Officers of the customs (preventive) in Kolkata on Wednesday seized the skin of a Royal Bengal tiger and a pair of black buck antlers when a smuggler was trying to cross the India-Bangladesh border near Bhatgachi village in Krishnanagar division of West Bengal.

Supporting the new GST regime was a mistake, CM Mamata Banerjee said while addressing a rally in Singur on Tuesday.

The sexual assault and murder of the seven-year-old girl in Tiljala was a planned crime, with the accused, Alok Kumar Sah, having stalked the child for at least two weeks, police said.

Outsiders who swelled the number of protesters from a few hundred to over a thousand in a few hours had taken police by surprise while they struggled to contain the large-scale vandalism in the Picnic Garden area on Monday.

Parents and family members of those arrested for damaging public property and resorting to hostility following the brutal murder of a seven-year-old girl in Tiljala, condemned the violence and lamented for being too impulsive without considering the consequences.

Roads deserted, checkpoints put up on lanes and a number of men in the age group of 16 to 30 missing from the area.

On Tuesday, the Calcutta high court declined to intervene in the panchayat election process in West Bengal. However, the court recognized the argument put forth by petitioner Suvendu Adhikari that there appeared to be discrepancies in the criteria being used to determine seat reservation for the 2023 local body polls.

A 16-year-old girl, who went missing from her home in the Kolkata Leather Complex area in Bantala two days back, was found dead on Monday. The post-mortem report confirmed that she was strangled to death.

The National Film Development Corporation of India-National Film Archive of India (NFDC-NFAI) recently acquired negatives of Shakti Samanta's 'Kashmir Ki Kali', 'Aradhana', 'Kati Patang', 'Amar Prem', 'Chinatown', 'An Evening in Paris' and 'Howrah Bridge'. Currently, these Hindi films are on their way to being restored in 4K resolution by NFAI.

Air pollution has been directly responsible for triggering cardiac ailments - including heart attacks - among a significant section of patients since last winter, suspect city cardiologists.

She had asked her seven-year-old daughter on Sunday morning to go and dump the garbage at a local vat around 7 am. That was the last time she saw her daughter alive.

CM Mamata Banerjee effected a key change in the state cabinet ahead of the 2023 panchayat polls in Bengal, taking over the minority affairs and madrasa education department herself.

Thousands of protesters took over a large swathe of the city's south-eastern parts on Monday - setting fire to vehicles, vandalising property, squatting on roads, swarming rail tracks, pelting stones at trains and clashing with cops - blaming delayed police action for the murder of a seven-year-old girl in Tiljala on Sunday.

Etihad Airways resumed operation from Kolkata on Sunday. It will operate direct flights from the city to Abu Dhabi seven times a week. On Sunday, 152 passengers came from Abu Dhabi to Kolkata on the first flight after resumption of services and another 126 flew out of the city to Abu Dhabi.

Several roads in Kolkata may witness temporary suspension of movement of vehicles along with diversion this week due to a number of administrative, religious and political programmes that will see VIP movement. This includes a two-day visit by President of India, Droupadi Murmu, a two-day sit-in protest that CM Mamata Banerjee will lead, multiple protest marches by the opposition parties, Ram Navami processions and a political rally in central Kolkata.

Incidences of forest fires shot up by nearly 23% between February and March in Bengal, according to data collated by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

The body of a seven-year-old girl, who was allegedly murdered, was found from her neighbour's flat packed in a jute bag on Sunday. Police have arrested the accused, who hails from Bihar, and are trying to ascertain the motive behind the murder. Cops said only a post-mortem will ascertain if the girl was physically abused. Prima facie, though, cops said the injuries were mainly on her head and ears.

On Sunday, 152 passengers came from Abu Dhabi to Kolkata in the inaugural flight and another 126 passengers travelled from the city to Abu Dhabi in the plane.

An elderly man, who tested positive for COVID-19 and had multiple comorbidities, died at a state-run hospital in Kolkata, a senior official said on Sunday.

After exposing the new modus operandi of Jamtara gangs to park money gained through fake power bill and loan app frauds into automobile fuel filling cards and e-way toll wallets, cops have busted the gang.

Fees for school buses and car pools are set to rise by 8%-15% in Kolkata from next month when the new academic session begins in CISCE and CBSE schools, report Dwaipayan Ghosh & Paulomi Roy. It is likely to be implemented by both schools operating their own bus fleet and private operators.

Bengal reported its first Covid death in over three months on Saturday when a Nadia resident died at Beliaghata ID Hospital.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is planning to roll out the new app-based parking fee payment across all parking lots in the city by Poila Baisakh to bring an end to the extortion raj by parking attendants, who are currently charging four times the rate. A fortnight earlier on April 1, the new graded parking fee structure that hikes the fees by two to 10 times will come into effect.

Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy called on CM Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat home on Friday, ahead of assembly polls in his state.

Hepatitis B and C infections that could be precursors to cancer of the liver at a later stage have become notifiable diseases in Bengal. The state health department has shared a format, through which each healthcare unit and diagnostic centre in the state has to notify it as and when they get cases of the two viral infections. Health experts termed this an important step for early detection, prevention and medical intervention of the affected.

As Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) gears up to roll out the graded parking fee structure - that is 2-10 times higher than the existing rate - parking attendants at Chowringhee, Park Street and other prime locations in central Kolkata are charging Rs 40 per hour from motorists, four times the existing rate and twice the proposed one. At Esplanade, the attendants demanded Rs 50 an hour.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday joined the chorus of prominent opposition leaders in the country in slamming the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, calling it a ew low for constitutional democracy.

Kolkata Traffic Police has decided to allow KMC to block the busy Kali Temple Road-Sadananda Road crossing for close to two weeks to complete piling work for the construction of a lift of the skywalk. The initial blockade of 10 days will tentatively kick in from April 7. Cops said this was the final road block that was required to complete the skywalk.

Kolkata Metro, Indias first metro service, was inaugurated on October 24, 1984. At that time, the metro was used to run from Esplanade to Bhawanipur (now known as Netaji Bhavan) Metro stations.

Preparing themselves for the upcoming season of norwesters and cyclonic storms that the state has witnessed on a regular basis in the last few years, National Disaster Management Authority and West Bengal State Disaster Management Authority conducted a state-level mega mock exercise simultaneously in eight districts of West Bengal on Thursday.

The cyber crime wing of Barrackpore commissionerate busted an online dating racket on Wednesday and arrested 26 people, including 23 women. The accused were using a rented flat in Nagerbazar, Dum Dum, to cheat people by giving false assurances of friendship and dating, in lieu of money.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation heritage conservation committee has decided to grant a heritage tag to former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray's house in Beltala off Hazra Road following a spot visit to the two-storied building constructed in 1900. The team found that not only was the building historically significant, it was architecturally important too.

The chemistry department of the Presidency University (erstwhile Presidency and Hindu College) - the oldest in the country - is set to celebrate 150 years of its illustrious journey from Tuesday with seminars, lectures, quiz on chemistry and a reunion.

Within a span of fifteen days, prices of vegetables rose by nearly 60% to 80%, burning bigger holes in the pockets of consumers. In the last week of March, the supply of summer vegetables stabilises, cooling off their prices. But the deficit in rainfall last monsoon and long dry spell of winter continues to play havoc with the production, leaving a huge demand-supply gap.

Kolkata Police has launched a special campaign - both online and offline - against spitting across the city and soiling the surroundings. The online campaign launched on Wednesday, saw cops using unique memes urging citizens of this city themselves to take a strong stand against those who are spitting gutka and pan on the road.

Visa applications for travel abroad from the city have registered a 161% growth in 2022 against the previous year despite a huge drop in applicants to the US due to the inordinately long wait time for a visitor visa appointment slot.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in Kolkata has crossed the 1% mark even as the state's overall positivity still is below it.

The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on Wednesday launched a 24x7 complaints helpline against private health facilities on issues related to admission, treatment or billing. Complainants can call up 18603453512 to seek the commission's intervention.

Scientists have sounded an alarm over the rapid depletion of groundwater in the city and warned that unless corrective measures are adopted immediately, the water table could decline by nearly half when the five-yearly study is conducted next in 2025. Besides triggering a water crisis, this will aggravate arsenic contamination and leave the city vulnerable to subsidence, they say.

The Covid pandemic has dealt a body blow to one of the most enduring icons of the City of Joy: the hand-pulled rickshaw. In a matter of four years, the once-ubiquitous mode of intra-city transport has had its fleet size almost halved, owing to a drastic drop in passenger count and migration of rickshaw pullers.

An YouTuber with over 16,000 subscribers fell prey to cyber fraud recently with the content provider losing access to his channel from February-end. The Gmail account used to operate the channel was also compromised. The cyber cell of South division on Monday finally managed to retrieve access to the channel.

Almost 18 days after the murder of a 30-year-old Tangra youth, allegedly by one his friends and his family members, the body of the victim - Jhunnu Rana - was finally recovered from the canal near Bamanghata wooden bridge under Kolkata Leather Complex police station area. The search was launched 144 hours earlier.

Cough, runny nose and sore throats are nagging several people, even though acute viral infections and fever are on the decline. Even about a week ago, many Kolkatans were complaining of several manifestations of viral infections.

A 54-year-old artist known for constructing some of the major Durga puja theme pandals between 2001 - 2014, was found dead, hanging from a ceiling at his home in Kolkatas Baguiati on Tuesday morning.

Indian Navy launched another Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASWSWC) the second in a series of eight indigenous ships built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) on Tuesday at a Kidderpore yard.

The Bengal STF and the Kolkata Police STF have busted several gangs dealing with illegal arms, fake currency and drugs.

The city's iconic yellow taxis may get a fresh lease of life, even beyond their 15-year scrap limit, with the state government drawing up plans to facilitate their conversion to electric vehicles.

Three persons, including a 16-year-old girl, who had appeared for her Madhyamik examination this year, died in a blast in an illegal cracker factory in South 24 Parganas' Mahestala on Monday evening.

The Bengal government has updated its land records to name Amartya Sen as the lessee of the entire 1.38-acre plot on which his Santiniketan home, Pratichi, stands.

Early on Sunday, Sandakphu, the highest point in Bengal, received its third snowfall this year