Girls bring cheers

While Jyoti Brahmin has become the first hill girl to be crowned with three All-India beauty pageant titles, Surabhi Rai has become for the first time another hill girl to top the coveted All-India Forest Service examinations. Jyoti bagged Miss Earth, Miss Beautiful Eyes and Miss Originality titles at the Femina Miss India Contest 2004. Jyoti received a warm ovation on her arrival at Siliguri on Friday. Kurseong and Kalimpong, besides hometown Darjeeling, have lined up a series of receptions to extend public felicitations to this beauty of the hill.

Rs 2 lakh looted

INRs 200,000 was looted on Wednesday from a woman at gunpoint ahead of deputy prime minister L K Advani’s visit in Siliguri. The woman, an employee of a bank, was routinely carrying a bag of money from one of the bank’s branches to another. She was reportedly in a rickshaw when three to four youths snatched the bag away from her and fled. The local people have identified one of the robbers to be Kanai Debnath. Police search is on to nab Kanai and his accomplishes.

Poll candidate ‘abducted’

Palden Bhutia, a Congress (I) candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections from Kabi Tingda constituency in south Sikkim, disappeared mysteriously on Saturday minutes before his nomination papers were to be filed. His party has accused the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front of abducting him thereby ensuring a straight victory to the latter’s own nominee and has requested the Election Commission to cancel the polls in the constituency.

3 killed in road mishaps

Jagat De, a resident of Siliguri, died on the spot on Friday when his motorbike collided with a bus at Sevoke near Siliguri. Two other persons were also injured. In another incident, a fire service vehicle collided with a truck on Dhupguri-Mainaguri road near Churabhandar the same day killing two persons and injuring six others.

Maoists call for poll boycott

Just a week before the Lok Sabha elections in North Bengal, officials here are amazed at the sudden proliferation of provocative posters to boycott the polls. The posters are believed to have been pasted by the Indian Maobadi Communist Centre, as its name appears at the bottom of the posters. But the MCCI leaders have denied their hand in it. While some observers link the arrest of Nepali Maoist leader Mohan Baidya with the sudden emergence of the suspicious posters. However, police have ruled out such connection.

One held with drug

Local police have arrested Biren Karmakar, hailing from English Bazaar, Malda and seized 85gm of brown sugar from him on Friday night. Officials believe that the contraband was being smuggled from Bangladesh into North Bengal.