2 personnel arrested in student activist Anish Khan death case
Kolkata/Howrah, Feb 23: Two personnel of Amta police station in West Bengal's Howrah district were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the death of student activist Anish Khan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
The two personnel were arrested as they could have influenced the investigation in the case, she told a press conference at the state secretariat.
"We don't know the actual incident but we will find out the truth very soon. No laxity will be tolerated. The government is tough," Banerjee said, amid widespread protests across the state, demanding justice over the "mysterious" death.
Home guard Kashinath Bera and Civic Volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya of the Amta police station were arrested after interrogation, Director-General of Police Manoj Malviya told reporters at another press conference.
Four people in uniforms of police and civic volunteers had allegedly pushed off Khan from the third floor of his house in Amta in the dead of the night on February 18, according to his family.
During the incident, the men in uniform had allegedly held his father Salem Khan at gunpoint after barging into the house, citing an ongoing investigation against him, the family said.
The police had earlier claimed that no personnel went to Khan's house that night.
The West Bengal government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death, but Khan's family is adamant about their demand for investigation by the CBI.
The DGP said Khan's family was obstructing the SIT investigation "at the behest of some political parties in the area".
"The family did not hand over the mobile phone of the victim to the SIT. They are not allowing us to collect important materials but still, we have managed to make a breakthrough. We will achieve more success after custodial interrogation of the two arrested," Malviya said.
The two arrested were booked under IPC section 302 (murder), he said. Bera and two other policemen were suspended on Tuesday.
Khan's father insisted that since the state police was allegedly involved in the death of his son, there was no point in the same agency probing the incident.
When SIT members visited the house on Wednesday, Salem Khan even showed them an old clipping of then opposition leader Mamata Banerjee, demanding a CBI probe into the death case of Rizwanur Rahman, which rocked Kolkata in 2007.
He questioned that if Banerjee could seek a CBI probe as an opposition leader, then why she was not handing over the investigation to the central agency this time.
The family also turned down the SIT team's proposal for a second post-mortem on the body of Khan in the presence of a magistrate amid allegations that the first one was done without following proper procedures.
The chief minister, meanwhile, came down heavily on the Left students' unions that have been protesting against Khan's death.
"I have no issue with democratic protest. I had led so many protests in past," she said.
"But, if someone obstructs roads for political violence, if someone causes inconvenience to students returning from schools and colleges, office-goers and daily businesses, if someone's movement forces people to miss flights, that is a criminal offence and not a democratic movement," she said.
Banerjee said that West Bengal "will not tolerate this type of culture", questioning the Left over its government's response to the Singur and Nandigram agitations of the late 2000s.
She also cautioned a section of the press not to encourage "disruptive activities" to increase their viewership, stating that she believed in freedom of speech and do not want to initiate any action.
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Sensex jumps 1,078 pts to settle at 6-week high on FII buying, gains in banking shares
Mumbai, Mar 24 (PTI): Benchmark BSE Sensex surged by 1,078 points to close at a six-week high on Monday as fresh foreign fund inflows and buying in banking and oil & gas shares helped the index extend the winning run to the sixth day.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,078.87 points or 1.40 per cent to settle at 77,984.38, a level not seen since February 6. During the day, it zoomed 1,201.72 points or 1.56 per cent to breach the 78,000 level and touch a high of 78,107.23.
The NSE Nifty surged by 307.95 points or 1.32 per cent to 23,658.35. Intra-day, the benchmark zoomed 358.35 points or 1.53 per cent to 23,708.75.
A positive trend in the US and European markets powered the rally in domestic equities, experts said. A sharp rebound in the rupee also bolstered investor sentiment.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC rose the most by 4.61 per cent amid reports that the power PSUs is likely to gain from Indian Railways' shift to renewable and nuclear power.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the second biggest gainer, rising by 4.51per cent after the private lender announced the appointment of a chief technology officer.
State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.
Titan fell the most by 2.68 per cent among Sensex shares. IndusInd Bank, Zomato, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Nestle and Infosys were the laggards.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 7,470.36 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"Short covering ahead of monthly F&O expiry later this week fuelled the rally as the Sensex breached the psychological 78k mark intra-day on across-the-board buying.
"Renewed optimism by foreign investors coupled with strong US and European market cues further bolstered the sentiment," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Domestic markets experienced a robust rally, spurred by value buying as valuations returned to long-term averages and early indications of earnings growth recovery emerged.
Increased government spending and expected monetary easing are anticipated to boost optimism in rate-sensitive sectors such as banking, NBFCs, auto, consumer durables, and real estate, leading to potential outperformance, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
"The sustainability of this trend will depend on upcoming PMI data, Q4 earnings results, and developments related to reciprocal US tariffs," Nair said further.
The BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.32 per cent and smallcap index climbed 1.17 per cent.
All BSE sectoral indices ended higher, with bankex rallying 2.53 per cent, utilities (2.42 per cent), power (2.31 per cent), industrials (2 per cent), financial services (1.97 per cent), capital goods (1.95 per cent) and realty (1.51 per cent).
As many as 2,496 stocks advanced while 1,640 declined and 162 remained unchanged on the BSE.
In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled higher while Seoul and Tokyo ended lower. European markets were trading in positive territory. US markets ended in green on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude went up 0.07 per cent to USD 72.21 a barrel.
In the six-day rally to Monday, Sensex has zoomed more than 4,100 points or 5 per cent as FII selling eased. Broader Nifty has climbed 1,260 points or 5.5 per cent since March 17.
