TMC set to sweep West Bengal assembly bypolls
Kolkata: West Bengal's ruling TMC on Thursday looked set to win all the three assembly seats bypolls for which were held on Monday, bagging Kaliaganj and Kharagpur Sadar, and establishing an unassailable lead in Karimpur.
Tapan Deb Sinha of the Trinamool Congress won the Kaliaganj seat in a close contest, defeating his nearest BJP rival Kamal Chandra Sarkar by 2,418 votes, EC officials said.
Congress's Paramathanath Roy had won the seat in the last assembly election. The party had fielded his daughter Dhritashree, who finished third.
Kaliaganj is an assembly segment under Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency, which the BJP had won barely a few months ago.
TMC's Pradip Sarkar wrested Kharagpur Sadar seat from the BJP. He defeated Premchandra Jha of the saffron party by a comfortable margin of 20,788 votes.
The loss in Kharagpur Sadar came as a shock for the BJP whose state president Dilip Ghosh was the MLA from there before he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Kharagpur.
TMC nominee for Karimpur Bimalendu Sinha Roy has established a lead of more than 23,000 votes over his BJP rival Jaiprakash Majumdar, and looks all set to retain the seat for his party. TMC's Mohua Mitra had bagged Karimpur in the last polls before she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar.
This is for the first time that the TMC has bagged the Kaliaganj and Karimpur seats.
Dedicating the party's victory to the people of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said voters had "paid back" the BJP for its "arrogance of power".
"We dedicate this victory to the people of Bengal. The BJP is getting paid back for its arrogance of power and for insulting the people of Bengal," she told a TV news channel.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, instead of trying to strenghten themselves, are "helping" the BJP in West Bengal, Banerjee said.
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Four arrested for abduction of 19-yr-old college student; Rs 50,000 ransom bid foiled in Bengaluru
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Bengaluru (PTI): Four people, former and senior students of the same college, were arrested for allegedly abducting a 19-year-old from his hostel in the city and later demanding a ransom of Rs 50,000 for his release, police said on Monday.
The victim, a first-year BBM student, was abducted by the accused on April 11 at around 7.50 pm near his hostel in BTM Layout, they said.
However, the Madiwala police foiled the plan within four hours and rescued the kidnapped student, a native of Odisha, police said.
Of those arrested, two were former students of the same college, while the remaining two were current senior students there.
The matter came to light on the night of April 11 when information was received from a student stating that another student had been kidnapped near the college hostel in BTM Layout.
According to police, the victim was forcibly taken away in a car and held in an old house in Jayanagar on Saturday night. The accused allegedly threatened him with a knife and a fake pistol and demanded that he transfer Rs 50,000 via UPI, failing which he would be killed.
They also contacted his friends and family seeking money.
Acting swiftly, Namma 112 personnel immediately relayed the information to Madiwala police officials. Based on this information, a case was registered, and an investigation was initiated.
“Within five hours of the incident, the police, using technical surveillance, successfully rescued the kidnapped student and apprehended the accused. Further investigation is in progress,” a senior police officer said.
All the accused are aged between 19 and 23 years. One of them used his father’s car to carry out the abduction, while another former student, who had passed out from the same college, joined the group in taking the victim to the house in Jayanagar, which belonged to another accused.
Police said some money was transferred to the suspects to ensure they did not harm the victim.
Police suspect the accused are habitual offenders and are investigating their possible involvement in similar cases in the past. One of the accused was also previously involved in an extortion case, they added.
The accused were remanded to judicial custody, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
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