MUMBAI MUMBAI | MONDAY | APRIL 18, 2022

Three held for stealing buffaloes from Palghar cow shelter

Three persons were arrested for allegedly stealing buffaloes from a shelter at
Vasai in Palghar, the police said on Sunday. The buffaloes were stolen on
April 6 from the Aryavarth Gaushala located near the Kashi Vishwanath
Temple in the Pelhar area. The police also seized a small truck worth Rs 2
lakh from the accused trio- Muzzamel Noor Mohammad Qureshi, Mustafa
Istakaruddin and Azhar Sanawat Sheikh. Agencies/Palghar

Man held in Rs 50 cr duty Man forcibly given Rs 4K loan ends

drawback case by DRI
Goods were exported after gross overvaluation to get higher duty drawbacks
SOMENDRA SHARMA
somendra.sharma@fpj.co.in
The Directorate of Rev-
enue Intelligence (DRI) of-
ficials have arrested a
Madhya Pradesh-based
man for his alleged in-
volvement in a Rs 50 crore
duty drawback case. The
DRI sources claimed that
certain goods were being
exported by some ex-
porters after gross overval-
uation with an ulterior
motive to get higher duty
drawbacks fraudulently
and subsequently the same
goods were imported back
to India in a circular man-
Sena MLA's
The suspect was intercepted by immigration
authorities at the Delhi airport while traveling
to the US on April 13
ner.
The accused indulged in
the export of goods de-
clared as carpets and fab-
rics of silk and other
yams, etc. to the US by mis-
declaring the value and
other particulars to fraud-
ulently avail higher duty
drawback.
According to sources,
specific intelligence devel-
oped by the DRI (Mumbai)
suggested that five ex-
A NEW POINT OF VIEW
porters were allegedly in-
dulging in the practice.
“Certain export consign-
ments of the said ex-
porters were seized by the
DRI in December 2020. One
of the suspects involved in
the duty drawback fraud
was issued several sum-
mons to appear before the
DRI for recording his state-
ment and to give evidence
and documents related to
the investigation. Howev-
er, the suspect never ap-
peared and a look out cir-
cular was issued against
the suspect,” said a DRI of-
ficial.
The suspect was inter-
cepted by immigration au-
thorities at the Delhi air-
port while traveling to the
USA on April 13.
He was brought to Mum-
bai the next day and a
probe revealed a syndicate
that had been availing in-
eligible higher drawbacks
by routing goods in a cir-
cular manner. “He is one
of the key people of this
syndicate,” said the
official.
Over 100
constables
lose chance to
become PSIs
SACHIN GAAD
sachin.gaad@fpj.co.in
Over 100 police constables as-
piring to become police sub-in-
spectors (PSI), lost their oppor-
tunity as they could not make
it to the exam centers after
three coaches of Puducherry
Express derailed at Matunga
on Friday night hitting the
train schedule adversely.
Though some of the candi-
dates made it to the examina-
tion centres minutes after the
permissible time, they were
not allowed citing the rules.
"The instructions are clear, the
aspirants have been asked to be
present at the centres one and a
half hours before the exam and
no one will be allowed to enter
examination halls after half an
hour before the commence-
ment of the examination, said
joint secretary, Maharashtra
Public Service Commission
(MPSC) Sunil Awatade.
up repaying Rs 3.6L to loan sharks
SOMENDRA SHARMA
somendra.sharma@fpj.co.in
A 25-year-old man installed a
loan providing application on
his mobile phone after which a
loan of Rs 4800 was credit in his
bank account despite not mak-
ing any request for loan. A week
later, the complainant was
asked to pay double the money
for having taken the loan and
was threatened that messages
defaming him would be sent to
those in his contact list if he did
not pay. In the span of one
month, the man ended up pay-
ing Rs 3.67 lakh to the loan
sharks and when he uninstalled
the application from his phone,
the loan sharks sent defamatory
messages to his relatives.
The police said the com-
plainant runs a grocery store
near Panvel. He came across the
loan providing app while surf-
ing on the internet on December
7, 2021. “When he clicked on the
advertisement of the app it got
downloaded on his phone. He
SIMILAR CASES REPORTED RECENTLY
DECEMBER 2021 : A 30-year-old installed a mobile application for
loans and started receiving abusive and threatening calls and messages
asking her to pay. Even after paying the money the accused shared an
edited obscene video of hers with her friends.
MARCH 2022 : A 43-year-old woman committed suicide after
allegedly being harassed by loan sharks. The Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar
police had registered an abetment to suicide case against three loan
providing mobile applications and 13 other persons who had been
calling the woman and threatening her.
MARCH 2022
A 39-year-old woman from Kanjurmarg alleging that loan sharks had
morphed her photograph and threatened to make it viral if she did not
repay her loan.
APRIL 2022
A 24-year-old woman from Charkop lost Rs 4.5 lakh towards repaying a
loan that she never took. The fraudsters threatened to defame her and
extorted the money in a span of 14 days. When she was left with no
money and stopped payment, the fraudster circulated her photographs
and number offering sexual services. The Charkop police have launched
an investigation and suspect the case is the handiwork of a syndicate as
the woman was harassed by almost nine different loan apps.
having made any loan request,” plainant obliged and made the
said a police officer. payment, following which he
On December 15, the com-
plainant received a phone call
kept receiving threatening mes-
sages forcing him to make more

