This year was quite eventful for the law and order machineries working in the city. From the drug cases unearthed by the Narcotics Control Bureau to brutal rape and murder of a pavement dweller in Andheri, however, dominated the headlines.
As the year is coming to the end, we decided to make a listicle of the cases which made headlines in 2021.
Aryan Khan Drug
Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB allegedly during a raid on a cruise ship last month in Mumbai in October. He was in jail for nearly a month before the HC granted him bail.
In its detailed order, the high court had said that prima facie no positive evidence was found against the accused to show that they had conspired to commit an offence.
"If this (the observations of the Bombay High Court) is true then every officer who was trying to extort money for falsely implicating youngsters should be arrested," the Sena said.
A Delhi NCB team is currently probing the allegations of pay-off against its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who has been in the eye of a political storm after Aryan was arrested.
Sakinaka Rape and murder
A 34-year-old woman was allegedly raped inside a stationary tempo parked on the roadside in the Sakinaka area of Mumbai earlier this month. The accused, a 45-year-old man, brutalised the victim by inserting a rod in her private parts. The woman died during treatment at a hospital.
Dombivali gang rape
33 people were arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, several times over a period of 9-months, in the Dombivli area of Maharashtra's Thane district.
Police informed that of the 28 arrested accused, two were minors and have been sent to a juvenile correctional facility in Bhiwandi.
On the basis of the minor's complaint, police said a case under "sections 376 (Rape), 376 (N), 376 (3), 376 (D) (A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act" has been registered.
Antilia Bomb scare
On February 25, 2021, a car containing 20 unarmed explosive gelatin sticks was found outside Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence (Antilia) in Mumbai. A note found inside the vehicle addressed to Mukesh and his wife Nita Ambani, said that this act was just a prelude, and threatened more violence to come.
The case was later transferred to NIA. According to the NIA, dismissed police Sachin Vaze had parked an explosives-laden vehicle outside the Antilia building (residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani) and thereafter killed Hiran, owner of the vehicle, with an intent to strike terror in the section of people residing in the area. The case is still going on in court.
The bomb scare was notable for the chain of events that followed, leading to several high-profile officials being forced to resign.
Money laundering case against former home minister Anil Deshmukh
Anil Deshmukh was one of the few people who had to resign in the events which followed the Antilia bomb scare. The money laundering case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the CBI booked him in a corruption case related to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribery made by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.
Deshmukh, while denying any wrongdoing, had maintained that Singh made the allegations against him after he was removed from the post of Mumbai Police chief.
Anil Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month.
(With inputs from agencies)