Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi:

Sending a clear message that it is not with the main opposition Congress in disrupting Parliament over the Adani indictment issue, Trinamool Congress today skipped the meeting of INDIA bloc leaders at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber today.

The Congress has been demanding that all business in the House be suspended for a discussion on the US Department of Justice indictment against directors of Adani Green. This morning too, Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave an Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the Adani issue. However, MPs of multiple parties, including the Congress, have sought discussions on various pressing issues such as the damage due to Cyclone Fengal, the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal over a mosque’s survey, the targeting of ISKCON monks in Bangladesh and delay in procurement of paddy in Punjab.

The Adani Group has maintained that Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and senior executive Vneet Jaain are clear of bribery charges. Gautam Adani has said this is not a challenge the group has faced for the first time and stressed that “every attack makes us stronger”.

Chaos and repeated adjournments have blocked Parliamentary proceedings for several days now. The session ends on December 20.

Earlier, Trinamool general secretary and the party’s Number 2 leader Abhishek Banerjee had made it clear that Trinamool would prioritise issues of Bengal during the Winter Session. “Our stand is very clear. We will give priority to the issues of Bengal first. The Centre has blocked Bengal’s dues. We want discussions in Parliament on these issues. Go and ask Congress. I have said we will prioritise Bengal’s issues. What’s their stand?”

Earlier, senior Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said the party does not want the Parliament to be disrupted. “We want Parliament to run. We don’t want to disrupt the House on just one issue. We will hold this government accountable on multiple counts,” she said.

The Trinamool had earlier said that it would raise the ongoing unrest in Manipur during the Winter Session of Parliament and seek urgent actions by the Centre to bring peace to the Northeast state.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

Kolkata:

The arrest of a Hindu priest in Bangladesh, has led to a row between the Opposition BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. India has expressed concern and issued a strong statement on the arrest. There has been condemnation across party lines over the arrest. The BJP, though, has alleged that Trinamool is silent on the issue.

Chinmoy Krishna Das – who was demanding safety and security of Hindus – was arrested as attacks on minorities, mainly Hindus, continue in Bangladesh. He has been jailed and denied bail. 

What has led to even more outrage is the Bangladeshi government calling the renowned International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) a “fundamentalist organisation”.

The Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said his party condemns what is happening in Bangladesh and will support steps the Union government takes.

“The issue of Bangladesh is not a state issue, it’s a national issue. It’s an international matter and in the domain of the central government,” Mr Banerjee said.

“The people have given the Central government the mandate and we have cleared our stance many times. Whatever position the Central government takes on an international issue, the Trinamool will support it as a party in the nation’s interest. What has happened there cannot be supported at all and it is unfortunate and should be criticised,” he added. 

The Bengal BJP has been demanding punitive measures to protect Hindus in Bangladesh. West Bengal’s Leader of Opposition, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, led a protest march to the Bangladesh High Commission today, calling for an end to atrocities against Hindus. 

“Our demand is that this goondagardi, killing of Hindus should stop. Chinmoy Krishna Das should be released immediately. Bangladesh-India relations should improve immediately. These are demands or else we should stop giving them visas and export-import permits. A member of the caretaker government is openly making anti-India statements. He holds a post equivalent to a cabinet minister of the Union in Bangladesh,” Mr Adhikari said.

After New Delhi’s sharp response against the arrest, Bangladesh said India was misrepresenting facts. 

Chief Advisor to the interim government Md Yunus said Bangladesh is committed to upholding communal harmony but the ground reality shows Islamic radicals are continuing to target Hindus. 

Kolkata:

The body of a BJP worker was found inside the party office at Usthi in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, a police officer said on Saturday.

The worker, Prithviraj Naskar, used to handle the social media accounts of the party in the district.

The BJP pointed an accusing finger at the Trinamool Congress (TMC), while the police, after arresting a woman in connection with the killing, said the reason for the murder could be personal.

Naskar’s blood-soaked body was discovered at the party office on Friday night. His family members said he had been missing since November 5.

A senior police officer said the arrested woman confessed to having hit Naskar with sharp weapons, resulting in his death.

