Abducted youth rescued TT, Siliguri, Sept. 30: Aithey Sam, who had been abducted, was rescued by Pradhannagar police yesterday evening. Police said Sam, a resident of Bihar, had come to Siliguri and had put up at a hotel near Siliguri Junction from where he was abducted on September 27. One of the abductors, identified as Adip Sharma of Kalimpong, had called up Sam’s father Md Jamiruddin in Bihar, and demanded a ransom of Rs 7 lakh. When Jamiruddin informed Katihar police, they contacted their counterparts in Pradhannagar next day. Adip was arrested when he came to collect the ransom. Three of his cohorts, Jagadish Cintury of Gangtok, Jagat Biswakarma of Ranipul and Hemkumar Lohar of Rongpo were also arrested at Sevoke. Darjeeling roads’ cry for repair lead to nowhere ;Statesman News Service SILIGURI, 30 SEPT: A smooth ride to Darjeeling from Siliguri over National Highway 55 these days is a rare occurrence and few can boast of it. Yet, the repairing of roads often goes hand in hand with the damage wrought by the movement of vehicles, heavy or otherwise. But now, the situation has turned grim with the roads remaining full of the “hellholes” and those in charge of maintenance seemingly in somnolence. Apart from the discomfiture of the general commuters who move between the plains and the hills for commercial or other purposes, the tourists who are moving into the Hills in their thousands to savour the celestial charm of the place are having a harrowing time negotiating the zigzags crammed with death traps. The festive season tourist inflow is picking up. The number of the Hill-bound people is mounting. Yet, the district administration seems sleeping over the public inconvenience. According to Mr Uttam Saha, a tourist from Salt Lake, the three-hour journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling seems an endless encounter with hell. “The transcendental beauty all around paled into the background as we remained bogged down in struggling against the bumpy roads,” he said. “The road from Kurseong to Darjeeling is the worst. Strewn with potholes, it scared the hell out of us everytime our vehicle ran into one. When we reached Darjeeling we were reduced to heaps of insensitive chumps,” Mr Saha said. Recounting the same experience, Mr Sayan Saha, a 10-year-old-child, said that half the fun involved in stepping into the Himalayas for the first time was lost on the roads. “I am too exhausted to relish the splendour of nature,” he said. When asked about the pitiable conditions of roads, a senior engineer associated with the National Highway maintenance work, Mr Nirmal Mondal said that they had not done any real repair work beyond patchwork for the past five years. “A ministerial norm has come in the way of thorough repair work. We cannot give contract within five years after the completion of an allotted work,” he said. “But the real repair work would begin in the first week of October. And the roads would hopefully be made smooth within a fortnight,” Mr Mondal said. Apex court shield for Subba

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY, TT , New Delhi, Sept. 30: The Supreme Court today refused to direct the CBI to take action against former Tezpur MP Moni Kumar Limba (Subba) even though the investigating agency has cast doubts about documents produced by the lottery king and politician in support of his nationality. “We will not give any directions to the CBI to take action,” a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, said, refusing a prayer by Noida resident Birendra Nath Singh. It was on Singh’s plea that the court had asked the CBI in 2005 to “verify” documents submitted by Subba. Some of these documents were submitted to the Election Commission in the run-up to elections and others to Parliament. Singh had alleged that Subba was actually a Nepali citizen, Mani Raj Limboo, who fled that country after committing a heinous crime and illegally settled down in India. Subba, however, claimed that he was born in Bengal and later migrated to Assam. Appearing for Singh, lawyer Ambhoj Kumar Sinha today argued that since the CBI report had gone against Subba, the court should “direct” the CBI to “take further action” against the MP, who lost the 2009 parliamentary elections from Tezpur. “An FIR should be filed and action taken against him,” Sinha argued. “He has committed all types of offences. This is a serious case. The court should take action against him,” Sinha said. But the court refused to countenance his prayer. Subba’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, however, opposed any such move. “He has a right to challenge the reports of the CBI,” Singhvi argued. The CBI has so far submitted three reports against Subba — the latest was placed before the court today. The CBI’s last report of December 10, 2007 had recommended that action should be taken against Subba under Sections 193 (fabricating false evidence), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 12 of the Indian Passports Act. Lawyers later said the court has full powers to direct the CBI