Kolkata, Jan 16: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, directed the West Bengal government to pay compensation to the families of all the victims who had fallen sick, with one woman and a child already dead, after being allegedly administered with expired Ringer’s Lactate at a state-run medical college and hospital last week.

While one woman, Mamoni Ruidas died on January 10, the latest victim on Thursday morning was the newborn baby of another mother Rekha Shaw, who had also fallen sick last week after being allegedly administered with the expired Ringer’s Lactate. Three other women are currently under treatment.

Two public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in the matter earlier this week at the Calcutta High Court.

Acting on the PILs, the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hirnamay Bhattacharya, on Thursday, besides directing the state government to pay compensation to the families of the victims, also directed the administration to submit an action-take report in the matter to the court within the next two week.

In the report, the division bench directed the Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, to elaborate on the details of actions taken against the Ringer’s Lactate supplying entity Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, which was blacklisted first by the Karnataka government and subsequently by the West Bengal government.

Meanwhile, the state health department has already ordered the removal of the erstwhile special secretary to the state health department (medicine department) Chaitali Chakraborty in connection with the “expired” saline tragedy. She has been replaced by Suvanjan Das.

On Wednesday, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari demanded that Central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) be involved in the ongoing probe into the matter being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police and a team of the state health department.

The state health department first directed the medical superintendents-cum-vice principals of all medical colleges and hospitals and all the chief medical officers of the districts “to ensure total stoppage of the existing stock of Compound Sodium Lactate Injection (RL) supplied by Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd in his/her jurisdiction”. Later, the state government also directed the removal of stocks of all medicines supplied by the said company from all healthcare entities in the state.

Bidar (Karnataka), Jan 16: In a shocking incident, a gang of robbers shot dead a guard, seriously injured another, and looted an ATM cash vehicle in broad daylight in Karnataka’s Bidar city on Thursday.

The incident occurred in front of the State Bank of India (SBI) Main Branch in Bidar city, with the robbers escaping with Rs 93 lakh in cash.

The robbers, who were following the vehicle, attacked the cash van in front of the bank where the ATM was also located. One of the guards in the vehicle, Giri Venkatesh, died on the spot after being shot, while another guard, Shivakumar, sustained critical injuries. the doctors said that Shivakumar’s condition was extremely critical. Before opening fire, the robbers threw chilli powder on the guards. According to police reports, two masked robbers fired five rounds at the ATM vehicle and guards.

Following the attack, they made off with Rs 93 lakh in cash. Bidar Superintendent of Police (SP) Pradeep Gunti rushed to the scene and was overseeing the investigation.

The attack occurred while the ATM was being filled with cash at Shivaji Chowk, located in the heart of Bidar city. The injured guard, Shivakumar, is being treated at the Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS).

The robbers, who were riding two motorcycles, carried out the attack, took the cash box, and fled. Although locals raised an alarm, threw stones at them, and attempted to catch them, the robbers managed to dodge and escape.

Sources revealed that both Giri Venkatesh and Shivakumar were employees of CMS Agency, a company that provides ATM cash-filling services.

The robbers, dressed in black jackets and hats, carried backpacks during the attack. Police have obtained CCTV footage of the incident and launched a manhunt to apprehend the culprits.

Panic spread in the area after the attack and loot. More details were awaited.

Kolkata, Jan 16: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday was conducting raid and search operations at two locations in and around Kolkata in connection with bank loan forgery cases worth around Rs 6,000 crore.

Sources aware of the development said that the two places where the ED officials have been conducting marathon raids and search operations since morning are two residences — the first being at Behala in the southern outskirts of Kolkata and the second being at Shibpur in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district.

One of the two houses where raid and search operations were taking place belongs to a local businessman, Deepak Jain.

Each team of ED officials is being escorted by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel.

Sources said that the raids were taking place in continuation of similar raids at the residence of a Kolkata-based businessman at Ballygunge in South Kolkata in December 2024, in relation to a bank loan forgery amounting to Rs 6,000 crore.

Cash worth Rs 2 crore, jewellery worth Rs 4.5 crore and two luxurious vehicles were seized by the ED officials then from his residence.

Sanjay Surekha, the owner of Comcast Steel and Power Limited, was also arrested by the ED sleuths then.

The main charge against Surekha was that after claiming loans worth Rs 6,000 crore from a consortium of commercial banks through multiple accounts, he defaulted when the time for repayment came.

Sources said that currently, the Central agency officials are in the process of tracking the money trail to have a clear idea of how the bank loan taken by the Surekha was misused.

Charges are there that bank accounts registered in the names of the employees and business associates of the said corporate entity were also utilized in securing the loans. In addition, Surekha was also unable to furnish the details of the cash recovered from his residence as well as the sources of funds for purchasing the costly jewellery and the foreign-made luxury cars.