Sandeshkhali: TMC leader Shiba Prasad Hajra remanded to 8 days of police custody
Barasat (WB), Feb 18: Trinamool Congress leader Shiba Prasad Hajra, one of the prime accused in the case of alleged land grab and sexual harassment of women in Sandeshkhali, was remanded to police custody for eight days by a court in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Sunday.
Hazra, who is also a Zilla Parishad member of North 24 Parganas district, was picked up from a hideout in Sandeshkhali on Saturday.
The police arrested him under various sections of the IPC including 354A (sexual harassment), 376D (gangrape) and 307 (attempt to murder).
The last two sections were added after a survivor recorded her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before a magistrate.
Hazra has also been booked under IPC Sections 354B (trying to disrobe a woman in public place), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) and others.
He would again be produced at the court on February 26.
The police produced Hazra before a court in Basirhat and sought custody for 10 days. However, eight days of police remand was given.
The police claimed in the court that Hazra was arrested when he was trying to escape.
The court was also told that he was an influential person and granting bail to him might affect law and order in Sandeshkhali.
Hazra was also TMC block president of Sandeshkhali Block II. Following his arrest, the charge was handed over to the local MLA.
Of the two other prime accused, police arrested Uttam Sardar a week ago while Shajahan Sheikh is absconding.
A total of 18 people have been arrested in the case so far.
Villages in Sandeshkhali area have witnessed protests over allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing since the first week of February.
Sandeshkhali came to limelight after Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials were attacked by a mob when they went to search the premises of Sheikh on January 5 in connection with a probe into an alleged ration distribution scam.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
