Malda deaths

Malda, Nov. 18: A man was found hanging today after being locked up at a police camp in Malda, allegedly at the behest of a trader and his son at whose house the base is located.

The mother-in-law of trader Mamtaz Sheikh’s son Setab died of heart attack, apparently out of shock after her daughter Seba was arrested.

Haripada Barman, 26, was found hanging from a grille in the lock-up in Malda’s Kaliachak. Mamtaz had allegedly asked an aide to pick up Haripada, a labour contractor, after he failed to deliver a consignment. Mumtaz and Setab then locked him up apparently with the knowledge of the camp’s personnel. The duo are absconding.

Maoist bandh

Purulia: Maoists on Thursday identified the rebels killed in Monday’s encounter on the Ayodhya Hills as Biplab Bandopadhyay and Dhiren Murmu. They alleged the joint forces had “murdered” the duo “in cold blood” when they had gone to “fetch water from a stream”. The Maoists have called a two-day bandh in Purulia starting November 21.

Salary ire

Kharagpur: Around 300 workers of a closed pig-iron factory in Kharagpur on Thursday gheraoed 10 officials, including three senior managers, for nearly 10 hours demanding salaries that they claimed had not been paid for two months. The workers, belonging to Citu and Intuc, also demanded that the factory, owned by the Ramsarup Group, begin production immediately. A senior official of the Ramsarup Group said only one month’s salary was due and that it would be paid within four days.