Maharahstra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday took serious note of the death threat issued to Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar earlier today by unknown persons.

Shinde said he has spoken to senior police officers and given instructions for investigation into the tweets. Shinde said Sharad Pawar’s safety will be fully taken care of by the state.

A Twitter user posted saying the NCP chief will meet the same fate as rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead in Pune on August 20, 2013.

In his reaction, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said threatening any leader or overstepping the bounds of civility while expressing oneself on social media will not be tolerated.

Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, the Baramati Member of Parliament, met Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and demanded immediate action. She submitted printouts of the death threat to the police. Earlier on Friday, Sule told media that Sharad Pawar has received threats through a website. Claiming such actions as “low-level politics”, Sule urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Maharashtra Home Minister to look into the matter.

Sharad Pawar is a critical leader for the Opposition formation in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The veteran leader has been a bridge for several regional parties in their interaction with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

Pawar had himself outed the challenge within the NCP posed by several people, including nephew Ajit Pawar, by threatening to resign as NCP president. Grassroots leaders of the NCP prevailed upon Pawar not to resign from the party leadership, thereby stalemating potential plans for the NCP to bail out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and ally itself with the BJP.

Pawar will be attending the Opposition jamboree in Patna, Bihar on June 23 where senior opposition leaders from a range of parties will be attending. The meet which was initially slated for June 12 had to be called off since Rahul Gandhi was away on his US trip.

Manoj Sane, the suspect in the grisly murder reported in Mira Road, Mumbai, has told police that he never had physical contact with the victim, 32-year-old Saraswati Vaidya, his live-in girlfriend, since he has tested positive for HIV.

Reports said Sane said she was like a daughter to him and he taught her maths. Sane is charged with killing Vaidya, chopping her body, and disposing of the pieces after boiling them in a pressure cooker. Despite knowing each other since 2014, they have been living together in the Mira Road flat for the past three years.

Sane told the authorities that he first met Saraswati 16 years ago when he was working at a ration store. He said he got his HIV+ diagnosis in 2008 and has been taking treatment since then. He claimed to have been in an accident and to have undergone extensive medical treatment. Sane told the authorities that he believed he was infected with HIV while receiving treatment for that accident.

According to Sane, Vaidya was very possessive of him but he used to treat her like his daughter. He also claimed that he’d teach Saraswati maths on a board which the police found on one of the walls of the flat where the couple resided, as the 32-year-old was preparing to appear for Class 10 SSC examinations.

Saraswati Vaidya, the victim, was identified as an orphan by the police on Thursday. However, three of her sisters came to the Naya Nagar Police station on Friday to record their statements.

Although Saraswati Vaidya and Manoj Sane were identified by their neighbours as a live-in couple, Vaidya had told them that she was staying with her uncle. Sane also told the same to them. According to a staffer at the orphanage where she was raised, she told them also that she is staying with her uncle.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday, warned Cyclone Biparjoy is likely to strengthen in the next 36 hours.

The weather department noted, the cyclone will be heading north-northwestward in the next two days.

Earlier on Friday, the IMD said, the cyclone was over the east-central Arabian Sea and was situated 840 kilometers west-southwest of Goa and 870 km west-southwest of Mumbai at 11:30 pm on June 8.

The weather department had also advised fishermen not to venture into the cyclone hit areas in the Arabian Sea.

In addition, the IMD predicted that the weather conditions are favourable for further advancement of the Southwest monsoon into some parts of the central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, few parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The Southwest monsoon might also advance into some more parts of the southwest, Central and northwest Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during the next 24 hours, as per the weather department.

The weather department further predicted, light to moderate rain at isolated places in South Gujarat region like Navsari, Valsad, Daman and Dadara Nagar Haveli. Dry weather is anticipated in all the districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and Diu.

In South India, light rainfall with thunderstorm is likely over Kerala, Lakshadweep, Coastal & South Interior Karnataka.

Isolated and scattered rainfall is expected over North Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the next 5 days.

Further, heavy rainfall is predicted over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on June 9 and 10, Kerala from June 9 to 13, Lakshadweep from June 9 to 11 and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka during June 10-13.

In Northeast India, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorms is expected over the northeast region in the next 5 days.

Meanwhile, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura is likely to witness very heavy rainfall on June 9. Assam and Meghalaya will also witness heavy rainfall on June 12 and 13. In the Northwest India, the weather department forecasts an increase in maximum temperature by about 2 degree Celsius over the plains during the next two days.