Latest news with #Bengali
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Woman Accuses Padma Awardee Monk Kartik Maharaj Of Rape, Threats, And Abortion
Last Updated: A woman accused Swami Pradiptananda of Bharat Sevashram Sangha of raping her under the guise of offering a job for over a decade. An investigation is underway. A woman has accused Swami Pradiptananda, also known as Kartik Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, of raping her under the guise of offering her a job. According to her complaint, the alleged abuse spanned over a decade, with ashram members involved and forcing her to undergo an abortion. This revelation comes a day after the woman's initial accusation. The woman in her complaint said that she met Kartik Maharaj in 2012 when he offered her a job at Chanak Adivasi Abasik Balika Vidyalaya, in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, where, she alleged, he raped her. According to the Hindustan Times, in her complaint, she further alleged that she received a call from Kartik Maharaj on June 12, and he asked her to meet him on June 13 near Berhampore Correctional Home. 'I talked to Kartik Maharaj over the phone on June 12. Two men from the ashram came to see me on June 13 and said they would take me to Beldanga. When I boarded their car, these men threatened me and asked me not to contact Kartik Maharaj ever again. Thereafter, they pushed me out of the vehicle and drove off," the three-page complaint written in Bengali said. Based on her complaint, an FIR was filed at the Lalbagh police station in Murshidabad district on Thursday under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. ASP Raspreet Singh stated that an investigation is currently underway. However, as of the time of reporting, the Murshidabad police had not yet taken any action against the monk. While addressing a public event in Beldanga, Kartik Maharaj sought to defend himself. 'I can only say that monks are not allowed to spend nights at the women's hostel of the ashram," he said. Among the nine Padma Shri awardees from West Bengal this year, Kartik Maharaj was essentially an unknown figure until May 2024. This was when a controversy arose after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee targeted a group of monks during her campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Defending the seer, BJP's Berhampore unit chief Malay Mahajan said, 'This is dirty politics by TMC, which wants to defame Kartik Maharaj. The Hindus will retaliate." TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar said, 'No sin can be washed off or justified… Law should take its course without seeing his faith." First Published: June 28, 2025, 08:59 IST
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
India accused ofillegal deportations targeting Muslims
India ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west in April. Photo AFP India has deported without trial to Bangladesh hundreds of people, officials from both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling. New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration -- particularly those from Bangladesh -- with top officials referring to them as "termites" and "infiltrators". It has also sparked fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh. "Muslims, particularly from the eastern part of the country, are terrified," said veteran Indian rights activist Harsh Mander. "You have thrown millions into this existential fear." Bangladesh has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka's government, a former friend of India. But India also ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west -- the April 22 killing of 26 people, mainly Hindu tourists, in IIOJK. Indian authorities launched an unprecedented countrywide security drive that has seen many thousands detained — and many of them eventually pushed across the border to Bangladesh at gunpoint. Rahima Begum, from India's eastern Assam state, said police detained her for several days in late May before taking her to the Bangladesh frontier. She said she and her family had spent their life in India. "I have lived all my life here — my parents, my grandparents, they are all from here," she said. "I don't know why they would do this to me." Indian police took Begum, along with five other people, all Muslims, and forced them into swampland in the dark. "They showed us a village in the distance and told us to crawl there," she told AFP. "They said: 'Do not dare to stand and walk, or we will shoot you.'" Bangladeshi locals who found the group then handed them to border police who "thrashed" them and ordered they return to India, Begum said. "As we approached the border, there was firing from the other side," said the 50-year-old. "We thought: 'This is the end. We are all going to die.'" She survived, and, a week after she was first picked up, she was dropped back home in Assam with a warning to keep quiet. Rights activists and lawyers criticised India's drive as "lawless". "You cannot deport people unless there is a country to accept them," said New Delhi-based civil rights lawyer Sanjay Hegde.
