13 arrested for plot to kill Bhatt, threat to Morani

November 18, 2014

Morani plotMumbai, Nov 18: The city crime branch has arrested members of two factions of a fugitive gangster who were planning to eliminate film producer Mahesh Bhatt and his family. The gang is also involved in threatening and firing at film producer Karim Morani's bungalow in August.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Sadanand Date said they had arrested 13 members of the gangster who targeted Bollywood personalities for cheap publicity. Investigations have been handed over to assistant commissioner of police Sunil Deshmukh, who will focus on identifying the gangster's middlemen in the city. The police are likely to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Date said a tip-off to inspectors Jagdish Sail and Dheeraj Kohli led to the arrests and recovery of three country-made weapons and five phones. Sail and his team laid a trap and arrested eight of them near Bhatt's residence at Khar. Among those arrested are Ishrat Shaikh, Mohammed Khan, Azim Khan, Ashfaq Sayyed, Shanuwaz Shaikh, Feroz Sayyed, Shabbir Shaikh, Rahim Khan and Mohammed Merchant. One of them is a second year civil engineering student, while another had befriended a watchman at Bhatt's building.

"Most of them are from the Mumbra-Kausa belt, uneducated, unemployed, and have been lured by the gangster for petty sums. In fact, one of them had done a recce of the target at Juhu but then went on the back-foot. The gangster later sent another team to do the job," Date said.

He said investigations revealed that some of them received around Rs 11 lakh from the gangster through hawala. The police are trying to track down the middlemen who arranged the money and brought all the accused to one platform.

Sources said the gangster had targeted Morani only to scare him into giving the overseas rights of his film to a US-based NRI Bhittu Singh. But the gangster had directed the shooters to kill Bhatt, and if they did not get him, Mukesh Bhatt or Rahul Bhatt. The police provided extra security to them, though Mahesh has been enjoying police security since 1999, when he was first targeted.

In 1999, the crime branch had killed three gangsters who were trailing Bhatt from Film City, and another attempt was made on him in 2003. Bhatt was not available for comment.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Mumbai, Jun 15: Actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on Sunday, was battling depression, police said on Monday.

According to the police official, Mumbai Police found out during the probe that the 34-year-old actor was under medication for depression.

No suicide note was found from the spot, the official added.

Mumbai Police as well as the crime branch officials visited his rented flat on Sunday, but nothing suspicious was found. Rajput had been living with two cooks and a house help.

Autopsy reveals asphyxia as provisional cause of death

The provisional post mortem report of Sushant Singh Rajput has revealed that the provisional cause of death was asphyxia due to hanging, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abhishek Trimukhe said on Monday.

"Provisional postmortem report has been submitted by doctors at Bandra Police Station. A team of three doctors conducted the autopsy of Sushanth Singh Rajput. The provisional cause of death is asphyxia due to hanging," Trimukhe said.

The post mortem has been conducted at Dr RN Cooper Municipal General Hospital in Mumbai.

The untimely death of the versatile actor has sent shock waves among celebrities and his fans alike. Scores of actors and politicians from across the nation have taken it online to share their grief and sorrow with the untimely demise of the young actor.
 

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News Network
July 3,2020

Mumbai, Jun 3: Investigators will subject the cloth allegedly used by actor Sushant Singh Rajput to hang himself to "tensile strength" analysis to determine whether it can bear the weight similar to that of the filmstar, as part of probe into his death, an official said on Friday.

Rajput (34) was found hanging at his suburban Bandra residence on June 14.

According to the investigators, the actor ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling using a green coloured night gown made of cotton.

No suicide note was found from the spot, the police had said then.

Besides viscera from the actors body, the police also sent the gown for chemical and forensic analysis at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in suburban Kalina, he said.

It will take at least three more days to get final forensic report, the official said.

To ascertain the exact cause of death, forensic experts will check pattern of ligature marks around the actors neck and also determine the strength of the gown with the help of "tensile strength" analysis, he said.

The tensile strength test will technically establish whether the cloth can bear around 80kg, the weight of the actor, he said.

The test will help determine if there was any foul play, the official said.

Tensile strength is maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched.

Viscera analysis will help in checking whether there were any traces of chemical, poisonous or narcotics substance in his body, the official said.

"Usually, it takes eight to ten working days to get s report from the FSL in regular cases. But since this case is sensitive, experts are taking more precautions to avoid any kind of error in their analysis," the official said.

The forensic report of the actors mobile phone is also awaited, he said.

Recently, the police received the final post-mortem report of the actor from Cooper Hospital, which mentioned the cause of the death as asphyxia due to hanging"

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News Network
April 19,2020

Mumbai, Apr 19: It is important to stay united and have faith in each other to fight the coronavirus pandemic, veteran lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar said on Sunday, expressing concerns over the attack on healthcare workers and cases of communal tension in the country.

In a video shared by Akhtar's wife, veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Twitter, the writer urged people to stand together in this time of crisis.

"The country is undergoing a crisis at this point of time. To fight this crisis called coronavirus, it is important for us to be united. If we will keep suspecting each other or won't understand each other's intentions, there will be no unity, then how will we fight it?

"You must salute these doctors who are endangering their lives to test you. Unless you get tested, you will not know whether you have the disease or not. You can be treated only after that. It's a matter of stupidity that, I've heard, people are pelting stones on those doctors. This should not be done," Akhtar said in the 2 minute-long clip.

The 75-year-old lyricist also said that targeting a particular community defeats the goal of unity.

"I also hear that shops of a particular community are being shut, 'thelas' are being overturned or people are hit so that they can flee. This is not how unity works. We will have to believe each other. We all are citizens of this country," he said.

Akhtar appealed to the Muslim community to offer prayers from home in the holy month of Ramzan, which will begin from April 24 or April 25.

"I request all the Muslim brothers that now that Ramzan is coming, please say your prayers but make sure that this doesn't cause problems to anyone else. The prayers that you do in the mosque, you can do that at home. According to you, the house, the ground, this all has been made by Him. Then you can do your prayers anywhere," he said.

"Ensure that your speech, slogans and deeds don't create any suspicion in the minds of others. And to all the other citizens of the country, I'd say please have faith in each other, practice unity, don't resort to hatred. Only with the help of love and trust, we will be able to fight with the coronavirus," he added.

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