The Evening Wrap: Mamata Banerjee gives 7-day deadline to police in Kolkata doctor murder

As protests continued to rage over the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on August 12 gave a seven day deadline for the police failing which she will hand the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Chief Minister made the announcement after visiting the residence and meeting her family members of the victim who was found dead in a seminar room of the State-run Health facility on August 9. “I want the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. If by Sunday they are unable to crack the case then I will hand over the investigation to the CBI..because insiders may be involved,” Banerjee said, after meeting the family members. The CM said that even family members have alleged about the possibility of an outsider.“I am surprised as to how the incident occurred, nurses were there, the security personnel were there,” she added. Banerjee said that all the people who were in responsible positions like the principal and medical superintendent of the hospital and the police officer in charge of security have been removed from their respective positions. Earlier in the day, the principal of the medical college and hospital Sandip Ghosh resigned from his post. Earlier the State government had removed Sanjay Vasistha, the medical superintendent of the hospital. The Kolkata Police has arrested a civic police volunteer in connection with the crime. The accused was allegedly seen in CCTV footage near the crime scene. Signs of sexual assault have emerged from the post mortem. Pakistan’s former ISI chief Faiz Hameed taken into military custody: Army In an unprecedented move, the Pakistan Army on August 12 announced that it has arrested former ISI chief Lt Gen (retd.) Faiz Hameed and initiated court martial proceedings against him in connection with a housing scheme scandal. “Complying with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry was undertaken by Pakistan Army, to ascertain correctness of complaints in Top City Case made against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd),” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) -- the media wing of the Army -- said in a statement. “Consequently, appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd.), under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act,” it said. “In addition, multiple instances of violation of the Pakistan Army Act post-retirement have also been established. The process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd) has been taken into military custody,” it added. Consumer price inflation eases to five-year low of 3.54% in July Inflation in India’s consumer prices eased to a nearly five-year low of 3.54% in July, with food price rise moderating to 5.4% from a six-month high of 9.4% in June, thanks to base effects from last July when retail inflation stood at 7.4% and the food index was up 11.5%. Inflation faced by urban consumers dropped to just under 3% in July, from 4.4% in June, while rural consumers experienced a relatively higher price rise of 4.1%, down from 5.7% in June. Food price rise was also higher in rural India at 5.9% compared with 4.6% in urban parts of the country. In June, rural food inflation was lower at 9.15% while urban food prices were up 9.6%. “During the month of July 2024 there is a decline in inflation for all the groups. Significant decline is in the vegetables, fruits and spices subgroups,” the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said. July’s inflation rate marks a sharp dip from the four-month high of 5.1% recorded in June, and is the slowest uptick in prices recorded since September 2019.. This also means that this is the first time since then that the inflation rate has gone under the 4% median target pursued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy. This is the first time in nine months that food inflation has dropped below 8% At its latest monetary policy review last week, the RBI had retained the average inflation projection for this year at 4.5%, but had raised the estimate for the July to September quarter to 4.4% from 3.8% projected earlier. This suggests that price rise will regain momentum over this month and next, with an average inflation of over 4.8%. Wayanad landslides: Search mission continues in disaster zone; special drive on to retrieve survivors’ documents A special camp to retrieve official documents of the landslide survivors who lost everything, was launched on August 12 in the disaster-hit regions of Wayanad, Kerala, where a search mission to locate missing people continued. The camps are being held in select schools at Meppadi as part of the certificate/document retrieval campaign jointly carried out by the Local Self-Government department, district administration and the State IT Mission. Arrangements are being made at the camps for the landslide survivors, who are either staying in camps or other places, to come and retrieve their lost documents or certificate, the District Collector said in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, a 190-member team comprising NDRF, the police, Fire and Rescue Services, Civil Defence Force, Forest department and rescue volunteers resumed the search operation at five zones of the disaster-struck area in the morning. The search to find the missing persons was stopped on August 11 after heavy rains in the Mundakkai and Chooralmala regions. Death toll crosses 100 as heavy rains continue in Himachal Pradesh, 338 roads closed Landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain since August 11 led to the closure of 338 roads, including four national highways in Himachal Pradesh, officials said. Several areas in Una are waterlogged, they said