Kolkata Apr 23 PTI Tension prevailed amid protests and police deployment at Visva-Bharati in Bengals Birbhum district on Saturday two days after a student was found hanging in a hostel room with his parents claiming that he was murdered and that the university was trying to hush up the matterThe deceased was a Class 12 student of Patha Bhavana a school run by the institutionProtests have rocked the university campus over the past two days as the boys parents along with other students demanded an audience with vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabory seeking to know more about the 17-year-olds demiseSome of the agitators had broken open the lock of the main gate outside the VCs residenceA team of police officers has been deployed outside the VCs residence to avoid any gathering there a university official saidThe boys parents have filed a complaint at Santiniketan police station alleging that their child was murdered and the Visva-Bharati authorities was trying to suppress the caseGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhar had earlier tweeted that the VC sent him SOS seeking urgent police protection in view of the agitationHe had asked Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to take immediate action in this regardVC Vishwa Bharati msg sent to CS for intervention WBPolice Dhankhar wroteAmid allegations by a section of protesters that he was not responsive to the agony of the boys family Chakraborty had earlier said that he did everything to ensure that the parents face no difficultyI had rushed the boy to Pearson Memorial Hospital from his hostel room and instructed the Visva-Bharati employees to ensure his parents did not face any difficulty I could not talk to them immediately due to the tense situation he told reporters on SaturdayBJP national secretary Anupam Hazra said in a Facebook post that the VC should have met the parents of the studentThis is what we expect from a teacher this is what is least expected from a teacher Hazra saidAn infuriated Chakrabarty responded to the post saying Hazra a former MP of Bolpur and ex-faculty of the institute should have checked facts before making sweeping comments PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata Mar 25 PTI Following are the top stories from the eastern region at 5 pm on Friday CAL9 WB-HC-KILLINGS-LD CBI Cal HC orders CBI probe into Birbhum killings asks Bengal govt to extend full cooperation Kolkata Observing that Birbhum killings earlier this week have shaken the conscience of society the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the CBI to take over the investigation into the case from the state police and submit a progress report before it on the next date of hearing CAL5 WB-KILLINGS-HC-REAX Birbhum killings Oppn parties welcome HC order for CBI probe TMC promises cooperation Kolkata Opposition parties on Friday welcomed the high court order for CBI investigation into the violence that claimed eight lives in Bengals Birbhum district earlier this week alleging that the state police acting on the behest of the TMC government was trying to hush up the matter CAL8 BH-CENTRAL SCHEME-MPs Centres village development scheme evokes lukewarm response among MPs in Bihar Patna The Centres Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana SAGY -- a programme under which MPs are urged to adopt one or more villages for development --seems to have found not many takers in Bihar from 2019-24 with only 14 of out 56 parliamentarians responding to the initiative CES7 OD-ASSEMBLY-PATNAIK Patnaik attends Odisha Assembly after a gap of nearly 2 years Bhubaneswar After a gap of nearly two years Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the Budget session of Odisha Assembly which commenced here on Friday amid strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines PTI NN NN

Kolkata Mar 23 PTI The day after 8 people were burnt to death in a village in Bengals Birbhum district Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday described the killings as heinous and said the culprits should not be forgiven West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday too vowed that strict action would be taken against the perpetrators regardless of their party colour and announced plans to visit the village of Bogtui where some ten houses were set ablaze by throwing petrol bombs in the early hours of Tuesday in a suspected revenge attack after the slaying of a local TMC leader The blaze killed eight people including three women and two children Investigations by the special investigation team set up by the state government are on and some 20 people who have been arrested The village of Bogtui on the outskirts of Rampurhat town itself had a deserted look Wednesday as many anxious residents afraid of both the violence which ripped apart their lives on Tuesday night and the fear of arrests by police seeking answers to a series of attacks and counter-attacks fled to other villages Those that remained had fear writ large on their faces as the smouldering remains of the houses charred by Tuesdays bombings and the blaze it lit remained poignant