The plan follows the allotment of Toyota Innova Hycross hybrid vehicles to mayor Ritu Tawde (right) and additional municipal commissioners. Currently, the BMC chief Ashwini Bhide uses an EV (left).

MUMBAI: Six new Toyota Innova Crysta vehicles, a fleet of old Mahindra Scorpio-N SUVs and a BJP leader who says he regularly travels by train have come together in the latest car controversy involving Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).The civic administration has proposed spending around Rs 1.5 crore to replace the Scorpio-N SUVs used by key elected office-bearers with six new Innova Crystas. The vehicles are proposed for the deputy mayor, leader of the house, leader of the opposition, and chairpersons of the standing, improvements and education committees.The BMC said political office-bearers had sought more comfortable vehicles for long commutes across Mumbai and official site inspections. The proposal follows the allotment of Toyota Innova Hycross Hybrid vehicles to mayor Ritu Tawde and additional municipal commissioners.However, the proposal has triggered questions over who actually demanded the upgrade. Opposition party leader in the BMC Kishori Pednekar said she had not asked for a new vehicle.“I was given a Scorpio vehicle since I was appointed leader of the opposition earlier this year. These are new cars and there’s no need to change the same,” she said.Mayor Ritu Tawde, however, said some committee chairpersons travel from far-off suburbs such as Dahisar, Kandivali and Borivali and need greater comfort. “There is no separate tender being called for the vehicles and instead, the chairpersons have only asked for another kind of vehicle instead of what has been provided to them,” she said.Tawde also claimed Pednekar had earlier agreed to the change of vehicle but had now changed her stance.BJP leader Ganesh Khankar, meanwhile, said the BMC should scrap the practice of providing different categories of cars to political leaders and civic officials. “The same type of vehicle should be provided to everyone, whether elected representatives or civic officials,” he said.Khankar added that he had never demanded a particular car and regularly travels by train.The BMC has said the vehicle replacement system is followed once a car completes its prescribed age. An official said the Scorpios replaced by the new Innovas could be given to ward-level officials currently using older vehicles.Khankar said the vehicles are hired on contract and the BMC pays a monthly rental, adding, “Therefore, there is no question of the civic body making a permanent capital expenditure on these vehicles.”The proposal had drawn criticism from opposition parties and also led to protests by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which purchased Toyota Innova models and announced that they would be couriered to BMC office-bearers and the civic administration.Amid the widespread criticism, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said public money should be spent only on development works and civic amenities, and directed the BMC to stop wasteful expenditure and focus on the needs of citizens.

The National Company Law Tribunal has cleared the sale of aircraft registered as VT-JES ($16 million), VT-JEV ($12.5 million) and VT-JEM ($17.5 million). (File Photo)

MUMBAI: The first of three Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ERs that had been sitting idle at Mumbai airport since 2019 departed on Monday, more than seven years after the airline grounded its fleet.The tail fins of the grounded Jet Airways aircraft have long been a familiar, faintly melancholic sight, visible to passengers landing and taking off at Mumbai airport, as well as from outside the airport’s boundary wall in Kalina, where the jets remained parked in full view of a city that once flew them.The aircraft, now re-registered as 2-TJEM on Guernsey’s aircraft register after previously flying as VT-JEM under Jet Airways, is headed to Tel Aviv for conversion into a freighter. It was expected to take off at around 6.40 pm, according to a source.The Boeing 777 is among three wide-body aircraft being sold to Malta-based Ace Aviation, a subsidiary of Israel’s Challenge Group, which operates cargo airlines, for a combined $46 million (Rs 418 crore), as part of Jet Airways’ ongoing liquidation process, according to a Bombay Stock Exchange filing.The National Company Law Tribunal has cleared the sale of aircraft registered as VT-JES ($16 million), VT-JEV ($12.5 million) and VT-JEM ($17.5 million).The transaction was delayed for more than three years due to legal disputes over unpaid airport charges. Ace Aviation first bid for the aircraft in 2022 and paid a $5.6 million deposit under a signed letter of intent, but the deal stalled amid objections from Mumbai International Airport Ltd, owned by the Adani Group, which claims parking fees and other dues dating back to 2018 that have since risen to around Rs 1,000 crore.“The aircraft, along with others, was at one point attached by the Collector, Mumbai Suburban, over gratuity dues claimed by the All India Jet Airways Staff and Officers Association,” said a former top Jet Airways official.