on August 12. Rescue operations to locate about 30 people who went missing after the July 31 flash floods in Kullu, Mandi and Shimla districts are being conducted but there has been no major success. So far, 28 bodies have been recovered, the officials said. More than 100 people have been killed in rain-related incidents and the state suffered losses of about ₹842 crore between June 27 and August 9, they said. The State Emergency Operation Centre said of the 338 roads closed, 104 were in Shimla, 71 in Mandi, 58 in Sirmaur, 55 in Chamba, 26 in Kullu, seven each in Solan and Lahaul & Spiti, five in Kinnaur, four in Kangra and one in Bilaspur district. It added that 488 power and 116 water supply schemes were also disrupted on August 12. Since August 11, Nagal dam recorded 115 mm of rainfall, followed by 87 mm in Kasauli, 56 mm in Una, 82.2 mm in Naina Devi, 79 mm in Olinda, 75.4 mm in Jatton Barrage, 72.5 mm in Nadaun, 62 mm in Poanta Sahib, 60.6 mm in Sujanpur Tira and 56.5 mm in Dhaulakuan, the weather office said. Flash floods and landslides have been reported in Chamba, Mandi, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts, the officials said. Supreme Court reserves verdict on Senthilbalaji’s bail plea, debates if Sisodia judgment will apply The ED on August 12 said factors such as delayed and prolonged jail time, which favoured former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s case for bail in the Excise policy case, are not applicable to former Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji, who is seeking bail in a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam. A Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka reserved Senthilbalaji’s bail petition for judgment. Both Senthilbalaji and Sisodia are facing money laundering charges in the separate cases. On August 12, the Bench drew the ED’s attention to the August 9 Supreme Court judgment allowing bail to Sisodia in the money laundering case. Sisodia had spent 17 months in jail. The apex court had said there was not even a remote chance of the trial getting underway against Sisodia, and bail could not be withheld as a punishment. The court had upheld speedy trial as a fundamental right. But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the ED, countered that Senthilbalaji was “hand-in-glove” with the State. The former Minister’s brother was still absconding. Witnesses in the case were turning hostile at the fall of a hat, Mehta said, and Senthilbalaji’s influence was overwhelming. “His mere incarceration for a year and the potential of a delay in trial was not enough to grant him bail,” Mehta argued. Senior advocate Guru Krishnakumar, intervening on behalf of one of the victims of the scam, said Senthilbalaji was the “alter ego of the State”. The delay in trial was due to lack of sanction by the State to try him for corruption in public office. “This is like an ostrich burying his head in the sand… The delay is due to the accused himself… Please call upon the State to decide time limits for the trial,” Krishnakumar argued. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for another intervenor, said past court records would show how the apex court had frowned upon Senthilbalaji’s conduct at least thrice in the past. “We are witnesses in this case who already live in fear… What would our situation be if this man is let out on bail?” Sankaranarayanan asked. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, and advocate Ram Shanker, for Senthilbalaji, said the opposite side was unfairly giving him an omniscient aura. He said the court here had to decide primarily if Senthilbalji’s case was for bail. He had already spent over 300 days in jail. There was no word on when the trial in the predicate offence (cash taken for government jobs) would begin. The predicate offence had to be established for the money laundering trial to commence. In the previous hearing, Justice Oka had pointed out that there were a thousand accused arraigned in the predicate offence. The ED has accused Senthilbalaji of playing a “central and pivotal role” in the “job racket scam” during the period of 2014-2015. The case involves kickbacks for jobs in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai, and the Tamil Nadu State Corporation when Senthilbalaji was the Transport Minister. The Enforcement Case Information Report was based on three FIRs and a charge-sheet filed by the Law Enforcement Agency of the Central Crime Branch of Chennai. The ED had said bank statements showed cash deposits of ₹1.34 crore in the account of Senthilbalaji and ₹29.55 lakh in that of S. Megala, his wife. Further, cash deposits of ₹13.13 crore were found with his brother Ashok Kumar; ₹53.89 lakh with his wife A. Nirmala; and ₹2.19 crore with B. Shanmugam, a private assistant of Senthilbalaji. The ED had argued the “huge cash deposits” detected to Senthilbalaji were “nothing but part of proceeds of crime brought into the financial system for the purpose of laundering. The proceeds of crime identified in his bank accounts were utilised and layered”. In Brief: IIT Madras bagged the top position as the best educational institution in the country overall category in the ranking conducted by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Following IIT Madras, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and IIT Bombay secured the second and third positions, respectively, in the overall category. IIT Delhi, which was at the third spot last year in the category, has slipped to the fourth position. Eight IITs have figured in the top ten besides All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). [logo] The Evening Wrap 12 August 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Kolkata doctor’s murder: Mamata gives seven day deadline to police As protests continued to rage over the alleged [rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital]( West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on August 12 gave a seven day deadline for the police failing which she will hand the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Chief Minister made the announcement after visiting the residence and meeting her family members of the victim who was found dead in a seminar room of the State-run Health facility on August 9. “I want the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. If by Sunday they are unable to crack the case then I will hand over the investigation to the CBI..because insiders may be involved,” Banerjee said, after meeting the family members. The CM said that even family members have alleged about the possibility of an outsider.