Three central armed police force personnel suspended for playing carrom in TMC office
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission suspended three central armed police force personnel after a purported video went viral showing them playing carrom inside a Trinamool Congress (TMC) office at Suri in West Bengal's Birbhum district, a senior official said on Sunday.
A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the matter, he said.
"As of now, these three personnel have been removed from poll duty. We have initiated an inquiry into the incident. The authenticity of the video recording is being checked thoroughly," the poll body official said.
The disciplinary action was triggered by a purported video which went viral on Saturday, showing one personnel playing carrom with three local youths, another standing, and a third seated on a chair inside the TMC office in Suri.
PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
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This was the second such disciplinary action taken against the central forces deployed in Bengal in the run up to the to the state elections by the poll body in four days for violating commission's guidelines.
On March 25, the EC transferred seven paramilitary personnel deployed on election duty in Murshidabad district out of the state for allegedly attending an iftar party in violation of guidelines.
The jawans, along with two policemen, had allegedly attended an Iftar on March 8 hosted by local TMC leader Samim Sheikh, husband of Aliara Bibi, pradhan of Nimtita gram panchayat in the Samsergunj area of Murshidabad.
Responding to the latest development in Suri, BJP candidate for the segment, Jagannath Chatterjee, condemned the incident, calling it "extremely reprehensible and disappointing."
"It is unclear how and where the central forces are being deployed. If the local administration or police had a role in this carrom game, strict action should be taken against them as well," Chatterjee said.
Congress Birbhum district president Sanjay Adhikari expressed similar concern, saying, "Playing carrom is not a crime, but doing so inside a political party's office is inappropriate."
Responding to the controversy, TMC leader of Birbhum district Malay Mukherjee said, "Those who were working here understand that casually interacting with TMC is not a crime. That is probably why they were talking and playing carrom."
The EC had previously issued directives prohibiting the deployed CAPF from accepting any form of hospitality or participating in social and private gatherings during poll duty while putting in place strict monitoring mechanisms, including GPS tracking and body cameras, to oversee movement and activities of the forces.
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Bodies of woman, man retrieved from lakes in Jamshedpur, probe underway
Jamshedpur(PTI): Jharkhand Police on Sunday recovered two bodies, including that of a woman, from separate lakes in Jamshedpur.
A woman’s body was found floating in Dimna Lake on the outskirts of the city within Boram police station limits, an officer said.
Locals at the picnic spot alerted police after spotting the body in the afternoon.
A bag found near the lake helped authorities identify the victim as 43-year-old Sanju Devi, a resident of Sonari.
Though the exact reason behind the death could not yet be ascertained, it seemed to be a case of suicide due to domestic discord, officer-in-charge of Boram police station Neeraj Kumar said.
In a separate incident, police recovered the body of 37-year-old Zeeshan Riyaz from Beldih Lake within Bistupur police station.
Riyaz had been missing since Friday evening.
Police said investigations are underway to determine the cause of death in both cases.
