Mumbai: To improve conviction rates in criminal cases from the current 50% to 95%, the state has planned a detailed study of past cases to identify investigative loopholes and introduced a performance-based grading system in criminal investigation for district and city police units, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.On Monday, Fadnavis, along with minister of state for home Pankaj Bhoyal (rural) and Yogesh Kadam (urban), additional chief secretary (home) Manisha Mahaiskar and principal secretary (special) Anup Kumar Singh, held a review meeting at the DGP headquarters in Mumbai with the state police chief Sadanand Date, Mumbai police commissioner Deven Bharti, police commissioners of other cities in the state, and many other senior officers. Fadnavis said, “The last 4-5 years’ cases will be analysed by using AI. In the cases where there was no conviction, the CID will study the reasons and loopholes with the help of AI. A detailed policy will be made so there will be no such gap in cases in future.”He said the use of modern technology in policing, end-to-end digitisation of criminal investigation and the justice process was essential. He also mentioned that a blockchain-based evidence management system.A senior officer said that many things were in place, but there were separate sections in the police, and those were being integrated, so that there was no need for physical intervention. The officer said there would be no possibility of tampering with papers, and everyone concerned would have the digital case papers ready on their computer.Fadnavis said he asked the DGP to digitise the entire process of criminal cases, from registration of an FIR to filing a chargesheet and conducting a trial, in the next six months. The CM said they were working towards reducing road accidents in the state.He said the Maoist insurgency in Gadchiroli and other places in the state had now been reduced to a negligible level, and announced that personnel who served in the C-60 force for at least three years would be awarded a special ‘C-60 Medal’ by the state govt.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court declined a plea by an accused that sought to make Punjab National Bank (PNB) an additional accused in the case where Gitanjali group allegedly defrauded the bank. The HC said, “Admittedly, fraud is committed with PNB by the officials of PNB and Gitanjali Group of Companies... in fact, PNB is a victim, so PNB cannot be added as an accused.”Justice Shivkumar Dige, sitting singly, also imposed Rs 10,000 as costs on Nitin Shahi, accused number eight, who filed the petition in 2020, which it dismissed. The HC order was out on Monday.The CBI, through special public prosecutor, informed the HC on March 18 that the bank, PNB, suffered over Rs 7,000 crore worth of loss in the case of Gitanjali Gems and group companies alone and hence the company and bank cannot be measured by the same yardstick.A special CBI trial court in 2020 rejected Shahi’s plea to add PNB as an additional accused. His lawyer Vritee Soni argued that the chargesheet alleged a conspiracy was hatched by bank officials in connivance with staff of Gitanjali group and hence the bank too ought to be made an accused and cannot shift blame only to its employees. The petitioner’s case was that Gitanjali Gems Ltd is an accused and all its Key Managerial Persons (KMPs) are accused, but PNB is not arrayed as an accused when its officials are for allegedly not informing the bank about fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) and Letters of Credit (LCs).Munde said, “PNB’s senior and junior employees have been chargesheeted because they had conspired and cheated PNB,” and the senior management of the company too are facing trial.The CBI on Feb 15, 2018, registered the crime on a complaint from Avneesh Nepalia, Dy General Manager, PNB in Mumbai, against Gokulnath Shetty, Dy Manager, PNB, and 15 other accused, for cheating, criminal conspiracy, and under the Prevention of Corruption Act case for allegedly defrauding PNB of over Rs 750 million USD or nearly Rs 5,000 crore and later filed additional complaints of frauds worth an additional Rs 1,250 crore and around Rs 950 crore between 2013 and 2017. The trial is pending in the case.

