Page 8 - Kolkata

RG Kar rape-murder convict's mother says he deserves rightful punishment

The mother of Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted for the rape and murder of the medic of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Sunday said if her son is guilty then he should get the punishment he deserves, even if it means hanging. She said she will "cry alone" but will accept his punishment as destiny. Initially reticent to speak to the media after the Sealdah court convicted Sanjay on January 18, Malati Roy the mother of Sanjay told reporters on Sunday morning that being a woman, and a mother of three daughters, "I can feel the anguish and pain of the mother of the woman medic who is like my daughter." "If the court decides to hang him to death, I don't have any objection as his crime has been proved in the eye of the law, I will cry alone but accept it as a quirk of fate, something willed by destiny," the 70-year-old-woman said standing on the doorstep of her shanty on Shambhunath Pandit Street, about 5 km away from the commotion and buzz at Sealdah Court the other day. Asked if

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RG Kar rape-murder: Sealdah Court finds accused Sanjay Roy guilty

RG Kar rape-murder: Nationwide protests had erupted after a trainee docto was found dead in the hospital's seminar room on August 9

Manipur CM requests Centre to send team to examine high air ticket rates

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday requested Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu to send a team to examine the soaring price of air tickets from the state to other destinations. Speaking through video conferencing at the launch of three flights of Alliance Air under viability gap funding by the state government, Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Civil Aviation minister for extending support in bringing Alliance Air to Manipur. The Alliance Air will connect Imphal with Kolkata, Guwahati, and Dimapur in Nagaland from Wednesday.. "The price of air tickets is very high here. Please send a team here to examine what is happening. The Delhi to Imphal flight rate has almost gone up to Rs 20,000. Imphal to Guwahati has gone up to Rs 5,000 to 10,000. How common people can afford such high prices," he said. He said "Manipur is passing through a "difficult time" for the last 20 months, people are not moving out through the highways due to the ...

India seeing golden era of development: ITC Hotels MD Anil Chadha

The hospitality giant has cash and cash equivalent of Rs 1,500 crore

Kolkata overtakes Bengaluru as India's most congested city in 2024: Report

According to the traffic index released by TomTom, drivers in Kolkata needed an average of 34 minutes and 33 seconds to cover a distance of 10 km

Court verdict in Kolkata RG Kar hospital rape-murder case on Jan 18

Judgement in the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year will be delivered on January 18 by the designated judge of Sealdah court here. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was handed over the probe into the case from the Kolkata Police by the Calcutta High Court, prayed for awarding of death sentence to Sanjay Roy, who was charged with the gruesome crime. Hearing in the trial was concluded on Thursday, following which the additional district and sessions judge of Sealdah court said that the judgement will be delivered on January 18. Maintaining that other persons were also involved in the crime, the parents of the victim postgraduate trainee said that they expect that they will also be arrested and tried before the court. The victim's body was found in the seminar room of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police the next day. The in-camera trial in the rape and mur

Around 1500 yellow taxis in WB to be phased out by end of next year

Around 1,500 metered yellow taxis in West Bengal would be phased out by the end of next year as commercial vehicles older than 15 years are not allowed to ply in the city, a transport department official said on Saturday. There are around 4,500 Ambassador metered yellow taxis in the state which will come down to 3,000 by the end of 2026, the official said. In 2008 the Calcutta High Court had ordered that commercial vehicles older than 15 vehicles would not be allowed to ply in the city, the official said. The yellow taxis are an integral part of Kolkata's heritage and many taxi unions have urged the Transport department for a viable revival package for the yellow taxis. Taxi drivers union claimed many Ambassador metered yellow taxis are road-worthy and can be allowed to run another five years at least with proper maintenance and change in engine if the transport authorities withdraw the age limit of 15 years. "From 25,000 in 2019-20, the number of yellow taxis witnessed a steady d

Iskcon Kolkata to hold daily prayers till normalcy returns in Bangladesh

ISKCON Kolkata on Friday said its followers will continue holding prayers till normalcy returns in Bangladesh, where Hindus and other religious minorities have been facing atrocities since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Kolkata, has been holding daily prayers at its Albert Road centre here for over a month for the safety and security of religious minorities in Bangladesh, and the release of jailed Hindu spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das and other monks in the neighbouring country. "We will continue with our daily prayers for the minorities in Bangladesh till normalcy returns there," ISKCON Kolkata spokesperson Radharamn Das said. "Devotees are very anxious as to what the future holds for the minorities in Bangladesh," he told PTI. He said the devotees were, however, hopeful that Chinmoy Krishna Das will get justice before the high court in Bangladesh, challenging a Chittagong court order denying bail to ...

TMC councillor gunned down in Bengal's Malda, CM Mamata expresses shock

Trinamool Congress councillor Dulal Sarkar was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in West Bengal's Malda district on Thursday morning, police said. Sarkar, the TMC councillor from Malda, was shot in his head multiple times from close range by bike-borne assailants at Jhaljhalia More area, they said. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to injuries. A probe has been initiated and we are trying to identify the culprits, a senior police officer told PTI. Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the killing of Sarkar, who was popularly known as Babla. My close associate and a very popular leader, Babla Sarkar, has been murdered today. From the beginning of the Trinamool Congress, he (and his wife Chaitali Sarkar) worked hard for the party, and Babla was also elected a councillor, she said in a post on X. ... I am so shocked and sad that I do not know how to convey my condolences to the bereaved family. May God give Chaitali strength to sur

