Bengal mountaineer remains missing
Kolkata: No trace of mountaineer Chhanda Gayen has been found three days after she went missing while trying to climb Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal, with chances of her survival believed to be “negligible”. Nepal consulate sources told PTI that inclement weather hampered search operation and they have no news of Gayen and the accompanying two sherpas after they were caught in an avalanche on Tuesday. They were trying to climb the 8,505-metre-high Yalung Kang, the second highest peak in the Kanchenjunga massif, also known as Kanchenjunga West. The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling has also sent their mountaineering instructor Tushar Kanti to coordinate the rescue operation from the base camp. “We are hopeful, but her chances of survival are negligible as it is very tough to survive at 8000 metre height for 3-4 days. But miracles do happen,” HMI principal Gulshan Chadha said. The state youth services ministry has sent a three-member team, including two mountaineers Ujjal Roy and Devdas Nandi, to coordinate the rescue operation from the base camp. The mountaineer’s family members have complained to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that they are disappointed after learning that Gayen was “not on good terms with the search committee members”. Her brother Jyotirmoy Gayen, told reporters, “We want the Centre to intervene immediately and conduct the search”. Gayen had annexed the 8,585-metre-high Kanchenjunga Main, the third tallest peak in the world, on May 18 along with three other city climbers Tusi Das, Dipankar Ghosh and Rajib Bhattacharjee. While others decided to return to the base camp after summiting, Gayen along with two sherpas Dawa Wangchu Mingma Temba stayed back to conquer the Yalung Kang peak. State agriculture marketing minister Arup Roy said that a helicopter, which was sent on Friday morning to conduct search and rescue operation, had to return to its base owing to inclement weather. “The helicopter will be sent again tomorrow early morning to search for Gayen,” Roy said. The search team that has gone from West Bengal is also likely to reach the Kanchenjunga Base Camp on Saturday, the minister told a vernacular news channel. (PTI)
Bihar Minister may land in trouble over music album case
Patna/Arrah: Newly inducted minister Binay Bihari in the Jitan Ram Manjhi government might land in trouble as a court case is pending against him in a Bhojpur district court in connection with an ‘obscene’ music album. A case was filed in the court of Bhojpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) against 13 persons including Binay Bihari for composing indecent scenes and songs for a music album over a decade back. Binay Bihari, an Independent MLA from Lauria in East Champaran district, has become Minister for Art, Culture and Sports in the state government led by Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The case was filed by one Prabhat Kumar Singh, president of a non-governmental cultural organisation- Bhojpuria Sena. A report from Arrah said that the court of SDJM Kishori Lal had in January this year issued an order for attachment of property of all 13 named in the case. But, no action was taken thereafter. The minister has denied the charge. Bihari told reporters in the Assembly premises that this case was filed 10-12 years back against all the composers and singers of nearly a dozen songs in that music Album in Bhojpuri language. Music company T-series is fighting the case. He alleged that the case was filed with “maligned intention” and against all composers and singers though he claimed there were one or two vulgar songs in the Album. He said he never received any summon from the court in connection with the case. (PTI)
Married woman alleges rape on pretext of marriage
Jaipur: A married woman, who was separated from her husband, has accused a 21-year-old youth of raping her for over a year on the pretext of marriage. The 22-year-old woman was in a live-in relationship with the accused, Saddam, since last one year in Van-Talab locality here. She had recently come to know that he was marrying another girl on May 25, police said today. The woman, who has a child from her marriage, lodged an FIR against Saddam with the Amber police station. The woman’s statement would be recorded and she will be sent to a hospital for medical examination, police said.(PTI)