The wet spell continued on Friday with over 100mm rainfall lashing many parts of Mumbai

Mumbai: Even as the wet spell continued on Friday with over 100mm rainfall lashing many parts of the city, India Meteorological Department (IMD) sounded this monsoon’s first ‘red’ alert warning for the weekend across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated locations.The alert comes amid an active monsoon system that is expected to keep rainfall intensity high, starting Saturday. For Monday, an ‘orange’ alert has been issued, indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places, while from Tuesday, a ‘yellow’ alert is in place, indicating the rain spell is expected to ease.A holiday has been declared for schools in Palghar and Thane districts, including Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli, for Saturday. Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation has declared a holiday for colleges too.IMD officials said the current heavy rainfall spell is being driven by multiple weather systems, including an offshore trough extending along the Maharashtra-Karnataka coast, a low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal that is likely to intensify over the next two days, and a shear zone over central India. “Under the influence of these systems, IMD has forecast widespread rainfall across Maharashtra till July 7. Konkan, including Mumbai and adjoining ghat areas, is likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall, with isolated places expected to witness extremely heavy showers,” it said.In the 24-hour period ending Friday 8.30am, IMD’s Colaba observatory recorded 111.8mm rainfall and IMD’s Santacruz observatory 101mm. Between Friday 8.30am and 8.30pm, Colaba logged 56mm rainfall and Santacruz 62.4mm. According to rainfall data from the automatic weather stations across the city, the highest downpour was recorded at Ram Mandir (138.5mm), placing it in the ‘very heavy rainfall category’ as per the IMD rainfall classification.Meanwhile, water stocks in the lakes supplying to Mumbai rose to nearly 1.3 lakh million litres or 8.9% of the total required quantum of 14.47 lakh million litres from 1.2 lakh million litres or 8.1% a day earlier. On July 3, 2025, the total water stock had touched nearly 6.3 lakh million litres or 43.5%.

Mumbai: In what is believed to be the first instance of the Mumbai University penalising an autonomous college for allegedly inflating students’ marks, it has imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on SM Shetty College in Powai. The decision against the college for not complying with rules for moderating scores was taken in the management council meeting held this week.The action has raised concerns about the integrity of the college’s evaluation methods. The issue came to light last year when two teachers allegedly refused to sign a document revising the marks of second-year B Com students to help them pass.Earlier this year, in a related move, the university decided to conduct an audit of the examination processes at all autonomous colleges and introduced additional compliance requirements for approving new courses. The decision came after increasing concerns over governance and assessment practices in autonomous institutions came to the fore.In the SM Shetty case, the two teachers, Vijay Vishwakarma and Virendra Kumar Singh, who have been in service at the college for some years, were allegedly asked to change marks of students from 25, 26, 27 and so on to 40, which is the minimum required to clear the exams.In a legal notice to the university, the teachers mentioned that marks of over 35 students were changed in this fashion. They refused to sign after the marks were tampered, it added. Later, one of the teachers agreed to sign under pressure, but took a photograph of the altered marks. This happened in April 2025. The notice mentioned that the college had set a target for the number of students to be promoted to the next academic year, irrespective of their performance. TOI has a copy of the notice.After filing a complaint with the university in May last year, the teachers even moved the Bombay High Court in Feb this year seeking action against college authorities for ‘indulging in fabrication of marks to promote failing students and forging students’ marksheets’. The petitioners also sought withdrawal of the college’s autonomous status for not following university examination rules regulations. They also asked for the university’s inquiry report. The matter is pending in court.A university source confirmed the imposition of fine by the management council, adding that further action against the college will be discussed in the next meeting. When TOI reached out to the college authorities, they said that they have not received any communication from the university, but did not comment on the allegation.

