Seeking bail, the accused claimed he was merely an agent and investor who introduced prospective investors to the company directors

Mumbai: The special MPID court has rejected the bail plea of Naeem Sarvar Musa Anjum alias Nayeem Sarwar Moosa Anjum, a key accused in the alleged ₹61.10 crore Dream Sunshine Digital Pvt Ltd investment fraud, in which more than 10,000 investors were promised attractive returns.Designated MPID Judge Vikram R. Jagdale rejected Anjum’s bail plea after the prosecution strongly opposed his bail, claiming that Anjum, along with company directors Amanat Ali Ansari and Abdul Rahim Ansari and other co-accused, induced investors to invest in schemes floated by Dream Sunshine Digital Pvt Ltd by promising attractive returns. The EOW had in March this year registered an offence an offence of cheating against Amanat Ansari and his partners, namely Rahim Ansari, Navajis Ansari, Naeem Sarvar and Yogini Shikhe, who conspired with each other and induced the complainant and his relatives to invest in their business of mineral water, sugar, dates and construction, promising 5% returns and high profits and duped them. Police alleged that 2,907 investors were cheated of over ₹61.10 crore.Seeking bail, Anjum claimed he was merely an agent and investor who introduced prospective investors to the company directors. He contended that he and his family had invested ₹1.47 crore in the company and had no role in its day-to-day affairs. The defence also argued that only 22 out of more than 150 witnesses had made allegations against him and offered to repay investors through funds lying in his frozen bank accounts.Opposing the plea, on behalf of investors advocates Shane Ilahi Karim Pathan, Fazal Shaikh and Shoaib Shaikh. and the police stated that over 10,000 investors had been affected and the investigation was still expanding as more victims continued to come forward. Police alleged that Anjum maintained seven bank accounts through which he received approximately ₹25.54 crore between 2016 and 2026 before transferring funds to the main accused and their relatives. The agency further claimed that the prime accused remain absconding and that Anjum had not cooperated with the investigation.The court observed that the allegations involved a large-scale financial scheme affecting thousands of investors and noted the applicant’s alleged nexus with the absconding directors. Holding that there was a possibility of witness tampering and interference with the ongoing investigation, the court ruled that granting bail at this stage could adversely affect both the criminal proceedings and the recovery process under the MPID Act. The court said considering the magnitude of the alleged fraud, the court rejected Anjum’s bail application.

According to transport department officials, the deadline for drivers to complete Marathi language training ended on Aug 15

Mumbai: With working knowledge of Marathi being made mandatory for auto taxi drivers from Aug 18, those caught by RTO flying squads will be served a show-cause notice, granting them one month to learn the language and explain why action should not be initiated against them.As per the amended Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Rules, the action against non-compliant drivers will follow a three-step process.Under the first stage, RTO flying squads will conduct random checks to assess drivers’ proficiency in functional Marathi. Drivers found lacking adequate knowledge will be issued a show-cause notice and will get a month to learn the basic language. An RTO official said on Saturday that the govt programme where RTO offices trained the drivers “was not being extended at present” and such drivers may have to learn the language through private course.Second, if a driver fails to comply with the showcause notice and does not acquire the required language skills within the stipulated period, the department will suspend the driving licence for three months.For a repeated violation, authorities will issue a second notice, following which the driver’s licence may be revoked under the provisions of the amended law, officials said.Meanwhile, the state transport department has prepared over a lakh certificates on Friday and Saturday and will distribute them to auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers who have completed the basic Marathi language course conducted across Maharashtra’s 58 Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) over the past 3 months. Sources in RTOs said that these certificates will be kept by drivers who will show it to checking squads and may act as “immunity” from action against them for the ongoing. Marathi language issue.The certificates will be distributed at special functions organised simultaneously at all 58 RTOs on Monday. Drivers from across the state are expected to gather at their respective RTOs to participate in a live-streaming of a major felicitation ceremony being held at Ram Ganesh Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane. At the event, a section of drivers who completed the Marathi course will be honoured by CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar.According to transport department officials, the deadline for drivers to complete Marathi language training ended on Aug 15.The transport department said the initiative is aimed at improving communication between public transport drivers and commuters while promoting wider use of Marathi in public-facing services across the state. The emphasis is on auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers having functional knowledge of Marathi to ensure effective communication with passengers.

