Kolkata: A 50-year-old woman, who had deposited money in chit fund company Saradha Group, on Sunday succumbed to her injuries after she set herself on fire, while a man tried to poison himself, even as political parties traded charges over the scandal. Urmila Pramanik, a resident of Baruipur in South-24 Parganas district, who had invested Rs 30,000 with the chit fund company, set herself on fire on Saturday evening at...
10:23 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Midnapore: Even as the country agitates over the rape of a minor in Delhi, another shameful incident has come to light in West Bengal's East Midnapore district. A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly trying to rape a 3-year-old child. The accused is a truck driver and the victim was his neighbour's daughter. He will be produced in court on Monday. The victim has been admitted to a local...
09:59 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: Threatening to file defamation suit against CPI(M) leaders for alleging that he had received crores from absconding Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, TMC general secretary Mukul Roy on Sunday said the government will take steps to book the accused and protect investors' interest. "These are baseless allegations. I will file a defamation suit against them (CPI(M) leaders)," Roy said referring to the allegation of his receiving money from the...
09:14 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee's government feels the heat as one of the largest chit fund companies in West Bengal collapses. Fearing a backlash from upset investors, thousands of the Saradha Group agents have gathered in Kolkata seeking state government's intervention. But the company's proximity to the Trinamool Congress has put the government in a corner. "If the government does something for us, then it's fine. Then they'll get votes else we...
08:05 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: The opposition Congress on Saturday accused West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress government of having close links with chit fund-funded Saradha Group, which has gone bust, and demanded probe by the CBI and capital market regulator SEBI. "The state government has very close relations with a few groups and people, and it stopped the government from taking appropriate actions at the right time," Congress's state unit president Pradip Bhattacharya said....
05:52 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi for playing "sheer politics" by not yet releasing its share of the funds for the rural job scheme. Bengal's spending on the 100 days of jobs provided under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was the country's highest at Rs.4,408.70 crore, as against a total fund availability of...
05:29 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Kolkata: One of the directors of the 'chit fund' company Saradha Group was on Saturday arrested while its Chairman and Managing Director Sudipta Sen was still at large. "We have arrested Manoj Kumar Nagel who is one of the directors of the company from Bidhannagar. We are also looking out for their chairman Sudipta Sen by keeping a vigil at airport and other places," a senior police official at Bidhannagar...
10:25 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Kolkata: Violent clashes broke out between the investors and employees of a chit fund company in Barasat, in the Moyna area of North 24 Parganas district, on Saturday. The incident happened after investors demanding refund gathered near a local chit fund organisation's office. Scores of people were injured after crude bombs were hurled and large scale brick-batting took place between the two groups. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the...
06:44 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Kolkata: A medical team from the private clinic, where she was treated recently, on Friday examined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Writers' Buildings office for an hour and advised her complete rest. "Since she is busy in her office, we could not contact her and so we directly came here to examine her," Subroto Maitra, head of the medical team from Belle Vue Clinic, where Mamata was...
08:20 PM, Apr 19, 2013
New Delhi: Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGI) has been rated as the best airport in India, the fifth best regional airport in Asia and the eighth best airport in the 5-10 million passengers per annum capacity category. The ratings were given at the recently concluded Skytrax-World Airport Awards held at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Geneva. The RGI, along with Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and Bengaluru International...
09:03 AM, Apr 19, 2013
Kolkata: Unable to bear the ignominy of seeing the youth who had allegedly raped his wife go free, a man in West Bengal's Hooghly district committed suicide, his family said. Police maintained there was no evidence against the accused. "Despite our complaint, the police released him (alleged rapist) the very same day he was arrested. He used to threaten us with dire consequences after we filed the complaint. My husband...
01:38 AM, Apr 19, 2013
The culture of political violence in Bengal is not even sparing holy grounds such as Presidency College (now University) which were till now protected from acts of violence and hooliganism. ...
11:37 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Students Federation of India (SFI) on Wednesday apologised for the attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra in New Delhi earlier this month. The duo were heckled by SFI activists as they made their way to the Planning Commission building in the capital. Mitra suffered injuries during the melee and had to be hospitalised later on. SFI General Secretary Ritabrata Banerjee,...
07:45 PM, Apr 17, 2013
Kolkata/Siliguri: Stoking controversy, a leader of CPI(M) student wing who was arrested after a clash with ruling Trinamool Congress activists, has been chained to his bed at a state-run hospital in judicial custody. The first year student, Santosh Sahani, of SFI was arrested on April 10 after a clash between Trinamool Congress and Left supporters in Siliguri. The chain was later removed following an uproar with activists alleging violation of...
11:23 PM, Apr 16, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal government team would soon visit Delhi to take up with the Centre the issue of attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra during a protest in the national capital. "A ministerial-level delegation from the state will soon leave here for Delhi after the chief minister fully recovers," state's Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said in Kolkata on Tuesday. Describing the incident as "most...
10:51 PM, Apr 16, 2013
Vasco: Churchill Brothers, who are enjoying a four-point lead over East Bengal in the chase for the title, are now preparing to extend the lead further when they take on an out-of-form Dempo in their 24th round I-League match at the Tilak Maidan Stadium here Wednesday. East Bengal's dream to win the title received a severe blow after they drew four matches in a row, giving Churchill Brothers a chance...
12:17 PM, Apr 16, 2013
The culture of political violence in Bengal is not even sparing holy grounds such as Presidency College (now University) which were till now protected from acts of violence and hooliganism. Trinamool workers vandalised the Baker Laboratory which has seen doyens such as Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, Satyen Bose (of Boson fame), Prof Meghnad Saha, PC Mahalanobis at work (their equipment is still preserved there, Baker Lab just completed 100 years...
07:55 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that her government might have committed '2 or 3' mistakes in the past two years, but would learn from them in the New Year. "In the last 2 years, there have been hundreds of examples of development in Bengal. We also may have made two or three mistakes. But we will learn from our mistakes in the New Year," Trinamool...
04:54 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to maintain secularism as Bangladesh's state policy, amid countrywide celebrations on Sunday to mark the Bengali New Year, seen by right-wing Islamists as "anti-Islamic" practice. "Bangladesh will be a non-communal democratic country... Our country will be run in keeping with the spirit of the Madinah Charter of our beloved Prophet Mohammad" that charted out principles of religious harmony and co-existence, Hasina said in...
09:00 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Kolkata: East Bengal's I-League hopes virtually went up in smoke after a 1-1 draw against Sporting Clube de Goa at the Vivekananda Yubabharati Krirangan Sunday. East Bengal were wasteful to start with as the Goans drew the first blood when Juanfri Pena struck in the 43rd minute. Cornered, the home outfit found the equaliser through Edeh Chidi who struck in the 62nd minute. It was East Bengal's fourth successive draw...
07:35 PM, Apr 14, 2013
