TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Malda: Congress and Trinamool Congress may be alliance partners, but an FIR has been lodged against a Congress legislator in Malda for allegedly attacking a Trinamool Congress councillor. MLA Krishnendu Choudhury along with his wife and hundreds of supporters allegedly attacked the house of Trinamool councillor of English Bazar municipality Santanu Saha on Thursday morning. In a bid to save Saha, Trinamool secretary Chhoton Moulik was injured. Even Trinamool district president Goutam Chakraborty was assaulted. Later, a large police force led by additional police superintendent Kalyan Mukherjee went to control the situation. “My son was attacked by the MLA and his associates. They tried to kill him. Choudhury also threatened that he would raze our house. Thanks to timely police intervention, my son’s life was saved,” said Santanu’s mother, Baby Saha, in a complaint lodged with English Bazar police. Moulik, who was hospitalized after being attacked, also lodged a similar complaint against Choudhury and two of his associates. Inspector-in-charge of English Bazaar police station Bipul Majumder acknowledged that police have received two complaints against Choudhury. Goutam Chakraborty said Saha was attacked because for the past few days, hundreds of Congress supporters were switching over to Trinamool under his initiative. “Our organization is growing. This has caused Choudhury to panic and lead the attack.” Saha, a former Choudhury loyalist, had recently switched allegiance to Trinamool. With Chakraborty being the new Trinamool district president, the party has begun to make its presence felt in the strong Congress bastion. Many leaders and workers of Congress in English Bazar and Old Malda have defected to Trinamool. However, Choudhury claimed there was no politics involved in the incident. He cited personal reasons behind it. “Saha has been making slanderous remarks against my family for quite some time. He was trying to malign me and my close associates. So, my supporters have decided to boycott him socially,” Choudhury said. Trinamool has started a campaign condemning Choudhury’s attack. Even district Congress leaders are not supporting him. “It is not proper to attack someone by going to his house and sending a wrong message to supporters,” said Narendra Tiwari, district Congress leader and chairman of English Bazaar municipality. Cong office set ablaze Malda: Four persons were severely injured after a Congress party office was set ablaze at Ashapur in Malda on Wednesday. Congress has blamed CPM for the attack, though CPM has denied the allegation. Sources said that the CPM-dominated union of van drivers was collecting ‘subscription’ for the last few days from all vehicles. The Congress panchayat pradhan, Mahababul Haque, reportedly protested against that. The attack took place after that. TNN
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
2 rabies deaths despite vaccination
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Malda: The lives of 35 dog bite victims are hanging in balance after two people died showing rabies symptoms while the vaccination process was still on in Malda’s Harishchandrapur. The dog that bit the two victims also attacked 35 other villagers, two of them school students aged three and 10. Doctors said the two deaths over the past two days indicate that the vaccine may have become ineffective, which would mean that all the other villagers taking the vaccine are under threat. Malda CMOH Dr Srimanta Roy conceded that both victims — Alfaj Ali (46) and Pir Muhammad (45) — had died with symptoms of rabies. “What’s alarming is that the victims, as well as a number of others, are being vaccinated presently. We have already started field visits, apart from convening a district-level meeting to discuss the threat. We are also checking the quality of the vaccines supplied by the government agency,” Roy said. Though Roy hinted that both victims may have taken the first vaccine shot beyond the stipulated time, reports from the villages indicate otherwise. Pir, who died on Wednesday, had been bitten on August 3 and had taken the first vaccine on August 4 — within the crucial first 24 hours. Ali died on Thursday. While Pir was due for a fourth vaccine dose on Sunday, Ali too had already taken three vaccine shots. Both are residents of Kopra village under Vindol gram panchayat in Harishchandrapur block. With the two deaths, panic has gripped a cluster of villages like Kopra, Lakhanpur and Nisanpur. Hetu Sheikh, another patient showing signs of hydrophobia, was referred to Malda district hospital from Chanchal on Thursday. A dreaded disease in rural Bengal, the initial symptoms of rabies include headache and fever. If the vaccine is not administered, the symptoms may progress to acute pain, violent movements, sudden excitement, depression and inability to swallow water. The final stage shows mania and acute lethargy. Most patients pass into coma after this and die of respiratory failure.
