Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Mumbai reported 295 new coronavirus infections and one pandemic-related fatality on Friday a civic official said The tally of COVID-19 cases in the countrys financial capital rose to 766508 and death toll reached 16363 Daily cases recorded in the city rose for the fifth straight day On Thursday Mumbai had logged 279 new cases and two deaths As many as 51266 COVID-19 tests were conducted in Mumbai during the day which raised the tally of tests to 13086030 The city is left with 1940 active COVID-19 cases as 227 recovered patients were discharged from hospitals The total of recovered patients rose to 745628 The recovery rate in the city is 97 per cent Mumbais overall growth rate of COVID-19 cases was 003 per cent during December 10 to 16 and average doubling rate of cases is 2468 days Presently Mumbai has 19 sealed buildings Buildings are sealed when five or more cases are found on the premises PTI KK KRK KRK KRK

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Banking operations across Maharashtra remained impacted for the second straight day on Friday as employees of state-run lenders continued their two-day strike against bank privatisation Disruption in services like cash withdrawals deposits and cheque clearances hit customers hard across the state Most of the state-owned banks ATMs went dry due to lack of replenishment unions said The two-day strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions UFBU to protest against the governments move to privatise state-run banks The government had in Budget 2021-22 announced its intent to take up privatisation of two public sector banks PSBs during the year In Maharashtra around 60000 PSB employees were on strike UFBU claimed that about nine lakh employees of state-run banks across the country observed the strike The strike was total All government-related businesses in public sector banks were hampered Most of the ATMs could not be replenished UFBUs Convenor Maharashtra Devidas Tuljapurkar said UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions including All India Bank Officers Confederation AIBOC AIBEA and National Organisation of Bank Workers NOBW PTI HV ABM ABM

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI The tenure of IRS officer Sameer Wankhede with the Narcotics Control Bureau NCB which was marked by controversy would end on December 31 official sources said on FridayWankhede a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service officer was on deputation to the NCB since September 2020 and is currently Mumbai zonal director of the anti-drugs agencyHe was earlier posted with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRIAs zonal director of NCB Wankhede was involved in action against the drug syndicates allegedly involving Bollywood celebrities in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death by suicideIn October this year a team led by Wankhede allegedly recovered drugs during a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan along with othersBut subsequently questions were raised about the credentials of independent witnesses used by the NCB during the raid and it was also alleged that there was an attempt to extort money from Shah Rukh Khan by NCB officialsMaharashtra minister Nawab Malik targeted Wankhede alleging that he was born a Muslim but got his job in the Scheduled Castes quota by obtaining a bogus caste certificateWankhede denied the allegation and his father filed a defamation suit against Malik an NCP leaderIt is not yet clear where he would be posted after his NCB deputation ends sources said PTI DC KRK KRK

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI The stir-hit Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation on Friday dismissed 22 staffers and issued show cause notices to 63 suspended employees officials said They said 2442 bus services were operated till 6pm during the day MSRTC employees have been on strike since October 28 demanding merger of the cash-strapped undertaking with the state government with the stir intensifying on November 9 after bus operations got paralysed in its 250 depots An MSRTC official said the overall number of dismissed employees rose to 44 while the number of those who have been given show cause notices so far stood at 355 A total of 24 employees were transferred taking the number of such staffers to 2788 The count of suspended employees increased by 51 during the day to touch 10701 So far the services of 2055 people have been terminated he said MSRTC with a fleet of 16000 buses used to ferry 65 lakh passengers per day before COVID-19 restrictions hit operations and increased losses PTI KK BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Maharashtra on Friday recorded eight new cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus which took the total of such cases in the state to 48 the health department saidAs per the report given by the National Institute of Virology today eight more patients were found to be infected with Omicron in the state an official release saidOf these six patients were from Pune one was from Mumbai and another from Kalyan-Dombivli satellite towns near Mumbai it saidAll eight new Omicron patients were male and aged between 29 to 45 years it added PTI PR KRK KRK

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut on Friday moved the sessions court here against a lower courts order rejecting her application seeking transfer of the criminal defamation case filed against her by lyricist Javed Akhtar The chief metropolitan magistrate CMM had dismissed her plea seeking transfer of case from the Andheri magistrates court in OctoberRanauts review application filed before the Borivali sessions court through advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said the CMM failed to appreciate that the magistrate had misused his powers to cause intentional injury to the applicant her case Earlier the actor had said in her transfer petition before the CMM that she had lost faith in the Andheri metropolitan magistrates court as it indirectly threatened to issue a warrant if she failed to appear before it in a bailable offence Akhtar filed the defamation complaint before the Andheri court in November 2020 over certain statements made by Ranaut during a TV interview PTI AVI KRK KRK

