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Mumbai police help sought in robbery case Jalandhar, December 13 Meanwhile, a special team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the robbery committed in the city in October 2001. Seven out of the 10 members of the gang had been arrested and Rs 15 lakh recovered, the police nabbed two accused — a former policeman Mohan Singh alias Maqbool and his girlfriend Manpreet alias Preeti from a farmhouse in Sadhav village in Kutch district of Gujarat last Saturday. Darshan Singh was still absconding. Maqbool and Darshan, were declared proclaimed offenders and were the most wanted criminals by the police. The SSP said both shared Rs 35 lakh each as their share of the booty. Sources maintained that while Darshan was staying at Jawalaji in Himachal Pradesh under fictitious name, Maqbool had purchased 66 acre farmhouse in Sadhav village in Kutch by using his share of looted money. A special police team has been sent to Gujarat to verify the value of the property owned by Maqbool even as a car, a motor cycle, two tractors, other valuable household items including furniture and jewellery had already been confiscated by the police. “We are in the process of completing the formalities to auction the moveable and immovable property owned by Maqbool and Preeti, which is estimated to be at Rs 50 lakh, the recovery of looted money. The procedure will be undertaken with the permission of the court”, a senior police official revealed. Meanwhile, the police team, which had returned empty-handed from Jawalaji last week as Darshan fled the place after getting wind of police raids, has approached the Mumbai police to apprehend the main accused, who according to the police yesterday was putting up in a flat in an elegant colony in Mumbai. The police has also sounded red alert to all major international airports and sea ports on the identity of Darshan to stop the accused from fleeing the country. Photographs of Darshan had already been sent to the officials concerned in this regard along with the case history. The police was also investigating the role of some policemen, allegedly passing on police activities to Darshan, who served in the Punjab Police before committing the robbery. Meanwhile, Maqbool and Preeti have been sent to Joint Interrogation Centre at Amritsar since he was proving to be a hard nut to crack. |
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SAD not to interfere in Cong affairs: Badal Ropar, December 13 Mr Badal said the SAD was trying to take advantage of the factionalism with the state unit of the Congress. It would instead fight a political battle against the anti-people policies of the Congress government. After coming to power in the state the Congress government has withdrawn all the benefits given by the SAD/BJP government to the poor of the state. The taxes on public and traders have been increased. The benefits of the employees have also been withdrawn. Development works going on in state were either sponsored by the Union Government or started by the SAD/BJP government in the state. The SAD would start a massive
campaign in the state to make the people aware of the poor governance by the Congress government. He also demanded that a probe should be conducted into the corruption charges levelled by Congress minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal against Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The Congress policies have been exposed by the defeat of the party in all states in which the elections were held recently, he said. |
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Rs 558-cr Railways’ claim on PSEB disallowed Patiala, December 13 The arbitrator ruling in favour of the PSEB in the case adjudicated that the Board should give the Railways only Rs 14 crore for the period when it had not given any advance to the Railways even for a single rake of coal. The decision is relief for the Board as the Railways had been threatening to stop the supply of coal to three thermal plants in Punjab, on the plea here the Board was not paying up the “surcharge” due to it. In December, 2001 the railways had threatened to stop transporting coal to the State immediately if in case the dues were not paid. The Board approached the high court on the issue. The court appointed a retired high court judge as an Arbitrator in the case in March this year. According to Board Member, (Generation) H.S. Sahai, the Arbitrator in a judgement recently agreed to the PSEB plea that it was not liable to pay any “surcharge” to the Railways as long as the transport agency had an advance money of the Board even for a single rake of coal. According to an agreement with the Railways in the early nineties, the Board was supposed to pay monthly coal bill to Board in advance. For doing so the Railways agreed to give a 15 per cent discount to the Board. According to the terms of the agreement, in case the board did not pay the monthly coal bill in advance the Railways was free to charge it a surcharge of 15 per cent on the bill of the entire month. The Board abided by this agreement for a number of years but could not do so in the past five to six years due to free power facilities to farmers and other schemes which hit its finances. The Railways started imposing 15 per cent surcharge a number of times in this period and the figure swelled astronomical to Rs 558 crore. The Member, Generation said it was the view of the Board that the surcharge should not have been imposed as long as it had advance for the coal being sent to the Board and that it should not insist on a one-month advance. He said after the decision of the Arbitrator now, the Board was in the process of writing a letter to the Railways to extinguish the liability. The Board is also writing to the Railways to speed up transport of coal to thermal plants. |
