Vande Bharat stone-pelting: FIR against Bengal BJP chief, 10 scribes for 'spreading fake news'
Kolkata, Jan 9: Kolkata Police registered an FIR against state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and 10 journalists from the city for claiming that the second incident of stone-throwing on Vande Bharat Express last week took place in West Bengal giving the state a bad name, an officer said on Monday.
The incident had happened in Bihar when the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri semi-high-speed train was passing through that state on January 3.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier said that legal action will be taken against those who spread "fake news" that the incident took place in this state.
"An FIR has been lodged against BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and 10 journalists. The event actually had happened in Bihar. This has harmed West Bengal's reputation. Hence, they have been booked under specific sections of the Information Technology Act," the police officer told PTI.
Majumdar had claimed in a tweet that the incident took place at "Phansidewa near Darjeeling district".
The 10 journalists, mostly from television channels and digital media, had also reported that the incident had taken place in West Bengal.
On January 3, the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express was pelted with stones for the second consecutive day.
Later, the Eastern Railways stated that after scanning video footage, it was found that the stone-throwing incident on the train took place in Malda district on January 2 and in Kishanganj district of Bihar the next day.
Soon after the video surfaced, the West Bengal chief minister said that legal action will be taken against those media outlets that spread "fake news" that the incident took place in West Bengal, giving a bad reputation to the state.
The incidents sparked a slugfest between the BJP and Trinamool Congress.
The train was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30.
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.
Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