Navi Mumbai: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) standing committee chairman Ashok Patil presented a Rs 6,704-crore budget for 2026-27 to mayor Sujata Patil at a specially convened general body meeting on Monday. The budget prioritised completion of ongoing works and strengthening basic amenities, infrastructure, healthcare, education, water supply and sanitation, while proposing no hike in property or water taxes for another year.NMMC expects revenue of Rs 6,704 crore and plans spending of Rs 6,689 crore, leaving a surplus of Rs 15 crore. Some residents claimed the estimates were inflated and less realistic than in earlier years. No new projects were set aside this year, as the administration aims to complete long-pending works. A major project included was the Palm Beach elevated road extension connecting Ghansoli and Airoli, which finally began after years of delay following HC’s environmental clearance. To bolster healthcare, the budget proposed a nursing college and a dedicated burns unit at National Burns Centre in Airoli. For children with special needs, an Airoli sub-centre of Vashi’s Education Training Centre was planned to decentralise services.Environmental measures received little emphasis, with no clear allocation. Nature advocates said the budget failed to address debris dumping, mangrove destruction, tree cutting, rising pollution and mitigation steps. “This budget serves politicians more than taxpayers. Wetlands are being destroyed and the city’s landscape is vanishing year after year. Yet, the administration seems unconcerned,” said environmentalist Sameer Tupe. The civic encroachment department plans to spend Rs 12 crore to remove illegal structures amid growing encroachments, while expecting minimal revenue from penalties and fines, implying a financial loss for NMMC.This was NMMC’s first budget presentation by an elected body after six years of administrative rule. Conventionally, the commissioner presents the budget to the standing committee chairperson in the presence of the media and the elected House. But this time, the standing committee drafted the budget and presented it directly to the general body. Media representatives objected to not receiving the budget booklet. Opposition Shiv Sena corporators were silent during the presentation.Forest minister and Airoli MLA Ganesh Naik said the budget reflects key priorities to meet public expectations.

A Tennessee woman spent months in jail after police used an AI facial recognition tool to link her to crimes in another state. According to a CNN report, the woman, identified as 50-year-old Angela Lipps, said she had never been to North Dakota, the state where the alleged crimes took place. As per the report, authorities in Fargo, North Dakota, have admitted there were mistakes in the case and said they are reviewing their procedures, though they have not issued a formal apology. The case highlights concerns about the use of facial recognition tech in investigations.

What exactly happened

According to the Fargo Police Department, Lipps was arrested in Tennessee on July 14 after a warrant had been issued in North Dakota weeks earlier. The warrant was related to multiple bank fraud incidents reported in and around Fargo. Police said the arrest was based on a facial recognition match, which later appeared to be incorrect. In their search for a suspect in the bank fraud cases, investigators used “our partner agency’s facial recognition technology” as well as “additional investigative steps independent of AI to assist in identification” before submitting the report to the Cass County State Attorney’s Office, Fargo Police Department Chief Dave Zibolski, CNN reports.Notably, Lipps was taken into custody by the police despite being more than 1,000 miles away from the location of the alleged crimes.Fargo police department told CNN that they use Clearview AI, a startup with a database of billions of photos scraped from the internet. Clearview “identified a potential suspect with similar features to Angela Lipps” and West Fargo police shared that report with Fargo police, reads a statement from the police department.

Police admit errors, review process

Fargo police said there were “a few errors” in how the case was handled. In a press conference, Fargo Police Department Chief Dave Zibolski said his police department’s reliance on some of the information from a neighboring agency’s AI system is “part of the issue”. “At some point, our partner agency over at West Fargo purchased their own AI facial recognition system that we were not aware of at the executive level …, and we would not have allowed that to be used, and it has since been prohibited,” he said.