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Bid to explore Central Asia potential Amritsar, December 13 Talking to TNS, Dr Kuldip Singh, Director of CFSCAS, said the project had already been cleared by the Parliamentary Committee, on the recommendation of a Rajya Sabha Member, Mr Kuldip Nayar, with an initial grant of Rs 1 crore. This would be the first attempt to explore the economic and political potential of Central Asian countries. Since the literature about these countries is available either in English or Russian, the CFSCAS would endeavour to have first hand knowledge in their local languages. He said the research scholars would first learn the languages spoken in these countries so that they could have first hand information about their culture and the economic and political scenario emerging in the Central Asian countries. This area, having rich economic resources, would be put to scholarly analysis later. Ever since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Pakistan has been trying to play the Muslim card while focusing its foreign policy on Central Asia, having a sizeable presence of Muslims. Dr Kuldip Singh said any laxity on part of India for establishing meaningful political and economic ties with these countries would leave Pakistan free to practise politics and it would have hostile repercussions for India. The power vacuum created by the disintegration of the USSR was inimical to India’s strategic interests.. The cultural studies are a prelude to friendly political relationship. The Central Asian countries have a lot of potential for diverse trade between India and the countries of the region which can be exploited by forging closer bilateral economic ties. These countries hold some of the world’s largest oil and gas fields. Kazakhstan has not only vast oil resources but also possesses a quarter of the world’s known uranium reserves. Uzbekistan holds the largest gold mine on earth and is the fourth largest cotton producer. Tajikistan possesses the largest known silver deposits and has enormous gold and aluminum deposits. Turkmenistan is the fourth largest producer of natural gas in the world. |
BJP meets Verma tomorrow Jalandhar, December 13 Talking to reporters here today, Mr Khanna alleged that the true face of the Congress government had been exposed before the people after allegations of corruption were levelled against the CM, who was trying to project himself as a crusader of corruption. “A senior colleague of the Amarinder government had accused the CM of being corrupt and my party is of the view that a CBI probe should be ordered to maintain the sanctity of the post of the Chief Minister”, he said. |
Doctors beaten up in club Mansa, December 13 Private medical practitioners and other prominent persons, including activists of SAD (Amritsar), also took out a march in the city to lodge the protest against the “goondaism” being spread by a section of residents who were considered close to the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leaderships. Some shopkeepers dealing in general goods also downed the shutters. Two of the associates of Dr Amrit Pal — Dr Suneet
Jindal, president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Mansa unit, and Mr Manoj Birla — suffered little injuries. Dr Pal was severely hit on his private parts by Kala Danewalia with the intention to kill him. Kala Danewalia belongs to the SAD (Badal) party. Dr Pal has been admitted to local civil hospital and is in serious condition, according to the doctors attending upon him. Dr Jindal told TNS that Kala Danewalia came to the club and started beating up Dr Pal on his private parts with an intention to kill him. When they tried to save Dr Pal, they were also beaten up. When the accused left the club, they shifted Dr Pal to the Civil Hospital. The doctors alleged that the accused wielded so much influence that when they approached the police authorities first for an action against him, they did not get any positive response. It was only after the chemists, private practitioners and other shopkeepers protested that the police took note. Mr Gursewak Singh, president, SAD (Amritsar), district unit Mansa, said the town had been witnessing the beating up of businessmen and other prominent citizens at the hands of those, who mattered most in the state government frequently and the authorities concerned had been failing to take notice of it. He demanded that accused should be arrested immediately and dealt as per the law. Mr Sanjeev Goyal, Station House Officer (SHO), City Police Station, when contacted, said a case under Section 307 of the IPC would be registered against Kala
Danewalia. He added that police would not yield to any political pressure. He said Kala Danewalia had absconded and police parties had been dispatched to nab him. Kala Danewalia could not be contacted despite repeated efforts. |
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Flouting court orders with impunity Zirakpur, December 13 Signboards and glowsigns indicating the location of Bristol Resort, which is owned by the him, have been put up along the road berms and even on either side of a road divider facing the highway in Singhpura village near here. Blinking lights atop reflectors put at both ends of the road divider indicating the location of the resort have increased the chances of road mishaps. The management of the resort has also put decorative lights on the road divider without any permission from the Punjab Public Works Department. Decorative lights flanking the streetlight poles, installed by the Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat along the highway, have also made it accident-prone stretch as the glare blinds the commuters.The problem aggravates while marriage parties and other functions are going on there. Vehicles parked along the highway force road users to move at a snail’s pace. Apart from this resort, a large number of hotels, resorts, marriage places and other business establishments that have come up along the Chandigarh-Ambala and the Patiala-Kalka highways, within Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat limits, are not only violating the court orders, but also the Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Hoardings, signboards and advertisement panels of various companies dot the Chandigarh-Ambala and the Panchkula-Patiala highways. These have been put up within the restricted limit on either side of the highways. The Punjab State Electricity Board had slapped a penalty of Rs 6 lakh on the owners of Bristol Resort for pilfering electricity in the year 2000. The resort was also targeted by the Income Tax (IT) Department on September 30 this year. The sleuths of the department had landed at the resort to ascertain the sources of investment in creating infrastructure here. Since the rates of these hotels, resorts and marriage palaces are cheeper as compared to that located in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, people prefer organising marriages and other parties