A gangster of the Arun Gawli gang, allegedly involved in multiple cases, was arrested by the crime investigation department of the Mumbai police at Deonar on Tuesday night. The accused Rajesh Dilip Rai (27) was remanded to police custody by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Usha Iyer till April 16. He was picked up by the DCP-Unit V of the state CID. At least eight serious cases are registered against the accused.

Chief Minister Narayan Rane declared Rs 25,000 as aid to former qawwali -queen Naseem Bano Chopra (55), who was found in an extreme condition of penury and immobilised due a paralytic stroke. Cultural Affairs Minister Pramod Navalkar handed over the cheque to the Gurunanak hospital, where she had been admitted by wellwishers. Earlier, Navalkar at the directions of Chief Minister went to the hospital to inquire about the health of Bano.

A Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers employee S M R Naqvi discovered her lying below a staircase with paltry belongings at theCentral govcernment servants' colony at Antop Hill in north-central Mumbai. Soon after press reports, she was admitted to the hospital. Naseem Bano, who once left audience spellbound with geet's, qawwali's and gazhals, is barely able to speak. She has held public concerts all over the country and abroad during the seventies and early eighties.

ACB nabs forest dept official

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A A A Kidwai today granted bail to a forest officer who was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths. The magistrate ordered the forest officer to be released after furnishing Rs 10,000. The ACB nabbed the officer while accepting the bribe from a grocery shop owner at Kandivli in north Mumbai. Magistrate Kidwai also granted bail to an assistant registrar of MHADA, who was nabbed by the ACB while accepting bribe.