The family accused the crime branch of evasion and lethargy

Mumbai: The family of the late NCP politician Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Oct 2024, moved a special court on Friday seeking directions to Mumbai police to take custody of alleged gangster Anmol Bishnoi, an accused in the case who was deported from the US last Nov.The application, filed by Siddique’s wife, Shehzeen Siddique, accused the crime branch of evasion and lethargy, alleging that it had failed to act because of external pressure to shield the real masterminds behind the killing. It sought direction to the crime branch to explain why it had not taken any step so far after Bishnoi was deported.After his deportation, Bishnoi was taken into custody in a 2022 case over an alleged nexus between criminal gangs in India and Babbar Khalsa International, a terrorist organisation, to raise funds, recruit youths and carry out terror strikes. He has been lodged in Tihar jail.The plea, filed through advocates Pradip Gharat and Trivankumar Karnani, said Bishnoi’s interrogation would reveal the roles of those who ordered him to conspire with other co-accused to commit the murder. It alleged that the investigating agency was avoiding taking his custody to prevent the names of the “actual” conspirators from coming out.The application said that once an investigating agency learns the whereabouts of a wanted accused, it is duty-bound to secure their custody to uncover missing links and strengthen the case. It said failure to do so was adversely affecting the trial.The plea said Siddique’s daughter, Arshia, took personal efforts to track down Bishnoi and learnt that he was in custody in Iowa, US, before being deported to India on Nov 18, 2025. It said the family’s doubts deepened because police allegedly failed to act on statements made by Siddique’s son, Zeeshan, including names he had mentioned.Zeeshan and Arshia had filed RTI applications seeking information on steps to secure Bishnoi’s custody. The plea said police denied them information on whether the investigating officer would seek his extradition or custody.The court directed the prosecution to submit its reply.Bishnoi, also wanted in the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence, recently moved the special trial court in that case seeking to surrender. Police there, too, have not sought his custody.Siddique (66) was killed on Oct 12, 2024, outside Zeeshan’s office in Bandra East. In Feb, charges for murder and offences under MCOCA were framed against 27 accused, allegedly linked to a crime syndicate headed by Bishnoi.

Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde accused Leader of the Opposition and former mayor Kishori Pednekar of barging into the Mayor’s office, misbehaving with staff, recording videos inside the office, and photographing confidential documents. The Mayor said she has written to the police seeking the registration of a complaint.

Mumbai: The political sparring between the ruling party and the opposition intensified at the BMC headquarters on Friday over recent monsoon-related accidents and the civic body’s functioning.Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde accused Leader of the Opposition and former mayor Kishori Pednekar of barging into the Mayor’s office, misbehaving with staff, recording videos inside the office, and photographing confidential documents. The Mayor said she has written to the police seeking the registration of a complaint.According to Mayor Tawde, the incident took place at around 3.45 pm on Friday while she was inspecting various parts of the city to review the condition of manholes, trees and other monsoon-related civic works. During her absence, Pednekar allegedly entered the Mayor’s office.The Mayor alleged that Pednekar engaged in a heated argument with office staff, threatened them, recorded videos of the office premises and took photographs of important and confidential documents. Tawde said that while every elected representative has the right to seek information, photographing confidential documents is against the rules. Describing the act as a “recce” of the Mayor’s office, she said she would request the police to register a case.Pednekar, however, rejected the allegations outright. She said she had visited the Mayor’s office only to follow up on a letter she had submitted demanding a special BMC General Body meeting in the wake of recent incidents involving falling trees, open manholes and other monsoon-related accidents in Mumbai. According to her, as she had not received any response to the letter, she went to the Mayor’s office to inquire about its status. She maintained that her sole intention was to seek answers from the civic administration.Responding to Pednekar’s claims, Mayor Tawde said monsoon preparedness and the city’s water supply had already been discussed at length in the BMC House during a meeting that continued late into the night. She added that the civic administration was working continuously with citizens’ safety as its top priority.

