Mumbai News LIVE Updates: Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar acquitted in 2021 protest case

A court here on Thursday acquitted Maharashtra Minister of Forest, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries Sudhir Mungantiwar and seven others in a case related to a protest organised by the BJP during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to which Mungantiwar belongs, had organised a `Shankh Naad` and `Ghanta Naad` protest against the then Maha Vikas Aghadi government`s decision not to reopen temples and other places of worship in view of the pandemic.
BJP workers had rung puja bells and blown conches across the state during the protest. (PTI)

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the bypoll to the Kasba Peth Assembly constituency in Maharashtra`s Pune city because of its "use and throw" policy. The ruling BJP on Thursday failed to retain the Kasba seat, its stronghold, as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party nominee Hemant Rasane in the bypoll. The BJP held this Assembly segment for 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP MP from Pune, represented the seat five times till 2019. (PTI)

Police have arrested a 30-year-old man from Thane city in Maharashtra for allegedly defaming a woman by posting her private photos and videos on a social media platform, an official said on Thursday. The man created a fake account of the woman on Instagram and shared her childhood photos and videos on it, said Sujitkumar Gunjkar, senior inspector of Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police`s cyber cell. "In her complaint, the woman said that by posting her private photos in public domain brought humiliation for her. Her complaint was classified under the category of child pornography and the content shared by the accused was tagged as child sexual abuse material," the official said. Based on the complaint, the man was arrested on Tuesday, he said. (PTI)

The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed a "cryptic" order of a special court rejecting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, and directed the special judge to rehear his bail plea. A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and P D Naik noted that the special court`s order did not contain an analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, as it directed the special judge to conclude the fresh hearing within 4 weeks. (PTI)