Apoorva Agashe

Small solidarity protests erupted across Mumbai on Monday in support of activist Sonam Wangchuk, signalling that the agitation which began in New Delhi is gradually finding resonance in the city.

Mumbai police, which has come under criticism for overzealousness in its Shivaji Park crackdown on Monday, worked on its strategy to scuttle NEET protesters, sources have told Mumbai Mirror. Shockingly, the police on Monday detained several to-be protesters from various train stations in the city, and in some cases, even before they had stepped out of their homes.

Mumbai witnessed its biggest turnout yet on Wednesday since the NEET protest by CJP began, with thousands of students, young professionals and activists gathering at Shivaji Park and Chembur despite massive police deployment. Protesters alleged that police intercepted many of them even before they could reach the venues.

First there was only her – standing alone on the road, a hoodie covering her head in the rain, her arms outstretched, as her slender frame stood in the way of a police van that had picked up around 20 students on their way to the Shivaji Park protest site.

Mumbai Police is no stranger to drumming up fake drug charges against innocent Mumbaikars, the most recent instance being the 2024 frame-up by Khar cops against a Kalina resident. (Two years on, the charge sheet hasn't been filed.) But even for them, threatening teenagers with a drug frame-up was a new low. Unfortunately, Pawan Sangle, the motorpool driver from Sion station, was up against fearless Gen Z youths – college student Harshwardhan Kadam, 18, and Anmol Kamble, a 25-year-old cable operator.

What began as a victory march celebrating the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan evolved into a broader protest on Sunday, with demonstrators demanding greater accountability over the Centre's E20 ethanol-blended fuel policy.

The planned Tiranga Rally transformed into a victory march on Sunday as the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) came together to celebrate Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the NEET paper leak controversy. The change in plans came after students demanded that the gathering mark what they described as a hard-fought victory following Pradhan's resignation on Saturday.

The sweet taste of victory is fast turning bitter for many young agitators who joined the NEET protests in Mumbai, as police continued issuing notices and summoning them for questioning based on their names being part of the FIRs filed during last week's demonstrations.

The fire that broke out at the historic Byculla police station on Sunday evening has highlighted a major fire safety challenge in Mumbai's heritage buildings, with officials confirming that the century-old structure did not have a sprinkler system because of its heritage status.

The Mumbai police have registered a non-cognisable offence after NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique allegedly received a death threat in a viral audio clip linked to gangster Zeeshan Akhtar.