the family that no payment had been received. The accused later shut their office and fled. Gadekar was produced before a Borivali court, while police are searching for the other accused.