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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

The Vanishing Green Cover

When will National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) complete 84km of Mumbai-Goa highway? Fourteen years of construction, a hike in spending to over Rs 15,000 crore, an incomplete road, potholes, accidents, and politics. This, in a nutshell, is the saga of the long-pending Mumbai-Goa highway expansion project. This pathetic situation has left no answer to the question, when will NHAI complete 84km Mumbai-Goa highway?


Several factors have marred the crucial project to expand what is known as National Highway 66 (NH-66) from delays in getting forest clearances and lengthy land acquisition processes to shoddy work by contractors. Every year, the condition of the highway and the delays in its expansion come into the news discourse just before the ten-day Ganpati festival, during which a large number of Konkan natives living in Mumbai have to use the road to travel to their villages in the Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Once the festivities end, the highway is again easily forgotten while the meter on the project keeps running.


Ever since it was announced in 2011, National Highway 66 connecting Mumbai and Goa has been held out as a dream thoroughfare that will enable travellers to commute between the two places in six hours flat. However, the situation on the ground paints a starkly different picture. For those who regularly travel on this highway, the reality is murky as barring some portion the entire stretch is riddled with potholes.


Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, has apologised for the delay in the work on the Mumbai-Goa highway and assured that it will be completed at the earliest. At the same time the political leadership in Konkan is busy in taking on each other and passing the tantrums underscoring the infighting in the ruling alliance. Sharp comments by Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam sparked the flutter. Even the Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced to intervene to subside the matter. Kadam dubbed Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan a ‘useless minister’ over the poor state of the much-delayed Mumbai-Goa Highway. “After 14 years, even Ram’s ‘vanvas (exile)’ ended, but problems on the Mumbai-Goa highway still persist. PWD Minister Chavan seems completely useless”. Dy CM Fadnavis should ask for Chavan’s resignation,” demanded Kadam. A peeved Fadnavis responded, “We are only human and such remarks are painful.  I am going to talk to CM Eknath Shinde about this.


Gadkari who has apologised has made it clear that the project initially started in 2009 under the Congress Party and was later handed over to the BJP. Despite the handover, the project remains incomplete, causing frustration among the public. Gadkari acknowledged the delays and highlighted that the government is working on a comprehensive strategy to complete the project. He assured that efforts are being made to overcome the challenges and expedite the work.

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