reminders of the wages of internecine violence that rural Bengal has been witnessing over the last few decades Noor Ali 40 the brother of Bhadu Sheikh the Trinamool Panchayat deputy chief who was killed Monday around 830 pm said among the suspects picked up by the police were Sheikhs sons The arrival of delegations led by top politicians from the CPIM and BJP including Mohammed Salim the communist partys new state unit chief and BJPs leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari to the village long with large hordes of television crews did not seem to instill much faith among the denizens of the village The delegations were however not allowed to enter the houses where the killings occurred as forensic teams were working there to collect evidence Speaking at a virtual event to inaugurate a gallery dedicated to freedom fighters at the Victoria Memorial here Prime Minister Modi said the Central Government is willing to help the state in any way required in bringing perpetrators to justice and hoped the state would take steps to bring the culprits to justice quickly I hope that the state government will definitely ensure that those who have committed such heinous crimes are punished Modi said I would also urge the people of Bengal to never forgive the perpetrators of such incidents those who encourage such criminals The centre would extend all sorts of help to the state government to ensure the culprits are booked he said The Calcutta High Court taking suo moto cognisance of the case directed the Central Forensic Science Laboratory CFSL Delhi to immediately collect necessary materials for forensic examination from the site and asked the state government to file a report on Tuesdays incident to it by 2 pm on Thursday Banerjee who vowed strict action however described the unfolding events as a conspiracy to defame her government It was an attempt by the BJP Left and the Congress to malign our government Strict action will be taken against all those responsible for the Birbhum incident irrespective of their political colour she said Without naming anyone Banerjee said that the incident was orchestrated because they failed to flare up a riot Opposition political parties had on Tuesday alleged that the TMC is now killing its own people indicating that it was the result of an intra-party feud We are in power Why would we instigate killings in the state It is being done by those who want to create disturbance to malign the state she queried West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who had crossed swords with Banerjee on Tuesday in the aftermath of the incident again spoke out against the Birbhum killings and said that what happened in Bogtui is a shame on democracy and humanity What happened in Rampurhat is a shame on democracy and humanity the governor told reporters after participating in the Prime Ministers programme at the Victoria Memorial Hall here Dhankhar on Wednesday also shot off another letter to Banerjee claiming that the state governments actions smack of political overtones and an attempt to shield the guilty Adopting diversionary tactics you have labelled my reaction as a sweeping and uncalled for statement In the face of such enormity I cannot fiddle in Raj Bhavan and be a mute spectator he wrote Banerjee was quick to the reply Without naming Dhankar she counter-attacked stating There is one Lat Saheb lordly person sitting who is describing Bengal as the worst state and hurling abuses at the state government Police officials said investigators are looking at various possible causes to the chain of events We are grilling them suspects to find out if there were more people involved in the incident Some accused seem to have fled the village We are trying to trace them an officer said The West Bengal government has constituted a Special Investigation Team SIT headed by Additional Director General CID Gyanwant Singh to probe the incident However locals told PTI that they suspected that rivalry over sand mining was the most probable cause for the attack and counter-attack which led to the gruesome murders CPIM state secretary Mohammed Salim who met the villagers also claimed illegal sand mining mafia played a role in the attack and sought strictest punishment for the culprits Till about a decade back the CPIM had held sway in the region and still has a handful of followers here A BJP delegation led by the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari which visited the village demanded the chief ministers resignation Only CBI and NIA probes can bring out the truth She must step down as home minister of the state Adhikari said A five-member BJP committee constituted by BJP president J P Nadda which includes four MPs will also visit the village on Thursday Meanwhile the state government has removed the officer-in-charge of the local police station a Sub-Divisional Police chief a senior officer of the detective department as well as a district information officer of Birbhum besides 12 civic volunteers A report from the district administration on the carnage reached the state secretariat on Wednesday PTI SCHAMRCORRPNT RMS MM NN JRC JRC