“We are exploring the angle of the deceased having been involved in a relationship and any quarrel with the arrested person,” he told reporters.

The officer said a police team broke open the front door and a collapsible gate locked from inside of the party office before finding the body. The suspected assailant must have escaped through a rear door.

Following a preliminary investigation and tracking of mobile phones, the woman was picked up from a nearby locality and, during interrogation, she confessed that she had committed the crime, the officer said.

Police are investigating if she was aided and abetted by anyone else, he said.

The BJP accused the ruling TMC and the party hit back. 

BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar told reporters that local TMC activists were behind Naskar’s murder as they wanted to frighten the party’s supporters in the area.

In a post on X, Mr Majumdar said, “Our fight will continue until justice is served and the killers of martyr Prithviraj are brought to light. BJP remains resolute in ending the bloodthirsty and oppressive rule of CM Mamata Banerjee in Bengal.”

The BJP state unit alleged in another X post that the party’s district social media convenor was abducted, tortured and murdered by TMC “goons”.

“The police ignored his family’s desperate pleas for help,” it claimed.

Senior TMC leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh claimed that the BJP knows the exact reason behind Naskar’s death but peddles falsehoods implicating the TMC.

Mr Ghosh claimed in an X post that there are reports about the BJP worker having enmity with more than one person.

The injuries in some parts of his body showed animosity and contempt of the assailant towards the man, the TMC leader claimed, expressing hope that the investigation would cover all these angles.

Meanwhile, Naskar’s father claimed that his son had earned the wrath of some local TMC activists and the police after putting up placards demanding justice for the RG Kar hospital victim during the recent Durga Puja festival in the area.

“My son was warned of dire consequences by local TMC leaders for organising protests on the RG Kar issue during the festive season,” the father said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday said Donald Trump’s election as US president has proved that age is not a factor if someone has popular support, amid the debate in his party over a call for fixing a retirement age for leaders.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, TMC’s General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had called for implementing a retirement age in politics, citing a decline in work efficiency and productivity.

“In politics, age is not the factor. If one is capable of working for the people of the country and capable of discharging all functions, if he is popular amongst the people, then he can remain in politics,” said the four-time MP from Serampore.

“Trump won the election at the age of 78,” the 67-year-old added.

The controversy on the issue within the party reached such a level a few months before the Lok Sabha polls that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had to intervene, asking young members to respect senior leaders, and dismissing assertions that the veterans should retire from politics.

The MP refused to comment on party leader Kunal Ghosh hinting that Abhishek Banerjee could become the next chief minister of West Bengal after Mamata Banerjee.

He, however, said, “When the party asks me to go, I will leave without getting into any controversy.” 

Trinamool Congress MLA Usharani Mondal and her husband were allegedly attacked on Thursday night while on their way home from a Kali Puja event.

The Minakhan MLA, while blaming the rival faction of her own party for the attack, said her husband and North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad leader Mritunjay Mondal were pulled out of their car and assaulted in front of the police.

The incident occurred at the auto rickshaw stand when the politician couple were on their way home after attending a Kali Puja ceremony at Haroa police station.

“I had gone to the Haroa Police Station to attend the Kali Puja, and my boys were with me. Later, Abdul Khalek Mollah beat me up. I was dragged from the car and beaten up with rod and pushed as well. The boys who were with me were also beaten up badly. He is now saying that someone believed to be with Basudeb Mondal had opened fire. We are living in fear,” she said.

Mritunjay Mondal, also a Trinamool Congress leader, said their car was pelted with stones and the MLA was assaulted with a baton. He added that the party’s higher leadership has been informed about the incident.

Supporters were also attacked when they came to save the politicians. Around five people were injured, one of whom was sent to a government hospital in Kolkata in a critical condition.

Trinamool Congress leader Abdul Khalek Mollah denied orchestrating the attack on Usharani and Mrityunjay Mondal. He alleged that some people, including the MLA’s husband’s supporters, attacked his residence with country-made bombs and also opened fire.

