Excerpt from Hindustan Times on 25th May 2010: Read Full Article

A 23-year-old autorickshaw driver was allegedly murdered by his friend in Govandi on Sunday night, after he did not give the accused money to buy liquor.

This is the fourth murder reported in the area in the last 10 days.

The police said the incident happened in Baiganwadi area of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, when the victim Khwaja Syed (23), was going home with his mother after attending a wedding.

Syed’s friend Iqbal Sheikh (24) who was in an inebriated condition was accompanying them home, the officials said.

As reported by PTI on May , 23 , 2010

A 29-year-old man, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was arrested for allegedly possessing firearms, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials said today.

Acting on a tip off, the officials yesterday laid a trap at Shivaji Nagar area of suburban Govandi where Mohammed Hussain Halwai came to sell the weapons, they said.

Two pistols, three revolvers, two magazines and 12 live cartridges were recovered from him, the officials said, adding the accused, a driver by profession, had visited the city earlier also.

As reported in TOI by Mayank Soni, on  May 18, 2010

Officials of Shivaji Nagar police station have registered an attempt to murder case against two Govandi residents after they attacked their neighbour with a knife.

Identified as Mohammad Murid Mukeen Shaikh (17) and Mohammad Mujid Mukeen Shaikh (20), the two are residents of Kamla-Raman Nagar, Govandi. They have been absconding since the incident.

An officer from Shivaji Nagar police station said, “On Sunday afternoon, Shaikh’s son and victim Jannat Hussain Chaudhary’s son were playing in the area. They had a fight over some matter and, subsequently, their parents got involved. They had a heated argument and it escalated to such a degree that both the brothers attacked Chaudhary with a knife and fled from the spot.

Seeing Chaudary bleeding profusely on the road, passerbys took him to Rajawadi Hospital. However, his condition worsened and he had to be shifted to Sion Hospital. Chaudhary, who runs a general store in the area, is currently recuperating in the hospital.

The police have registered a case under IPc’s sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and launched a manhun

A trustee of ‘Aaisha Education’ was stabbed to death by a youth over property dispute at Govandi in north-east Mumbai today.

As reported in  Sakaaltimes , Friday, May 14, 2010

Police said the deceased Aslam Ibrahim Hasan (40), was running an educational trust just adjoining accused 27-year-old Almaj Geel’s room at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi. Hasan allegedly wanted to take his room for his trust and he used to threaten Almaj and his mother.

At around 1300 hours, when the accused went back home he saw his mother crying. She told him Hasan had approached her and threatened to kill her son if he saw him in the area.In anger, Ajmal stabbed Aslam. after the incident, he went to the police station and surrendered himself. Injured Aslam was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on admission.Police have registered a case of murder and further investigations are in progress, sources added.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Vibha Singh on On Saturday, April 24, 2010: Read Full Article

A programme initiated at Ambedkar Maidan in Shivaji Nagar is training young boys to become cricketers. Along with this a message is being given to them by the coaches to stop violence and harassment of women and girls.

Some 228 boys aged between 10 and 18 years  will be coached by specially trained coaches

The unique 18-month project called Parivartan has been initiated by International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) in collaboration with the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) and Apnalaya and with financial support from the NIKE Foundation launched ‘Parivartan’.

The project is an adaptation of a campaign, Coaching Boys into Men, which was started in the US in 2001. The cricket coaches are going to pass on the message to over 1,000 budding and aspiring cricketers through training programmes.
The 25 young men selected from local teams to become coaches — 11 teach cricket, the others teach kabaddi and kho-kho — and change-makers.  They are training 228 boys aged between 10 and 18 years. “Children don’t like listening to long lectures. But if the coach, who they look up to, says something, they are more likely to embrace it,” said Afshaque Ansari, trainer from Apnalaya.

As reported by PTI on March 27, 2010
A tip off by mayor Shraddha Jadhav helped the police seize an illegally stored gutkha consignment worth Rs16.5 lakh at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi.

