Ghani cut-out

Malda, Sept. 3: The Congress was forced to pull down a giant cut- out of the late Ghani Khan Chowdhury today under instructions from the election observer.

The larger than life portrait near the Malda station said: “Bless Ghani Khan on September 16 (the day of the Lok Sabha bypoll)”. The names of Englishbazar municipality chief Narendranath Tewari and zilla parishad karmadhyaksha Soumitra Roy, too, appeared on it.

“Putting up such cut-outs and hoardings goes against the code of election conduct. We have warned the Congress against any violation of it in future,” district magistrate Chittaranjan Das said. Ghani Khan’s brother Abu Hossain is the Congress candi- date in Malda.

Mamata rally

Calcutta: Congress leaders of Bongaon in North 24-Parganas will participate in a rally to be addressed by Mamata Banerjee there on September 11. The party is backing Mamata’s Trinamul Congress in the byelection to the Assembly constituency following her decision not to field a candidate for the Malda Lok Sabha seat.

Leader held

Barasat: Jayanta Sarkar, a Congress member of the Swarupnagar panchayat samiti in North 24-Parganas, has been arrested. He is said to be involved in a two-wheeler smuggling racket.

Garage death

Basirhat: Ibrahim Sardar, 40, a garage owner here, was found dead inside his establishment which was locked from outside. Residents of the North 24-Parganas neighbourhood, 60 km from Calcutta, were alerted by the foul smell.