Siddhivinayak temple trustees said a staffer arrested for theft was affiliated with Shiv Sena (UBT)

Mumbai: The trustees of Siddhivinayak temple have refused to resign in the wake of the controversy involving alleged embezzlement of temple funds and blamed staffers appointed by the erstwhile dispensation under Uddhav Thackeray for a series of thefts. MNS chief Raj Thackeray had alleged that Rs 18 crore was being stolen from the temple’s public donations every year.Calling themselves whistleblowers, the trustees, led by chairman and senior Shiv Sena politician Sada Sarvankar, told reporters that they caught nine employees for theft in March and wrote to the law and judiciary department seeking a probe. “Once we stopped the scam, the temple’s income increased from Rs 40-45 lakh to Rs 80-90 lakh per month,” said Sarvankar.The law and judiciary department has asked the temple to furnish a report and reportedly ordered two senior accused officials, who handle the temple’s day-to-day management, to reply to its notice within seven days.Asked if the trustees would take accountability and resign, like Champat Rai and Anil Kumar Mishra did over the Ram temple donations theft, Sarvankar and another trustee, Rahul Londhe, refused. “Why should we resign? For exposing the case?” Sarvankar said.An employee, Rajendra Pendurkar, who had been working at the temple since 2009, was arrested in March for stealing cash from the donation box. Within a few days, eight staffers were arrested for stealing money through a “skimming” racket. All arrested employees were permanent staffers and Rs 80,000 was recovered from them. The sum embezzled is expected to be far higher.Sarvankar claimed that Pendurkar was affiliated to his rival Shiv Sena (UBT) shakha in Prabhadevi and was hired by former mayor Vishakha Raut of Sena (UBT).“We did not write a letter to deputy CM Shinde (as claimed by Raj) seeking an inquiry. We approached the law and judiciary department for an audit and probe,” said Londhe. Sarvankar claimed this was a plot to defame Shinde and the temple trust.Sarvankar and Londhe said shortcomings such as employees not being frisked upon exit, touts taking money to facilitate darshan, CCTV footage not being monitored will be addressed.A series of thefts and misdemeanours have plagued Siddhivinayak temple over the years. In 2021, a group of flower-sellers and shopkeepers, acting as touts, were arrested for arranging out-of-turn darshan for devotees in return for a fee. The fraud was run online by booking all available slots for darshan.

Bhiwandi: Police probing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) paper leak said that the accused stole defective copies from a disposal box and concealed them inside their shoes before passing them on to the alleged kingpin of the racket.Investigators said question papers with minor printing defects or ink marks were discarded in a disposal box inside the printing press. During the investigation, police found that the disposal area lacked adequate surveillance, enabling two workers to allegedly retrieve the rejected papers before they were destroyed.According to police sources, Babulal Kushwaha, a printing press employee for nearly 20 years, allegedly stole the defective question papers from the disposal box during the printing process. He allegedly took the help of Naresh Kumar Mahaur alias Niki, a temporary worker employed on an hourly basis, to conceal the papers beneath the soles of their shoes and smuggle them out of the premises.Investigators said that the papers were then handed over to former printing press employee Sonu Diwakar, who passed them on to Sanjay Sharma before they finally reached the alleged mastermind, Bijendra Gupta.Police sources said Bijendra had earlier tasked Sonu with monitoring the printing press and alerting him whenever confidential examination papers were printed. Sonu allegedly maintained contact with Kushwaha and Niki, who informed him once TET paper printing began.Investigators further claimed that Kushwaha, who reportedly earned around Rs 15,000 a month, and Niki, who was paid Rs 45 per hour and earned about Rs 400-500 a day during peak work periods, were allegedly promised financial rewards for their role.Police alleged that Bijendra initially paid the two around Rs 8,000 to facilitate the theft and assured them that he would buy them plots from the proceeds earned after selling the leaked papers.Meanwhile, after completing 15 days of police custody, all 15 accused were produced before a Bhiwandi court on Monday. The court remanded them in judicial custody.DCP Pawan Bansod dismissed news reports that said the accused were planning to leak examination papers for recruitment of assistant professors in colleges and universities.

Mumbai: An estate agent’s house was burgled and gold ornaments and other valuables worth Rs 16 lakh were stolen in Sion when he, along with his family members, left for a relative’s house. This is the second burglary in a year. Police suspect involvement of some known person as the burglary took place exactly 15 minutes after the victim’s family left the house.The complainant, Nikhil Joshi (36), who is into real estate, said on Saturday he had left his residence around noon along with his parents, wife and two children in their car to visit his aunt in Chakala, Andheri. Around 6.30 pm, his neighbour informed his mother on the phone that the safety door and main door of their house were open and the latch appeared to have been broken.The Sion police are scanning the CCTV footage to identify the biker and a pillion rider who came wearing helmets and broke the doors.Joshi immediately alerted the police and returned home around 7.15 pm. On entering the house, he found the cupboards in his parents’ and his own bedrooms open. Clothes and belongings were scattered on beds and the floor, while the cupboards appeared to have been forcibly opened using a tool.The family subsequently checked their valuables and found gold and silver ornaments, silver utensils, cash and foreign currency missing. The stolen property included Rs 1.2 lakh in cash, Dubai currency worth around Rs 1.3 lakh, seven pairs of gold earrings, two pairs of gold mangalsutras, a gold kada, a gold chain with two lockets, gold rings, bangles and a Rudraksha gold chain. The complainant’s family is still estimating the valuables and the figure could go up.The thieves also allegedly took several silver articles, including plates, glasses, lotas, bowls, a silver set, jewellery and a silver coin, besides a Rado wristwatch.The complainant told police that CCTV footage from the building showed two unidentified persons wearing helmets and black raincoats entering the premises around 12.18 pm. The duo were allegedly seen emerging from his residence, with one of them changing the direction of the CCTV camera before both left the building around 12.31 pm.Sion Police have registered a case against two unidentified persons and are examining the CCTV footage to identify the suspects. The total value of the stolen property has been estimated at Rs 16 lakh.

