Held in Nepal for 'carrying printouts of USD notes', Bengal photographer waits for relief
Kolkata(PTI): A trip to Nepal turned into a nightmare for a photographer from West Bengal as he ended up in prison for allegedly carrying jpeg image printouts of USD 100 notes, which he would have "needed there for shooting a short film".
Alone and helpless in Nepal, Durlav Roy Chowdhury (24), a resident of Salkia in West Bengal's Howrah district, had been waiting for assistance from India since November.
Speaking to PTI over phone from ward number 2 of Jhapa Karagaar in Nepal, Roy Chowdhury said that court hearing of his case is scheduled on May 25, and he was hoping to get reprieve as "I have not done anything illegal".
Eshor Raj Poudel, the consul general of Nepal in Kolkata, when approached by PTI, said he had no information about the case.
"I will explore this and talk to the authorities and the district magistrate of Jhapa. As this is a legal matter, we need to see the evidence. But I can give assurance that all support would be rendered to the family of the man under trial, Poudel stated.
The photographer, who identifies himself as a National Geographic contributor on his Linkedin page, claimed that he was being denied basic facilities in the jail.
He also said that he was subjected to "torture" for 20 days since his arrest on November 24 before being produced before a court which then sent him to judicial custody.
"I started my journey last November. At every checkpoint, I had showed security personnel the printouts of the USD bills that I had with me for the shoot. They allowed me to get through. At the Chandragadi Airport, however, authorities sent me to an office and I was subsequently detained," he maintained.
Roy Chowdhury said he was carrying around 230 pieces of prop USD notes, which, "in no way, matched with actual currency when forensic tests were conducted", the report of which he shared with PTI.
"I had planned to throw them in the air and shoot a sequence for my film 'Money Isn't Everything'. I had never thought that I would be charged with 'Mudra Sambandhi Kasoor' (offence related to currency) for it in Nepal, he said.
"I have been treated like an animal by Nepalese Police. They didn't allow me to call my mother in India for weeks or share my ordeal with anyone else. For the first few weeks, I was not given my inhaler. My health deteriorated and only then they showed mercy," he said.
The 24-year-old also rued that language has been a major barrier.
"I don't know Nepalese and none of the jail officials speak English. I gave them all details and documents, but they didn't understand. They made me sign papers that I couldn't read or understand," Roy Chowdhury, who lost his father in 2015, said.
He claimed that the Indian Embassy in Nepal has been of little help to him.
"I keep calling the Indian Embassy here every day but the officials there maintain they won't be able to do much for me. The only thing they helped me with is a lawyer," the photographer stated.
His mother, Tripti Roy Chowdhury, a cancer patient, said she had been running from pillar to post to secure freedom for his son over the past few months.
She said that she came to know about her son's imprisonment only in January.
"I spent days trying to locate him. In January, when I came to know of his ordeal, I was shocked," the 63-year-old woman, who visited her son in March, said.
She said that her attempts to reach out to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yielded no result thus far.
Roy Chowdhury's mother, who is also in Nepal at present for the court hearing, said she would appeal to the judge for the release of her son, "who is suffering in jail for no valid reason".
"I also want plead to the chief minister for help. I'm a cancer patient and have no one to turn to other than my son. I believe the CM will sympathise with my situation," she added.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
