MSN,November 18,2010
Kanpur: A final year engineering student of the premiere Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), Wednesday committed suicide in her hostel room on the campus, police said.
"The girl, aged around 22 years, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her hostel room. Prima-facie, it appears to be a case of suicide," Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakshmi Narayan Mishra told reporters in Kanpur, some 80 km from Lucknow.
The suicide came to light after the door of Madhuri's room was broken as she did not respond to repeated door knocks by her friends. The police identified the girl as Madhuri Salve, a fourth year civil engineering student hailing from Andhra Pradesh. However, sources said the name on her identity card appeared as Madhuri sale.
IIT-K officials, who barred the entry of reporters following the incident, were not available for comment. Several calls were made on the mobile phone of IIT-K Director Sanjay Govind Dhande and Registrar Sanjeev S. Kashalkar, but the calls were not responded. Sources in IIT-K said a committee has been constituted to probe into the girl's death.
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Russian molested by burglar in Goa apartment
MSN,December 18,2010
Panaji: A 32-year-old Russian woman has alleged that a thief broke into her rented apartment at Colva beach village Wednesday morning, stole her laptop and molested her while she was sleeping, police said.
The police have registered a complaint under sections 378, 441 and 354 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with theft, criminal trespass and outraging modesty respectively. Colva, a beach village popular with foreign tourists, is some 40 km from here.
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
Panaji: A 32-year-old Russian woman has alleged that a thief broke into her rented apartment at Colva beach village Wednesday morning, stole her laptop and molested her while she was sleeping, police said.
The police have registered a complaint under sections 378, 441 and 354 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with theft, criminal trespass and outraging modesty respectively. Colva, a beach village popular with foreign tourists, is some 40 km from here.
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
Govt vows telecom action; loan probe may widen - source
REUTERS and Yahoo
Nov 29 10:30 PM
Nov 29 10:30 PM
The government vowed action against companies that allegedly secured valuable telecom licenses at rock-bottom prices, while investigators from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) built their case in a bribes-for-loans probe that a source said would be widened.
India may have been deprived of up to $39 billion by selling cellular licences too cheaply, a recent government audit found, which has resulted in a stalled parliament as the opposition demands an investigation.Late on Monday, the new telecoms minister said he would send notices to companies who received 85 mobile telephone licenses in 2007 and 2008, asking why they should not be revoked for not meeting eligibility criteria -- a move that may help break the logjam in parliament.
The companies to be sent notices are those named in the recent government audit report, Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal said. The audit named Abu Dhabi's Etisalat as well as Indian property firm Unitech, which later launched mobile operations in a venture with Norway's Telenor.
Meanwhile, a CBI source with direct knowledge of the matter said its probe in the bribes-for-loans case, which saw eight financial industry executives arrested last week, would be widened further to look into other public sector banks.
A CBI spokesman in New Delhi said the investigation remained focused for now only on the financial firms already named.
The telecoms and lending scandals are the latest to batter India's image among investors, dog the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and test India's ability to crack down on corruption.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
"When we are working with western companies, one of their biggest concerns is not geopolitical threat or terrorism, it comes down to corporate governance," said Bundeep Singh Rangar, chairman of London-based advisory firm IndusView Advisors.
A lawyer for the CBI said during a special court hearing in Mumbai on Monday that the former LIC Housing Finance <LICH> chief executive, one of eight executives arrested last week, took bribes to clear loans for three property firms.
The court ordered the eight to stay in custody until Friday.
"This is a small tip of the iceberg," CBI lawyer Eijaz Khan said at the hearing, where the eight executives were present.
LIC Housing said the CBI probe involves loans it made of about $85 million. The company, controlled by Life Insurance Corp of India, said the loans were performing and were secured by collateral of more than three times their value.
The CBI last week said Money Matters Financial Services Ltd, an Indian brokerage, acted as a "mediator and facilitator" of corporate loans and other facilities by bribing bank officials. Three of its executives, including its CEO, were among those arrested.
Money Matters said in a statement on Monday that funds raised from institutional investors in a $97 million share sale last month were placed in a bank deposit and would not be withdrawn or managed without board approval.
Shares in Money Matters, whose officials could not be reached for further comment, were down by their daily limit of 10 percent on Monday and have lost nearly 50 percent since their close on Tuesday.