Mumbai: Vector-borne diseases surged across the city in July, with malaria and dengue cases more than doubling and a spike recorded in leptospirosis and gastrointestinal infections compared with the previous month.In June, cases stood at 655 for malaria, 266 for dengue, 7 for chikungunya, 33 for leptospirosis and 603 for gastro. In July, the reported cases increased to 1,380 for malaria, 466 for dengue, 7 for chikungunya, 78 for leptospirosis, 851 for gastro, 58 for COVID-19 and 105 for H1N1.Malaria followed a similar trend as last year, while there has been a fall in reported dengue cases. An increase in malaria cases is being observed in the following wards: E Ward (Byculla, Madanpura, Mazgaon), K-West Ward (Andheri, Nehru Nagar, Amboli), G-South Ward (BDD Chawl, Sasmira), F-South Ward (Parel, Bhoiwada, Sewri) and H-West Ward (Hill Road, Turner Road, Perry Cross Road).Meanwhile, an increase in lepto cases is seen in the F-North Ward (Bharatiya Kamla Nagar, Sangam Nagar, GTB Nagar), M-East Ward (Bharat Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Shivaji Nagar), T Ward (Gautam Nagar, Dargah Road, Ambika Nagar), K-East Ward (Nani Mamoo Chawl, Saki Naka, Chakala MIDC) and G-North Ward (Dharavi).BMC health department officials said surveillance teams surveyed over 6.5 lakh households in July, provided preventive antibiotic treatment for lepto to 51,000 residents and carried out vector and rodent control operations, tracing and destroying mosquito breeding sources. A total of 42,284 buildings were fogged for mosquito control and 3,406 rats were caught.

The arrested accused have been identified as Yash Babare, a Vikhroli resident; Pratik Shinde of Pune; Aniket Godse of Satara and Sameer Kuchekar, alias SK, of Pune.

MUMBAI: Powai police have arrested four persons for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a 28-year-old content creator who had posted videos criticising a Chinese betting app and warning people against it.Police said the victim, Vikhroli resident Chetan Deolkar, was allegedly kidnapped from Powai on July 26 and assaulted inside a moving SUV for nearly 12 hours before being abandoned at Kalamboli late that night. The case was solved within 24 hours of Deolkar approaching the police, officials said.The arrested accused have been identified as Yash Babare, a Vikhroli resident; Pratik Shinde of Pune; Aniket Godse of Satara and Sameer Kuchekar, alias SK, of Pune.According to police, the accused were allegedly involved in making reels promoting a Chinese betting app and objected to Deolkar’s videos criticising it. They allegedly called him to Panchkutir in Powai on the pretext of discussing the matter before abducting him.Deolkar approached Powai police after seeking medical treatment. “Since the complainant was scared at the time, he sought medical treatment and then came to Powai Police Station to file a complaint. His statement was recorded, and a case has been registered against Yash Babare, Pratik Shinde, Aniket Godse, Sameer Kuchekar alias S.K., and three other unknown persons who were with them,” said a police officer.In his complaint, Deolkar said he had been creating “Counter Reels” for around eight months to raise awareness against the promotion of betting apps by social media influencers.“I am professionally engaged in filmmaking and has an Instagram account @relatewithchetyal. I creates reels and various types of content on this Instagram account. For the past eight months, I had been creating counter reels on my Instagram account to raise awareness, as I believed it was wrong for selected famous Reel Creators on Instagram to promote betting apps (Chinese apps) for download,” he said.Deolkar alleged that Shinde was also promoting the betting app through his Instagram account and that he had “Roasted” Shinde’s reels and stories.“About five to six months ago, an unknown person named Aniket had called me on Instagram and threatened me not to ‘Roast’ the reels and stories promoted by Shinde’s betting app. However, since the betting app was wrong, I continued to ‘Roast’ Shinde’s reels and stories,” Deolkar said in the FIR.Police said Shinde allegedly held a grudge against Deolkar and planned the kidnapping. The investigation was conducted under the supervision of DCP (West Zone-3) Datta Nalawade by a team led by ACP Dadasaheb Yadugade, senior inspector Atmaji Sawant, inspectors Sushant Badgar and Sandeep Chavan, and other police personnel.Police first arrested Babare in Vikhroli, following which he allegedly led investigators to the other three accused.According to police, Deolkar was called to Powai for a meeting and allegedly forced into an SUV around 11.30 am on July 26. He was made to sit between the front and rear seats. When he tried to scream, one of the accused allegedly pressed a foot against his throat, while another pulled out a knife and threatened to stab him in the stomach. Police said Kuchekar also assaulted him.The accused allegedly drove around for several hours while assaulting Deolkar and questioned him about his videos.“Why do you make videos against our betting app? If you want to promote the app, do it, but why against us!” they allegedly told him.Police said Deolkar eventually told the accused that he would not make reels against them. He was allegedly dropped at Kalamboli at around 11.35pm.Police are now investigating the role of the three unidentified persons named in the complaint and probing the alleged betting app network.