BJP workers throw ink at Cidco official over water woes, 2 held

Three people, including a woman, have been booked by the NRI police on Wednesday for allegedly cheating a jewellery store owner of Rs 6 lakh with a fake gold necklace.

According to the police, complainant Malti Malpekar has a jewellery store at Sector 50E, Seawoods, which the suspects had been frequenting since December last year.

The prime accused had introduced the accused woman as his wife and the other accused as his brother-in-law. The trio wanted to sell a necklace weighing 1kg to Malpekar.

“On October 2, t he t rio brought a necklace to Malpekar’s store. The accused gave Malpekar a piece of the necklace to examine. Malpekar found the piece to be pure gold and purchased the necklace for Rs6 lakh,” said PS Shinde, sub-inspector, NRI police station.

“L at e r, wh e n M a l p e k a r checked the necklace, she realised it was fake. The piece she had been shown was gold but she was given a fake one. She then registered an FIR,” said Shinde.

“There were no CCTV cameras in the store when the deal was struck. The footage obtained from cameras installed in the building are not clear. We are investigating the case and hope to arrest all of them soon,” Shinde said.

The police have booked the accused under sections 420, 406 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

A fisherman casts his net for an evening catch as the sun sets at the Mini Seashore in Vashi on Thursday.

Distressed by the shortage of water in the node, residents, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, took a morcha to City and Industrial Development Cor poration (Cidco) office on Wednesday. In the rally, some party workers allegedly threw ink at Cidco executive engineer (water supply) Dilip Bokade.

The incident led to tension in the area and the police registered cases against six people, two of whom were arrested.

Residents have said the incident was a sign of desperation. The population in Kamothe is increasing and there is a demand for 42 million litres a day ( mld) of water. However, only 24 mld of water is supplied to the node currently. The problem is escalated by water cuts.

Residents have held several meetings with Cidco on the issue. Morcha and agitations too have been organised. However, the water supply situation has only worsened.

On Wednesday, a morcha, led by Republican Party of India (RPI), reached the Cidco office f i rst. A dele gation of RPI, i ncluding l eader Mangesh Dhivar, held a meeting with officials at the Cidco office in Sector 6.

Meanwhile, the BJP morcha arrived but was stopped by the police outside the office premises.

B J P wo rke r s , h oweve r, entered the office to submit their memorandum after seeking permission from the police.

While speaking to the officials, BJP workers Mahendra Bhopi and Happy Singh allegedly threw ink on Bokade.

Senior i nspector Sriram Mullemwar, who was present at the spot, detained the duo and arrested them later.

When the situation worsened, f or mer MP Ramseth Thakur rushed to the spot.

“If water s upply i s not restored to the required levels, we will lock the Cidco office here,” said Thakur.

While Bokade appealed to Thakur to discuss the issue, Thakur demanded that arrested BJP workers be released first.

He threatened to intensify the agitation otherwise.

Thakur also demanded the charges against the arrested party workers be dropped.

BACHCHAN KUMAR