Four Low-Intensity Blasts Strike Pune

• Beach Patrol. The Mumbai police’s Social Services Branch, headed by assistant commissioner of police Vasant Dhoble, rounded up 25 minors from Girgaum Chowpatty on Wednesday, and sent the 15 girls and 10 boys to a remand home in Dongri. A fisherman, however, has alleged that his and his neighbour’s school-going daughters, both aged five, were also picked up by the police just because they happened to be playing along the seafront. “We have verified the children’s identity before rounding them up,” said an officer from Gamdevi police station which participated in the joint operation with the SSB and the DB Marg police station. The Gamdevi police also arrested nine women from the spot under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 for using a juvenile to beg. [The Times of India]

• Mantralaya Makeover. The Maharashtra state cabinet has sanctioned Rs81.64 crore for architect Raja Aderi to remodel the three floors of the Mantralaya building that were gutted in a fire on June 21. The reconstruction plans include setting up a separate fire station exclusively for the building; the installation of fire detection technologies such as alarms and powder sprinklers; the replacement of gas cylinders in the canteens with piped gas; separate entry and exit points and emergency exits. [Hindustan Times]

• Pune Blasts. Two people were injured after four low-intensity blasts struck Pune’s Junglee Maharaj Road in the span on an hour on Wednesday evening, just hours after former power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde took over as the country’s home minister. The first bomb went off near the Balgandharv Theatre, the same venue where Shinde was scheduled to attend an award-giving ceremony before he cancelled his visit. “It does not seem to be a terrorist attack, rather it seems to be the work of a mischief-maker,” said Pune police commissioner Gulabrao Pol. “I don’t think terrorists are trying to target Pune. Terrorists use high-intensity bombs.” [The Times of India]