Malda: The lives of 35 dog bite victims are hanging in balance after two people died showing rabies symptoms while the vaccination process was still on in Malda’s Harishchandrapur. The dog that bit the two victims also attacked 35 other villagers, two of them school students aged three and 10. Doctors said the two deaths over the past two days indicate that the vaccine may have become ineffective, which would mean that all the other villagers taking the vaccine are under threat. Malda CMOH Dr Srimanta Roy conceded that both victims — Alfaj Ali (46) and Pir Muhammad (45) — had died with symptoms of rabies. “What’s alarming is that the victims, as well as a number of others, are being vaccinated presently. We have already started field visits, apart from convening a district-level meeting to discuss the threat. We are also checking the quality of the vaccines supplied by the government agency,” Roy said. Though Roy hinted that both victims may have taken the first vaccine shot beyond the stipulated time, reports from the villages indicate otherwise. Pir, who died on Wednesday, had been bitten on August 3 and had taken the first vaccine on August 4 — within the crucial first 24 hours. Ali died on Thursday. While Pir was due for a fourth vaccine dose on Sunday, Ali too had already taken three vaccine shots. Both are residents of Kopra village under Vindol gram panchayat in Harishchandrapur block. With the two deaths, panic has gripped a cluster of villages like Kopra, Lakhanpur and Nisanpur. Hetu Sheikh, another patient showing signs of hydrophobia, was referred to Malda district hospital from Chanchal on Thursday. A dreaded disease in rural Bengal, the initial symptoms of rabies include headache and fever. If the vaccine is not administered, the symptoms may progress to acute pain, violent movements, sudden excitement, depression and inability to swallow water. The final stage shows mania and acute lethargy. Most patients pass into coma after this and die of respiratory failure.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Ruckus over ‘baby swap’
Malda: The Malda district hospital witnessed a ruckus over the alleged swap of newborns on Saturday. Relatives of one of the babies lodged a complaint after being allegedly roughed up by hospital workers. Sources said both Nilufa Biwi (19) of Jalangi in Old Malda and Nurmahal Biwi of English Bazaar were hospitalised on Friday and both had their babies on Saturday morning. While Nilufa delivered a boy, Nurmahal had a daughter. However, when the mothers were taken to their beds, Nilufa was given a girl. Nilufa’s husband Dulal Sheikh and his mother Nurnehar Biwi took up the issue with the nurses immediately. But the latter allegedly roughed up Nurnehar. Nurmahal, too, informed the nurses about the swap. Though the mistake was rectified, Nurnehar lodged a complaint with English Bazaar police, who assured her of a probe. Hospital superintendent Animesh Roy also promised to look into the matter. TNN
Customs staff roughed up
Malda: A team of five Customs officials was roughed up by a group of miscreants and their car ransacked while they were on their way to make a raid in Malda on Wednesday. Two of the officials were even ‘abducted’, but they were released later. A team of Customs officials, led by circle superintendent A B Singh, arrived in Malda from Raiganj to raid a hideout of contrabands. However, when the car reached Sukanto More in English Bazaar around 8.30 am, an armed gang attacked them. Even as onlookers rushed to their rescue, the gang picked up Singh and Anjan Ghosh on a bike and sped away. The abducted officials were later released. Another Customs car was also attacked at Narayanpur. “We have filed a case,” said SP Satyajit Bandyopadhyay.
Man arrested with hundreds of govt files
PRANK OR MADNESS?
Subhro Maitra TNN
Malda: This case of the missing files didn’t need a Holmes or a Poirot. Residents of Malda’s Englishbazar on Tuesday nabbed a man, who had been stealing files from government offices for months. A raid in his house uncovered a hoard of files — including those from the police station, treasury, health department, SDO office and the railways. He has been arrested. In his late thirties, Sajal Sinha entered government o f f i c e s a n d walked out with imp o r t a n t files for no ap p a re n t reason. Local residents claimed he was eccentric by nature. On Tuesday morning, pedestrians at Krishnapally in English Bazaar noticed files from the office of the District Inspector of Schools scattered on the road. The DI office was informed, but minutes later, Sinha arrived at the spot and introducing himself as an employee of the DI office, wanted to take the files away. But other employees of the same office were present and could not identify him. Sinha’s game was up when some local residents identified him as someone known for his eccentric behaviour. The crowd then went to Sinha’s home and a search revealed hundreds of government files from under his bed. These included files belonging to the police station, the treasury, the health department, the SDO office, North Bengal State Transport Corporation, railways and the DI Schools. Sinha admitted that he was in the habit of p i n ch i n g filed from g ove r n - ment offices. S i n h a was arrested on Wednesday, but police were not sure if he had a criminal motive. “He seems to have psychological problems. He may have been playing a prank,” SP Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said. District magistrate Sridhar Ghosh has ordered an inquiry. “It is surprising that so many files were missing from these departments for so long. I’ve asked the police to Inquire into the matter thoroughly.” Sub Divisional Officer (Malda) Prakash Pal denied that any files were missing from his office.
Subhro Maitra TNN
Malda: This case of the missing files didn’t need a Holmes or a Poirot. Residents of Malda’s Englishbazar on Tuesday nabbed a man, who had been stealing files from government offices for months. A raid in his house uncovered a hoard of files — including those from the police station, treasury, health department, SDO office and the railways. He has been arrested. In his late thirties, Sajal Sinha entered government o f f i c e s a n d walked out with imp o r t a n t files for no ap p a re n t reason. Local residents claimed he was eccentric by nature. On Tuesday morning, pedestrians at Krishnapally in English Bazaar noticed files from the office of the District Inspector of Schools scattered on the road. The DI office was informed, but minutes later, Sinha arrived at the spot and introducing himself as an employee of the DI office, wanted to take the files away. But other employees of the same office were present and could not identify him. Sinha’s game was up when some local residents identified him as someone known for his eccentric behaviour. The crowd then went to Sinha’s home and a search revealed hundreds of government files from under his bed. These included files belonging to the police station, the treasury, the health department, the SDO office, North Bengal State Transport Corporation, railways and the DI Schools. Sinha admitted that he was in the habit of p i n ch i n g filed from g ove r n - ment offices. S i n h a was arrested on Wednesday, but police were not sure if he had a criminal motive. “He seems to have psychological problems. He may have been playing a prank,” SP Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said. District magistrate Sridhar Ghosh has ordered an inquiry. “It is surprising that so many files were missing from these departments for so long. I’ve asked the police to Inquire into the matter thoroughly.” Sub Divisional Officer (Malda) Prakash Pal denied that any files were missing from his office.
