The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has identified 1,814 illegal recruitments in 15 different municipalities in West Bengal, sources have said.

All these recruitments were done since 2014 through an outsourced agency ABS Infozon Private Limited, owned by private promoter Ayan Sil, who is already in judicial custody in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school job case.

Sources said that a total of 17 municipalities in the state were under the ambit of CBI investigation, and the Central agency sleuths have identified illegal recruitments in 15 urban civic bodies.

The two exceptions where the CBI had not been able to track a single case of illegal recruitment are Panihati and Taki municipalities both in North 24 Parganas district.

To curb the spread of spam calls and unsolicited business messages, the Centre on Thursday extended the timeline for feedback submission for draft guidelines by 15 days to August 5.

The Department of Consumer Affairs said that in view of requests received from various federations, associations and other stakeholders to extend the timeline for submission of comments/feedback on draft guidelines for the 'Prevention and Regulation of Unsolicited and Unwarranted Business Communication, 2024', it has decided to extend the timeline by 15 days from the last date of submission, which was July 21.

The comments may now be submitted by August 5. The Department has received various suggestions which are presently under examination.

The founder of South Korean tech giant Kakao, Kim Beom-su, has been arrested on charges of stock price manipulation related to the firm's takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment last year, prosecutors said.

The Seoul Southern District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim after holding a hearing, which came weeks after prosecutors questioned the tycoon about his alleged involvement in the manipulation of SM shares.

The court cited risks of him fleeing and destroying evidence, reports news agency.

The case centres on suspicions that the mobile platform-to-entertainment conglomerate and its executives manipulated SM stock prices during a bidding war it won in February last year against Hybe, the parent company of K-pop superband BTS' management agency BigHit, over the takeover of SM.

West Bengal Police busted a multi-crore fake lottery racket involving operators from the state and New Delhi and arrested two people.

A senior officer of the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate in West Burdwan District on Monday said the cops also seized sacks full of fake lottery tickets of the face-value of Rs 1 crore.

“On Sunday evening, our cops were informed by their sources that a huge consignment of fake lottery tickets had arrived somewhere in Asansol and attempts were being made to transfer them elsewhere.

“Accordingly, our teams started checking various vehicles at the main exit points of Asansol. Finally late on Sunday night an auto rickshaw was intercepted by our officers and nine sacks full of these counterfeit lottery tickets were seized,” said the Commissionerate official.

Karnataka Police arrested a man on Monday and launched a hunt for another in connection with an alleged religious conversion bid targeting Hindu pilgrims in Bellary district.

The arrested person was identified as 44-year-old Hussain Basha, while his accomplice, 24-year-old Saibaba, was absconding. Both are residents of the Tekkala Pattana area in the district.

According to the police, on July 18, the accused targeted devotees who were walking to the Hindu pilgrimage centre 'Mantralaya'.

The Hindu devotees were carrying and waving saffron flags in their hands. The accused allegedly stopped them and started preaching about Islam, insisting they abandon Hinduism.

Goa police have arrested seven persons for allegedly cheating US citizens through a fake call centre, officials said on Saturday.

Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime), Rahul Gupta, said the accused persons were running a fake call centre from a hotel room at Calangute in North Goa.

“They impersonated agents from loan companies, Amazon HQ staff, bank employees, government agencies, and law enforcement agencies, thereby cheating innocent citizens from the US. Our investigation has revealed that the accused made voice calls to US citizens and those who continued with the calls were induced to transfer money,” Gupta said.

The arrested persons hail from Gujarat, Nagaland, Rajasthan, and Assam.

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after a man was stabbed to death in Sydney's inner-west on Saturday, local police said.

Australia's New South Wales Police said on Saturday that emergency services were called to a home on Spring Street, Concord, at about 12:30 a.m. local time following reports a man had been stabbed, news agency reported.

A man in his 30s was found outside the property with multiple wounds to his chest and died at the scene. The man has not been identified yet.

Police have established a crime scene and detectives are investigating the incident.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials probing the ration distribution case in West Bengal have some specific clues on the modus operandi of how fake cards were used in the alleged scam by the operators.

Sources said that investigation has revealed that mainly two types of fake ration cards were used in the process. The first were those belonging to deceased persons whose cards were not cancelled by the state food and supplies department because of a lack of intimation from the relatives.

The second type involved those who shifted to a new locality and enrolled in the fair price shop. Sources said that once that person was enrolled in the new locality, his old card in the earlier locality should have been automatically cancelled but did not.

Saddam, the key accused behind the attack on a team of West Bengal Police at Kultali in South 24 Parganas district on July 15, was finally arrested early Thursday morning, officials of the state police have confirmed.

He had been absconding since the attack and was hiding at the warehouse of a pisciculture farm in the area. However, state police sources said that on receiving specific information, a team of cops raided that farm and finally arrested the accused from there.

The cops have also arrested the owner of the pisciculture farm, Mannan Khan, on charges of giving shelter to a person accused of multiple crimes. The arrested duo will be presented before a district court on Thursday and the public prosecutor will seek their police custody, confirmed a police official.

On July 15, when a team of cops reached Kultali to arrest Saddam, accused of selling fake gold, the cops were attacked by the family members and associates of the accused. Even a bullet was shot at the cops, which fortunately missed the target.

A highly technical Android malware campaign by Vietnamese hackers is targeting Indian users through fake traffic e-challan messages on WhatsApp, according to a report on Wednesday.

Researchers from CloudSEK, a cybersecurity firm, identified the malware as part of the Wromba family.

It has infected more than 4,400 devices and led to fraudulent transactions exceeding Rs. 16 lakh by just one scam operator, they said.