Mumbai: Even as seven officials have been suspended and inquiries have been instituted by the BMC administration following two recent rain-related tragedies, information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act reveals that as of April 30, 2026, as many as 537 departmental inquiries involving 1,523 officials and employees are currently pending. Of these, 189 inquiries are pending with the Enquiry Office itself. The data further shows that 234 employees are currently under suspension, including 150 suspended in connection with criminal cases and 84 linked to bribery and anti-corruption cases.Activists alleged that although the data reflects pending inquiries only for the past six months, many of them remain unresolved for years, with some officers eventually retiring before the proceedings are concluded. They pointed out that while an inquiry is pending, the delinquent employee continues to receive 50% of the last-drawn salary, which can increase to 75% after three months. Also, employees of the BMC cannot be transferred to other civic bodies or to other departments of the state govt, except IAS officials.Civic officials maintained that these inquiries against suspended staff are ongoing rather than pending, as employees must be given a fair opportunity to present their case and the proceedings have to be completed strictly in accordance with the rules.Activist Jeetendra Ghadge, who obtained the information, said that while the prompt suspension of officials has been projected as evidence of accountability, the BMC initially refused to provide information regarding departmental inquiries in 2021. Subsequently, in 2025, the Maharashtra State Information Commission directed the BMC to disclose the details, leading to the release of the latest report as of April 30.According to the data, 182 inquiries have been pending for up to one month, 98 for between two and six months, and 257 for more than six months. Only 15 inquiries were disposed of during April 2026, Ghadge pointed out.“Though the data shows pending inquiry figures only for the past six months, many of these inquiries could actually have been pending for years. The inquiries are left unresolved, and eventually the officials even retire. In most cases, the officials are let off with a very minor punishment or given a complete clean chit. Furthermore, despite the information commission’s orders, the BMC has refused to provide information on the number of officials who have been dismissed from service,” said Ghadge.“Whatever may be the allegations, the delinquent employee has to be given a fair opportunity to represent his case. There could be instances where the employee is sick or is engaged in election duty. Besides, an extension may have been granted for the inquiry. We submit a monthly report on the status of the inquiries to the municipal commissioner,” said a civic official handling inquiries.

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.