The tribunal calculated the compensation based on income tax returns, determining an average annual income of over Rs 35 lakh for the deceased

Mumbai: In one of the largest compensation payouts involving BEST, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has directed the transport undertaking to pay nearly Rs 5.25 crore (inclusive of interest) to the Mahim-based wife and children of a 55-year-old interior designer, killed by a speeding bus in 2018 while crossing the service road of Eastern Express Highway near Mulund to return to his car after answering nature’s call.BEST, represented by BMC, alleged that Hemant Joshi was talking on a mobile phone while crossing the road indiscriminately and failed to notice the approaching bus or hear the horn before colliding with the vehicle. Rejecting the defence, the tribunal relied heavily on the police investigation, the charge sheet and eyewitness deposition from Joshi’s assistant, who confirmed the reckless driving of the bus driver. “In the present case, documents filed on record are sufficient to prove the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle,” the tribunal said.The tribunal calculated the compensation based on income tax returns, determining an average annual income of over Rs 35 lakh for the deceased. The tribunal ordered that 60% of the amount with accrued interest be paid to the wife, while 20% each with accrued interest be paid to the son and daughter. BMC was directed to deposit the apportioned amounts directly into the applicants’ bank accounts through NEFT or RTGS within two months.The claim was presented before the tribunal on Aug 10, 2018, by Joshi’s wife Bhagyashree, son Yashodhan and daughter Esha. Joshi’s mother, Shakuntala Joshi, was originally a claimant but died during the pendency of the proceedings and was deleted from the array of applicants.According to the claimants, Joshi had gone to VFS Global at Urmi Estate in Lower Parel on May 15, 2018, along with driver Subhash Baburao Gadekar and assistant Sachin Ramesh Chavan. After finishing work, the three proceeded towards Thane in Joshi’s car. Around 2.30 pm, when the car reached the Eastern Express Highway service road on the Thane flank at Mulund, Joshi asked the driver to stop because he wanted to attend nature’s call.The claim said that after attending nature’s call, Joshi was walking back towards the car with due care and caution when a BEST bus came at excessive speed. The family alleged that the bus was driven rashly and negligently, the driver lost control, and the bus gave a forceful dash to Joshi. The impact caused severe multiple injuries, including skull and pelvic fractures. Gadekar and Chavan took Joshi to Fortis Hospital, where Joshi died during treatment on May 17, 2018.The police registered offences for causing death by negligence and rash and negligent driving. The claim relied on the FIR, post-mortem report, wound certificate, death certificate, medical papers, hospital bills, charge sheet and income tax returns.BMC claimed that the bus was travelling from Mulund Bus Depot to Prabodhankar Thackeray Udyan, and that after the driver halted at the Bhandup PVM bus stop and proceeded, Joshi came in front of the bus. BMC said the driver sounded the horn and stopped the bus, but Joshi allegedly continued walking and collided with the left side of the bus. The tribunal did not find substance in the allegations.For assessing compensation, the tribunal considered Joshi’s income tax returns. His chartered accountant deposed that Joshi was running an interior designing business under the name Hemant Joshi and Associates as a proprietor and that the returns had been e-filed through the accountant.Since Joshi was self-employed and the income fluctuated, the tribunal took the average of three previous assessment years. The tribunal noted his age and also added 10% towards future prospects and deducted one-fourth towards personal expenses because there were four dependants at the time of the accident.The tribunal also accepted components: medical expenses, loss of dependency, loss of estate and funeral expenses.

The court rejected the argument that filing of the chargesheet and recording of the victim’s statement removed the need for the condition