to take action against Subba. “Otherwise, what was the purpose of the inquiry against him?” one of them said. “You cannot direct an inquiry and then refuse to take further action if any illegality is thrown up during the course of the inquiry,” lawyers said. “The CBI anyway does not require court permission to take action,” another lawyer said. The CBI had sparked a furore when it had claimed in the apex court on April 28, 2008 that Subba’s birth certificate and other documents, submitted to the Election Commission to prove his Indian nationality, appeared to be fake. Subba was one of the richest candidates to contest the 2009 elections — his income as disclosed to the Election Commission was around Rs 60 crore. This is not the first time that Subba’s nationality has been questioned. The CBI had probed his antecedents in 1997 after then Assam chief minister, Prafulla Mahanta, raised doubts about his citizenship. But the matter died down. Trinamul chief snubs Cong SOS on Siliguri Keshava Rao: A last minute effort TT, Calcutta, Sept. 30: AICC general secretary K. Keshava Rao spoke to Mamata Banerjee this afternoon in a last-ditch effort to avert tomorrow’s election to the posts of mayor and chairperson. The one thing that can avert a contest at this point is a declaration from either of the parties — Congress and the Trinamul Congress — to stay out of the fray. The nominations, however, cannot be withdrawn. “I have requested Mamataji to withdraw her candidates for the two key posts in Siliguri Municipal Corporation so that elections could be averted. I reasoned with her to part with the mayor’s post to the Congress to strengthen our alliance and take it forward to the 2011 Assembly polls,” Rao, who is in charge of the Congress’s Bengal affairs, told The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi. But Trinamul chief Mamata, who left for Delhi this afternoon, stuck to her guns and told the AICC leader to instead persuade his party councillors in Siliguri to back her nominees for the mayor and chairperson’s posts. “Before leaving for Delhi, Mamatadi made it clear to Rao that she would not budge an inch from her demand. She also requested him to accept her party councillor Gautam Deb as mayor,” said a Trinamul general secretary. Trinamul sources said Mamata had also requested Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee last night over the phone to persuade local-level Congress councillors in Siliguri to reach a consensus on the mayoral candidate through last-minute discussions. Mamata was under the impression that a majority of Congress councillors had accepted Deb as mayor after party MLA Partha Chatterjee spoke to them last week, sources in the party said. She was also confident that there would be a repeat of the Sealdah-Bowbazar by-elections when the Congress had conceded ground even after filing nominations for both the seats. But Mamata became upset after Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi stepped in to motivate the Congress councillors against the Trinamul candidates. “Didi does not like Deepa’s interference,” said a Trinamul MLA. Deepa, who wields considerable clout in north Bengal, had incurred Trinamul chief’s wrath prior to the Lok Sabha elections when she had publicly alleged that the party had made “an abject surrender to Mamata’s feet” by accepting only 14 of the 42 parliamentary seats. Against this backdrop, state Congress leaders feel that the alliance has hit a road block with Mamata insisting on getting the mayor’s post. “Both Congress and Trinamul have equal number of seats in Siliguri. We expected Mamata to leave the mayor’s post to the Congress to send a message across the state that her priority was to keep the alliance intact. But what she has done has lowered her image as a principal Opposition force in Bengal,” said PCC working president Subrata Mukherjee. Ally bonhomie gone, ready for ballots - Option open for unofficial deal on mayor The Siliguri Municipal Corporation. Picture by Kundan Yolmo TT, Siliguri, Sept. 30: The Congress and the Trinamul Congress have fielded separate candidates for the mayor and the chairperson, two posts for which elections be held tomorrow exposing the rift in the alliance that had wrested the Siliguri Municipal Corporation from the Left Front after 28 years. The district magistrate of Darjeeling, Surendra Gupta, said unlike other elections, the nominations could not be withdrawn and voting would be through secret ballots. “There is no provision of withdrawal in the municipal act, under which the election will be conducted. We will be present to conduct and monitor the poll process,” Gupta said. With scopes of withdrawal lost, any last-minute deal will now be unofficial. Trinamul district president Gautam Deb has been selected the mayoral candidate while Arindam Mitra, the councillor for Ward 13, will contest for the chairman’s post. The Congress has projected Gangotri Dutta of Ward 12 as the mayor and Sabita Devi Agarwal as the chairperson. Trinamul, which has won 14 seats in the 47-ward corporation and enjoys