In the latest tape that surfaced on Saturday night, Kayal was heard saying that 70 women got Rs 2,000 each for taking part in protests against Sheikh who was arrested and later suspended by the police.
A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday held on-spot inquiries in Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts about alleged sexual abuse by some Trinamool Congress leaders even as fresh agitation rocked the trouble-torn village, where locals torched the property of accused Trinamool leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting the main accused, Shahjahan Sheikh.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government, seeking an urgent hearing.
Patra, who is yet to join the BJP officially, was fielded from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
Six Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, were suspended from the West Bengal assembly over staging protests in the House in view of unrest in Sandeshkhali.
The TMC released a video, in which a man, claimed to be a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali, was heard saying that leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly "Suvendu Adhikari is behind the whole conspiracy".
National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma met President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday and recommended President's rule in West Bengal over the Sandeshkhali violence.
A team of NIA officials earlier this morning arrested two persons in connection with the case and were on their way back to Kolkata, when the vehicle came under attack, they said.
'There will not be very heavy rain.' 'Moderate showers will be there and winds will be, say, somewhere between 20 and 40 km/hr, gusting to 35 km/hr.'
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
The Calcutta high court on Monday directed the police to arrest Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, who has been accused of sexual atrocities and land grab by villagers in Sandeshkhali area, while clarifying there is no stay on it.
The police seized a huge quantity of explosives and banned firecrackers during raids in different locations in rural West Bengal and arrested at least 100 people for their alleged involvement in running illegal manufacturing factories, a senior state police official said on Tuesday.
The National Human Rights Commission in a statement said the allegations raise a serious issue of violation of human rights and also restriction on the freedom of the press.
"Hemant Soren repeatedly ignored my advice and eventually landed in jail... he has always been surrounded by wrong advisors," Hembrom, a lawmaker from Borio seat in Sahibganj district, told reporters.
The meteoric rise of Shajahan Sheikh from a modest background of a helper in a local transport company to becoming the so-called 'tiger' of Sandeshkhali is what Bollywood film scripts are made of. And so does his fall.
Armed with sticks, they set ablaze thatched structures near a fishing yard in Belmajur area of Sandeshkhali, venting their fury against the elusive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj. The torched structure, it was revealed, belonged to Siraj.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday allowed Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari to visit the restive Sandeshkhali village, while observing that it is surprising that the main accused Shajahan Sheikh has not been arrested by the state police so far.
The ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday hailed the arrest of absconding party leader Shajahan Sheikh, accused of torturing villagers in trouble-torn Sandeshkhali area, and said it was possible only after the court cleared the decks and accused the opposition of exploiting the earlier 'embargo' on his arrest.
Meanwhile, ED officers faced resistance again during the arrest of TMC leader and former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The governor also named Justice Mukherjee as the new vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University, he added.
Sandeshkhali Block 2, the epicentre of the violent protests triggered by allegations of land encroachment and sexual misconduct involving local TMC leaders, has contributed the largest share of close to 1,000 complaints.
The riverine Sandeshkhali area in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district -- situated on the borders of the Sunderbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata -- has been on the boil for more than a month with protests against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan, who is absconding, and his supporters.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to move the Calcutta high court on Wednesday against the West Bengal government for not handing over suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh's custody to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a highly placed source said.
Modi, while addressing a rally in Barasat, said whatever happened with women in Sandeshkhali "is a matter of shame".
Bose is likely to meet Shah on Monday morning, he said, adding that the governor has prepared a report on his views after visiting violence-hit areas in the backdrop of the rural polls.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Thursday.
The court directed the CBI to investigate allegations of crimes against women and forcible land grabbing in Sandeshkhali and submit a comprehensive report to it on the next date of hearing.
Announcing the first list of candidates, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that of the 16 names announced, 14 are new, of whom three are women.
Whether the age-old cry of kendrer banchana will be able to drown out pangs of Sandeshkhali, the EVM will tell.
In a setback to the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed its plea challenging a Calcutta high court order transferring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into the January 5 attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in Sandeshkhali, allegedly by supporters of the now suspended TMC local strongman Shahjahan Sheikh.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
The Congress leader also said that the BJP wants to change the Constitution, and reduce and weaken the rights given to the people through the statute book.
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.
National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said notifying the rules for the CAA days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections shows the Bharatiya Janata Party is not confident about winning 400 seats in the ensuing polls.
Violence rocked parts of West Bengal over the filing of nominations for the July 8 panchayat poll as activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties clashed prompting the police to use force to disperse the mob.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into the violence in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali village, saying the incidents cannot be compared to the savagery in Manipur.
"The NIA categorically refuted allegations of mala fide in its Bhupatinagar blast case," an agency spokesperson said.
Neighbours of Lalit were surprised to see his images on news channels, recalling him as a reserved individual who seldom engaged with the community at Burrabazar in Kolkata.
The police on Friday claimed to have arrested 'a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader' along with 10 others on charges of running a sex racket in a hotel in West Bengal's Howrah district, while the state's main opposition party denied any association with the accused individuals.
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