wife found A police constable from

Quick Response Team (QRT),
then shared his bank account
details on the app and allowed
from an unknown man who told
him that he would have to pay
payments. He then uninstalled
the application,” the officer said.

hanging at
who did not wish to be named all permissions. However, he Rs 8056 for the loan taken. “The The complainant then learned
said, “I left home at 7.45 am and was surprised when a loan caller asked the complainant to that abusive messages were be-
boarded a train from Mulund amount of Rs 4800 was credited make the payment on a link sent ing sent to his relatives and got a
Kurla residence station at 8.10 am. However, my
train got stuck between
to his bank account, without to him on WhatsApp. The com- police complaint registered.

Vikhroli and Ghatkopar. I then

STAFF REPORTER
Mumbai
Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Ku-
dalkar's wife, Rajani, 42, al-
legedly died by suicide on
Sunday at her Kurla resi-
dence. The Nehru Nagar po-
lice are investigating the mat-
ter.
According to the police, the
incident came to fore at
around 9.40pm when Rajani
was found hanging inside the
house. After being alerted,
the police rushed to the spot
and subsequently recorded
an accidental death report in
the matter.
No suicide note was recov-
ered till Sunday night and
even the reason behind the
extreme step is yet to be as-
certained, a senior police offi-
cial said.
Mauritian PM
arrives in city
MUMBAI: Prime Minister of
Mauritius Pravind Kumar
Jugnauth arrived in Mumbai on
Sunday as part of his week-long
visit to India. He arrived at the
Chhatrapati Shivaji International
Airport at 1.20 am. He was
received by senior officials of
the Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA), as well as those from
the state protocol department
and police. –Agencies
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi and son, tourism and environment minister
Aditya, along with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar inaugurated viewing deck at Girgaum chowpat-
ty. The FPJ was the first to report the plan to construct the deck, capable of accommodating 500
viewers at a time.
CR to boost infra on Vasai-Panvel route
SHASHANK RAO
Shashank.rao@fpj.co.in
The Central Railway (CR) has
decided to boost the overall
system on the existing Vasai-
Diva-Panvel route on which
shuttle services and goods
trains are currently being
run. The move will provide
temporary relief to com-
muters as the long-term plan
to augment the rail network in
Mumbai's Metropolitan Re-
gion has been stuck due to un-
resolved issues between the
Maharashtra government and
Indian Railways.
According to CR authorities,
plans are in place to install au-
tomatic signaling systems, to
reduce the gaps between two
signal poles, improve the condi-
tion of railway stations and to
CR authorities plan to install automatic signaling systems
carry out necessary augmenta-
tion works on that route net-
work. Once these works are
complete, the CR authorities
will also increase the number
of shuttle or MEMU services
for passengers at a later stage.
Speaking exclusively to FPJ,
the general manager of CR,
Anil Kumar Lahoti said that
they have drawn out plans for
enhancing the signaling sys-
Report: Kalpesh Mhamunkar
tem and other necessary
works on the Vasai-Diva-Pan-
vel corridor.
Sources said that at present
the signal poles are at least 1
km apart, or even more at some
stretches. The CR authorities
are planning to have these
poles 450-750 meters apart with
automatic signaling systems
for efficient train running. The
facilities at the stations will
left the train and walked up to
Ghatkopar from where I
reached Sion by an autorick-
shaw. Thereafter, I got a lift
from a biker, who dropped me
at Matunga. I reached the
exam centre at 10.34 am, four
minutes late. However, I was
not allowed to enter the exam
hall.
He even tried calling police