Shrine pillage: Malda MPs move court
IN COURT
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: Fearing arrest in connection with the Malda shrine pillage case, Congress MPs, Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury and Mousam Noor, moved high court on Tuesday seeking anticipatory bail. The move comes after the Malda police started a criminal case against the duo for allegedly pillaging a religious shrine, Piranapir Dargah, in Englishbazar. The Congress leaders have been charged with rioting, looting money, assault and preventing government servants from performing their duties, some of which fall under non-bailable sections of IPC. The Congress MPs, however, denied their involvement in the fracas. Claiming to have been falsely implicated in the case, Chowdhury and Noor said in the petition that the religious shrine situated in Kazigram is run by a society, Ainaye Hind Committee. Deceased Congress leader Rubi Noor, sister of Abdul Ghani Khan Chowdhury, was the president of the society. After her demise, Abu Hasem became its president on July 15, 2009, while Noor became a member of the committee. The petitioners claimed that the offerings of the devotees at the dargah were not being properly accounted for and the funds were not being used for its maintenance. In view of that, the committee took a resolution to collect the funds and the offerings by the devotees in a separate bank account. Even after noticing wrongful acts by some ‘unscrupulous elements’, the MPs urged the local police for safety and security of the committee members. But, they alleged, the police remained mute spectator and allowed those elements to squander away the dargah funds. The petitioners alleged that Shenaz Quadri, a member of the ruling party, was instrumental in coaxing the police to initiate a false criminal case against them. They stated that Jayanta Lodh Chowdhury, a sub-inspector of the Englishbazar PS, lodged a suo motu complaint against the MPs. The petitioners pleaded that they had collected the money from the dargah pursuant to a valid resolution of the committee dated August 20, 2009, for depositing it in a separate bank account to be operated by a treasurer of the committee in order to prevent pilferage of funds and offerings by unauthorised persons.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: Fearing arrest in connection with the Malda shrine pillage case, Congress MPs, Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury and Mousam Noor, moved high court on Tuesday seeking anticipatory bail. The move comes after the Malda police started a criminal case against the duo for allegedly pillaging a religious shrine, Piranapir Dargah, in Englishbazar. The Congress leaders have been charged with rioting, looting money, assault and preventing government servants from performing their duties, some of which fall under non-bailable sections of IPC. The Congress MPs, however, denied their involvement in the fracas. Claiming to have been falsely implicated in the case, Chowdhury and Noor said in the petition that the religious shrine situated in Kazigram is run by a society, Ainaye Hind Committee. Deceased Congress leader Rubi Noor, sister of Abdul Ghani Khan Chowdhury, was the president of the society. After her demise, Abu Hasem became its president on July 15, 2009, while Noor became a member of the committee. The petitioners claimed that the offerings of the devotees at the dargah were not being properly accounted for and the funds were not being used for its maintenance. In view of that, the committee took a resolution to collect the funds and the offerings by the devotees in a separate bank account. Even after noticing wrongful acts by some ‘unscrupulous elements’, the MPs urged the local police for safety and security of the committee members. But, they alleged, the police remained mute spectator and allowed those elements to squander away the dargah funds. The petitioners alleged that Shenaz Quadri, a member of the ruling party, was instrumental in coaxing the police to initiate a false criminal case against them. They stated that Jayanta Lodh Chowdhury, a sub-inspector of the Englishbazar PS, lodged a suo motu complaint against the MPs. The petitioners pleaded that they had collected the money from the dargah pursuant to a valid resolution of the committee dated August 20, 2009, for depositing it in a separate bank account to be operated by a treasurer of the committee in order to prevent pilferage of funds and offerings by unauthorised persons.
Malda pillage: Case filed against MPs
Malda: Police have filed cases against Congress leaders — including MPs Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury and Mousam Noor — for allegedly pillaging the donation boxes at Pirana Pir, a religious shrine at Englishbazar on Saturday. “We have lodged a case under sections 143, 341, 186, 353, 323 and 379 IPC R/W 188 IPC against South Malda MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, North Malda MP Mousam Noor and Congress leaders Sahida Noor, Mustaque Alam, Hasan Ali Shah and Asadul Sardar,” said SP Satyajit Bandyopadhyaya. One person, Sannan Sheikh, has been arrested. Abu Hasem has denied the charge. TNN
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