Mumbai Police’s Friendship Day message on Sunday, August 2, 2026, described the department as ‘that one friend who’s just a call away,’ highlighting four essential emergency helpline numbers.

The post read, ‘That one friend who’s just a call away. Always there for you. Always ready to help,’ shared in English and Marathi with friendship-themed graphics.

The four numbers highlighted were 112, the all-in-one national emergency response helpline; 1930, for cybercrime and financial fraud; 103, the women’s safety helpline; and 1915, the senior citizens’ helpline.

Friendship Day, marked on the first Sunday of August, celebrates the bond of friendship, a theme Mumbai Police used to present its emergency services as a dependable ‘friend’ during a crisis.

The department regularly links civic awareness messaging with festive occasions on social media, a strategy that has often struck a chord with users.

The post received an appreciative response online, with several users praising the department’s creative reminder of important helpline numbers.

Friendship Day traces its origins to a 1958 proposal in Paraguay, and while it is not a public holiday in India, it is widely observed through gift exchanges, gatherings and social media messages among friends.

Mumbai Police’s official social media handles have built a large following over the years, partly due to their consistent use of humour, pop culture references and timely public safety reminders.

Mumbai Police has a long history of using festive occasions and pop-culture references to spread civic awareness messages, a social media approach that has repeatedly gone viral over the years.

The 1930 cybercrime helpline connects callers directly to India’s National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal network, allowing victims of financial fraud to report incidents and potentially freeze fraudulent transactions quickly.

The 112 number consolidates India’s earlier separate emergency lines for police, fire and ambulance services into a single all-in-one helpline, part of a nationwide Emergency Response Support System.

Photo by Nichalp, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

A jewellery shop in Tumakuru, roughly 60km north of Bengaluru, discovered that gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh had been dragged away by a rat, according to CCTV footage reviewed by staff.

Employees at Vishwas Jewellery first noticed around 10 rings missing during a routine stock count, initially fearing theft since the shop’s shutters had not been tampered with.

Owner Vishwas said staff went back through the CCTV recordings and were stunned to see a rat carrying off a gold ring, prompting them to trace where the rodent had taken it.

Following the trail led to the rat’s burrow, where staff dug up nearly 10 rings, three gold chains and multiple diamond-studded pieces, together weighing over 50 grams and worth roughly Rs 10 lakh.

Footage of the discovery has gone viral online, with social media users likening the episode to a comedy film and joking about the rodent’s taste for expensive jewellery.

No police complaint was mentioned in reports of the incident, with the shop able to recover the missing items directly once the rat’s burrow was found.

Videos of the CCTV footage have circulated widely on social media, with users comparing the incident to a scene from a comedy film and joking about the rat’s taste for fine jewellery.

Rats are known to drag small, shiny objects back to their burrows, a behaviour attributed to their instinct to hoard items alongside food, though jewellery theft on this scale is rarely documented on camera.

Tumakuru, located about 60km north of Bengaluru, is a district headquarters town in Karnataka known for its coconut trade and, more recently, its growing role as an industrial corridor near the state capital.

Jewellery store owners across the region have reportedly begun reviewing pest control measures after the incident drew widespread attention on social media.

Photo by Nnr2025, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A political storm has erupted after BJP MP and actress Kangana Ranaut called Gen Z protesters “generation gutter” in Instagram Stories posted on Monday.

Ranaut’s posts targeted demonstrators at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, with her writing, “You call yourself cockroaches and look/behave like them as well,” and accusing them of “filth, garbage and ugliness.”

The remarks were directed at protesters affiliated with the Cockroach Janta Party, whose nationwide demonstrations over the alleged NEET-UG paper leak had led to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das responded on Tuesday, saying, “Even people within Kangana Ranaut’s own party don’t pay much attention to her or take her seriously, so why should we?”

Das said Ranaut lacked seriousness as a politician, citing her own admission that she had underestimated the workload of being a Member of Parliament.

He argued that Gen Z had contributed more to the nation than Ranaut and had helped strengthen India’s democratic institutions.

CJP representatives said elected officials should maintain dignity and mind their language, adding that younger generations were not taking Ranaut’s remarks seriously.

Ranaut, who represents Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, has also faced criticism from Congress and AIMIM leaders since her comments went viral.

AIMIM’s Waris Pathan described the remarks as “highly condemnable” and said Ranaut owed Gen Z an apology, adding that “PM Modi should take cognisance of the kind of language his MPs use for Gen Z.” Congress leader Bhai Jagtap questioned her lack of remorse over the treatment of protesting students, while Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat said “no one takes Kangana Ranaut seriously.”

The exchange has drawn wide attention online, with Ranaut’s remarks and the CJP’s response both trending across social media platforms in the days since.

Kangana Ranaut, a National Award-winning actress, has represented Mandi in Himachal Pradesh as a BJP Member of Parliament since 2024, alongside her continuing film career.

(Image: Photo: Sadhguru, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)