The deepfakes, carrying Preity Zinta’s trademark smile, “is depleting her joy”, her lawyers contended

Mumbai: Yet another Bollywood personality, Preity Zinta, approached the Bombay High Court to have her personality rights protected against deepfake Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated images and content. The deepfakes, carrying her trademark smile, “is depleting her joy”, her lawyers contended as they sought an interim order against 16 defendants, including known websites and unknown others.Justice Madhav Jamdar on Friday posted the matter to July 6, to pass orders, but first gave parties times to work out a mechanism or practical protocol to take down the genuinely offending content from websites without disturbing legitimate content.In her suit against Google LLC and others, including Meta Platforms Inc, through Bachubhai Munim and Co, the ‘Dil Se’ star said her heart wants the ongoing infringement of her personality, publicity and moral rights to be stopped. She claimed her right to privacy and “widely celebrated personality’’ were being violated online.Her suit said, “Personality traits are an intrinsic part of her personality rights,’’ over which only she can have “exclusive control. “She is also the co-owner of Punjab Kings, a franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Zinta’s interim plea argued by senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond said the AI-generated content was rapidly becoming more realistic with chat-bot style interactions posted and hosted online by alleged infringers, and sought urgent orders to take take down content.Counsel for Google and Meta did not object to deleting morphed or obscene content but said no blanket order must be issued.Justice Jamdar, observing that protective orders would be warranted on merits, also said legitimate content cannot suffer and asked counsel for the parties to confer and work out a protocol to take down genuinely offending content and leave lawful content alive.

Mumbai: A day after 55-year-old Sakinaka resident Aslam Isak Shaikh died after falling into an open, unbarricaded manhole, police arrested three contractual workers for negligence while a BMC inquiry found multiple procedural and safety violations, including the absence of a formal work order for installing protective nets along the sewage line, raising questions about why the work was undertaken.A BMC official privy to the case said, “Neither the area’s junior engineer nor the mukadam (supervisor) were informed about the work, meaning no civic supervision or inspection was carried out before or during the work. Had we been aware, a team from the ward would have been definitely sent to the site,” the official said.Civic officials said they tried to contact the contractor responsible for the work but did not get a satisfactory explanation on who authorised the activity or why it continued despite the absence of official approval.All road and storm water drain works have a May 31 deadline every year as no work is usually taken up during monsoon unless it’s an emergency. “There was also an ongoing wet spell, so there would never have been any permission itself issued to carry out any works as such,” said the official.However, civic sources said there were around four protection nets along manholes that were to be installed along the road, but such works are often carried out on an understanding that they would be completed in a short duration. The sources said the work meant to prevent falls into manholes led to Shaikh falling to his death.Meanwhile, Sakinaka police formed multiple teams to track the contractor after closed circuit television (CCTV) footage from Khairani Road, shot during heavy rain, showed no safety barricades or warning signs at the worksite.The four accused, including the contractor who is on the run, were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence) and 3(5) (common intention). Police did not disclose the names of the accused, saying it could hamper the investigation.“The CCTV grabs at the worksite showed no sign board or barricade, due to which Shaikh, a resident of Yadav Nagar in Sakinaka, returning home from work on Thursday, slipped into the uncovered manhole and died,” said a police officer of Sakinaka police station.The case was registered on a complaint lodged by a BMC officer from L ward against the contractor and the workers engaged in the repair work.During the probe, police sought access to CCTV footage from a nearby hotel that captured the entire incident and showed civic workers working at the site without installing barricades or warning signs, in violation of prescribed safety norms. Shaikh was seen talking on his mobile phone moments before the accident.“Workers at the site immediately lowered a ladder into the manhole in an attempt to rescue him, but strong water currents hampered the search. Only his umbrella and slippers were initially recovered,” said the officer.Shaikh’s body was recovered near SJ Studio in Sakinaka at 1 pm on Thursday. He was taken to Rajawadi Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.Meanwhile, mayor Ritu Tawde conducted an on-site inspection of Cotton Green railway station, Reay Road, and Sewri fire station area and directed the Mumbai Port Trust to take proper measures for water drainage and for safety around manholes. During the inspection, it was noticed that water had accumulated in low-lying civilian areas within the port trust jurisdiction and it was not draining. Tawde then directed officials to immediately install water-pumping pumps and take necessary measures. Noting that despite waterlogging in the area, Mumbai Port Trust had not installed even a single pump for water removal, the mayor directed that pumps of the required capacity be deployed immediately. Similarly, near Cotton Green railway station, work was underway under a bridge with an open manhole, but there were no barricades, nor were staff present at the spot.(Inputs by Sanjeev Devesia)