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Visitors will not be allowed inside Puja pandals: Calcutta HC

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A day after the West Bengal government lifted the night restrictions during the Durga Puja festival, the Calcutta High Court said that Puja pandals will have to be treated as ‘containment zones’ and visitors will not be allowed to enter inside them.

The same will be applied for the Kali Puja also, which comes around 20 days after the Durga Puja.

Passing an order on a PIL filed by Howrah resident Ajay Kumar Dey pledging to impose last year’s restrictions during the Durga Puja to contain the spread of Covid-19, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Bindal said the visitors will not be allowed inside the Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal this year as well. He also said all the restrictions imposed by the court last year will remain the same.

The Advocate General, who appeared for the state, said the state government has no objections if the court imposes these kinds of restrictions for the greater benefit of the people.

Last year the division bench of the high court comprising Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee, hearing a public interest litigation filed by the same person, said that no visitors would be allowed to enter the marquees.

For small pandals, barricades will have to be put up five metres from the entrance, while for the bigger ones, the distance has to be 10 metres, the court had ordered.

There should be no-entry boards at the barricades, it had said.

The court also had ordered that only 15 to 25 persons belonging to the organising committees will be allowed to enter the pandals.

The court had also said that the organisers will have to distribute masks and sanitisers to the visitors, do awareness campaigns and make continuous announcements so that the people get aware of the impending threat of the disease.

This year all these restrictions will remain active during the Durga Puja and Kali Puja celebration.

Crime

Mumbai Crime: 3 Arrested For Killing Senior Citizen Over Property Dispute In Kandivali; Sticks, Wooden Stumps & Stones Used During Assault

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Mumbai: The Kandivali police arrested three individuals for the murder of a 60-year-old man. The accused have been identified as Avdhesh Chauhan, Sanjay Chauhan, and Kamlesh Chauhan. They forced their way into the residence of the deceased, Ramlakhan Yadav, claiming it belonged to them, and physically assaulted him. During treatment, Yadav succumbed to his injuries at Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali West.

According to the police, on September 5, the accused forcibly entered Yadav’s residence, claimed ownership of the property, and began verbally abusing and physically assaulting him and his family. They attacked them with sticks, bamboo, stumps, and stones, causing Yadav to sustain serious injuries. His family rushed him to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali West, where doctors treated him, after which he was discharged and returned home.

The next day, he complained of chest pain, and his family brought him back to Shatabdi Hospital at around 5.30 pm. While undergoing treatment in the ICU, doctors declared him dead at around 7.45 pm.

The Kandivali police registered a case under Section 109 (1) (attempt to murder) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and subsequently arrested the accused.

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Crime

Vasai-Virar Illegal Construction Scam: ED Gets Custody Of Suspended Ex-VVCMC Deputy Director YS Reddy In Money Laundering Case

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Mumbai: The special PMLA court has allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take the custody of YS Reddy, suspended deputy director of town planning of the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC), in the money laundering case linked to illegal constructions.

Apart from him, ex-VVCMC chief, IAS officer Anil Pawar, and builder duo, Sitaram Gupta and Arun Gupta, have been arrested. They were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days on August 20, however, the ED had reserved its right to obtain their custody for further interrogation.

Reddy was remanded to ED custody till Monday after the agency submitted that he needs to be questioned regarding the huge amount of cash and jewellery found at his residence.

The ED sought Reddy’s after a civic employee allegedly gave a statement that he along with Pawar forced him to collect and deliver bribes to them. The employee revealed that while big architects and builders had access to meet Pawar at his official residence, smaller architects would send their representatives with him to deliver cash to Pawar’s cook or other staff, said the officials.

The employee has also provided a list of 457 commencement certificates (CC) issued for projects in ‘Urban Zone’ and 129 CCs for D-Zone in lieu of bribes, they added.

The agency said that it has also recorded the statement of an architect on September 1, who claimed that Pawar and Reddy sought bribes for granting CCs. The architect said that he has negotiated and facilitated payment of bribes to the duo, as per the statement.

Besides, ED prosecutor Kavita Patil referred to the August 29 statement of a builder, who claimed that he had paid Rs4.28 crore in bribes, which were collected at a rate of Rs30 per sq ft, to the accused. The builder also claimed that he had paid around Rs15 crore to Reddy and Pawar for various approvals granted by them, said Patil.

However, Reddy’s lawyer argued that he has already given explanation to the adjudicating authority regarding the valuables seized from his residence and that seeking custody was the ED’s tactic not to submit its reply, as directed, in this regard by September 10.

Accepting the ED’s contention, the court said, “Considering the statements of witnesses and the list of CCs, the investigation cannot be completed in a proper manner without Reddy’s custody.”

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Crime

Man Who Threatened To Blow Up Mumbai With 34 Human Bombs & 400Kg RDX Ahead Of Ganpati Visarjan 2025, Arrested In Noida

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Mumbai: In a swift and coordinated operation, the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a 50-year-old man from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, within 24 hours after he allegedly threatened to blow up the city using human bombs and 400 kg of RDX explosives.

According to officials, on September 4, 2025, at 2:57 pm, an unidentified person sent a WhatsApp message to the government-issued mobile number of the Mumbai Traffic Control Room in Worli. The message claimed that a massive terror attack would be carried out in Mumbai using human bombs and explosives.

The threat, which came amid the backdrop of Ganesh Visarjan celebrations in the city, was taken very seriously given the potential to disrupt law and order. Acting swiftly, the Crime Branch used technical investigation and intelligence-based tracking to trace the accused. With assistance from Gautam Buddh Nagar Police in Noida, the suspect — Ashwinikumar Sureshkumar Supra (50) — was arrested. The mobile phone used to send the threatening message has also been seized.

The case has been registered under Sections 196(1)(A)(B), 351(2), 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Worli Police Station.

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