Asia's third-largest economy, growing at 8.5 percent, has been beset by a wave of scandals. Corruption in India gained global attention in early 2009 when the founder of Satyam Computer Services, one of India's top software firms, resigned after admitting profits were falsely inflated for years.
Those arrested last week include senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India for allegedly accepting bribes for sanctioning loans. Last week the CBI widened its probe to 21 firms for links to the bribes-for-loans scandal.
Several leading Indian firms were named in court documents filed by the CBI last week, including wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy, infrastructure company HCC's Lavasa unit and real estate firm DB Realty. All three have denied any wrongdoing.
(Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Jui Chakravorty and David Holmes)
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
Scandals, uncertainty dent India investment case.
REUTERS and Yahoo
The number may be huge -- up to $39 billion lost in one of India's biggest corruption cases -- but the damage to India's position as an investment star may be in the regulatory backlash.
Even by standards of emerging economies, the scale and frequency of India's recent scandals borders on the baroque: parliament is frozen and the government is threatening to revoke dozens of licenses for operators in the booming cellphone sector.
An outperformer all year thanks to a record influx of foreign funds, the Indian stock market lost momentum in November and saw outflows at the end of last week as another investigation unfolded -- this one over alleged bribes-for-loans that saw eight executives detained, including top officials from state banks.
While investors tend to shrug off corruption scandals as a risk of emerging markets, anything that adds to regulatory uncertainty threatens to taint India's attractiveness as a destination for foreign firms dazzled by its prospects.
"Normally, I would say it doesn't have an impact," Andrew Holland, chief executive for equities at Ambit Capital in Mumbai, said of the latest scandals.
"But if they did cancel the 2G licences, that could send a very poor signal to foreign companies looking to invest in India and its infrastructure," he said, soon after India's telecoms minister announced a crackdown on recipients of cellular licences at the centre of a government corruption probe.
Regulatory uncertainty often haunts investors in India -- whether or not corruption has been involved.
Direct investors -- companies building factories or power plants or buying local firms -- often have less flexibility and more to lose than fund investors and are especially sensitive to regulatory uncertainty.
Leading global companies such as Wal-Mart Stores , Vodafone and POSCO have been frustrated for years in their efforts to negotiate regulations in a promising but perilous market, and foreign direct investment has suffered.
India is investigating whether ineligible companies received coveted second-generation (2G) mobile licences and has threatened to revoke permits held by carriers including the local ventures of Abu Dhabi's Etisalat and Norway's Telenor.
EMERGING MARKETS RISK
Corruption is nothing new in emerging markets, but the stakes in India have risen in recent years as the economy modernises and investment surges but the political system remains heavily reliant on patronage, and graft is rife.
India's economy grew nearly 9 percent in the September quarter but the country scores a 3.3 rating on Transparency International's Integrity Score list, where 10 is perceived to have lowest levels of corruption. China came in at 3.5.
The latest scandals follow close on the heels of New Delhi's hosting of the Commonwealth Games, preparations for which were chaotic and beset by corruption, according to investigators.
Thus far, corruption outbreaks have done little to dent the enthusiasm of portfolio investors. Domestically-driven growth, corporate profitability and the breadth of India's market continue to command a premium.
"We don't think there is a problem across all sectors, but at present we are cautious and would wait for more information to initiate further action," said Sudhindra Ballal, fund manager in Singapore at Daiwa Capital Markets.
Ballal added that many investors appear to have ignored risks linked to investing in emerging markets, and recent developments act as a reminder to focus on risk.
Foreign funds have poured a record $28.7 billion into Indian stocks this year, but dumped $263.5 million of shares last Thursday and Friday as the bribes-for-loans scandal unfolded.
The BSE Sensex remains the most expensive major stock index in Asia, trading at 18.23 times forward earnings, compared to 10.25 on China's main stock index.
"India will continue to trade at a premium to markets like China because the strong corporate earnings momentum is likely to continue," said Taina Erajuuri, portfolio manager at FIM India, which owns about $150 million worth of Indian shares in Helsinki.
Still, she said: "corporate governance is a big issue and if the cases like these happen more and more that will make investors very nervous."
FDI UNCERTAINTY
Foreign direct investment, on the other hand, has been sluggish, in part because of delays in regulatory approvals on environmental and other grounds. FDI totalled $13.5 billion in the first six months of the fiscal year through September, and is on track to lag the $37.2 billion of FDI in the previous year.
