Apartment building collapses in south Kolkata
Kolkata, Jan 14: An apartment building collapsed in south Kolkata's Bagha Jatin area on Tuesday while work was underway to strengthen its foundation, officials said.
The incident happened around 1.30 pm in Kolkata Municipal Corporation's ward 99 near the SC Mallick Road, they said.
No one was injured in the incident as the four-storied building was vacated, they added.
A Haryana-based firm was given the contract by the developer to strengthen the foundation as the 10-year-old building had tilted to the right over time, an official of the KMC said.
For the works, the residents were shifted to another building in the area, he said.
However, the KMC was not informed about it, the official said.
The entire building is likely to be razed now, he said.
A case has been lodged against the developer who is now on the run, police said.
Jadavpur MLA Debabrata Majumdar said the work was started by the developer without any authorisation and strict action will be taken against him.
In March last year, 13 people were killed after an under-construction building collapsed in the Garden Reach area of the city.
The owner of one of the flats in the collapsed building alleged that an additional floor was added illegally and low-quality materials were used in the construction.
"We had not dared to protest as they are powerful people with political patronage. Now, what will happen to us? We had spent all our savings to buy this flat," the woman said.
A newly constructed building in #Kolkata's Baghajatin, titled 60 degrees and collapsed after the base of ground floor caved in due to the poor quality of the construction material used. #Watch
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) January 14, 2025
All residents of the residence have been safely evacuated, no one was injured in this… pic.twitter.com/wz1BcuRPze
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.
HC quashes criminal proceedings against Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi in drugs abuse case
Bengaluru, Jan 14: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi in a drug case, saying the prosecution could not substantiate the charges with material evidence.
The bench of Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar also quashed the proceedings against the co-accused Prashant Ranka.
It said, "However, to substantiate the charges against the petitioners, the prosecution has not produced any material evidence to prove that the petitioners organized parties or sold drugs, apart from the voluntary statements of the co-accused and chargesheet witnesses."
"Therefore, the continuation of the criminal proceedings against the petitioners will be an abuse of the legal process of law,” Justice Chandanagoudar observed.
Ragini was among the many celebrities from the Kannada film industry arrested in September 2020.
A case was registered against her at the Cottonpet police station based on a statement by a co-accused B K Ravishankar on September 4, 2020.