“During the elections, Mrityunjay Mondal and Usharani Mondal were not present during Mamata Banerjee’s meeting. Mamata Banerjee had suspended her that day from the party. Because of that anger, Mrityunjay Mondal and his supporters are targeting us even today. He is involved in extortion for such a huge some of money that he is not allowing auctions in public. Because of this, people have come out on their own because of their anger against the MLA. There was a Kali Puja inauguration today. The way she (Usharani Mondal) attacked us and bombs were hurled, it was bad situation. An empty shell has been recovered,” Abdul Khalek Mollah told reporters.

Abdul Khalek Mollah also accused her of being a BJP agent, who created the unrest in Haroa.

Kolkata:

Tension erupted in a part of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district over lists of beneficiaries in the state’s housing scheme. The Trinamool Congress government has announced that it would build new homes after a tussle with the Union government over the funding of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. 

Alapan Banerjee, the Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister addressed the media on this issue at the state secretariat, Nabanna, this evening.

Amid allegations of nepotism and corruption, the state has ordered re-verification of housing scheme beneficiaries. For this, the secretariat has issued new guidelines.

The state government has decided to verify data to reconsider the names omitted from the list of beneficiaries.

On Wednesday, there was tension between two factions of Trinamool Congress in South 24 Parganas district’s Gosaba-Bali area.

This came a day after locals and a faction of the Trinamool Congress workers held protests in front of the Sundarbans Development Minister, accusing him and the local MLA of corruption in the process of preparing lists of beneficiaries of the housing scheme.

Violent protests erupted in the area and several motorbikes were torched. 

On Wednesday evening Alapan Banerjee told reporters, “Since the Central government is not giving any fund, the state is doing the survey so proper lists can be given to the centre regarding housing scheme”.

“There was a scheme under which the Central government would give 60 per cent, and state would give 40 per cent but since the Centre is not giving anything, the state is doing the survey so that the state can provide an Awas Yojana.”

Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh said, “Now the BJP is trying their best to stop work. They want to punish the people of Bengal. Seeing Mamata Banerjee working for the poor people of Bengal, BJP is trying to defame her. Distribution of houses will be done phase wise”.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari retaliated, alleging a “false list” is being prepared by the state government “to get some money”.
 

Kolkata:

The CBI on Thursday interrogated TMC youth leader Ashish Pandey, who is also a house staff at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in connection with the rape and murder of the doctor, an officer said.

Mr Pandey was questioned for hours at the CBI’s CGO Complex office before he left late in the night, he said.

“Pandey’s phone number was found in the call lists of several persons. He had checked in at a hotel in Salt Lake with a woman friend on the day the trainee doctor’s body was found. We are trying to ascertain his activities on that day,” the CBI officer said.

The CBI also summoned the hotel authorities for details of Mr Pandey’s bookings and payments made.

“The hotel room was booked via an app. He checked in on August 9 afternoon and left the next morning. We are trying to find out what was the purpose of his stay there,” the officer said.

The body of the trainee doctor was found at the hospital on August 9, triggering a nationwide outrage.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress of cover-up details about the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital last month. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party have been taking heavy fire over the horrific killing, with the BJP targeting her and Kolkata Police, which reports to Ms Banerjee in her role as Home Minister.

At a press conference Friday BJP leader Sambit Patra flagged three claims raised by the doctors’ parents – that a state official bribed them to “hush up the case”; that on the morning of August 9, hours after their daughter’s body was discovered, they were forced to wait for over three hours to see the body; and that after being told of her death they were urged to sign a blank paper.

“… these questions by the victim’s father are of paramount importance… because on the foundation of these questions is based the investigation and outcome of the investigation.”

“Imagine the father’s plight… imagine what he was thinking after learning of his daughter’s brutal murder… he wouldn’t have been able to reconcile what is happening. And, at that time, when her body is still in the house, a District Collector, not a politician, offers money…”

This claim was made by the parents earlier this week.

READ | “Cops Offered Money, We Declined”: Father Of Kolkata Doctor

“When my daughter’s body was at our home, DC (North) tried to give us some money. We replied accordingly,” the father said. The parents had earlier also claimed to have been offered money by a “senior police official”. “The police, from the beginning, tried to hush up the case… when her body was handed over, a senior police official offered us money,” the father said.

“… we immediately declined,” he said of both offers.

