The West Bengal Police on Wednesday arrested Ariyan Khan, one of the prime accused in the Howrah sex and pornographic film racket, from a hideout in the Golf Green area of south Kolkata, a senior officer said.
The situation in these violence-hit places remained tense on Saturday morning, but no untoward incident was reported, officials said.
In the aftermath of the violence, the police had arrested over 300 suspected miscreants in connection with over 60 FIRs which were lodged at various police stations in Murshidabad.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has apprehended approximately 60 individuals along the India-Nepal border, many suspected to be jail escapees from Nepal amid ongoing unrest. Security has been heightened in the region.
The statue at Telephone Maidan at Katwa town in East Burdwan district with its face blackened was found.
After recent high-intensity operations in the Bastar region and the neutralisation of several senior Maoist leaders, officials say the insurgency has lost its ability to mount large-scale coordinated attacks.
The death of a 24-year-old nurse at a private nursing home in West Bengal's Hooghly district has triggered political unrest and allegations of a cover-up. Opposition parties are demanding a fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death, alleging foul play and potential sexual assault.
The MeT department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gangetic West Bengal till Saturday, ahead of Durga Puja festivities.
An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale rocked parts of West Bengal in the early hours of Wednesday, the meteorological department said in Kolkata.
There cannot be a complete ban on firecrackers and the mechanism to stop their misuse has to be strengthened, the Supreme Court said on Monday setting aside the Calcutta High Court order banning firecrackers during Kali Puja, Diwali and other festivals this year to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The incident comes two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that its worker Trilochon Mahato, 20, who was found hanging from a tree at Balarampur in the district on May 30, was killed by the Trinamool Congress. However, the Trinamool Congress has denied the allegations and termed it as baseless.
The EC also ordered the removal of Principal Secretary (Home) Atri Bhattacharya and Additional Director General, CID, Rajiv Kumar from their postings in West Bengal.
A group of Maoists kidnapped a school headmaster in West Bengal's Bankura District on Friday evening and threatened to kill him if the state government failed to release the six villagers arrested after police officer Rabi Lochan Mitra's murder. On Friday evening, the armed Maoists barged into Shibram Satpathy School in Sarulia village of the District and went around searching for its headmaster Ranjit Duley.
West Bengal police found three policemen of Jharkhand in a red light area of Asansol during a raid and took them into custody.
Two bomb blasts rocked close to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's residence in Ballygunge area in Kolkata following a clash between two groups of a political party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed for peaceful protests in the wake of violence that erupted in several parts of the state during protests against the amended Wakf law. She emphasized the importance of respecting the law and urged people not to indulge in non-religious activities in the name of religion.
Former India cricket captain and ex-BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly escaped unhurt after his vehicle was involved in an accident while he was on his way to the University of Burdwan Bardhaman, in West Bengal, for an event.
The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the strike call exposed the BJP's game plan to foment disturbances in the state exploiting people's pain over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor.
The Union Home Ministry on Monday sought a detailed report from West Bengal government on the first phase of panchayat polls, particularly the situation in Nandigram where CRPF and police reportedly clashed with CPI(M) cadres. "The Home Ministry has sought a detailed report from the state government," a Home Ministry spokesman said.
The first day of the Bengali New Year, Poila Baisakh, passed without any celebrations in Dhulian, West Bengal, for the first time in over 50 years. Fear gripped the area following violence over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, leading to canceled rituals, shop closures, and a sense of uncertainty. The violence, which started on April 8, left three people dead and several injured. Protesters blocked highways, torched vehicles, and disrupted train services. While the police deployed central forces and imposed restrictions, locals still fear for their safety and demand permanent security measures. The town and its surrounding areas remain tense, with many families displaced and facing significant losses.
A middle-aged woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at Jagannathpur in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district on a day the nation was mourning the tragic death of the Delhi rape victim.
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan on Monday resigned, becoming the fourth person occupying the gubernatorial post to put in his papers since the National Democratic Alliance government prodded some of the Governors appointed during the United Progressive Alliance rule to quit.
The rally was not allowed to proceed towards the South Calcutta Law College, where the 24-year-old student was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including an alumnus of the institute, on June 25.
A gas cylinder blast in a house at Dholahat in West Bengal's Pathar Pratima has claimed eight lives, including four children. The explosion, which occurred on Monday night, triggered a massive fire, intensified by the presence of stacked firecrackers inside the house. The incident has sparked a political controversy, with the BJP demanding a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe and the TMC maintaining that the police are already investigating and that the state government has a "zero-tolerance " policy towards such incidents. The blast has also raised concerns about the safety of illegal firecracker manufacturing units, which have been linked to several recent accidents in the state.
The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to conduct a pan-India investigation into digital arrest scams and questioned the RBI about its lack of AI usage in detecting and freezing accounts used by cybercriminals.
Referring to clashes between police and teachers outside the district inspector of schools' office at Kasba in Kolkata, Pant appealed to the educators not to get involved in confrontations so that their plan to legally resolve the impasse does not get affected.
No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.
The CBI during its probe got inputs of a large cache of arms hidden in Sandeshkhali. On Friday morning, a CBI team started a search operation during which the arms, including foreign-made pistols, were seized, the officials said.
Terming the rape and murder case of a medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as horrific, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the West Bengal government over delay in filing first information report (FIR) in the matter.
The Maoists in Bastar went from one village to another with kits providing badly needed medical intervention. The medical help was one key reason why the tribals were attracted to the Maoists, points out M R Narayan Swamy.
The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading lies and criminalising poverty over the detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Odisha, while the saffron party charged the Mamata Banerjee dispensation with providing shelters to illegal immigrants.
The church's caretaker found that the main door was ajar and a few belongings and the ciborium were broken.
The violence, which erupted over the setting up of a shop in Maheshtala under Rabindranagar police station in South 24 Parganas district, quickly escalated, turning the area into a virtual battlefield.
Protests against the Waqf Act turned violent in parts of West Bengal on Friday, with demonstrators setting ablaze vehicles, disrupting traffic and rail movement, and injuring several policemen. The unrest erupted in Suti, Murshidabad district, where protesters defied prohibitory orders, hurled stones at security personnel, and torched police vans and public buses during processions. Police responded with lathi charges and tear gas, while some officers were forced to seek refuge in a nearby mosque. Similar protests were held in Malda and Kolkata, prompting Governor C V Ananda Bose to direct the state government to take swift action against those responsible. The governor also contacted Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held discussions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was recently passed by both houses of Parliament, aims to improve the management of Waqf properties, safeguarding heritage sites and promoting social welfare.
A high alert has been sounded in Uttar Pradesh's seven districts bordering Nepal. The districts are Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit.
Bose is planning to convert the police outpost near the North Gate of the Raj Bhavan into a 'Jan Manch' (public platform), he said.
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.
Two brothers have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a father-son duo during communal violence in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. The arrests bring the total number of people apprehended in connection with the recent violence in the district to 221. The violence erupted during protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
'We are orchestrating a revolution at Lalgarh. Can you cite an instance where a revolution took place without bloodshed?'An exclusive interview with Gour Chakraborty, the CPI (Maoist)'s spokesman.
In a federal democracy, the people must have a say (indirect or direct) in an office as important as that of governor. Especially in a governor who can now effectively veto a bill by simply refusing to sign it, argues Harishchandra.
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