On Tuesday, shares in UK-based Cairn Energy skidded after India extended its deadline for ruling on whether to allow it to sell control of its Cairn India arm to Vedanta Resources for up to $9.6 billion.
POSCO's efforts to build a $12 billion steel plant have been stalled for years over environmental approvals. On Monday, India recommended withdrawing the South Korean firm's permits, further delaying what would be India's largest foreign direct investment.
Vodafone, India's biggest foreign direct investor to date, is fighting a 120 billion rupee ($2.6 billion) tax bill in a court battle and has complained about a telecoms regulatory structure that it said allowed too many players into the market.
"The bottom line is that the moving goal post, changing regulations, the whole issue of lack of certainty -- that's not good for any economic investment," Ron Somers, head of the U.S.-India Business Council, told Reuters Insider.
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
The number may be huge -- up to $39 billion lost in one of India's biggest corruption cases -- but the damage to India's position as an investment star may be in the regulatory backlash.
Even by standards of emerging economies, the scale and frequency of India's recent scandals borders on the baroque: parliament is frozen and the government is threatening to revoke dozens of licenses for operators in the booming cellphone sector.
An outperformer all year thanks to a record influx of foreign funds, the Indian stock market lost momentum in November and saw outflows at the end of last week as another investigation unfolded -- this one over alleged bribes-for-loans that saw eight executives detained, including top officials from state banks.
While investors tend to shrug off corruption scandals as a risk of emerging markets, anything that adds to regulatory uncertainty threatens to taint India's attractiveness as a destination for foreign firms dazzled by its prospects.
"Normally, I would say it doesn't have an impact," Andrew Holland, chief executive for equities at Ambit Capital in Mumbai, said of the latest scandals.
"But if they did cancel the 2G licences, that could send a very poor signal to foreign companies looking to invest in India and its infrastructure," he said, soon after India's telecoms minister announced a crackdown on recipients of cellular licences at the centre of a government corruption probe.
Regulatory uncertainty often haunts investors in India -- whether or not corruption has been involved.
Direct investors -- companies building factories or power plants or buying local firms -- often have less flexibility and more to lose than fund investors and are especially sensitive to regulatory uncertainty.
Leading global companies such as Wal-Mart Stores , Vodafone and POSCO have been frustrated for years in their efforts to negotiate regulations in a promising but perilous market, and foreign direct investment has suffered.
India is investigating whether ineligible companies received coveted second-generation (2G) mobile licences and has threatened to revoke permits held by carriers including the local ventures of Abu Dhabi's Etisalat and Norway's Telenor.
EMERGING MARKETS RISK
Corruption is nothing new in emerging markets, but the stakes in India have risen in recent years as the economy modernises and investment surges but the political system remains heavily reliant on patronage, and graft is rife.
India's economy grew nearly 9 percent in the September quarter but the country scores a 3.3 rating on Transparency International's Integrity Score list, where 10 is perceived to have lowest levels of corruption. China came in at 3.5.
The latest scandals follow close on the heels of New Delhi's hosting of the Commonwealth Games, preparations for which were chaotic and beset by corruption, according to investigators.
Thus far, corruption outbreaks have done little to dent the enthusiasm of portfolio investors. Domestically-driven growth, corporate profitability and the breadth of India's market continue to command a premium.
"We don't think there is a problem across all sectors, but at present we are cautious and would wait for more information to initiate further action," said Sudhindra Ballal, fund manager in Singapore at Daiwa Capital Markets.
Ballal added that many investors appear to have ignored risks linked to investing in emerging markets, and recent developments act as a reminder to focus on risk.
Foreign funds have poured a record $28.7 billion into Indian stocks this year, but dumped $263.5 million of shares last Thursday and Friday as the bribes-for-loans scandal unfolded.
The BSE Sensex remains the most expensive major stock index in Asia, trading at 18.23 times forward earnings, compared to 10.25 on China's main stock index.
"India will continue to trade at a premium to markets like China because the strong corporate earnings momentum is likely to continue," said Taina Erajuuri, portfolio manager at FIM India, which owns about $150 million worth of Indian shares in Helsinki.
Still, she said: "corporate governance is a big issue and if the cases like these happen more and more that will make investors very nervous."
FDI UNCERTAINTY
Foreign direct investment, on the other hand, has been sluggish, in part because of delays in regulatory approvals on environmental and other grounds. FDI totalled $13.5 billion in the first six months of the fiscal year through September, and is on track to lag the $37.2 billion of FDI in the previous year.