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI Father Frazer Mascarenhas an associate of late Jesuit priest Stan Swamy has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to clear Swamys name in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links caseIn a petition filed through senior counsel Mihir Desai on Thursday Mascarenhas former principal of city-based St Xaviers College also sought that the court monitor the judicial inquiry into Swamys custodial deathLast month the Jamshedpur Jesuit Province JJP had requested the high court that Mascarenhas be considered as Swamys next-of-kin and allowed to challenge observations made by the lower court while rejecting Swamys bail plea in the Elgar Parishad caseA division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal had asked the JJP to file a fresh plea while disposing of all pending pleas filed by SwamySwamy 84 died at a private hospital in Mumbai on July 5 while awaiting medical bailEarlier in March 2021 a special court for National Investigation Agency cases had rejected his bail applicationThere was prima facie evidence against him in the case the court had notedSwamy then filed an appeal in the HC but he died before the HC could decide itIn the fresh plea filed in the high court Mascarenhas said the NIA courts observations amounted to preliminary findings of guilt against Swamy and besmirched his reputationHad Swamy been alive he would have had the right to prove his innocence and his next-of-kin should be given the right to clear his name considering that he died awaiting trial the petition saidIt also urged the high court to monitor the judicial inquiry which is held when a person dies in judicial custody under section 176 of the Code of Criminal ProcedureBesides the immediate cause of death the inquiry must also look into the events that preceded his death including his worsening health while at Taloja prison and the inadequate health facilities there it saidThe HC is yet to assign a date for the hearing of the pleaThe Elgar Parishad case relates to a conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which as per city police was backed by Maoists and which led to caste violence at Koregaon Bhima war memorial the next day PTI AYA KRK KRK

Mumbai Dec 17 PTI The NIA on Friday told the Bombay High Court that the health condition of poet Varavara Rao an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case who is currently on an interim medical bail granted in February this year was stable and hence must surrender before the prison authorities National Investigation Agency NIA counsel Sandesh Patil told a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S V Kotwal that 83-year-old Rao had been medically examined earlier this month by a panel of doctors at the private Nanavati Hospital in the city and the doctors were of the opinion that Rao does not need continuous medical attention or hospitalisation at present Before being granted medical bail Rao was lodged in Taloja prison of Navi Mumbai His health condition is stable now and the time granted via medical bail to him by this court is already over So he Rao should surrender now All other issues raised by Raos lawyers can be examined after that Patil told the high court Rao was granted medical bail for six months in February this year by a bench led by Justice SS Shinde He was due to surrender on September 5 this year but the time of his surrender has been extended several times by the high court since then due to reasons such as need for further medical care time sought by NIA to get him medically examined etc Raos counsel senior advocate Anand Grover told the bench on Friday that although the NIA had submitted the Nanavati Hospitals opinion on Raos medical condition the same wasnt backed by any medical examination reports He said that the high court bench must not accept such conclusion of the hospital authorities without insisting on the poets original medical reports The report submitted by the NIA is signed by two doctors from the Nanavati Hospital It says that Raos health condition was evaluated by multiple consultants at the hospital on December 1 this year Currently he has minor symptoms such as lack of sleep and slight exhaustion His vital parameters are in normal range The remaining clinical examination reveals no significant abnormalities the document submitted by the agency reads It further says that Raos blood pressure was slightly high and hence he was prescribed requisite medication He is able to do all his activities of daily living the document states adding though that Rao experiences some slowness in activities After going through the report the bench led by Justice Jamdar asked Grover why the court must insist on verifying the claims made in the document when it clearly stated that Rao had been examined as per the high courts order passed on November 18 and that he was deemed to be medically stable by the hospital The hospital of your choice saying that everything is normal now the HC said Grover however said that the high court must keep in mind orders of the Supreme Court that say that an appellate court has the mandate to check if the expert opinion is correct and is based on medical reports or facts No expert opinion can be without reasons this is now a settled law Grover said The high court then directed that the Nanavati Hospital submit Raos original medical reports by Monday December 20 Ask the hospital to submit original medical reports on Monday If we find there is something that needs to be addressed we will hear the parties the high court told the NIA It further said that Rao neednt surrender before the Taloja prison authorities till then PTI AYA NP NP