Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee were taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation office on Monday in connection with the Narada sting operation, officials said.
The ministry had sent the six previous teams to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to review the implementation of the lockdown measures after the assessment of ground situation in identified select districts.
Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
The alleged mastermind in the Kolkata techie kidnap case and his two other associates were arrested on Wednesday and Rs 1.90 lakh paid as ransom was also recovered by the police.
According to senior Congress leader Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, "It will be a mistake to consider that it was the BJP that created the disturbance. The Communist Party of India-Marxist worked in collusion with the saffron brigade to throw life out of gear in Bengal."
'It's a classic conflict between the old and the new BJP. The new BJP is made up of turncoats and the old of veterans who slogged for decades when the BJP barely existed in West Bengal'
An FIR was lodged by the Trinamool Congress after a car trailed Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee when she was returning home from a meeting in Kolkata, but it turned out that the 'pursuers' were television journalists seeking an interview with her.
The world organisation said UN humanitarians and partners were working hard to assist the people of Bangladesh and India suffering from the impact of the cyclone, which made landfall on Wednesday, wreaking havoc, causing high tidal surges, flooding and embankments to collapse.
Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh were sworn-in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from COVID-19.
Tapas, the TMC upa-panchayat pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the first information report lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said that the demand for smaller states does not mean that new states would be created everywhere.
The group has more than 9000 fans from across the state and the masks have been sent out to the members in various districts like Bardhaman, Asansol, Nadia, North, South 24 Parganas. They will be sporting the masks on Wednesday.
It is spring in Bengal, yet the scorching afternoon sun unleashed its unbearable heat as rediff.com decided to walk around Barrackpore, a sub-division under North 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 543 and the number of cases climbed to 17,265 in the country on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.
The TMC, which is yet to fully recover from the 2019 Lok Sabha poll setback, when the BJP's tally soared from two to 18, is apprehensive that the AIMIM may act as "spoiler" in several assembly segments.
Gateway of India, Andheri, Oberoi Hotel and Navi Mumbai were places where these militants had already carried out dry runs -- a chilling reminder of 2006 Mumbai serial blasts.
Shah said Banerjee will not be in a position to oppose the implementation of the CAA as she will cease to be the chief minister after the assembly polls likely in April-May this year.
Claiming that at least 14 Bharatiya Janata Party workers were killed and nearly one lakh people fled their homes in post-poll violence in West Bengal, party president J P Nadda on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's silence speaks of her involvement.
Kumar failed to appear before the CBI on Tuesday morning, increasing the possibility of his arrest.
In a repeat of Sunday's mob fury during West Bengal Chief Minister's visit to cyclone-hit Gosaba, hundreds of cyclone victims on Tuesday heckled and jeered at Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, as he came out of a relief camp in Hingalganj in North 24-Parganas district. "You are an inefficient chief minister. You deserve a garland of shoes. What have you done for the development of the Sunderbans in the last five years," the hungry victims shouted at Bhattacharjee.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
Train services of Eastern Railway were affected as irate supporters of Sourav Ganguly put up a blockade protesting his exclusion from the ODI squad.
Aggrieved by the violence that marked the panchayat poll in West Bengal which claimed at least 12 lives and left 43 injured, several candidates who were in the fray had met the SEC officials and demanded the repolling.
A fire at a shopping mall selling garments left 11 persons dead and 18 injured at Sodepur in neighbouring North 24-Parganas district, close to Kolkata, on Friday
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
Mike Okoro struck in the 40th minute to earn Mohammedan Sporting a 1-0 win over a Peerless in the IFA premier division football league game.
Protests against ration shop owners and ration dealers continued in West Bengal on Tuesday, with several ration shops being ransacked and foodgrains being looted across the state. A mob set ablaze the house of a ration dealer who allegedly sold ration items in the open market instead of distributing it to ration card holders at Deganga in north 24 Pargana district. When a police contingent arrived in the area, agitated locals hurled stones at it, injuring 5 policemen.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee asked authorities on Thursday to return land that was 'forcibly' acquired from farmers in Singur for the Tata Mators' project.
On Tuesday, an army deserter and active member of Bangladesh's Jamaitul-Islami-Mujahiddin was arrested at Petropole on the border in North 24 Parganas district by the BSF.
Candidates appearing for the exam in Kolkata were seen standing in queues while abiding by the social distancing norms.
At least 20 persons were killed and over 30 injured when a private bus skidded off the road and plunged into a canal at Kestopur in North 24 Parganas on Friday. Two cranes pulled the bus out of the canal. Local people helped the police and fire-brigade in the rescue operations.
Bird flu has spread to fresh areas in affected West Bengal districts of Howrah, Birbhum and Nadia, while a large number of chickens died in North 24 Parganas, which is still not among the 13 affected districts.
BJP chief J P Nadda on Thursday launched 'Lokkho Sonar Bangla' (target to build golden Bengal) manifesto crowdsourcing campaign to seek suggestions from more than two crore people in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
From Latin America to West Bengal, it is Communism that binds. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has sent a cheque for Rs 11.91 lakh to construct a new building of a school in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Chavez, a man of strong words and actions, promised during a visit to West Bengal in 2005.
Patrolling along the Bangladesh border was stepped up following the arrests.
India also said Bangladesh was carrying out a disinformation campaign.
The Army was deployed in Kolkata and its neighbouring districts on Saturday, hours after the West Bengal government sought its help for immediate restoration of essential infrastructure and services in the state.