Mumbai: Opposition parties, including Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, MNS, AIMIM and Samajwadi Party, staged a walkout from the BMC House on Monday, alleging that leader of the opposition Kishori Pednekar of Shiv Sena (UBT) was “insulted” after being asked to wait in the Mayor’s antechamber despite being officially called for a meeting regarding the protocol department.“We were called for a meeting by the Mayor Ritu Tawde. After reaching on time, we were asked to wait in the antechamber, which we think was incorrect. This is no way of respecting someone’s time,” said Pednekar.Ashraf Azmi, Congress party leader in the BMC, also flagged similar lapses at recent events, including Sion hospital project inauguration and a cleanliness competition announcement attended by actor Akshay Kumar. “All these events are being made out to be political party events instead of ensuring that every elected party in the BMC is made a part of it,” said Azmi.The ruling side, however, maintained that the Opposition members were requested to wait in the antechamber as a mark of respect, and said there was no cause for offence. Shiv Sena’s Yamini Jadhav said, “We make only close people wait in the antechamber. So there’s no need to make an issue of it,” she said.Tawde said she told Pednekar that she will be coming to the antechamber. “We were discussing some party issues and asked Pednekar to wait only for a few minutes. She went in but then left abruptly within a few minutes,” Tawde told TOI. “We wanted to give instructions to the civic protocol department, to ensure that all committee chairpersons are allowed in any civic events and that invites must be sent to them well in advance,” Tawde added.Shiv Sena’s Amey Ghole, who was also present in the Mayor’s cabin, said that he “respectfully” had asked Pednekar to wait and didn’t think it would snowball into such a big issue.was disrespected by the BJP-Shiv Sena in a meeting scheduled at Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde’s chamber regarding BMC’s protocol department.A meeting regarding the BMC’s protocol department, scheduled at Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde’s chamber on Monday afternoon, ended in a walkout by the UBT led opposition party members in the BMC house. Following them were other opposition parties like the Congress, MNS, AIMIM & Samajwadi.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A gruesome murder in the Gajuwaka locality of Vizag city has sent shockwaves after a Navy employee, Ch Ravindra, was arrested for allegedly murdering a woman with whom he was in a relationship, chopping the body into pieces, dumping some parts, and storing the remaining parts in a refrigerator. The incident took place in the LV Nagar locality under Gajuwaka police station limits on Sunday night. The victim has been identified as Polipalli Mounika (31), a resident of Sanjeevayya Colony, Tatichetlapalem, in Vizag city. The accused, Chintada Ravindra (30), is a resident of LV Nagar, Gajuwaka, in Vizag city and a native of Rajam in Vizianagaram district. Ravindra has been working at INS Dega for the past one year. He came into contact with Mounika in 2021 through a dating app called “Mingle App.” Thereafter, they frequently met at various places in Vizag city and subsequently developed a relationship. During the course of their relationship, it is alleged that Mounika started demanding money from Ravindra and, over a period of time, collected around Rs 3.5 lakh. It is further alleged that she threatened Ravindra that she would disclose their relationship to his wife and ruin his married life.Here’s how the crime unfolded:

Ravindra’s wife had gone to her hometown in Vizianagaram a few weeks ago. Unable to bear the alleged harassment and threats, Ravindra called Mounika to his residence (Flat No. 102, Keerthi Enclave-1, LV Nagar) on Sunday (March 29). The two reportedly had an argument, following which Ravindra allegedly murdered Mounika by sealing her nose and mouth with his hands.After killing her, Ravindra allegedly tried to hide the crime and destroy evidence. He is said to have procured a sharp knife through an online delivery application and dismembered the body by separating the head, hands, and legs.It is further reported that he kept the legs and hip portion in a trolley bag, stored the torso (without the head, hands, and legs) in the refrigerator, and later shifted the head and hands to the Simhachalam area, where he allegedly burnt them.Police said Ravindra and Mounika became acquainted through the dating app, during which they exchanged mobile numbers. Subsequently, they developed a close relationship that turned into an intimate love affair.In 2024, the accused married another woman. Police said the victim had allegedly been persistently threatening him that she would disclose their relationship to his wife and expose the manner in which he had deceived her under the pretext of love.Being apprehensive of such disclosure, the accused allegedly hatched a plan to eliminate the victim and, in furtherance of the plan, committed her murder. The accused has been arrested and is being sent to judicial remand.