Rutuja Latke of Uddhav's Sena faction wins Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll; NOTA at 2nd place
Mumbai (PTI): Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), on Sunday won the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat, bagging more than 66,000 votes, followed by the None Of The Above (NOTA) option.
The NOTA gives an option to electors not to vote in favour of any of the candidates in an election.
Latke got 66,530 votes out of the total 86,570 votes, while 12,806 votes were polled in favour of NOTA, an official said.
Latke was pitted against six independent candidates.
The November 3 byelection was necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA and Rutuja Latke's Ramesh Latke in May this year. It was, however, a mere formality after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its candidate from the race.
This was the first electoral contest in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed in June following a revolt by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.
After the bypoll result was declared, Thackeray said Rutuja Latke's victory showed that people were supporting Shiv Sena. "This is just the beginning of a fight. The (party) symbol is important but people look for the character too. The bypoll results show people support us," Thackeray told reporters after Rutuja Latke called on him at his residence 'Matoshree' following the victory.
Sena's Ramesh Latke had represented the Andheri (East) Assembly seat twice.
The Shiv Sena had won 56 seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. Ramesh Latke's death in May brought its tally down to 55.
In June, 40 Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde revolted against the party leadership, resulting in the collapse of the MVA government.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, supported Rutuja Latke's candidature.
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Kannada actress Ranya Rao, jeweller linked to Rs 40 cr gold smuggling: DRI
Bengaluru, Apr 03 (PTI): The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said jeweller Sahil Sakariya Jain played a key role in assisting Kannada actress Harshavardhini Ranya, also known as Ranya Rao, in disposing of 49.6 kg of smuggled gold worth ₹40.14 crore.
According to the DRI’s remand note, Jain not only helped facilitate the illegal transaction but also abetted Ranya in hawala money transfers linked to the smuggling operation.
Jain, a jeweller by profession, was arrested on March 26 for assisting Ranya in the gold smuggling case.
He has been remanded to judicial custody until April 7.
Jain not only helped Ranya in allegedly disposing of the gold but also appeared to have facilitated Hawala money transactions.
"It appears that he assisted and abetted Accused No. 1 in disposing of approximately 49.6 kg of gold worth ₹40,13,59,374. He has also admitted to aiding A1 in transferring Hawala money amounting to around ₹38,39,97,000 to Dubai and ₹1,73,61,787 to A1 in Bengaluru," the DRI stated.
The agency further noted that the unaccounted cash of ₹2.67 crore seized from Ranya’s residence on March 4, as per the ‘Mahazar’ , was likely Hawala money she received as profit from purchasing gold in Dubai and selling it in Bengaluru.
The DRI added that Jain admitted to receiving a commission of ₹55,000 for each transaction.
"The voluminous evidence extracted from two mobile phones and a laptop belonging to Sahil Sakariya Jain further establishes his role in the smuggling of large quantities of gold into India by A1 ," the DRI stated.
According to the agency, in January 2025, Jain helped Ranya dispose of 14.568 kg of gold worth ₹11.56 crore and facilitated the transfer of ₹11.01 crore in Hawala transactions to Dubai.
Additionally, he admitted to transferring ₹55 lakh in Bengaluru.
In February, Jain allegedly assisted Ranya in disposing of 13.433 kg of gold worth ₹11.81 crore.
During the same month, he helped transfer ₹11.25 crore in Hawala funds to Dubai and ₹55.81 lakh to Ranya in Bengaluru.
Ranya, the stepdaughter of a DGP-rank officer in Karnataka, was arrested on March 3, shortly after returning from Dubai at Kempegowda International Airport.
The DRI officials seized 14.7 kg of gold from her possession.