On Tuesday, shares in UK-based Cairn Energy skidded after India extended its deadline for ruling on whether to allow it to sell control of its Cairn India arm to Vedanta Resources for up to $9.6 billion.
POSCO's efforts to build a $12 billion steel plant have been stalled for years over environmental approvals. On Monday, India recommended withdrawing the South Korean firm's permits, further delaying what would be India's largest foreign direct investment.
Vodafone, India's biggest foreign direct investor to date, is fighting a 120 billion rupee ($2.6 billion) tax bill in a court battle and has complained about a telecoms regulatory structure that it said allowed too many players into the market.
"The bottom line is that the moving goal post, changing regulations, the whole issue of lack of certainty -- that's not good for any economic investment," Ron Somers, head of the U.S.-India Business Council, told Reuters Insider.
-- Shared by Jeevan Kumar
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Obscene accumulation of wealth,Income Tax officer arrested
Anandabazar Patrika,December 1,2010
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
A high official in the Income Tax department has been arrested on charge of illegally accumulating immense wealth.The CBI has filed a case against the Additional Income Tax Commissioner named Ashok Kumar in Kolkata.He is accused of running 15 fake organisations in Mumbai in the names of his parents,wife,brother and sister-in-law.Examination of bank accounts corresponding to those organisations have revealed transactions of lakhs of rupees.A raid under the direction of Superintendent of Police,CBI,Sameerranjan Majumdar, was conducted at Kumar's office in the Aaykar Bhavan,Kolkata, and the guest house where he used to stay.Search is on in his ancestral house and his house in Ranchi.
--- Translated and shared by Ratul Das
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
A high official in the Income Tax department has been arrested on charge of illegally accumulating immense wealth.The CBI has filed a case against the Additional Income Tax Commissioner named Ashok Kumar in Kolkata.He is accused of running 15 fake organisations in Mumbai in the names of his parents,wife,brother and sister-in-law.Examination of bank accounts corresponding to those organisations have revealed transactions of lakhs of rupees.A raid under the direction of Superintendent of Police,CBI,Sameerranjan Majumdar, was conducted at Kumar's office in the Aaykar Bhavan,Kolkata, and the guest house where he used to stay.Search is on in his ancestral house and his house in Ranchi.
--- Translated and shared by Ratul Das
Theft after robbing consciousness of old lady
,Anandabazar Patrika,December 1,2010
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
A gold necklace was stolen from the throat of an old lady after making senseless.As were property of value about 1.5 lakh rupees including jewellery.The theft took place in house no. 46/8 of BB Block in Saltlake,Kolkata,on 25th November.The maid servant has also been missing since the theft,said Shobhan Basu,the son of the victim and the owner of the house,where he resides along with his family.
Shantilata Basu,Shobhan Basu's old mother had been admitted to a hospital in the wake of complications that arose due to poisoning.The Basus say,Shantilata fell senseless due to poisonous adulteration of her food.Then the necklace was severed from her.The keys of the almirah were moved and the theft committed.
The maid servant had been employed some two days before the theft.Mr. Basu says that he came to know about the maid from a florist in the AB-AC market.The maid gave her name as Kobita Basu and address in Gaighata.He further says,besides her mother,the maid was the only other person present in the house at the time when the theft is supposed to have taken place.He suspects her of administering some unwholesome substance in his mother's food which made her unconscious.
Mr. Basu had failed to inform the police of the particulars of the maid before the theft took place,in disregard of the official requests of Kolkata Police to the public to furnish immediate information,along with photograph(s),on any new domestic help engaged since the murder of a woman by her maid took place nearly a year ago.Additional Superintendent of Police,Bidhannagar,Debabrata Das confirmed that the supposed address of the maid provided by Mr. Basu is false.
--- Translated,adapted and shared by Ratul Das
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
A gold necklace was stolen from the throat of an old lady after making senseless.As were property of value about 1.5 lakh rupees including jewellery.The theft took place in house no. 46/8 of BB Block in Saltlake,Kolkata,on 25th November.The maid servant has also been missing since the theft,said Shobhan Basu,the son of the victim and the owner of the house,where he resides along with his family.