control and his superiors also
requested to allow him due to
the train issue, but to no avail.
Similar was the case with a
woman police constable from
Thane police, who was stuck
on the train.
Full report on
www.freepressjournal.i
also be upgraded. There are
currently nine stations on the
existing network which will be
increased to 21 stations be-
tween Vasai and Panvel.
A new suburban corridor on
the Vasai-Diva-Panvel route
has been proposed at a cost of
Rs 1087 crore. According to the
new plan, it will take four years
for completion from the day
construction begins. It is ex-
pected that AC locals will be op-
erated on the corridor. The
Mumbai Railway Vikas Corpo-
ration (MRVC) has proposed to
install an automatic signaling
system on the section between
Vasai and Diva and to build a
4.5-km-long chord line between
Nilaje and Kopar which will
cut train travel between Vasai
and Panvel by around 15 to 20
minutes.
Open Hancock for
demolishing Carnac:
Traffic cops to BMC, CR
SHASHANK RAO
shashank.rao@fpj.co.in
To avoid the repetition of 2018
Andheri's Gokhale road over-
bridge collapse, the Central
Railway (CR) and BMC are
vying with the traffic police to
bring the vehicular traffic on
the 154-year-old Carnac Bun-
der bridge to a complete halt
so that the extremely dilapi-
dated infra could be demol-
ished.
Built in 1868, the Carnac
bridge was primarily con-
structed for the movements of
bullock carts and horse
drawn carriages, but now it
has become a vital path con-
necting P D’Mello Road and
DN Road. However, the traffic
police is not in favour of clos-
ing the bridge, reasoning that
the move will disrupt the traf-
fic flow as another crucial
path, Hancock bridge, is al-
ready shut.
Worried over the continu-
ously deteriorating Carnac's
condition, the CR and BMC
recently arrived at the conclu-
sion of immediately demol-
ishing the bridge so as to
avoid any untoward incident
similar to Gokhale bridge col-
lapse. Once dismantled by the
CR, the bridge will be rebuilt
by the BMC.
Eastern Freeway, SVP Road,
DN Road and P D’Mello Road.
Treading on a cautionary
note, heavy vehicles have
been barred on Carnac since
2013. The IIT Bombay report
has advised its immediate
demolition but since 2018 the
CR has been strengthening
and replacing its bolts, mem-
bers and smaller parts to hold
it together.
“We can't wait till monsoon.
It requires immediate demoli-
tion and further waiting
could be a risk. It is unneces-
sarily being connected with
Hancock bridges’ comple-
tion,” said another CR offi-
cial.
It will take at least 2-3
months for dismantling this
stone bridge which needs to
be done very carefully using
jack hammers and cranes. If
utmost care isn’t taken while
dismantling frame-by-frame
Cash, movie
tickets for votes
in Kolhapur,
says state min
SANJAY JOG
Sanjay.jog@fpj.co.in
Maharashtra minister of state
for home Satej Patil, who is
credited with the Congress
party’s victory in Kolhapur
North, has accused the BJP of
distributing money during the
poll campaign. The minister
also alleged that the BJP dis-
tributed free tickets for 'The
Kashmir Files' movie to voters,
its 61 legislators and 7,000 par-
ty workers camped in the con-
stituency to woo them. Howev-
er, the voters cast their votes
for Congress nominee
Jayashree Jadhav, supported
by allies.
“While BJP used every trick
to polarise the voters, Congress
with its allies focused on a slew
of issues including inflation,
fuel price rise and develop-
ment works of the MVA gov-
ernment during the poll cam-
paign,” said Patil. He was
speaking a day after Congress
nominee Jayashree Jadhav de-
feated BJP candidate Satyajit
Kadam. The Congress was sup-
ported by allies NCP, Shiv
Sena, CPM, PWP.
"There were no lodges, hotels
or marriage halls available in
Kolhapur, as a large number of
people came from outside
(from BJP). The BJP distrib-
uted money in a big way but
voters did not succumb to such
tactics as they voted for Maha