Hans India
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Trinamool disowns student leader
Kolkata: After the 'gang-rape' of a law student in Kolkata triggered a political firestorm, the Trinamool Congress has admitted that the main accused is linked to the party's student wing but insisted that this would not come in the way of him getting the strictest possible punishment. The law student was allegedly raped at the South Calcutta Law College by Monojit Mishra - a 31-year-old former student of the college, who is now a practising lawyer - and two students, identified as 19-year-old Zaib Ahmed and 20-year-old Pramit Mukhopadhyay. Monojit Mishra is a member of the Trinamool Congress' student wing and the BJP has shared photographs of him with senior members of the ruling party, including MP, National General Secretary and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, and Health Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. Holding a press conference on Friday, Bengal Minister Shashi Panja said in Bengali, "The West Bengal Assembly had passed the Aparajita Bill (on death penalty for rape convicts) and it has still not been made a law. Why? Because the BJP has blocked it. We don't want to do politics. If you are serious, support the bill. A woman's body is not a battleground for your politics. It has to be respected."
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Actor couple booked for ‘abducting and extorting Rs 23 lakh' from Bengali film producer in Goa
Actor-couple Kunal Verma and Puja Banerjee were booked for allegedly abducting and extorting money from Bengali film producer Shyam Sunder Dey in Goa, police said on Friday. Goa Police said it received a Zero FIR from the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police, BDN Zone, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, West Bengal, following which an offence was registered at Goa's Calangute police station on Thursday. The FIR was registered under sections 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 137(2) (kidnapping), 140 (2) (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom etc), 308(5) (extortion), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and other relevant sections of BNS, 2023. According to the police, the complainant, Malabika Dey, who is a resident of Kolkata, alleged that from May 31 to June 4, the accused persons 'restrained…and forcefully abducted' her husband, Shyam Sunder Dey, when he was travelling in a rented car in Goa and confined him in a villa. In the FIR, the complainant alleged that the accused assaulted her husband and threatened to falsely implicate him in a narcotics case. It was also alleged that the accused kept him at different undisclosed locations and extorted Rs 23 lakh from him. Goa Police said the zero FIR was registered in West Bengal on June 12. 'We received the zero FIR on Thursday, and a case has now been registered here. A probe has been initiated. The issue stems from a prior financial dispute, but we are verifying the details,' said an officer. In a post on Instagram on Friday, Puja Banerjee, known for portraying roles in Bengali films and Hindi television, said, 'Going through the toughest time of our lives, those who are standing by us, we will be forever grateful to you all. And those who believe in the lies spread against us, God bless them too. I believe in God, and you know God is watching.'
Economic Times
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
'God is watching': TV actress Puja Banerjee after being accused of extortion amid house mortgage and scam claims
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Puja Banerjee and Kunal Verma duped In a shocking turn of events, television couple Puja Banerjee and Kunal Verma — who recently opened up about being victims of a massive financial fraud — are now facing serious allegations themselves. Just when the duo had begun to share their side of a harrowing personal ordeal, they found themselves at the centre of another controversy. This time, Bengali film producer Shyam Sunder Dey and his wife Malabika have filed an FIR against the couple, accusing them of extortion, physical assault, and Banerjee, known for her work in popular Hindi and Bengali shows, broke her silence by penning an emotional note on Instagram. Without naming names, she acknowledged the storm they're currently weathering and mentioned 'going through the toughest time' of their lives. While thanking those who have stood by them, she also offered blessings to those believing the allegations and said, 'GOD IS WATCHING.'The accusations surfaced shortly after the couple had gone public with their own financial nightmare. In a recent video, Puja and Kunal revealed that they were victims of a large-scale scam that wiped out all their savings. Puja, who looked visibly shaken, shared that they will have to start from zero and that they lost all their savings in this fraud. The actress had also shared that they were duped by someone very close to them, on whom they placed their Banerjee had shared that they had mortgaged their home to recover funds lost in a financial scam, and now face the risk of losing it. In one of the vlogs, she showed that she visited the Icchapurti Hanuman temple with her son, praying for strength and stability. As he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, Puja's emotional plea was for her child to always have a roof above his head.