Mamata demands crackdown on illegal encroachment by builders on govt land

Alleging that government land was being encroached by builders from outside the state to build flats, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed officials who were sanctioning such illegal constructions. Banerjee, who chaired an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat, directed police to arrest all such builders in accordance with the law and, in a few cases, "attach their properties like the way the CBI and ED do." She proposed forming a policy to impose penalties on those who were living in such flats for years. "I am talking about illegal occupancy of land owned by state government departments such as panchayat, forest, and urban affairs. I do not want further encroachments. The culprits come from outside, construct flats illegally and then leave. Arrest them from wherever you can and impose 100 per cent penalty. Attach their property like the way ED and CBI do," she said. She asserted that police would conduct a probe and all leaders behind su

Mamata accuses BSF of infiltration plot; border guards reject claim

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Border Security Force of facilitating infiltration from Bangladesh as part of a central government "blueprint" to destabilize the state, a charge the BSF denied, asserting it diligently guards the country's boundary. Speaking at an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat, Banerjee alleged that the BSF was allowing infiltrators to enter through areas like Islampur, Sitai, and Chopra. "We have information that the BSF is letting infiltrators enter India through various border areas. This is a deliberate attempt to destabilize the state. There is a deep-rooted conspiracy involving the central government," she said. Banerjee said she could sense a "blueprint of the Centre" behind this attitude of the BSF. "Goons are entering India. I want peace on both sides of the border. We have a good relationship with neighbouring Bangladesh," she said. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo further alleged that women

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Fake passport scam: Bengal DGP urges MEA to strengthen verification process

West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar on Sunday said that he had written to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) urging a total overhauling of the verification and distribution of new passports to combat misuse. Kolkata Police recently unearthed a fake passport racket and arrested at least eight persons for their alleged involvement in it. Talking to reporters, the IPS officer said in the letter to the MEA, they also pointed out software issues and proposed the idea of superintendents of police personally conducting the verification process. "We have written to the MEA requesting them to strengthen the passport verification system. We have proposed a new system where the district intelligence branch (DIB), local police stations, and senior officers will have a more significant role," Kumar said. "In the letter, we have also expressed our concerns about the distribution of passports through post offices. All the agencies must collaborate to address these ...

RG Kar case: Medicos protest over delay in probe, to protest till Dec 31

Demanding speedy justice for Abhaya, representatives of Abhaya Manch and the Joint Platform of Doctors continued their protest at Dorina Crossing in Central Kolkata

Five arrested in Bengal for issuing forged Indian passports to Bangladeshis

The group is believed to have illegally issued at least 73 counterfeit Indian passports, mainly to infiltrators, including Bangladeshi nationals, using fake documents

Mamata Banerjee inaugurates Infosys development centre in Kolkata

IT giant Infosys on Wednesday inaugurated a development centre built at a cost of Rs 426 crore at New Town near here. Inaugurating the development centre, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "This is a New Year gift to West Bengal". "This centre of Infosys will help other IT companies to come to West Bengal. West Bengal is a leading IT state in the country. Nearly 2,200 IT companies have presence in the state, including big ones like TCS, Wipro, IBM and Accenture," she said. The chief minister also said it is a historic day for the state. Banerjee said, "We wanted Infosys in the state and the company fulfilled our dreams." The chief minister said a new Silicon Valley is coming to New Town on 200 acres with the potential to create 75,000 jobs involving an investment of Rs 27,000 crore. "Twenty-eight companies have already started work with 11 data centres coming up," she said. The Infosys campus, built on 50 acres, will have an employment potential of 4,000 IT professionals. Ba

Bihar sees 15-fold jump in data consumption, state goes big on infra

Bihar has seen a 15-fold jump in data consumption in the last five years as the state goes big on developing infrastructure, investing in connectivity and building rail and road networks, its Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said. Bihar has witnessed unprecedented growth in infrastructure development with its road density being the third largest in India that facilitates trade and transport. Its electricity generation has expanded from 700 MW to 7,000 MW while the state has built IT parks and data centres are in the offing. Infrastructure is the focus, Meena, the top-most bureaucrat in the Bihar government, said adding massive investments have gone into building infrastructure in the last two decades. "If I talk of the road sector, we have a network of 1.2 lakh kilometres of rural roads. It has been built completely during the last 20 years. We have a very strong network of national highways, state highways and major district roads. And I am happy to share with you that during the .

Left, Cong protest in Kolkata after RG Kar case suspects granted bail

A day after two key suspects in the rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar hospital got bail, the Left parties and the Congress on Saturday staged protests at various locations in Kolkata, alleging that the CBI has "failed" to deliver justice in the case. They also alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the BJP-led Centre have a "tacit understanding". The Congress took out a procession from Rabindra Sadan area to CBI's office at Nizam Palace in southern Kolkata and criticised the central probe agency for its alleged inability to frame charges against the two accused in the case. During the procession, Congress activists were seen holding the party flags aloft and chanting slogans like 'We demand justice' and 'Bichar chai Tilottoma' (Tilottoma wants justice). The police stopped the Congress activists from entering the Nizam Palace, which led to a scuffle between the protesters and the police personnel. SUCI activists marched from Karunamoyee to the

Mahadev betting case: ED conducts fresh raids in Kolkata, freezes Rs 130 cr

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has conducted fresh searches in Kolkata in the Mahadev online betting-linked money laundering case and has frozen securities and deposits worth more than Rs 130 crore. The searches were conducted on Thursday, the agency said in a statement. The case pertains to an ongoing investigation by the federal agency in which a number of high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh are alleged to have been involved. During the searches conducted in Kolkata, securities, bonds and demat accounts worth Rs 130.57 crore were frozen under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said. The agency has alleged that its probe into the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) gaming and betting app has shown the involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the state where the two main promoters -- Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal -- of the app hail from. It has said the MOB app is an umbr