the support of the lone Independent, is, however, still hoping that elections will be averted. The Congress bagged 15 seats and has been staking claim to the mayor’s post, citing the number factor and claiming that the region is a stronghold of the party. “We could not reach a consensus (with the Congress on the choice of mayor),” Deb said after coming out of the SMC commissioner’s chamber today. “Nevertheless, options for adjustment are still open and we will prefer to see that no elections are held tomorrow.” Since all the 47 councillors have the right to exercise the franchise, those from the Left Front are expected to play a decisive role especially if there is cross-voting between the Congress and Trinamul. Asok Bhattacharya, the district Left Front convener and the municipal affairs minister, however, refused to reveal much. “All we can say is that such moves (filing of nominations by both parties) would only lead to a state of uncertainty and instability at the SMC. Regarding participation of our councillors in the election, we are yet to decide.” At the district Congress office, tempers flared and charges flew over the choice of the party leader of the civic body. The rift has been evident from the time the election results were declared on September 15 and The Telegraph had reported that party had been divided on its choice of the leader. While a section preferred the “clean image” of Gangotri Dutta, others wanted a veteran like Gouri Dutta. Some others felt that Nantu Pal should be “rewarded” for having deserted the CPM and joining the Congress. This afternoon, Pal stormed out of the party office when Shankar Malakar and Biswaranjan Sarkar, the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district presidents of the Congress were discussing the nominees with Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi and PCC member Sankar Singha. Journalists waiting outside the room overheard Malakar plead: “Nantu, listen, don’t go away. Don’t act like an immature person.” He raced after Pal down the stairs and tried to persuade him to stay back even as Gangotri’s name was finalised as the mayoral candidate. Soon, a number of women councillors — all 15 of them were present — expressed their resentment, blaming the leadership for choosing Gangotri, questioning why Gouri was being left out. This was not the end. Malakar then paraded some of the probable candidates for the chairperson’s post in front of Das Munshi and Singha. Finally, the selectors zeroed in on Sabita Devi Agarwal, who won from Ward 9. At 12.40pm, the Congress leaders, led by Malakar, started for the SMC and reached the commissioner’s chamber minutes before the filing of nomination ended at 1pm. “We are open to discussion and still believe that there are scopes for negotiation. Regarding the elections, we are confident that our candidates will win,” said Malakar. Paritosh Roy, the SMC commissioner, said election of the mayor would be conducted under the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006 and Siliguri Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Business Conduct) Rules, 1996. “All the 47 councillors will take oath in the morning tomorrow. After that the voting will take place through secret ballot,” Roy said. Rahul scan on Dooars privation OUR CORRESPONDENT Alipurduar, Sept. 30: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has taken a keen interest in knowing the problems faced by deprived sections of people in the Dooars and the Terai, said a student leader of the Congress. Rahul has instructed Sourav Chakroborty, the president of the Bengal committee of the Chhatra Parishad, to submit in 15 days a report on the extent of benefits people are getting from central schemes and the sources of income of different communities in the region. “Before the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had come to Malbazar to attend a party programme. He asked me why people of different communities here were annoyed so much and what were the problems they were facing. I told him that people in the Dooars and the Terai were deprived in all fields of life,” said Chakroborty. Rahul was also told that students were not able to learn subjects in the languages they wanted. “Nepali is recognised in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, but in North Bengal University, only literature is taught in that language. Huge number of Adivasis reside in the region, but there are no arrangements for them to study in Sadri. Above all, there is not a single Hindi medium college in the Dooars ,” said Chakroborty. On August 30, Chakroborty had another meeting with Rahul in Delhi where the general secretary was told about trafficking of children and workers’ deaths because of malnutrition in closed tea gardens. “He asked me whether people were getting all benefits of various Central schemes. He asked me about the people of different backward classes and what their sources of income were,” said Chakroborty. Rahul is also the AICC in-charge of the Chhatra Parishad. On September 23, Rahul instructed