Kolkata, Aug 30: Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested three persons in connection with the attack on the West Bengal Congress headquarters in the city.

At the same time, the police have started a search for BJP leader Rakesh Singh, who is accused of masterminding the attack at Bidhan Bhawan. Police said the arrests have been made based on an FIR lodged by the Congress on Friday against the attack and defacing of posters of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and others.

“Three persons were arrested. Search is on for others, including Rakesh Singh, against whom the FIR was lodged,” said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.

A case has also been registered against the accused persons under the Arms Act. Sources said over 20 people have been named in the police complaint lodged at Entally Police Station in Central Kolkata.

After registering an FIR, police went to the house of Rakesh Singh on Friday night, but the BJP leader was not at his house.

On Friday, a group of BJP workers led by its leader Rakesh Singh went on a rampage at the state Congress headquarters at CIT Road in central Kolkata, burning party flags and defacing posters of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and others to mark their protest against alleged abuses hurled at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar.

The workers at first protested outside the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) office ‘Bidhan Bhawan’ in central Kolkata, then they burnt Congress party flags and tyres. Thereafter, they went inside the party office premises, tore up posters and banners and defaced photographs of senior party leaders.

Following the incident, Congress party’s West Bengal unit President Subhankar Sarkar demanded the immediate arrest of those who were involved in the attack. Led by him, Congress workers also put up a road blockade at Moulali crossing to mark their protest against the vandalism.

The BJP has been criticising senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, after a purported video showed an unidentified person using a Hindi expletive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mother from a dais during the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Darbhanga town of Bihar, from where Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had left for Muzaffarpur on motorcycles on Wednesday.

The Bihar Police on Friday arrested the person who allegedly used abusive language against the PM.

Jammu, Aug 30: District Magistrate (DM) in J&K’s Jammu district on Saturday ordered all private water tankers to remain at the disposal of the Jal Shakti Department in the wake of the situation arising out of floods.

An order issued by DM Jammu said that floods in Jammu district have disrupted the potable water supply system, and the concerned agencies are working for the quick restoration of the potable water supply.

The order said that it has been observed that private water tankers are operating in an unregulated manner, leading to arbitrary pricing, unequal access, and potential distribution of unsafe water, thereby endangering public health, hygiene, and safety.

“All private water tankers operating within the territorial jurisdiction of District Jammu are restrained from independently supplying or selling water to any household/commercial establishment, with immediate effect,” it said.

The order pointed out that all such private water tankers are requisitioned by the district administration, Jammu, and placed at the disposal of the Jal Shakti (PHE) department, Jammu, for regulated and equitable water distribution.

It further said that all private borewells drilled in District Jammu for filling of tankers are hereby requisitioned by the District Administration, Jammu, and placed at the disposal of the Jal Shakti (PHE) department, Jammu, with immediate effect.

The order directed that all the SDMs are further directed to identify within their respective jurisdictions individuals/establishments running private tankers and to immediately hand over the same to the Jal Shakti (PHE) department, Jammu.

There is a general crisis of safe drinking water in Jammu district after the recent floods, as most safe water supply sources have become muddy and unsafe.

Ten people have been killed and three have gone missing in the landslide and cloudburst that hit Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi and Ramban districts overnight.

State government officials said that seven people died in a landslide that flattened a residential house in the Mahore area of Reasi district on Friday night.

The officials said that the incident occurred after intense overnight showers lashed the area.

Three people died overnight in a cloudburst incident in the Rajgarh area of Ramban in the Jammu division.

According to the administration, many houses were damaged in the incident, with some completely washed away by the force of the floodwaters.

The latest disaster added to a series of destructive events in Jammu and Kashmir this month, where heavy rain, flash floods, and landslides have already taken a heavy toll.

Several districts in the Jammu region have witnessed large-scale devastation, with official reports confirming that more than 46 people have died so far in rain-related incidents.

In Reasi and Doda districts alone, at least 16 people have been killed as heavy rainfall triggered multiple landslides, swollen rivers, and flood-like conditions that engulfed many villages.

Over the past week, districts, including Jammu, Samba, and Kathua, have also faced severe damage to property and infrastructure.

Patna: Nine years after the murder of senior journalist Rajdev Ranjan in Bihar’s Siwan, the Special CBI Court in Muzaffarpur on Saturday convicted three accused while acquitting three others.

On May 13, 2016, Rajdev Ranjan, then bureau chief of a leading Hindi daily, was shot dead in Siwan.

He was returning from a hospital visit when assailants opened fire, hitting him with two bullets that proved fatal on the spot.

His wife, Asha Yadav, lodged the FIR at the Siwan Town police station, and suspicion soon pointed towards jailed RJD strongman and former Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, though charges were later framed against other accused.

The case was later taken over by the CBI, which filed a chargesheet against seven accused, excluding Shahabuddin.

Shahabuddin, considered the main accused, died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trial involved six accused – Azharuddin alias Laddan Mian, Rohit Kumar Soni, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Sonu Kumar Gupta, Rajesh Kumar, and Rishu Kumar Jaiswal.

Another accused was declared a juvenile, with his case being heard separately.

After nearly eight years of proceedings, during which the CBI examined 69 witnesses and presented 111 pieces of evidence, District and Additional Sessions Judge-3 Namita Singh delivered the judgment.

As per the judgement, Azharuddin alias Laddan Mian, Rajesh Kumar and Rishu Kumar Jaiswal were acquitted while Vijay Kumar Gupta, Sonu Kumar Gupta and Rohit Kumar Soni were found guilty.

Defence lawyer Sharad Sinha told reporters that the court acquitted three accused due to lack of evidence, while the remaining three were found guilty of the journalist’s murder.

The high-profile case, once linked to Shahabuddin’s political clout in Siwan, was initially heard at the Special Court (MP/MLA cases) in Patna before being shifted to the CBI Court in Muzaffarpur.

The sentencing of the three convicted accused is expected in the coming days.