Jadhav had received information about the gutkha consignment being stored in godowns at Shivaji Nagar, without the payment of octroi duty. On basis of this information, the mayor alerted the vigilance department officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), who along with the police conducted the raids.

The officials seized several gunny bags filled with gutkha packets of the Raj Kolhapuri brand from the two godowns that were raided. According to police, the gutkha is suspected to be of duplicate quality and even the stockist has allegedly evaded octroi duty on it.

“We were informed by officials from the vigilance department of BMC that two godowns in our locality had stocked duplicate gutkha. Accordingly, a raid was conducted along with the vigilance department officials. We have seized the gutkha stock and samples have been sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department for further tests,” a senior police official from the Shivaji Nagar police station said.

The police are now awaiting reports from the FDA before deciding on the further course of action to be taken against the stockist.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Somendra Sharma on March 22, 2010: Read Full Article
Mumbai isn’t Sherwood Forest by any description, and this man did hot have the band of ‘merry men’ in Lincon Green to assist him in acts of crooked heroism, but Mani Kandan likes to believe himself as the modern day Robin Hood.

Kandan, 36, arrested by the Mumbai police after dodging the law for over two years, told the police that he robbed the rich to feed the poor and he wanted to purchase ambulances for the needy. The cops, who are taking the claim with loads of salt, are sure he had beggars and other poor people as informants.

Kandan was wanted in over 15 cases of robbery and house break-in, mostly in housing societies and electronic and mobile phone shops in Mankhurd,Shivaji Nagar and Deonar areas. He was caught by the Chembur unit of Mumbai police crime branch from Mankhurd on Friday.

“Kandan has told the police that he considers himself to be Robin Hood, and he steals from the rich and distributes the loot among the needy and poor,” said senior police inspector Shripad Kale.

Excerpt from Mumbai Mirror, reported by Nazia Sayed on December 31, 2009 , Read Full Article

The Shivaji Nagar and Deonar police, who have together registered the maximum number of cases against the water mafia in the city, have themselves come under the scanner for alleged water-related offences.
It has been found that both these police stations have set up booster pumps in their premises to enhance water supply. What’s more, the water connection to these two police stations is itself questionable.

The booster pump (circled and right) seen in the premises of the Shivaji Nagar Police Station

Since November, the Deonar police seized 17 booster pumps and arrested 22 people for illegal water theft, while the Shivaji Nagar police confiscated 164 booster pumps and arrested 104 people.

Excerpt from Indian Express, reported on Dec 30, 2009 : Read Full Article

The special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act court on Tuesday sentenced a 60-year-old Indian national to ten years rigorous imprisonment for possessing 90 kg of mandrax tablets worth around Rs 9 crore in the domestic market and 10 times more in the international market.

Special Judge D R Sirsao sentenced Ghulam Mohammed Shaikh alias Nana behind bars for 10 years and imposed a hefty fine of Rs 1 lakh for possessing the banned drug. According to additional public prosecutor Vijay Malankar, on June 1, 2007, based on a tip-off Shivaji Nagar police raided Shaikh’s residence in Mankhurd and found the drug in gunny bags.

Excerpt from Mumbai Mirror, reported by Nazia Sayed and Geeta Desai on December 29, 2009 : Read Full Article

Woman drawing water from an illegal well in Mankhurd

The polio-causing virus passes from infected faecal matter, contaminates ground water and finds its way into humans though the mouth.

Driven by sheer desperation caused by an unprecedented water crisis, residents in Shivajinagar, Deonar, Trombay and Mankhurd, have resorted to digging illegal wells in their own backyard and drinking poisonous water — almost 70 per cent of which is contaminated with the deadly enterovirus which causes polio.
Not only that, WHO tests carried out on the samples from these wells, have revealed the presence of other crippling viruses too — hepatitis and cholera to name two.

Consuming this deadly cocktail every day makes the people vulnerable to a number of diseases, but none as grave as polio, which has technically no cure, and to eradicate which the government has spent nearly Rs 26 billion till date.