Shantilata Basu,Shobhan Basu's old mother had been admitted to a hospital in the wake of complications that arose due to poisoning.The Basus say,Shantilata fell senseless due to poisonous adulteration of her food.Then the necklace was severed from her.The keys of the almirah were moved and the theft committed.
The maid servant had been employed some two days before the theft.Mr. Basu says that he came to know about the maid from a florist in the AB-AC market.The maid gave her name as Kobita Basu and address in Gaighata.He further says,besides her mother,the maid was the only other person present in the house at the time when the theft is supposed to have taken place.He suspects her of administering some unwholesome substance in his mother's food which made her unconscious.
Mr. Basu had failed to inform the police of the particulars of the maid before the theft took place,in disregard of the official requests of Kolkata Police to the public to furnish immediate information,along with photograph(s),on any new domestic help engaged since the murder of a woman by her maid took place nearly a year ago.Additional Superintendent of Police,Bidhannagar,Debabrata Das confirmed that the supposed address of the maid provided by Mr. Basu is false.
--- Translated,adapted and shared by Ratul Das
Family trio flee after 40 crore rupee fraud
Anandabazar Patrika,November 30,2010
Reported by Subhashis Ghatak
An interest of 10%,not per annum,not per month,but per 10 days on principal amount invested!This was the bait dangled by a family who fled after fraudulent misappropriation of a whopping figure of around 40 crores of rupees.An organisation by the name of 'Joyo Concept Marketing Pvt. Ltd.' had set up office in Amtala,Bishnupur,located in the southern suburbs of Kolkata.The chief proprietor went by the name of Dipanjan Haldar,known to the son of Ramesh and Mitali Haldar,the other partners in crime.After about 10 months of appearance,they now vanish with 40 crore rupees of the investors.As per witnesses,Ramesh and Mitali Haldar used to collect the money in the office premises itself.
According to the police,the victims are spread over the southern suburban areas under Bishnupur,Falta,Usti,Ramnagar and Diamond Harbour police stations.The amount embezzled is estimated to be be in the range between 35-40 crore rupees.The accused have been known to play under the garb of investing the money deposited with them by the victims in foreign business houses.For the first one and half years,they even indeed used to pay the interest to the investors at the promised rate,which encouraged them to stake even more.Some of the victims are known to have sold their fish-rich reservoirs,while some others had borrowed money from the market at 5% to invest with the accused.As the investment boomed,the trio made more flamboyant plans.It was promised on behalf of the organisation that an investment of 25 lakh rupees would be rewarded with a Maruti car.
According to Syed Nasiruddin,one of the victims and a resident of Simla village in Ramnagar,a public assembly comprising of people from different villages in Ramnagar was arranged,where Dipanjan Haldar assured them of the dividends and announced special incentives for bigger investments.More than a hundred complaints have been filed against the organisation in the police stations of Diamond Harbour,Falta,Bishnupur,Ramnagar and Usti.Complaints have also been made to the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Ploic of South 24 Parganas,and the CID.
The family is said to have disappeared a week ago.Their mobile are untraceable right now.The victims' numbers run upto a several thousand,according to the police.Incidentally,three years ago,a person named Jaane Alam was arrested in Diamond Harbour on charge of misappropriation by cheating of nearly 100 crore rupees.
--- Translated,adapted and shared by Ratul Das
Reported by Subhashis Ghatak
An interest of 10%,not per annum,not per month,but per 10 days on principal amount invested!This was the bait dangled by a family who fled after fraudulent misappropriation of a whopping figure of around 40 crores of rupees.An organisation by the name of 'Joyo Concept Marketing Pvt. Ltd.' had set up office in Amtala,Bishnupur,located in the southern suburbs of Kolkata.The chief proprietor went by the name of Dipanjan Haldar,known to the son of Ramesh and Mitali Haldar,the other partners in crime.After about 10 months of appearance,they now vanish with 40 crore rupees of the investors.As per witnesses,Ramesh and Mitali Haldar used to collect the money in the office premises itself.
According to the police,the victims are spread over the southern suburban areas under Bishnupur,Falta,Usti,Ramnagar and Diamond Harbour police stations.The amount embezzled is estimated to be be in the range between 35-40 crore rupees.The accused have been known to play under the garb of investing the money deposited with them by the victims in foreign business houses.For the first one and half years,they even indeed used to pay the interest to the investors at the promised rate,which encouraged them to stake even more.Some of the victims are known to have sold their fish-rich reservoirs,while some others had borrowed money from the market at 5% to invest with the accused.As the investment boomed,the trio made more flamboyant plans.It was promised on behalf of the organisation that an investment of 25 lakh rupees would be rewarded with a Maruti car.
