TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee claims Rs 57 lakh siphoned from dormant bank account
Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee has claimed that Rs 57 lakh has been siphoned from his dormant bank account linked to his previous tenure as a West Bengal MLA.
Police have started a probe into the incident after a formal complaint was lodged by the bank authorities with the cybercrime section of Kolkata Police, an official said, adding that they were yet to arrest anyone in this regard.
"It is quite shocking... The account was opened when I was Asansol South MLA and remained dormant for several years after I became Serampore MP," Banerjee told PTI.
They superimposed my photograph and used fake Aadhaar and PAN cards to carry out the criminal activity, he claimed.
The miscreants also added a phone number to the account and all the OTPs and transaction details got diverted to them, he alleged.
"The criminals transferred Rs 57 lakh from my account. If this can happen to an MP, what will be the condition of a common man? How come these people find out that I had such a significant amount of money in my account?" Banerjee asked.
Speaking to PTI, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said that investigation was on and they were going through the transactions and all other details.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