“I am surprised as to how the incident occurred, nurses were there, the security personnel were there,” she added. Banerjee said that all the people who were in responsible positions like the principal and medical superintendent of the hospital and the police officer in charge of security have been removed from their respective positions. Earlier in the day, the principal of the medical college and hospital Sandip Ghosh resigned from his post. Earlier the State government had removed Sanjay Vasistha, the medical superintendent of the hospital. The Kolkata Police has arrested a civic police volunteer in connection with the crime. The accused was allegedly seen in CCTV footage near the crime scene. Signs of sexual assault have emerged from the post mortem. Pakistan’s former ISI chief Faiz Hameed taken into military custody: Army In an unprecedented move, the [Pakistan Army on August 12 announced that it has arrested former ISI chief Lt Gen (retd.) Faiz Hameed]( and initiated court martial proceedings against him in connection with a housing scheme scandal. “Complying with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry was undertaken by Pakistan Army, to ascertain correctness of complaints in Top City Case made against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd),” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) -- the media wing of the Army -- said in a statement. “Consequently, appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd.), under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act,” it said. “In addition, multiple instances of violation of the Pakistan Army Act post-retirement have also been established. The process of Field General Court Martial has been initiated and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd) has been taken into military custody,” it added. Consumer price inflation eases to five-year low of 3.54% in July [Inflation in India’s consumer prices eased to a nearly five-year low]( of 3.54% in July, with food price rise moderating to 5.4% from a six-month high of 9.4% in June, thanks to base effects from last July when retail inflation stood at 7.4% and the food index was up 11.5%. Inflation faced by urban consumers dropped to just under 3% in July, from 4.4% in June, while rural consumers experienced a relatively higher price rise of 4.1%, down from 5.7% in June. Food price rise was also higher in rural India at 5.9% compared with 4.6% in urban parts of the country. In June, rural food inflation was lower at 9.15% while urban food prices were up 9.6%. “During the month of July 2024 there is a decline in inflation for all the groups. Significant decline is in the vegetables, fruits and spices subgroups,” the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said. July’s inflation rate marks a sharp dip from the four-month high of 5.1% recorded in June, and is the slowest uptick in prices recorded since September 2019.. This also means that this is the first time since then that the inflation rate has gone under the 4% median target pursued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy. This is the first time in nine months that food inflation has dropped below 8% At its latest monetary policy review last week, the RBI had retained the average inflation projection for this year at 4.5%, but had raised the estimate for the July to September quarter to 4.4% from 3.8% projected earlier. This suggests that price rise will regain momentum over this month and next, with an average inflation of over 4.8%. Wayanad landslides: Search mission continues in disaster zone; special drive on to retrieve survivors’ documents A [special camp to retrieve official documents of the landslide survivors]( who lost everything, was launched on August 12 in the disaster-hit regions of Wayanad, Kerala, where a search mission to locate missing people continued. The camps are being held in select schools at Meppadi as part of the certificate/document retrieval campaign jointly carried out by the Local Self-Government department, district administration and the State IT Mission. Arrangements are being made at the camps for the landslide survivors, who are either staying in camps or other places, to come and retrieve their lost documents or certificate, the District Collector said in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, a 190-member team comprising NDRF, the police, Fire and Rescue Services, Civil Defence Force, Forest department and rescue volunteers resumed the search operation at five zones of the disaster-struck area in the morning. The search to find the missing persons was stopped on August 11 after heavy rains in the Mundakkai and Chooralmala regions. Death toll crosses 100 as heavy rains continue in Himachal Pradesh, 338 roads closed [Landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain]( since August 11 led to the closure of 338 roads, including four national highways in Himachal