The political and civic landscape in Airoli has intensified as local citizens and political factions staged protests supporting climate activist and educator Sonam Wangchuk. The demonstrations were sparked by the police actions against Wangchuk’s hunger strike and his sudden removal from the Jantar Mantar protest site in Delhi.

Wangchuk has been on a prolonged, indefinite hunger strike to voice solidarity with student-led movements demanding immediate accountability regarding the massive NEET-UG examination paper leak controversy.

Protesters in Airoli joined the growing nationwide outrage, raising slogans against the Central government’s handling of the national examination system. Echoing Wangchuk’s core demands, the local agitators strongly called for the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, citing a severe lapse in transparency and structural oversight that has put the academic future of lakhs of medical aspirants at grave risk.

The local demonstration also criticized the administration’s alleged intolerance toward democratic and peaceful public questioning. Protest leaders highlighted that regular examination leaks ranging from the NEET controversy to regional teacher recruitment exams have become a distressing pattern. They urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence, actively intervene, and mandate a decisive, transparent inquiry to restore faith in the country’s educational framework.

In a sophisticated cyber fraud incident, renowned real estate firm Haware Properties was duped of Rs 30 lakh. Cybercriminals orchestrated the scam by impersonating the company’s director, Amar Haware, using a WhatsApp display picture (DP) fraud.

The incident took place on July 14, 2026. The fraudster first blocked the original mobile number of Amar Haware who is the son of famous builder Suresh Haware. Using another mobile number, the scammer set up a fake WhatsApp profile bearing Amar Haware’s name and photograph.

Messages were then sent from this fraudulent profile to the company’s official office number, urgently requesting immediate fund transfers for critical business transactions. Tricked by the matching display picture and conversational tone, Hemant Katkar, a 48-year-old liaisoning officer at the Washi office, suspected no foul play. Believing the directives came directly from his superior, Katkar transferred a total of Rs 30 lakh in phases to the specified bank accounts. The fraud was uncovered later when staff managed to contact Amar Haware directly, who confirmed he had authorized no such transactions.

Following the realization, Katkar immediately registered an online complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, and an FIR was subsequently lodged at the Washi Police Station against unidentified fraudsters. The cyber police are tracking the beneficiary bank accounts, transaction histories, mobile numbers, and IP addresses to apprehend the culprits.

Rabale police arrest Airoli woman and her auto-rickshaw driver lover for strangling her husband, chopping his body into three pieces, and hiding the crime for nearly a year.

The Murder

The Rabale police have cracked a gruesome murder mystery, arresting a 40-year-old woman and her paramour nearly 11 months after they murdered her husband, chopped his body into pieces, and dumped them in a forest.

The accused have been identified as Sunita Kushwaha and her lover, Rahul Dashrath Prajapati, an auto-rickshaw driver. The victim, Baliram Suraynath Kushwaha (50), originally from Uttar Pradesh, lived in Airoli with his family. According to the police, Baliram discovered his wife’s extramarital affair with Rahul, leading to frequent domestic disputes. Seeking to remove him from their path, Sunita and Rahul hatched a murder plot. On August 9, 2025, after sending the children away to a relative’s house, the duo strangled Baliram in his sleep and slit his throat.

To hide the crime, they chopped Baliram’s body into three parts head, torso, and legs wrapped them in bedsheets, and transported them in Rahul’s auto-rickshaw to dump them across the dense forests of Gawali Dev Hill. Sunita then rented out their house and moved to Ghansoli to evade suspicion. The murder came to light after Baliram’s brother returned from their hometown. Growing suspicious of Sunita’s evasive answers and her frequent phone calls to Rahul, he filed a missing person’s report.

Through technical analysis and phone records, the police uncovered the affair. Under intense interrogation, Sunita and Rahul confessed to the crime. A local court has remanded both accused to seven days of police custody.