CBI slaps ex-principal with rape-murder charges in RG Kar Medical College case, arrests policeman
Kolkata (PTI): In a significant development, the CBI on Saturday slapped rape and murder charges against former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh, currently in judicial custody in a corruption case, an official of the probe agency said.
The agency also arrested Abhijit Mondal, the officer in charge of Tala Police Station, for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of an on-duty woman medic in the RG Kar Hospital, he said. The hospital is under the jurisdiction of Tala Police Station.
The central agency had applied before a court seeking the remand of Ghosh. The court has asked the jail authorities to produce him for CBI custody, the official added.
Three persons have so far been arrested in connection with the rape and murder case.
On August 9, the semi-nude body of the woman postgraduate trainee was recovered from the seminar hall of the hospital.
Mondal, who was on Saturday questioned by the CBI officers at their CGO Complex office here for several hours, was arrested in the evening after he failed to give them satisfying answers.
Both Ghosh and the police officer were arrested on charges of destruction of evidence and others, the officer said adding Mondal was also accused of delaying in lodging the FIR.
"The policeman has been questioned eight times earlier and every time he gave different versions. He has been arrested and will be produced in the court tomorrow," the CBI officer told PTI.
He was taken to a hospital for the customary post-arrest medical test.
Earlier, one civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata Police in connection with the rape and murder case which is now being investigated by the CBI on an order of the Calcutta High Court.
The central agency arrested Ghosh on September 2 in a case of financial irregularities at the hospital.
CBI had applied in court seeking the remand of the Ghosh. The court has asked the jail authorities to produce him for CBI custody, the official added.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