Thieves cashing in on evening rush on locals, says RPF study
KAMAL MISHRA
A time-bound crime study
done by the Central Railway's
(CR) Railway Protection
Force (RPF) has found that
thieves and habitual offend-
ers are more active during
evening rush hours.
In 2021, a total of 2308 cases
of theft of passengers' belong-
ings, including mobile
phones, were registered, of
which 20 per cent of thefts
took place between 6.00 and
8.00 pm.
Most of the thefts took
place between 7.00 and 8.00
pm with 252 cases being reg-
were registered 2021, fol-
lowed by 113 cases of theft
that took place between 8.00
and 9.00 am. Meanwhile, 113
cases were reported to have
taken place between 10.00 and
11.00 am.
According to the study,
thieves are also active be-
tween 12.00 noon and 1.00 pm
with 117 cases of phone theft
being reported. The study
The number of thefts reported in the morning was comparitively less also revealed that around 75
istered, followed by 199 cases While the morning trains per cent cases (2308) were re-
between 6.00 and 7.00 pm. were more crowded, the num- ported to have taken place on
Meanwhile, 159 cases of theft ber of thefts reported was trains and only 25 per cent
were reported between 8.00 comparatively less. A total of (581 cases) were reported at
and 9.00 pm in 2021 on local 153 cases of theft on CR locals the station premises.
trains along the CR network. between 9.00 and 10.00 am “During the rush hours in
the evening, everyone is
tired and their guard is
down. Also, most travelers
are occupied with their cell
phones. In the 70's chain
snatching and stealing of
pens and purses were high
in the day as even the
thieves would sleep early
and start their activities in
the morning. Today, the
thieves start late to avoid the
morning hustle and bustle,”
said Dr Harish Shetty, a not-
ed psychiatrist of Mumbai.
He added that travelers are
more alert in the morning
and aware of their ecosys-
tems during their journey.
“We need NOC for closure of
road traffic for demolition,
which is yet to be received
from the traffic police. How-
ever, they have disagreed over
the proposal, citing high vol-
ume of vehicular traffic now
and later once the ROB is shut
for use. They have informed
us that probable permissions
can be issued only when Han-
cock bridge is ready,” said a
senior CR official on condi-
tion of anonymity.
The traffic police based its
skepticism over the fact that
the closure of Hancock and
Carnac bridges together will
hamper east-west connection.
These two bridges are impor-
tant connectors between By-
culla and CSMT. Traffic
snarls are already seen on
then it could come crashing
down onto the railway lines
below which could be a catas-
trophe. Sources said that the
traffic police are asking for
time-bound re-construction
plans so as to avoid the Han-
cock Bridge situation that is-
n’t ready for 6 years now.
While, sources in the BMC
and CR averred that there is
no link between Hancock and
Carnac bridges. “We are ex-
pecting Hancock Bridge to
open in May. Thereafter, the
railway will get permission
from the traffic police to de-
molish Carnac bridge. We
will try to open at least one
lane on the up and down sides
of Hancock bridge,while car-
rying out balance works,”
said a BMC official.
Vikas Aghadi. This victory is
not ours, it belongs to the peo-
ple of Kolhapur,” said Patil. He
noted that the voters have
shown that Kolhapur is pro-
gressive.
“History was made in Kolha-
pur which inherited the great
works of Rajarshi Chhatrapati
Shahu Maharaj and Maharani
Tararani. The land of Rajarshi
Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj
once again conveyed the mes-
sage of equality,’’ noted Patil
who crafted the poll campaign
and implemented it with allies
by camping in Kolhapur for
over 25 days.
Patil, who is the Kolhapur
district guardian minister, said
he has been focussed on pursu-
ing a slew of development proj-
ects in the district.