Chakroborty to compile a detailed report on the implementation of various central schemes and submit it to him in 15 days. The Gandhi scion suggested that the student leader could seek the help of NGOs, media persons, party workers and panchayet members in preparing the report. “Once the report is submitted to him, Rahul will send an expert team comprising officials of different government departments to north Bengal,” said Chakroborty. Chamurchi tea garden to reopen today OUR CORRESPONDENT To start again TT, Alipurduar, Sept. 30: Chamurchi Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri district will reopen tomorrow after a gap of seven years. The decision was taken at a meeting held on September 8 at the chamber of the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri. “We have jute mills and this is the first time that we are entering into the tea industry. For the first five years we will invest in nourishing the tea bushes to improve the quality of the produce. The lean season will start from December but from April next year we expect to start manufacturing,” said R.P. Tiwari, the executive director of Chamurchi Agro India Private Limited, which will take charge of the garden. The management headed by R.S. Kajriwal, who owned the garden, had left the estate, 90km from here, in August 2002 but the garden was officially declared closed in 2004. During the period of closure, the operation and management committee of the garden was in charge of selling the green leaves and paid Rs 50 per day to each of the workers. The workers had not been getting wages and ration on time since 2000. Tiwari said: “After several meetings with the trade unions, we decided that the dues of the workers that are pending till March 2001 will be cleared. But we will not be able to clear the dues that have accumulated after that.” There were 1,074 workers in the estate in Banarhat when it was declared closed. “About 200 of them have either died or retired. Their dependents will be given jobs after six months,” Tiwari added. Md Nazmu, a CPM panchayat member and a member of the Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union of the Chamurchi garden unit, said: “The workers are happy. But they are not too excited as they have seen crisis brew in Bharnobari and Dheklapara gardens after they reopened. Once the estate reopens we will negotiate the dues of the workers with the management.” Of the 13 gardens in Jalpaiguri district, nine are closed. While Raipur, Samsi and Chinchula have started functioning, talks are on to reopen Ramjhora and Kanthalguri tea estates. Maoist ‘law enforcers’ murder at will Party trio executed Anadi Mahato’s son Chiranjib and Bhakti Mahato’s widow Bharati. (Samir Mondal) TT, Salboni, Sept. 30: Maoists today executed three CPM supporters, delivering the verdicts of a kangaroo court to the victims’ homes and force-marching them to their deaths in a nearby forest in West Midnapore. The three, dubbed “police informers”, were dragged away in front of their family members and at least one of the victim was tied up with his wife’s sari before being shot behind the head. About 50 armed guerrillas entered the houses of Anadi Mahato, 45, a member of Lalgeria Gram Panchayat, Bhakti Mahato, 38, and Radhanath Mahato, 42 — all CPM supporters — and took them to the Abhoya forest near Ranja village. The Maoists entered the village around 1.30am and first went to Anadi’s house. Anadi’s son, Chiranjib, a Madhyamik candidate, said he and his parents were sleeping when the Maoists started banging the main door. “We did not want to open the door. But they shouted that they would break the door, set fire to the house and burn us all alive. My father then opened the door and tried to escape. But the Maoists caught him and tied his hands behind his back,” said Chiranjib. The group then went to Bhakti’s house, taking Anadi along. Bhakti and his wife Bharati had already woken up, hearing shouts outside. “We watched the Maoists through our window. They knocked on the door and my husband asked me to open it. As soon as I opened the door, Maoists caught my husband and tied him up. When I asked them ‘why are you doing this to him?’ they told me that he had already been tried and a judgment had been delivered. The women in the squad pulled me away from my husband and they dragged him outside,” said Bharati. After this, the Maoists marched to Radhanath’s house. Radhanath, his wife Bhabani and two sons — Babu, 12, and Bapi, 6 — were sleeping when the Maoists kicked the door open and barged into the house. “Then they dragged out my husband from the bed,” said Bhabani. Realising that the Maoists had come to kill her husband, Bhabani clutched him in a tight embrace and urged the rebels to spare him. “They told me that my husband had already been tried. They also told me that my husband would be released soon. They asked for a sari from me and tied up my husband’s hands behind his back with it,” said Bhabani. Anadi, Bhakti and Radhanath were led to the Goaltore-Pirakata Road, 500 metres away, where they were asked to