The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken stern action against illegal stalls on the premises of Siddhivinayak temple in Dadar, demolishing 15 of them in one day. In October, mid-day exposed a racket, allegedly run by flower sellers and certain temple staffers, where large sums of money were demanded from devotees to allow them to carry out ‘VVIP darshans’. The Dadar police registered an FIR after the temple authorities informed the police about this.

According to Dadar residents, the stalls had been operating from the temple compound for the past decade and the people running them were involved in the VVIP darshan racket in connivance with staffers. After mid-day brought the matter to light more than two months ago, the temple trust took stern steps and even registered an FIR against those who had been exposed by this newspaper.