Mumbai: Reiterating that an accused’s right to earn a livelihood cannot supersede the need to protect a rape survivor from continuous physical proximity to the alleged perpetrator, a sessions court rejected a plea by a 51-year-old pan shop owner —accused of repeatedly raping a woman suffering from intellectual disability and getting her pregnant — to relax his bail conditions so he could reopen his shop near her residence.The accused, who faces the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, was arrested in April 2025 and granted bail three months later, subject to a condition that during the pendency of the trial he would not enter the vicinity where the victim (24) resides until the final decision of the case.The judge noted that the existence of its powers to modify bail conditions does not mean that they are liable to be relaxed merely because the accused subsequently finds the condition inconvenient or financially burdensome. “The applicant does not seek merely to pass through the locality for an unavoidable purpose. He seeks permission to open and conduct his pan shop at or near the entrance of the very building in which the victim resides…Permitting the applicant…would substantially nullify the very object and purpose of the condition imposed while granting bail,” judge Ashwini V Kasture said on Friday.The court rejected the argument that filing of the chargesheet and recording of the victim’s statement removed the need for the condition. “Personal or financial inconvenience cannot be considered in isolation when the proposed activity would bring the accused into the immediate vicinity of the victim in a case involving allegations of a serious sexual offence.” The order noted that no material showed that operating the same pan shop at the same location was the only possible means of livelihood for the accused.Through his advocate, the accused sought relaxation of the condition, saying the investigation had been completed, the chargesheet had been filed, and the victim’s statement had already been recorded. The accused submitted that he was the only earning member of the family, had been without work for about six months, was in financial difficulty, had no criminal antecedents, and had complied with all bail conditions. He claimed false implication and argued that there was no material to support the offences alleged.The prosecution case was that the complainant lived with her mother at the address mentioned in the FIR and that the accused, who ran a pan shop, visited the house, gave Rs 500 to the victim’s mother, offered food to the victim, established physical relations, and threatened the victim not to disclose the incident. Special public prosecutor Ranjana Budhwant opposed the plea.Advocate Lorna Carvaloho, appearing for the intervenor-victim, opposed the plea strongly. The intervenor submitted that the accused was the prime accused and that permitting the pan shop to reopen at the entrance of the victim’s building would create fear and insecurity. The intervenor also claimed that the victim continued to suffer trauma, and that the DNA report was still awaited.

Mumbai: The fortunes of Alexandra Cinema, a famous single screen theatre in Nagpada, rose and ebbed like ocean tides in the last 105 years since it was founded by Ardeshir Irani and Abdulally Esoofally in 1921. Once a favourite haunt of movie-goers for its Sunday Hollywood classics, it gradually fell into disrepute for showing X-rated fare. In 2007 the last film was screened, and around 2011, Alexandra transformed into an Islamic study and prayer centre. Now it is set to be demolished to make way for a residential complex.Audiences recall the magic of watching movies in such standalone theatres in the 1960s-70s where a samosa and ticket cost Rs 2-5 each. Spectators would freely whistle and applaud when Amitabh Bachchan beat Mohan Sherry in Trishul, laugh heartily at Mahmood’s antics in Ginny Aur Johnny, and throw coins at Jayshree T’s mujra ‘Humne maana hum pe saajan’ (Dada).Glitzy multiplexes are a different prospect, say critics, adding tickets and food are prohibitively expensive and collective outpouring of emotion is seldom witnessed.The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) provided TOI an updated list of June 2026 which shows that only 45-50 single screen cinema halls remain functional in MMR. The rest, around 125, have closed down. A requiem is being written every other week.Owners of single screen theatres say that faulty govt policies including high taxes, electricity bills, tiresome licence procedures and lack of incentives have left them suffocated. In fact, tax holidays are granted to multiplexes owned by rich corporates. The prospect of redevelopment is enticing — only if the mandate to include a movie hall in the new premises is removed, they say.Senior film critic Rajiv Vijayakar says, “I have watched movies in single screen theatres across India because my father had a transferable job. The atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the audience cannot be compared to a multiplex. Rarely do you see people clapping now — maybe in some cases like Dhurandhar.”He recalls, “Decades ago I had gone for a short three-day holiday to Mussourie, and every afternoon, I would visit a particular 50-seater theatre to watch films. I remember seeing CID 909, Shehnai and Yaadein. In Delhi I watched Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia in Sheela Cinema, which had installed the first 70 mm screen in India. In Chennai I recall going to a nice theatre located in the basement of a building.”Vijayakar moved to Bandra in the 1970s where Bandra Talkies and New Talkies became his standard haunt followed by Gaiety-Galaxy. “Of course it was a lovely era but let me not omit the occasional rat sightings in single screen halls,” he laughs. He recommends that the govt grant a tax holiday to single screens to revive them.The challenge of OTT and web series is not the sole hurdle. Nitin Datar, past president of COEAI, spells out a series of factors that have brought the curtains down on single screen theatres. “The first cause would be the [unfavourable] policies of the govt of Maharashtra, like very high property tax, electricity rates and [cumbersome] licence renewal. Then, multiplexes which were the new entrants were given a tax holiday for a period of five years, and in that duration, they earned around Rs 15-20 crores. But when our single screens asked govt for a similar incentive to compete with multiplexes, we were denied it and left high and dry,” he says.“Thereafter the Maharashtra govt gave a tax free scheme like multiplexes to theatres in the state — except in corporation areas like Mumbai and Pune. But after GST was introduced, govt discontinued this policy. Meanwhile exhibitors had spent a huge amount on renovation — and they came into losses. Then the govt almost put compulsion on single screen theatres to go for digital projection and computerised ticketing. So first we used to sell paper tickets, now it was computerised. And the benefit of this was taken by agencies who monopolised the process,” Datar says.If that were not enough, big distributors and producers were acting like a “monopoly” cartel. “Due to pressure by multiplexes, they did not supply films to all the single screen theatres,” he says.COEAI and other associations requested the govt for subsidy and loans so single screens could survive and compete, to no avail.Datar is presently renovating his own Uday Cinema in Ghatkopar into a commercial complex, including two screens in the mandatory cinema hall.A high profile revival in recent years was that of Eros Cinema, Churchgate, in Jan 2024. A spokesman for Metro Realty which owns the theatre said, “The redevelopment of Eros was a capital intensive and challenging project, envisioning adaptive reuse of spaces in an iconic heritage building. It now houses an IMAX cinema, flagship store and ten dining options.” Similar financial backing is often not available to single screens in non-prime locations.Kapil Bhopatkar’s family has owned Bharatmata Cinema in Lalbaug since 1941. The hall underwent a full makeover in March. Bhopatkar says, “The challenges for a single screen are multiple. Firstly we have no control over the content that we screen. I don’t make the films that I exhibit at Bharatmata. After all only if the film does well, the theatre does well. Moreover, we pay unusually high electricity bills because we are charged at a commercial rate. We pay huge sums in property taxes and of course there are vast upgradation costs. We need some kind of govt support and ease of licencing regulations. Those owners who want to exit the business and apply for change of user should be allowed to go.”Bharatmata has been revamped in a tie-up with One Cinemas, Rajat Haksar and Sunil Patil. “Ours is a heritage structure so we retained the exterior but changed the interiors — chairs, AC, a bigger screen, better sound and 2K projections.”Even as newer direct to home technology and OTT overtakes the cinematic experience, several generations of film lovers long for that one Drive-In or Navrang that did not force them to break the piggy bank.