The passenger, identified as Nurry Bahuleyan (34) from Kerala’s Alapuzhha locality (File Photo)

MUMBAI: Sahar police arrested a passenger for allegedly smoking in an aircraft washroom onboard a flight from Saudi Arabia to Mumbai on July 30.Despite prominent “No Smoking” signs being displayed throughout the aircraft, the passenger allegedly committed the offence after the flight took off from Saudi Arabia.The passenger, identified as Nurry Bahuleyan (34) from Kerala’s Alappuzha district, was spotted by cabin crew members after they noticed smoke coming from the aircraft washroom shortly after he stepped out. Bahuleyan was arrested after the flight landed at Mumbai International Airport on July 30.He was booked under Section 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and provisions of the Aircraft Act, 1937.“Despite ‘No Smoking’ signs being displayed prominently for all passengers on flights, and repeated announcements in English and Hindi before take-off regarding the strict prohibition of smoking onboard the aircraft, some flyers continue to commit the offence,” a Sahar police officer said.Bahuleyan was arrested following a complaint filed by Air India security assistant Vivek Pillai (30) at Mumbai International Airport.In the complaint, Pillai stated: “After Air India flight AI-4250 took off from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, for Mumbai, the captain informed our ATC squad that a passenger occupying seat 21F had been found smoking in the aircraft washroom. When questioned by crew member Dipesh Bhagat, the passenger, Bahuleyan, admitted to smoking in the washroom.”Bhagat informed the pilot about the incident, following which the pilot instructed that the passenger be handed over to the airline’s security personnel upon arrival in Mumbai.“As per the pilot’s instructions, after flight AI-4250 landed at Mumbai airport, the cabin crew handed over the passenger to us for further action. With the assistance of other security personnel, Bahuleyan was subsequently handed over to the police,” the complaint stated.

Matrimonial background checks are among private detectives’ biggest revenue earners

Mumbai: Around the time ‘Siya Point’ at Lohagad Fort—where a Pune woman allegedly pushed her fiancé Ketan Agarwal to his death in June—began drawing curious visitors, detective agencies in Mumbai said they noticed a rise in enquiries for premarital background checks from families across Maharashtra.There are no hard numbers to measure this growing trend, but various private detective agencies TOI spoke to said premarital investigations are becoming common. Families are no longer content with meeting relatives, checking jobs and matching horoscopes. Increasingly, they also want to match facts.Even in Mumbai, where cyber fraud and property disputes keep investigators busy, detectives said matrimonial background checks remain among their biggest revenue earners.“Since the Lohagad incident, we’ve received a steady request for premarital background checks. Families want to know if the prospective bride or groom has had previous relationships that haven’t been disclosed,” said a staffer of a Mumbai-based detective agency.One private investigator recalled a recent case in which an engagement was reportedly called off after a family learnt that the prospective bride remained friends with a former college crush, despite her explaining that the relationship had never progressed beyond youthful infatuation.In another instance from June, a Gujarati family reportedly withdrew from an alliance after discovering that the prospective groom regularly shared a pool cab to work with a female colleague, even though there was no evidence of an inappropriate relationship.Not every investigation ends over matters of the heart. One Mumbai family reportedly cancelled their daughter’s engagement after investigators found that the prospective groom had concealed substantial debts and ongoing legal disputes. In another case, a groom’s family walked away after discrepancies emerged in the prospective bride’s educational qualifications and employment history.Agarwal’s death, along with a string of high-profile marital murder cases across the country, appears to have heightened concerns over hidden relationships, financial troubles, concealed personal histories and alleged violent behaviour.Among the most widely discussed was the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon in Meghalaya in 2025, in which police accused his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, of conspiring with hired killers. In another case, a newlywed woman in Bihar was arrested for allegedly plotting her husband’s murder just 45 days after their wedding.“Earlier, people approached us only when they had a specific doubt. Now they ask for verification even when everything appears perfectly normal. They simply want to be sure there are no unpleasant surprises,” said the director of another Mumbai detective agency.Darshan Shah of Strategic Assignment and Intelligence Bureau told TOI that premarital background checks are not new, but over the past few months, “we have noticed an increase in such enquiries”. Traditional families usually seek to verify the prospective bride or groom’s employment, salary, criminal record, financial background and friend circle.The requests, Shah said, can sometimes be surprisingly specific. “Many families ask us for call detail records, private messages or emails, which would be illegal to obtain,” he said. In one case, Shah said, a family wanted investigators to find out whether the prospective groom was gay or had undergone gender reassignment surgery, and whether he had previously been married or divorced. Visits to dance bars or any addiction are other pointed queries that families ask for.A cyber consultant attributed the rise in background checks to the growing popularity of matrimonial websites and dating apps. Unlike traditional arranged marriages, where families often knew each other through relatives or community networks, online matches connect strangers.Legal experts, however, cautioned that there is a fine line between due diligence and intrusion. Public records, lawful enquiries and consent-based verification are legitimate. Accessing private messages, confidential call records or hacking social media accounts is not.Retired IPS officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh said background verification itself is not illegal, provided investigators stay within the law. “A general verification for checking the background of a person may not amount to a criminal offence if it is done with discretion and in an unobtrusive manner. However, if any person is followed from one place to another or someone loiters around, then it will amount to an offence under Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932, which is a cognisable offence,” he said.