According to Syed Nasiruddin,one of the victims and a resident of Simla village in Ramnagar,a public assembly comprising of people from different villages in Ramnagar was arranged,where Dipanjan Haldar assured them of the dividends and announced special incentives for bigger investments.More than a hundred complaints have been filed against the organisation in the police stations of Diamond Harbour,Falta,Bishnupur,Ramnagar and Usti.Complaints have also been made to the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Ploic of South 24 Parganas,and the CID.
The family is said to have disappeared a week ago.Their mobile are untraceable right now.The victims' numbers run upto a several thousand,according to the police.Incidentally,three years ago,a person named Jaane Alam was arrested in Diamond Harbour on charge of misappropriation by cheating of nearly 100 crore rupees.
--- Translated,adapted and shared by Ratul Das
Raped by teacher, dumped by parents
The Telegraph,December 1,2010
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Chennai, Nov. 30: A 13-year-old student who was allegedly raped by her math teacher today came in for another shock when her parents marched off, leaving her stranded at a district collector’s office.
Refusing to listen to officials or wait to speak to the collector at the Theni office, about 500kms from here, one of the parents said: “We expected you to take care of our child at your school. But you did not. We don’t require her now. You take care of her. As a punishment, you should take care of our girl now.”
A Class VIII student of the residential Government Higher Secondary School at T. Bomminayakan Patti village, the girl was allegedly violated twice by her teacher, Mahendran, with the threat that he would fail her if she spurned him or dared to spill the beans.
Police said the girl kept mum about the incident for over a week, complaining to her mother only on November 25 when she went home. Her parents Soundarapandi and Annakili, both agricultural labourers, immediately lodged a police complaint.
Mahendran, who had been absconding, surrendered yesterday at the local court, the police said. “Since the girl disclosed the matter after a week, a physical examination did not yield the exact results that come up in a rape case. So we are relying more on circumstantial evidence and interrogation,” a police officer said.
After the parents left, the district officials took the girl to a government home. “We will ask the parents to attend counselling,” district collector Muthuveeran said.
-- Shared by Ratul Das
Fake institute run by IIT professor,suspended
The Times of India,December 1,2010
IIT Kharagpur Aerospace engineering department suspended Professor Amit Kumar Ghosh who was being accused of running fake institute surrendered on Monday in the chief judicial magistrate court Midnapore.He was kept in remand by the police and his bail petition was rejected.But suspension meant little to him, The IIT Kharagpur administration paid him full salary despite the rule of paying half salary during suspension.
-- Shared by Soumava Karmakar
IIT Kharagpur Aerospace engineering department suspended Professor Amit Kumar Ghosh who was being accused of running fake institute surrendered on Monday in the chief judicial magistrate court Midnapore.He was kept in remand by the police and his bail petition was rejected.But suspension meant little to him, The IIT Kharagpur administration paid him full salary despite the rule of paying half salary during suspension.
-- Shared by Soumava Karmakar
Acid attack on student
The Telegraph,December 1,2010
A STAFF REPORTER
A STAFF REPORTER
Barasat, Nov. 30: Two motorcycle-borne youths threw acid on the face of a college girl who was standing at a bus stop in North 24-Parganas this morning.
The girl, a third-year history honours student of Rabindra Bharati University, was left with burn injuries on the right side of her face. Doctors, however, said “she was out of danger”.
The victim, a Dunlop resident, was standing at the bus stop around 10.30am when the two assailants approached her on a bike, eyewitness Partha Roy said.
Roy said one of the youths had a bottle in his hand. “He threw the acid on the girl’s face. The duo then whisked away,” he said.
Roy said the victim slumped to the ground, clutching her face.
Police said the girl had told them she could not recognise the attackers. However, the police are not ruling out a “triangular love affair” as one of the possible reasons for the attack. The police said the victim worked for a company that imparts training to self-help groups that make soft toys, soaps, candles and incense sticks.
District police chief Rahul Srivastava said the girl would be interrogated once her condition improved. She had first been taken to Barasat district hospital from where her family members shifted her to a nursing home.
