Boy kidnapped to finance Bollywood dream; three held

Kolkata, Jul 4: Two people were killed and around four injured when the bombs they were allegedly manufacturing went off inside a house in Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Their identities were yet to be established as the condition of those injured and undergoing treatment at a hospital was still "critical", he said.

The thatched roof of the house, where they were allegedly making bombs, also blew off in the explosion, which occurred at Suti town in Jangipur subdivision of the district around 9:00 pm on Friday, the officer said.

The house has been damaged completely, and its owner is on the run, he said.

As of now, the wife of the house owner is being questioned in connection with the incident, the officer added.

Jun 5: The fear of contracting COVID-19 infection allegedly forced a 65-year-old man to commit suicide in Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred at Mangewadi in Patoda on Thursday, when a passerby found the body of Asaram Pote hanging from a tree in his farm, an official said.

The police were immediately alerted and Pote's body was brought down in the presence of his relatives and locals, he said.

A suicide note was found on the deceased's person, in which he said that he had taken the extreme step as he was scared of contracting COVID-19 infection and no one should be held responsible for his death, the official said.

A case of accidental death was registered in this regard and further probe was underway, he added.

Tamil Nadu, Jul 12: An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near Tamil Nadu was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from Tamil Nadu.

He had not, however, put up any signboard. The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment.

They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar said, "no..we have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman a relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to put up a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.