A day before he was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday, former CPI(M) MLA Pradip Tah had filed an official complaint with Superintendent of Police, Burdwan, S N Mirza stating that his life was under threat. He named 10 men, all reportedly Trinamool Congress members, of whom eight were later named in the murder complaint filed by Tah’s brother, Prabir Tah. In his complaint, a copy of which is with The...

Faulty procurement, rising farm inputs force West Bengal farmers to commit suicide LONG known as farmer friendly, West Bengal is now making headlines for farmers’ suicides. Reportedly 31 farmers, including landless farm labourers and small traders of agriculture produce, in the state took their lives between October last year and January. Twenty-one of the 31 deaths are from the state’s rice bowl Burdwan district. And this is probably a reason the spate...

Raising questions of credibility and independence, the state police today did not seek custody of the four Trinamool Congress supporters named in the FIR for the murders of a former CPM MLA and a CPM district committee member. This despite the fact that they were booked under Sections 302 and 304 of IPC. The judge had to grant “judicial custody” to the four accused. Senior police officials said that the norm...

West Bengal is slowly turning into a politically volatile state again. Two CPIM activists including a former MLA, Pradip Taa were beaten to death in Burdwan on Wednesday morning. CPIM workers under the leadership of Taa, were holding a rally at Dewandighi near Burdwan town to mobilise public support in favour of the February 28 Bharat Bandh which has been called by the Left trade unions. The rally was attacked by...

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may claim that peace prevails everywhere in West Bengal since her party came to power in the state, but police records say a different story altogether. The state, according to the police records, has witnessed 642 political clashes, including those of student politics, across the districts in the first five months and eighteen days after Banerjee assumed power. A total of 926 political workers that include 128 students...