Mumbai: A 38-year-old homemaker from Sakinaka, the wife of an auto-rickshaw driver, lost Rs 38,000 after she fell for a social media post and was later threatened and blackmailed with arrest and jail by scammers, Sakinaka police said.The FIR was registered on Wednesday after the woman was duped between July 4 and 6. Police said the scammer sent pictures in police uniform to her WhatsApp number, along with videos of people being beaten by the police, and threatened her with seven years in jail if she did not transfer money through UPI.Police said the fraud began on June 17 when the homemaker was watching reels on her Facebook account and saw a reel from a Facebook account named Indiawala. In the complaint, PS Gaikwad said: “In that reel, it was stated, ‘I am an orphan, my entire family died in a road accident. If anyone wants to connect with me, please send a ‘Hi’ to the mobile number given below.’ I felt pity for him and sent him a ‘Hi’ message. After that, I suddenly received a call from mobile number 7807594343.”Gaikwad said the caller claimed he transferred money to her account and demanded it back. “I am Aman and Rs 30,000 has been credited to your bank account. Please return it to me. I told him that I had not received any money. He then started abusing me, so I disconnected the call. Later I received multiple calls from various mobile numbers threatening me, saying the person is calling from the police station. If you don’t return the money, you will get seven years in jail,” said Gaikwad in the FIR.According to police, the scammer used a unique modus operandi and extracted money by making her transfer funds via UPI at least 28 times, including Rs 1,000 each 18 times and Rs 2,000 five times, before she realised she was duped. A police officer said, “Between July 4 and 6, they told her that if she wanted to get out of this, she should send money to the scanner they had sent, and she made 28 fund transfers for Rs 38,000 before suspecting something amiss.”Police said the complainant was left scared after the incident before she gathered courage to approach the police station with a complaint. “The team has sought details from the UPI payment and the bank’s nodal officer to track the accused. The complainant was left scared after the incident before gathering courage and approached with a complaint,” said a police officer of the Sakinaka police station.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has set aside the minister of co-operation’s order that remanded proceedings for the bifurcation of a 52-year-old housing society in Borivli (East) to the deputy registrar for a fresh decision.Justice Sandeep Marne restored orders of the deputy registrar and divisional joint registrar holding that they “rightly” rejected the proposal by recording “cogent” reasons in their respective orders. “On the other hand, the hon’ble minister has failed to record even a single valid reason for remanding the proceedings,’’ he said in Wednesday’s verdict.Madhur Naina CHSL was common for two buildings, Naina and Veena with 16 flats each. In a May 2024 special general body meeting, 18 out of 25 members present voted against bifurcation. In June 2024 a proposed society of Veena was set up. In Jan 2025, its proposal under Section 18 (power to direct division etc) of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act was rejected by the deputy registrar. In March 2025, the divisional joint registrar confirmed it. In Nov 2025, the minister set aside both orders.The society’s advocate Karl Tamboly said Veena’s eight members are against bifurcation. Advocate Shlokh Parekh, for the proposed society, said ten members support bifurcation and oppose redevelopment carried out by the petitioner-society.Justice Marne said the minister recorded “general and vague” findings. He ignored the deputy registrar’s specific finding about invalidity of the proposed society’s June 2024 resolution in absence of notice to all its members and “blindly” relied on it. Based on a feasibility report, the deputy registrar said if the society is bifurcated, members would suffer in terms of redevelopment benefits. Without considering this report, the minister recorded that the officer did not consider forming a cooperative housing association for looking after common amenities. While the minister said the deputy registrar’s order showed non application of mind about difficulties in the society’s functioning, the officer “rightly held” the dispute was only regarding redevelopment. “If at all there is any non-application of mind, the same is on the part of the hon’ble minister,” added Justice Marne.He said the proposed society took the bifurcation route to scuttle termination of an earlier developer. It was “unfortunate” that the minister “ignored this position and erroneously remanded the proceedings with a view to assist the proposed society in its devious plans of creating hurdles in the redevelopment process.” Noting that the buildings are demolished and all, except eight members, are receiving transit rent, Justice Marne said “re-adjudication of bifurcation proceedings would result in grave prejudice to other supporting members.’’

Mumbai: CM Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday alleged that the student-led protests in the country seeking accountability over paper leaks have been infiltrated by those with vested interests.“It is seen that there are people in the protests who have come not for students’ demands. The agitators must pay attention to this,” he told reporters. He said the protests have attracted all kinds of people, even those hoping to gain popularity through reels. Asked about the attack on protesters by police in Delhi this Monday, Fadnavis said policemen were assaulted and pelted with stones. On the Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, announcing a rally in support of students, he said the two are searching for their parties’ identities through such agitations. Fadnavis alleged Maharashtra’s biggest teacher eligibility test (TET) scam was during the tenure of former CM Uddhav Thackeray. “It was not just a paper leak. Candidates who failed the test were made to pass. Ministers and IAS officers faced allegations,” he said. He said recently, his govt detected irregularities before a TET and acted swiftly, preventing a paper leak. “We took action against those responsible. Those who are hiding their own record should stop pointing fingers at others,” he said.He slammed opposition parties for shying away from discussions on education and reforms in the sector, saying they would otherwise have to answer for exam paper leaks in states governed by them. “Rahul Gandhi does not have the courage to debate education because he will have to explain paper leaks in Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Every scam during their govts’ tenure will come out, and that is why they do not want a discussion,” he said. Defending the Centre, Fadnavis said the Union education budget had increased from about Rs 8,000 crore during UPA’s tenure to Rs 1.4 lakh crore now. The Centre had expanded premier institutions such as IITs and AIIMS, increased the number of seats, and created more opportunities in medical, engineering and management education, he pointed out.