Pradesh, officials said. Several areas in Una are waterlogged, they said on August 12. Rescue operations to locate about 30 people who went missing after the July 31 flash floods in Kullu, Mandi and Shimla districts are being conducted but there has been no major success. So far, 28 bodies have been recovered, the officials said. More than 100 people have been killed in rain-related incidents and the state suffered losses of about ₹842 crore between June 27 and August 9, they said. The State Emergency Operation Centre said of the 338 roads closed, 104 were in Shimla, 71 in Mandi, 58 in Sirmaur, 55 in Chamba, 26 in Kullu, seven each in Solan and Lahaul & Spiti, five in Kinnaur, four in Kangra and one in Bilaspur district. It added that 488 power and 116 water supply schemes were also disrupted on August 12. Since August 11, Nagal dam recorded 115 mm of rainfall, followed by 87 mm in Kasauli, 56 mm in Una, 82.2 mm in Naina Devi, 79 mm in Olinda, 75.4 mm in Jatton Barrage, 72.5 mm in Nadaun, 62 mm in Poanta Sahib, 60.6 mm in Sujanpur Tira and 56.5 mm in Dhaulakuan, the weather office said. Flash floods and landslides have been reported in Chamba, Mandi, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts, the officials said. Supreme Court reserves verdict on Senthilbalaji’s bail plea, debates if Sisodia judgment will apply The ED on August 12 said factors such as delayed and prolonged jail time, which favoured former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s case for bail in the Excise policy case, [are not applicable to former Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji]( who is seeking bail in a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam. A Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka reserved Senthilbalaji’s bail petition for judgment. Both Senthilbalaji and Sisodia are facing money laundering charges in the separate cases. On August 12, the Bench drew the ED’s attention to the August 9 Supreme Court judgment allowing bail to Sisodia in the money laundering case. Sisodia had spent 17 months in jail. The apex court had said there was not even a remote chance of the trial getting underway against Sisodia, and bail could not be withheld as a punishment. The court had upheld speedy trial as a fundamental right. But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the ED, countered that Senthilbalaji was “hand-in-glove” with the State. The former Minister’s brother was still absconding. Witnesses in the case were turning hostile at the fall of a hat, Mehta said, and Senthilbalaji’s influence was overwhelming. “His mere incarceration for a year and the potential of a delay in trial was not enough to grant him bail,” Mehta argued. Senior advocate Guru Krishnakumar, intervening on behalf of one of the victims of the scam, said Senthilbalaji was the “alter ego of the State”. The delay in trial was due to lack of sanction by the State to try him for corruption in public office. “This is like an ostrich burying his head in the sand… The delay is due to the accused himself… Please call upon the State to decide time limits for the trial,” Krishnakumar argued. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for another intervenor, said past court records would show how the apex court had frowned upon Senthilbalaji’s conduct at least thrice in the past. “We are witnesses in this case who already live in fear… What would our situation be if this man is let out on bail?” Sankaranarayanan asked. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, and advocate Ram Shanker, for Senthilbalaji, said the opposite side was unfairly giving him an omniscient aura. He said the court here had to decide primarily if Senthilbalji’s case was for bail. He had already spent over 300 days in jail. There was no word on when the trial in the predicate offence (cash taken for government jobs) would begin. The predicate offence had to be established for the money laundering trial to commence. In the previous hearing, Justice Oka had pointed out that there were a thousand accused arraigned in the predicate offence. The ED has accused Senthilbalaji of playing a “central and pivotal role” in the “job racket scam” during the period of 2014-2015. The case involves kickbacks for jobs in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai, and the Tamil Nadu State Corporation when Senthilbalaji was the Transport Minister. The Enforcement Case Information Report was based on three FIRs and a charge-sheet filed by the Law Enforcement Agency of the Central Crime Branch of Chennai. The ED had said bank statements showed cash deposits of ₹1.34 crore in the account of Senthilbalaji and ₹29.55 lakh in that of S. Megala, his wife. Further, cash deposits of ₹13.13 crore were found with his brother Ashok Kumar; ₹53.89 lakh with his wife A. Nirmala; and ₹2.19 crore with B. Shanmugam, a private assistant of Senthilbalaji. The ED had argued the “huge cash deposits” detected to Senthilbalaji were “nothing but part of proceeds of crime brought into the financial system for the purpose of laundering. The proceeds of crime identified in his bank accounts were utilised and layered”. In Brief: IIT Madras bagged the top position as the [best educational institution in the country overall category]( in the ranking conducted by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Following IIT Madras, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and IIT Bombay secured the second and third positions, respectively, in the overall category. IIT Delhi, which was at the third spot last year in the category, has slipped to the fourth position. Eight IITs have figured in the top ten besides All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). 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