QMumbai: IT Dept Seals SRK’s Alibaug House; Bail in Pansare Case
All the city news you should read today.
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1. SRK’s Alibaug Farmhouse Attached by Income Tax Department
Shah Rukh Khan’s Alibaug property, Deja Vu Farms Pvt Ltd, is in the wrong side of news again. The income tax (IT) department has provisionally attached the bungalow. The attachment notice was issued under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act (PBPT) in December.
Spread over 19,960 sq m, the property is worth Rs 146.7 million, but its market price is up to five times that amount. According to Business Standard, Shah Rukh Khan had initially bought the property as agricultural land for farming, but ended up turning it into a farmhouse for his personal use.
“The said transaction falls under the definition of benami transaction as per the Section 2 (9) of the PBPT Act, where Deja Vu Farms has acted as benamidar for the ultimate benefits of Shah Rukh Khan. Thus, the actor is a beneficiary for the said under the prescribed law,” said an IT investigation report.
Source: The Quint
2. Jiah Khan Death Case: Sooraj Pancholi Charged With Abetting Her Suicide
A sessions court on Tuesday framed charges against actor Sooraj Pancholi for allegedly abetting the suicide of his former girlfriend and actress Jiah Khan. Pancholi has been charged Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the India Penal Code, thus setting the stage for his trial.
Pancholi, who recently withdrew his application for discharge from the case, was asked by Judge KD Shirbhate if he pleaded guilty to the allegations, to which replied in the negative and said he was innocent.
Jiah Khan, who shot to fame with ‘Nishabd’ starring Amitabh Bachchan, was found hanging in her rented apartment in Juhu on the night of June 3, 2013. A week later, her actor boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi was arrested for abetting her suicide, but later released on bail.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
3. Pansare Murder Case: Main Accused Tawde Granted Bail
A Kolhapur sessions court on Tuesday granted bail to Hindutva leader Virendra Tawde, main accused in the 2015 killing of Communist leader Govind Pansare.
Sessions Court Judge SD Bile granted relief to Tawde as the prosecution failed to submit sufficient evidence against him. The court asked Tawde to submit a personal surety of Rs 25,000 and also directed him to surrender his passport and not leave Maharashtra.
However, Tawde, currently lodged at the Yerwada Prison near Pune, will remain behind bars as he is also a prime accused in the 2013 killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.
Tawde, an ENT specialist, is the leader of the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti, believed to be an offshoot of the right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
4. Death of 23-year-old in MRI Room: Told Him to Carry Oxygen Cylinder to MRI Room, Says Ward Boy
MUMBAI police probing the mishap at BYL Nair Hospital where a man died after being sucked into an MRI machine have concluded that negligence of the ward boy and a Class IV attendant was responsible for the death of 32-year-old garment salesman Rajesh Maru.
Police said the ward boy, Vitthal Chavan, has said in his statement that he had asked Maru to carry an oxygen cylinder into the MRI room, while helper Sunita Surve looked on.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Indian Express, Rajendra Lanjrekar, father of a third accused in the case Dr Saurabh Lanjrekar, said his son was present in the console room of the MRI section when the mishap happened. Lanjrekar, a first year MD student, was on duty on January 27 night when a patient, Laxmi Solanki, was wheeled in for an MRI scan of the brain. He accompanied her to the MRI facility from the hospital’s sixth floor.
Source: The Indian Express
5. Eastern Seafront Makeover: Land Swap Plan Clears Path for 100-acre Park
A proposal for a simple land swap has resolved a 16-year impasse between the Mumbai Port Trust and Central Railway, which own a plot in each other’s backyard, and cleared the decks for a large, sea-facing park.
Rail authorities will hand over their 17.5-acre plot at Haji Bunder to the port trust, which in return will transfer a piece of land of nearly the same size in Wadala. The two sides agreed in principle to the arrangement on Tuesday and formed a panel to take it forward.
The Haji Bunder plot currently with CR is located between two port trust properties — a seafront strip and a land parcel. Once CR gives it up, the port trust will have a consolidated area, where it will develop an around 100-acre park, transforming the long-ignored eastern seafront into a top recreation destination with promenades, a cycle track, museums and an amusement park.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
6. Month After Kamala Mills Fire: BMC Chief Gathers Documents on How Office Space Turned Hotels
A month after the Kamala Mills fire tragedy, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner and his team are gathering documents to prove how space earmarked for IT offices were turned to restaurants in the area.
BMC chief Ajoy Mehta has sought three months to conduct a detailed survey on the Kamala Mills Compound to investigate alleged misuse of Floor Space Index (FSI) incentives. He said: “The actual probe will begin once we finish our ground work of gathering papers that will prove violation of IT policy and misuse of FSI incentives.”
Mehta’s report on the December 29 Kamala Mills mishap states there is a “possibility of violations” of FSI and IT policy. Referring to it, the commissioner has sought three months to investigate the “possible violations”, including “change in activity” and “construction beyond approval”.
Source: The Indian Express
7. Mumbai-Pune Expressway Traffic Affected, As MSRDC Clears Loose Soil, Boulders to Stop Landslides
In an effort to prevent landslides on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) on Tuesday started clearing loose soil and boulders from the adjacent hills.
As a result, traffic heading towards Mumbai is affected slightly.
For smooth flow of work, the MSRDC is shutting the road near Adoshi tunnel in the ghat section for short durations every one hour. “We have been blocking the road for short durations since 9.30am, and it will continue till 3.30pm,” said an MSRDC official. “Vehicles are being stopped only once in an hour and for not more than 15 minutes. Most of our work is being done on the Pune-Mumbai lane.”
“If these huge boulders and loose soil fall on the highway, it is dangerous, besides affecting vehicular traffic. As a precautionary measure, we are removing them,” he said.
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