kneel down. Then each was shot behind their head from point-blank range. Maoists have killed 47 people in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia since June 29. West Bengal authorities put media's credibility at stake Citizen News Service: A growing outrage is palpable from the civil society against the abuse of media's credibility to arrest Chhatradhar Mahto, the leader of Lalgarh movement in West Bengal, India. The West Bengal police and authorities disguised as a fake media representative and with the assistance of a local media personnel, managed to reach Chhatradhar Mahto. Mahto was arrested then. Dr Vishnu Rajgadia, Secretary of Jharkhand RTI Forum and a noted social activist, took the initiative with support from National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) leaders to begin a signature petition campaign demanding the Prime Minister of India to intervene and stop this trend which is jeopardising the credibility of media in India. Citizens have mobilized individuals to sign a petition against the misuse of media's credibility in West Bengal to arrest Mahto. The signature petition got hundreds of signatures from citizens in a short span of time . Prominent among those include the Magsaysay Awardee (2002) Dr Sandeep Pandey, noted Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist and adviser to Supreme Court Commissioner on Right to Food Arundhati Dhuru, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, "The West Bangal police has misused the credibility of media to arrest a leader of Lalgarh movement, Chhatradhar Mahto on 26 September 2009. This is very objectionable as it is a misuse of the credibility and good name of the media. This is also an encroachment in the autonomy of Media" says Dr Vishnu Rajgadia. "This will create various problems for the journalists including the threat of their life during reporting in any so-called disturbed area. Therefore, we request you all to consider signing the online petition to protest the misuse by West Bengal police and to support a law to prevent such possibilities" further adds Dr Rajgadia, who began the petition on behalf of several human rights organizations. It poses serious questions on the way police is functioning in a democratic country. Draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and other such Acts which are rule of the law in other states like Chhattisgarh, have only caused seemingly irreparable damage to social democratic fabric. When media used disguise to conduct sting operations, the authorities took them to task and hardly any concrete action has come out of the evidence collected thereby in public interest. However authorities shamelessly have used the disguise of media and put media's credibility at risk in West Bengal. "In a democratic country like India, each and every institution has its own duties as well as each of them have been provided certain space, authority and liberty to execute their responsibility. No institution has any right to encroach the autonomy of other institution" says the petition. "The media persons are visiting in various remote areas including "Disturbed" fields and they also have to meet with various people including any accused person to collect news and to expose various socio-political-economic conflicts of the society. The media has a credit to keep its sources secret and to not harm somebody during their news gathering process" further states the petition. "Therefore, the act of West Bengal Government through its CID and Police is totally unethical and unjust. It has created a big threat to the media persons especially for them who are visiting to various remote areas of so-called insurgency. Now, every body will suspect the identity of even the genuine media persons putting them at grave risk" says the petition. The petition also demands a law in place to prevent any such abuse of media in future. Hope effective measures to safeguard media from any such misuse in future get in place as soon as possible. (signature petition is online here at http://www.petitiononline.com/wbmisuse/petition.html) ENS Kolkata, 01 Oct: Journalists in Kolkata today strongly protested the state government’s decision to clear an operation in which policemen posing as journalists nabbed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato. At a meet organised by Press Club, journalists said the police action had maligned the profession and jeopardized the security of mediapersons engaged in news gathering in troubled regions. The members of the fraternity demanded an apology from the state government and action against the guilty police officers. A resolution adopted at the meeting will be sent to the Prime Minister, the President, the Press Club of India and also the International Federation of Journalists. Legal action would also be considered, the members decided. Senior members of the journalistic fraternity also criticised the way the undercover policemen first won the trust of reporters who had been in contact with Mahato and then used them as a part of their plan.