THE CITY DIARY 

May 29 : Dacoits loot house in Salt Lake Six armed dacoits raided the house of a businessman at GC block, in Salt Lake, around 10 pm on Tuesday and decamped with golden ornaments, cash and other valuables worth Rs 14,000. Officers of the South Bidhannagar police station are investigating the matter. Prison term for HS script theft Kamala Prosad Singh and Mohammad Mahasin were sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment for stealing the answer scripts of Higher Secondary examination. The judgment was delivered by the 11th metropolitan magistrate of Calcutta, Sashikala Basu, on Wednesday. Sources said the two entered the godown of the Higher Secondary Council at Ranji Stadium in 1986 and stole a large number of answer scripts. Child drowned A seven-year-old boy, identified as Milan Bhattacharya, drowned in a pond at Buddhinagar, in the Thakurpukur area. The mishap occurred when he fell into the waterbody while playing. When he did not return home till late, his parents began to search for him. His body was later found floating in the pond. Kidnap threat Sambhu Ghosh was arrested at Belgharia on Wednesday for allegedly demanding money from Debasish Shaw, a transport trader of Maniktola. Police said Ghosh rang up Shaw and threatened to kidnap his son if he was not paid Rs 6 lakh. The police traced the call and picked up Ghosh, sources said. Mayor's critics There are voices of dissent in the Corporation against mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who is away in Seoul to watch the World Cup football matches. Leading the critics was Anup Chatterjee, member, mayor-in-council (roads) who, in the presence of colleagues Samsuzzaman Ansari, Javed Ahmed Khan and Arup Biswas, accused the mayor of stalling development activities in the city at the instance of the ruling CPM. Chatterjee also criticised him for going on an amusement trip when the party had received a setback in the by-elections. The mayor had neither intimated his office about the date of his return nor had he handed over charge to deputy mayor Meena Devi Purohit, they alleged. However, a civic law officer pointed out that under the CMC Act-1980, the mayor need not hand over charge when going out of town. It was an automatic process for the deputy mayor to take over, he said. Kadapara demand Nearly 1,000 labourers and residents of Kadapara, an industrial area near Swabhumi, demonstrated on Wednesday pressing for improved civic infrastructure. They handed over a memorandum to local MLA-cum-councillor Paresh Pal. They said that the drainage system of the area had collapsed as the waterbody in which the sewers would be emptied was filled up. Boy run over Sanjoy Das, 10, was killed when a private bus on route 238 knocked him down on Barasat-Taki Road in Barasat, early on Wednesday. Police said the accident occurred when the boy was crossing the road on his way to a coaching class. He succumbed to his injuries on the way to Barasat hospital. The driver managed to flee with his vehicle. Four held The Jorabagan police arrested four persons suspected to be dacoits near Jorabagan Park on Tuesday night. The four are Satrughan Sharma, Sunil Pande, Amar Singh Sharma and Suraj Kumar Sonkar. Madarsa fete The toppers of this year's High Madarsa, Alim and Fazil examinations were felicitated at the city press club on Wednesday by the West Bengal Madarsa Students' Union.