-- Shared by Ratul Das
Duo beaten after bus tiff
The Telegraph,December 1,2010
Durgapur, Nov. 30: A doctor and his brother were beaten up for objecting to a co-passenger keeping his bag on their laptop on a Durgapur-bound bus yesterday.
Suman Sarkar, a doctor, and his brother Ayan were kicked and punched by the man and his four aides when they got off the bus at Durgapur’s City Centre terminus.
Suman, 32, who is attached to a Bankura hospital, and Ayan, 28, had boarded the bus yesterday from the Esplanade depot in Calcutta to return home to Durgapur. Trouble started after a couple boarded the bus from Santragachhi.
Ayan, a WBCS aspirant, said: “The man put his bag on my brother’s laptop, which was kept on the luggage rack above our seat. There was enough empty space on the rack and we requested him to shift his bag. The bag looked quite heavy and it could have damaged the laptop.”
-- Shared by Ratul Das
Ayan, who had accompanied Suman to Calcutta’s SSKM Hospital yesterday, alleged the man started arguing and refused to move his bag.
He added: “We called the conductor. After some persuasion, the man removed his bag reluctantly but threatened to teach us a lesson once the bus reached Durgapur.”
As soon as the two brothers got off the bus at the City Centre terminus around 5.30pm, the man, in his 40s, and four of his aides surrounded them. “We asked them to let us go but suddenly, one of them hit me on my shoulder with an iron rod,” Ayan said.
He said that as soon as he fell on the road, “another youth kicked me in the face”. Suman was also roughed up when he tried to save Ayan.
Ayan said several people were present at the terminus but “none came to our rescue initially”. He said the attackers fled when some bystanders “finally stepped in after 10 minutes”.
The police from an outpost 500 metres from the terminus rushed to the spot but the attackers had fled by then.
Ayan said some residents identified one of the attackers as Tapas, who had a betel stall at the terminus. The brothers have lodged a complaint against Tapas.
Ayan was taken to Durgapur subdivisional hospital, where doctors advised him to consult an eye specialist. “My eyes and jaws are paining. My brother has suffered an injury in his right hand after being hit with a rod,” Ayan said.
Ransom via SMS, Set-up whiff in abduction
The Telegraph,December 1,2010
Behrampore, Nov. 30: The wife of a missing jeweller received a text message from his own cellphone demanding Rs 10-lakh ransom, fuelling theories that ranged from kidnapping to a “self-staged” caper.
The text message sent on Sunday, the day Murshidabad jeweller Sukdeb Dutta was reported missing, said: “10 lake taka diye chela k niea jaben… (pay Rs 10 lakh and take him back).” However, police said they are also investigating suspicions raised by local businessmen if the abduction had been stagemanaged to “extract money from his in-laws”.
Dutta, 37, had told his wife Arpita over the phone early on Monday that he had been kept confined “in a dark room in Lalgola”. Although Lalgola, in Murshidabad, is 45km from Behrampore, the police traced Dutta’s phone to Orissa.
Arpita said Dutta had left home for his shop at 10am on Sunday. She said that at 2.42pm, she received the text message. The SMS carrying her husband’s cellphone number said he would be “released unharmed” if the ransom was paid at “Kastopur” station.
“Kastopur” could be a reference to Krishnapur railway station, which is called Keshtopur by local people. Krishnapur is 40km from Behrampore. Arpita said she called up Dutta’s cellphone several times through the day after receiving the message but they went unanswered.
“Finally, my husband picked up the phone at 6pm on Sunday,” Arpita said. She said Dutta asked her not to call him up again as the kidnappers had threatened to beat him up if she did. A text message with the same threat was sent some time later from Dutta’s phone.
Arpita said she called up her husband again at 2.45am on Monday. “He told me he was trying to flee his abductors. He asked me not to call again.”
At 8am yesterday, Arpita received another message from Dutta’s cellphone in which he requested her not to call him. The jeweller’s phone has been switched off since then.
Babu Saha, an employee of a shop adjoining Dutta’s, said the jeweller had gone to collect payments from the neighbourhood at 11am on Sunday. Dutta had requested Saha to look after his shop while he was away.
Murshidabad chamber of commerce secretary Kalyan Saha said: “The kidnap could be a set-up by Dutta to extract money from his in-laws. He is not that big a trader that he would be kidnapped for a Rs 10 lakh ransom.”
-- Shared by Ratul Das
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