THREE PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE STATE COME TOGETHER TO PRACTICE CRYSTAL MICROPHOTOGRAPHY

New art alert: Now, click a photo and recreate your imagination
PAYAL GWALANI larised light. down is Yavatmal-based as his dentist friend Dr Hiroj
Mumbai The artist can make use of Shyam Rathod. A deputy en- Bagde from Nagpur, who

L ike many renowned sci-

entists, Nobel Prize-win-
ning physicist Dr Richard
Feynman also dabbled in the
arts alongside studying quan-
tum physics. He once spoke
about how an artist friend
would say that edike artists
could look at a flower and
marvel at its beauty, a scien-
tist n like him will disinte-
grate it and change it into a
dull thing.
It is this philosophy that
Pune-based technocrat Yo-
gendra Joshi and his ilk seem
to identify with. This would
explain their interest in a
niche art form called crystal
microphotography (or pho-
tocrystal micrography). A
perfect amalgamation of art
and science, it essentially in-
volves taking photos of a thin
layer of crystals formed on a
glass slide with the help of a
microscope and cross-po-
the right compounds and
play around with the lighting
to produce whatever image
they have in mind – anything
from kaleidoscopic patterns,
landscapes to man-made
structures and everything in
between. Joshi has been ex-
perimenting with macro pho-
tography for over a decade
now, having taken photos of
insects and high-speed water
drop collisions. In fact, he
taught these art forms to
many students through
workshops and publications.
His brush with micro pho-
tography happened when he
was reading through the cat-
egories of an international
photography competition a
few years ago. When the pan-
demic disrupted his weekly
outdoor photography, he de-
cided to take up crystal mi-
crophotography in March
2020. “I needed to get a micro-
An examplw of crystal microphotography
scope, but I started with the
most basic compounds I
could find around me: salt,
sugar, citric acid, sherbet
powder and even human
tears,” he says.
He loved what he saw under
the microscope, and started
looking for virtual communi-
ties interested in micropho-
gineer with MAHA-
TRANSCO, he had been into
astronomy but got tired of
lugging around heavy equip-
ment, and macro photogra-
phy suited him just fine. He
also got acquainted with his
international peers which led
him to a Facebook group
where he would post his pho-
tos. Loes happened to be in
that group, where she intro-
duced Rathod to Joshi.
Rathod experimented with
chemicals such as paraceta-
WHAT IS CRYSTAL MICROPHOTOGRAPHY? mol and urea. Being located
in a rural area was an advan-
It involves taking photos of crystals formed by various chemical
tography. That's when he got tage for him when he was
elements and compounds with the help of a microscope. The
in touch with Netherlands- pursuing macro photogra-
crystals are not visible to the eye, and would appear as a
based Loes Modderman who phy. “Being a working profes-
white layer on the glass slides where they are placed. With the
not only encouraged Joshi sional, I can't spend a lot of
help of polarisation filters, their colours can be captured. An
but also became his mentor. time on this hobby. Despite
expert artist can form images of his choice through this
Another person who got this, I want to continue to
method. Yogendra Joshi can be reached at
into the art form after facing learn and refine my art,” he
yogendra.joshi@gmail.com while Shyam Rathod can be
the difficulty of continuing says.
reached at shyamrathod@gmail.com. Dr Hiroj Bagde can be
the hobby of capturing in- Rathod has persevered
reached through Instagram on @its_hiroj__bagde.
sects on frame due to the lock- with the help of Joshi as well
also took up the art form
eventually. As a medical
practitioner, he had easy ac-
cess to chemicals which
helped him develop his art.
Starting with a salt solution,
he has graduated to using
sulphuric acid. “Trial and
error is the best learning
method for this art,” he says.
While it might sound like an
expensive hobby to pursue,
Bagde insists that this per-
ception is not true. One only
needs to invest in a micro-
scope, the base model for
which costs Rs 10,000. Polari-
sation filters that are used in
cameras are needed to make
the necessary changes in the
lens of the microscope. Pho-
tos can be clicked with a
phone camera. “You can just
start with what you have.
Not even knowledge of sci-
ence is needed to start this
hobby,” he says.