600 SRPF personnel, 6 drones deployed in Mumbai amid lockdown

The Mumbai Police on Friday has deployed five platoons of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) with 120 personnel in each platoon to ensure strict lockdown in the 380

The Mumbai Police on Friday has deployed five platoons of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) with 120 personnel in each platoon to ensure strict lockdown in the 380 odd containment zones across Mumbai.

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Six drones are hovering over these zones, making announcements asking people to stay at home. Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops) and spokesperson for Mumbai Police confirmed the development.

Till Friday 4am, 34,010 FIRs were registered in the state over lockdown violations with maximum offences in Pune city with 4, 317 cases followed by Ahmednagar with 3,215 cases.

About 468 people were booked for violating home quarantine and 161 people were arrested for assaulting police officers. About 18, 995 vehicles were seized and a fine of about ₹1.22 crore was collected from the offenders.

Lockdown violations continued on Thursday, with 92% of the total cases in city registered against people gathering in one place.

A total of 275 FIRs were registered by Mumbai Police on Thursday in which 254 cases were for gathering in public. A total of 504 people were booked and 324 were arrested in all cases. The remaining 21 cases were for unnecessary use of vehicles and keeping shops open that are not part of essential services. In all, Mumbai Police have so far lodged 2,205 cases against 4,138 people.

The central region, that comprises of areas like Mumbai Central, Byculla, Mazgaon, Prabhadevi, Worli Koliwada, are the worst hit by Covid-19 with 268 positive cases being reported till Thursday. When contacted, S Veeresh Prabhu, additional commissioner of police, central region said, “We are strictly following all the instructions given by the BMC to stop the virus from spreading further.”

Meanwhile, The state’s cyber cell registered 161 cases are registered regarding fake news, rumours and hate speech over social media in Maharashtra. “There is a rising trend in hate speech cases and 73 cases are registered in this regard. In all 39 accused are arrested and 33 are identified,” said Balsing Rajput, SP, Maharashtra cyber.

Six in Dharavi booked for attending prayer meet

Dharavi police caught over 10 people who attended a prayer meet at a house at Gandhi Nagar society in Dharavi. The police lodged an FIR against six people including the organiser.

Cops face home quarantine

Earlier this week, a police sub-inspector staying in Yogi Nagar in Borivali (West) tested positive for Covid-19 after which two buildings in Borivali police quarters were sealed by the BMC. Further several police officers were asked to quarantine themselves at home.

Police helpline gets 60,727 calls for Covid 19 queries

The state police have so far received a total of 60,727 calls related to Covid 19 from across the state on its helpline number “100” in which 16,111 calls were from the city.

Cops caution admins of social media groups

Mumbai Police on Friday issued an order under section 144 of CrPC warning Mumbaiites to refrain from indulging in spreading coronavirus-related misinformation, hate speech against any community, mistrust against government agencies on social media. The admins of such groups on platforms like WhatsApp will face action if they fail to report such activity to cops. Those violating the order will be booked under IPC section 188.

(Inputs from Manish K Pathak, Vijay Kumar Yadav, Suraj Ojha, Yesha Kotak and Faisal Tandel)