Mumbai: A junior college student was killed after the bike he was riding pillion on was hit by a speeding tempo near Jari Mari Maxus Cinema in Sakinaka, and he was thrown in the air before landing on the road and suffering severe chest injuries, police said.Sakinaka police said they arrested the tempo driver, Mohammed Rizwan (29), after he was traced with the help of a photograph of the vehicle shot by a pedestrian on a mobile phone. The deceased, Wakas Shaikh, a second-year science student, succumbed to injuries 12 hours later while undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar.Shaikh was on leave for the last few days and had resumed Class 12 only three days ago after recovering from ill health. “My nephew left for college as usual at 6.45pm and learnt about the accident when I and my elder brother Ahmed (Wakas’s father) was in the same office where we are employed. At 12.53pm my brother received a call on his mobile from Central Hospital in Sakinaka informing that Wakas had met with an accident near Jari Mari Maxus Cinema in Sakinaka. We rushed to the hospital and saw Wakas was undergoing medical treatment in the ICU,” the deceased’s uncle Faizal Riyaz Ahmed Shaikh (31) told TOI on Saturday.The doctor told the deceased’s uncle that his nephew was in a critical condition due to a chest injury from the vehicle collision. “A person, Umar, who brought him to the hospital had taken a photo of the vehicle that hit my nephew and caused the accident on his mobile. He sent that photo to Wakas’s father which we shared with the police,” said Faizal.Police said Shaikh was riding pillion with his college friend when the speeding tempo hit their bike from behind. “He was riding pillion with his college friend when the speeding tempo hit their bike from behind. He succumbed at 2.10am on Aug 12,” said the police.Sakinaka police senior inspector Avinash Mandle said Rizwan was apprehended a few hours later after he sped from the spot fearing an attack by a furious mob. He was charged with causing death by negligence and rash or negligent driving, and was released on bail after serving notice as the section amounts to less than seven years’ imprisonment.Wakas was the eldest among the five siblings of Ayaz Shaikh.