A leader of the Trinamool Congress has been caught on camera threatening the staff of a private hospital at gunpoint. Eyewitnesses claim Dey was allegedly angry at the recent induction of a doctor in the hospital.
Voting is being held at 11,860 polling stations spread over 11 assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and Birbhum, six in Malda and seven in north Kolkata.
Four persons were killed on Tuesday night and eight others injured in a blast that took place when the victims were allegedly making bombs near Rampurhat town in Birbhum district, police said.
Celebrations have begun at United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee native village Mirati in Birbhum district of West Bengal ahead of the formal declaration of the 2012 presidential poll results.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy 125 companies of central forces in West Bengal by February 25 for the ensuing assembly elections, a senior official said on Friday.
Security has been beefed up in Mirati village of Birbhum district in view of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to his ancestral house during the Durga puja rituals, official sources said on Friday.
Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, was on Friday chosen by the Congress as its candidate for the by-election for Jangipur Lok Sabha seat vacated by his father.
In an affront to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to relieve an Indian Administrative Service officer he wanted as his private secretary in what appears to be fast soiling relations between the two since differences cropped up over Teesta river deal with Bangladesh.
A speeding express train rammed into the rear of another killing 60 people and injuring over 150 at the Sainthia station in Bhirbhum district of West Bengal, apparently after overshooting the signal in the early hours on Monday.
Union Minister of Railways Mamta Bannerjee, who is extremely perturbed by the disastrous train mishap in West Bengal early on Monday morning, has asked her ministry to carefully oversee the postmortem of M C Dey, the driver of the New Coochbehar-Sealdah Uttarbanga Express, which rammed into Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express in Sainthia station of Birbhum district, killing 62 people and injuring 92 others.
Six persons, including a woman, were killed and 18 were injured in violence and CRPF firing in the fourth phase of the West Bengal panchayat elections on Monday. Polling in four districts saw a voter turnout of 25 per cent.
Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee worshipped Goddess Durga on Thursday at his ancestral home in Mirati village on 'Mahasaptami', the first day of the four-day long puja.
During the Rath Yatra, Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra are carried from their home temple to another temple, located in what is believed to be their aunt's home.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday suggested CPI(M)'s hand in the train accident in Sainthia and the Jnaneswari Express mishap and ruled out resigning on moral grounds.
"We have some doubts in our mind. Whatever has happened is not a casual thing. We will take strong steps against those who are behind this," she said.
Business Standard brings you a three-part series on how the Trinamool is gaining political supremacy through these tried and tested methods in rural Bengal.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that her state would sever all ties with the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for 'unilaterally releasing water', which led to floods in south Bengal districts.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra was in Nalhati in the Birbhum district near the Bengal-Jharkhand border on Wednesday to cover the campaign of Abhijit Mukherjee, a former corporate executive and son of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And here's what she saw.
Amid the rituals of Maha Ashtami (the third day of the five-day festival), Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Shine Jacob on the Moody's downgrade of State Bank of India and other issues.
Away from the political chaos in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is celebrating the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Miriti village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Far from the rough and tumble of politics, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in Kolkata at his ancestral home at Miriti in Birbhum district to perform Durga Puja as he has been doing every year.
"I extend puja greetings (Saradiyar Subhecchha) to all people and wish them well," a relaxed Mukherjee said while leaving for his ancestral home with his wife.
We saw the finance minister in a new avatar, donning the priest's mantle at his ancestral home on Friday and Saturday. Here are some glimpses. . .
"The puja is around 100 years old. Pranab's grandfather late Jangaleswar Mukherjee started the puja," said Goutam Roy, who has been looking after puja arrangements for the last couple of years.
Two days after Monday's train disaster at Sainthia in Birbhum district, the cause of the collision that snuffed out 66 lives still remains a riddle.
Train services on the Khana-Rampurhat section of the Howrah division in Birbhum district, where a high speed express collided with another, were restored on Tuesday.
A breathalyser test on the driver and assistant driver of the ill-fated Uttarbanga Express did not show any trace of alcohol but police said this is not enough to determine whether they were intoxicated or not.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Sandeshkhali leader Gangadhar Koyal on Friday moved the Calcutta high court, claiming that technology-aided videos mimicking his voice were being circulated in a bid to defame him, and prayed for security be provided to him by central agencies.
A CPI-M leader was stabbed to dead and two others seriously injured by unknown persons in a procession early Monday at Nischintapur in Rampurhat of Birbhum district.
Eight persons died in the early hours of Tuesday after their houses caught fire at Rampurhat in Birbhum district, police said.
Around 35,000 to 40,000 chickens have died in Birbhum district alone.
The stampede occurred when people rushed towards the dais in an attempt to get blankets.
In yet another deadly attack on Indians and Indian-Americans in the United States in recent months, a 34-year-old trained classical dancer from India and a student of Washington University, was shot dead in St Louis, Missouri.
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A 20-year old tribal woman was allegedly gang-raped at Labhpur in Birbhum district by 13 persons, as they were against her affair with a man from a different community.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shyamapada Mondal waded into controversy by calling Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a 'eunuch' and accused her of practicing politics of appeasement. "Today you cannot understand whether Mamata Banerjee is a female or a male... I'd say she has become a 'hijra' (eunuch)," he said.
From the dusty lanes of Mirati, life took the scholar politician to the imposing Rashtrapati Bhavan through a warren of powerful offices he held, but the village stuck, the bond only grew stronger.
Around 25 BJP MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari then walked out of the assembly, claiming that several party legislators were roughed up by TMC MLAs inside the House.
The death of thousands of homebred chickens in Birbhum region over the past week has prompted district authorities to sound a bird flu alert in two blocks.
The state government had adequate land for these projects, the CM said.
