Mumbai: Latest updates - Two illegal call centres involved in cheating investors busted

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday said any attempt to form an 'anti-BJP front' without his party will indirectly help the BJP.

Talking to reporters at Faizpur in Jalgaon district, he also said elections were three years away and COVID-19 management was the priority of his party.

Amid speculations about formation of an 'anti-BJP front', Patole said such a front was not possible without the Congress.

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday announced that Asha workers will get an increment of Rs 1,000 in their wages and Rs 500 as COVID-19 allowance per month from July besides a smartphone.

After the announcement, which will benefit more than 68,000 such community health activists, Asha workers withdrew their week-long protest which they had launched in support of various demands, including a wage hike.

The kin of Asha workers who have died due to COVID-19 will get a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, the minister said.

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police has arrested a 60-year-old Tanzanian national for alleged possession of 205 gm of cocaine worth over Rs 50 lakh in suburban Khar, an official said on Wednesday.

The ANC's Bandra unit apprehended Nico Pius John, a resident of Nagpada, while patrolling at Linking Road, on Tuesday afternoon, the official said.

The police found the accused's movements suspicious, and on searching a bag in his possession, recovered the contraband, valued at Rs 51.25 lakh, he said.

The crime branch of Mumbai police has busted two bogus call centres, which were involved in cheating investors from India and Gulf countries, and arrested two persons, an official said on Wednesday.

These call centres, located in suburban Malad, would ask people to invest in Indian and international shares through a specific share trading website, he said.