#WATCH | RG Kar Medical College & Hospital rape-murder incident | Delhi: BJP MP Sambit Patra says, “The questions that the victim’s father has laid in front of the nation today are of paramount importance… Question No. 1, the victim’s father says that when the body of the… pic.twitter.com/Rs4fyVSLoS

— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024

Mr Patra today underlined the offer from “an administrator” and demanded, “What was it that the administration was trying to throw under the carpet? What was there to hide… that (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee’s government sent the DC and offered money to the victim’s father?”

The Trinamool has hit back on this count by flagging another video, which emerged earlier, and in which the parents say no money was offered and that there was ‘no question’ about being offered any.

Trinamool’s “Vulture Politics” Counter

The ruling party has counter-accused the BJP of “vulture politics” by spreading conspiracy theories.

However, in another twist to an already complicated narrative, a relative has claimed the video, in which they dismiss allegations money was offered by a senior cop, been filmed under pressure.

On the parents’ allegations the state has offered a more circumspect response.

“Given the mental state of the parents… we will not analyse why they said this (that money had been offered) when they said something else earlier. There is no place for this (now). Whatever they, or family, are saying, we respect it…” Dr Shashi Panja, the Women and Child Development Minister, said.

“Forced To Wait For 3.5 Hours”

Meanwhile, Mr Patra also tore into the Trinamool over parents’ claims they were “forced to wait for three-and-a-half hours” outside the seminar room in which the body was discovered before being allowed to see their daughter. During this time, he alleged, officials tried to get them to leave.

READ | “We Are Coming. How Is She?”: 3 Hospital Calls To Doctor’s Parents

Mr Patra also alleged “in that time many people went in and out of the room”, suggesting laxity in securing the crime scene, intentionally or otherwise, may have contaminated crucial evidence.

“What did the government want to do in that room for three-and-half-hours?”

Finally, he also asked why the police, according to the doctor’s father, wanted the parents to sign a blank piece of paper after being shown the daughter’s body.

“I tore it up and threw it away…” the father had said of the alleged cover-up attempt.

READ | “Wanted Body Preserved, Forced To Cremate”: Doctor’s Parents

The police and the state government have been criticised by the opposition and civil society activists for their respective handling of this case. The government has been grilled over delays by Dr Sandip Ghosh – the ex-hospital chief arrested by the CBI over financial irregularities – in filing a police case, and also over appointing him to head another hospital hours after he quit RG Kar on “moral grounds”.

The police have been questioned over alleged lapses in protocol, which they have denied.

Both have also faced questions from the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, which came down heavily on Dr Ghosh delaying filing a police case and on his new posting; the High Court asked the state government, “No man is above the law. Why do you protect him…”

CBI Almost Finished With Probe

Mr Patra’s broadside today came hours after sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation, tasked with this inquiry by the Calcutta High Court, said the case was nearly complete.

Sources in the federal agency also said they had ruled out gangrape as the available evidence indicated that only Sanjay Roy – arrested last month by Kolkata Police – was involved.

READ | CBI Rules Out Gang-Rape In Kolkata Case, Sanjay Roy Lone Accused

Meanwhile, a triumphant Trinamool posted on X shortly afterwards, stating, “After 24 days of inaction CBI confirmed what Kolkata Police established in 24 hours… Sanjay Roy was the sole perpetrator in the RG Kar tragedy. Conspiracy theories circulated by BJP… have been exposed.”

After 24 days of INACTION, @CBIHeadquarters confirmed what @KolkataPolice established in 24 hours – Sanjay Roy was the SOLE PERPETRATOR in R G Kar tragedy.

The conspiracy theories circulated by @BJP4India & Godi media have been EXPOSED.

We now demand that the chargesheet be…

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 6, 2024

“We now demand the chargesheet be filed and the accused be put on trial WITHOUT DELAY. Anything less is an insult to the victim’s memory!” the party declared.

Mamata Banerjee, still smarting at the High Court overruling her five-day deadline for the police before the CBI was to be summoned, has been fiercely critical of the federal agency; last week she said, “I asked for five days but the case was sent to CBI… where is justice (now)?”

With input from agencies

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.