The Free Press Journal

Scribe’s phone snatched: HC reserves order in Salman’s plea

Vikhroli man loses `3L to fantasy league fraud

- DHRUBIKA SONI / SOMENDRA SHARMA /

MUMBAI:

Jio-bp, a joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and bp for fuel retailing, will install EV charging stations across all residentia­l projects of Piramal Realty in Mumbai, the companies said on Thursday.

"As part of this partnershi­p, customers and visitors to Piramal's residentia­l projects will be able to charge their electric vehicles seamlessly at Jio-bp pulse EV charging stations at sites with the Jio-bp pulse mobile app," a joint press statement said.

Jio-bp, which started off with retailing petrol and diesel, has constructe­d many of India's largest EV fleet charging hubs, along with hundreds of public charge points in various cities and major highways across the country. Besides fixed charging, Jio-bp also offers batteryswa­pping services through its large network of batteryswa­pping stations.

"Piramal Realty, the real estate arm of the Piramal Group and Jio-bp, a fuel and mobility joint venture between RIL and bp today announced their partnershi­p to provide world-class EV charging solutions across all Piramal's residentia­l projects in the MMR (Mumbai Metropolit­an Region)," the statement said. The installati­on of electric vehicle charging stations is in line with Piramal Realty's goal to contribute towards creating a healthy, sustainabl­e ecosystem while meeting the evolving expectatio­ns of customers who aspire to adopt a greener lifestyle.

While dealing with a case regarding the removal of homeless persons sleeping on the streets and pavements, the Bombay High Court on March 3 had asked the authoritie­s to be humane while handling those without a roof over their heads.

The HC observed that these hapless persons are also humans and must be treated that way. The police and BMC officials had cracked down on pavement dwellers, especially in south Mumbai, in the run up to the G20 meeting.

The Free Press Journal went through the streets of south Mumbai and tried to find out who exactly are the people who sleep under the sky. Said Sonali Gaonkar, 35, “My parents came to Mumbai from Solapur to work as labourers. They were among those recruited for the constructi­on

The Bombay High Court has reserved order in a plea by actor Salman Khan challengin­g summons issued to him in a complaint filed in 2019 by journalist Ashok Pandey, alleging criminal intimidati­on. Justice Bharati Dangre reserved the order after hearing advocates for Khan and Pandey.

In his complaint addressed to the DN Nagar police station, the scribe had alleged that Khan had snatched away his mobile phone while cycling on the streets of Mumbai of the Air India building and lived on a pavement nearby. I was born there.”

Sonali now lives on a pavement near Churchgate station with her husband and four children. She said she and her husband do odd jobs and on days when there’s no work, they beg. “We are living honest lives, but we simply cannot afford to buy a home. So we made this pavement our home. We have all documents, including Aadhaar and ration cards, and have submitted copies of them to the Marine Drive police so they don’t evict us. But that hasn’t helped. Every night we fear being evicted,” she said.

In 2021, the BMC announced formulatin­g a policy for the urban homeless, including efforts to provide temporary shelter, make them self-reliant and help them regain a dignified place in society. It was to be

when media persons had started clicking his photos. The actor had allegedly entered into an argument and threatened him.

During the hearing on Thursday, Justice Dangre remarked that no one is above the law, neither Salman Khan, nor the press person. While Pandey’s advocate was opposing Khan’s petition, Justice Dangre remarked, “Let people have their own funded by the National Urban Livelihood­s Mission (NULM). A toll-free helpline was also announced privacy, Mr counsel, whether it is an actor, a lawyer or judge.”

Challengin­g the initiation of criminal proceeding­s, the actor’s counsel said no case of threat or intimidati­on was made out against the actor. Last year, the HC stayed the summons issued to Khan, who had challenged the proceeding­s issued by Andheri metropolit­an magistrate on March 22, 2022. The magistrate had summoned the duo. to boot. However, till date, most homeless persons are unaware of the scheme. A

Fraudsters are coming up with new ways to dupe unsuspecti­ng people. A 27-year-old man from Vikhroli recently lost Rs3.22 lakh after being promised creation of a winning team for a fantasy league.

He received a WhatsApp message promising him first part of this policy was camps for homeless citizens to provide them with government rank with Rs20-30 lakh winning amount. In a span of six days, he was induced to pay a hefty sum in 36 transactio­ns on the pretext of winning charges. He paid the amount between Jan 30 and Feb 4 into different bank accounts.

When he did not receive any returns even after paying so-called charges, he tried identity cards. Apparently this work hasn’t started yet.

Chandrika and Kavita, two confrontin­g the fraudsters to demand his money back. First he was promised the refund but later he received no response. Realising that he had been cheated, the complainan­t approached the police on Wednesday.

He has provided details of seven mobile numbers and the beneficiar­y bank account

single women from a family of five kids living near Churchgate station, said, “The BMC does nothing. Our existing documents were burnt along with our other stuff during an eviction drive. Till date we do not have any identity cards.”

They are third generation of a family living on this stretch abutting Veer Nariman Road. Their only way of income is the money and prasad that Kavita’s eight-year-old son gets working at a nearby temple. Occasional­ly, they work as sweepers. Kavita has sent her 13-year-old daughter to a hostel attached to a drug rehab centre in Santa Cruz. The mother apparently lied to the authoritie­s that her daughter is an addict so she could get admission and free food and accommodat­ion with it. She did this as it’s not safe to keep her on the footpath.

This reporter was also informed that the police come at night and beat them up to vacate the area. Sarita Ganesha details used by the fraudsters. The police have registered a case on charges of cheating and dishonestl­y inducing delivery of property, identity theft and cheating by personatio­n by using computer resources, under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Informatio­n Technology Act.

seeks alms and stays on a Colaba Causeway pavement while looking after her blind mother. “I used to stay in a slum but the BMC destroyed it and rendered me homeless,” she said. The homeless in the city are from rural Maharashtr­a as well those from other states. One such dweller is Karim Sheikh, 28, who came from Kolkata just a few days ago in search of work. Now he lives on the pavement near Bombay Hospital with food from the dargah nearby. He does odd jobs to make a living.

Santosh Pandhari from NGO Nature Foundation said, “We have tried extending help but it’s like they don’t want it... Most of them, from kids to adults, are addicts and are involved in some sort of illegal activities. Neverthele­ss, we are still working with the homeless.” He concluded, “As of now, there is a huge gap between the capacity of the shelters and the number of homeless.”

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