at these resorts. Sources said officials of the Income Tax Department had prepared a directory of leading hotels, resorts and marriage palaces that were fudging income records despite doing brisk business. Following the high court orders, the Building and Roads Wing of the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD) had removed hundreds of hoardings, signboards, glowsigns and advertisements panels along all national highways in Punjab, but with the passage of time, these have come up again. When contacted on phone, Mr Ramesh Kumar, general manager of Bristol Resort, expressed ignorance about the ownership of the resort. Meanwhile, Mr Har Ashok Sharma, Executive Engineer, PWD (B and R), said hoardings, signboards etc that have come up along the highways in violation of the court directions would be removed immediately. He, however, added that there were no clear-cut court directions about putting up of lights by hotels, resorts and marriage palaces located along the highways. |
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Padamjit retires, to remain PSEB adviser Patiala, December 13 Padamjit’s friends as well as his bosses today got together to honour the engineer by presenting him with mementos as well as the honorific of “role model for public servants” at a function organised by the PSEB Engineers’ Association. At his retirement party today, Padamjit, who has retired from the post of Chief Engineer, urged engineers to imbibe technical competence, adhere to ethics and ensure commitment towards consumers. Padamjit, who has always opposed privatisation of state electricity boards, in his last message to the engineers said “You should prove to the government that the public sector can give the best service to the consumer”. Board Member, Distribution, S.K. Anand while speaking on the occasion, said the PSEB had requested Padamjit to remain in the board so that he could keep contributing his technical expertise to it. He said though the Padamjit wanted to shift to Delhi, he had been pursuaded to work as a special adviser. He said the decision had been taken because the board was passing through the process of being truncated into different entities. |
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Patiala Diary PATIALA: The local Blossoms School is making efforts to curb damage to ecological balance by educating its students about its importance. The school has also been assigned a project by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) and being a Coordinator of North Zone it also holds workshops, seminars and examination for students of various schools to make a concerted effort and to motivate the young generation to work collectively to make the environment worth living. The Principal of the school, Ms Ravi Singh, said in order to achieve this aim they have also installed a recycling plant on the school premises. Besides this the students have also formed an eco-friendly club. The use of plastic bags has also been banned. Indo-Pak ties Four delegates from the city attended the sixth Pak-India Forum for Peace and Democracy held in Karachi on December 11. The forum is making efforts to improve relations between the two countries. A former Deputy Director of the District Sainik Welfare Organisation, Capt Mahinder Singh Hoti, his wife Gurkirat Kaur, Harpreet Singh and his wife Ashmeet,who are part of the delegation will also be visiting the places of their origin in Pakistan. The Pak-India Forum has been involved in promoting cultural ties between the two countries.
Sainik Sadan in city The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Tejveer Singh, has announced that a Sainik Sadan and a rest house for the Army personnel is likely to come up in the city shortly. He made this announcement at a function held at the Sainik Welfare Guest House to mark the Army Flag Day. He paid tributes to those who laid down their lives for the country. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Tejveer Singh urged the ex- servicemen to help the administration in chalking out welfare measures for the Army personnel. He added that the administration would also ensure that a tableau of the armed forces was included in the Republic Day parade.
Budding artist Ankush Goyal, a student of Our Lady of Fatima Convent School, participated in the western dance competition organised by Navjeevani School, Sullar, and bagged the first position. Earlier also he had participated in a cultural programme ‘‘Aaja Nach Le’’, organised at State College of Education and had won the first prize in Punjabi solo dance competition.
Declamation contest Sambhav Jain, Alisha Walia and Komal of Sri Aurobindo International School, Budha Dal Public School and Arya Girls Senior Secondary School, respectively, won laurels at the district level declamation contest, organised by the customers and telephone subscribers forum at Arya Girls Senior Secondary School. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Shiv Dullar Singh Dhillon, was the chief guest on the occasion. Manmeet Kaur of Guru Nanak Foundation School and Karampal Kaur of Blossoms School were awarded consolation prizes on the occasion.
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Civil Surgeon visits jaundice-hit areas Verka (Amritsar), December 13 The Civil Surgeon today visited jaundice-affected areas here. He visited the PHC and inspected the facilities and medicines being given to patients. He advised the residents to drink boiled water and directed officials to distribute chlorine tablets. Dr Gill told ‘The Tribune’, said the Health Department advising people to take proper medication of going to ‘quacks’ for treatment. He said the suspected Jaundice cases were advised to visit Jallianwala bagh civil hospital for treatment. The Health Department has written to the Municipal Corporation Commissioner on poor sewerage. The sources said people complained about contaminated water. They even showed contaminated water they had stored. The number of jaundice patients have increased. The health department had confirmed 57 cases, however, the number could be much more feared residents of the area. |
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Ophthalmologists pledge to donate eyes Jalandhar, December 13 The conference turned out to be an environment awareness
campaign as each delegate and visitor were given a sapling while leaving the venue. During the conference, as many as 60 ophthalmologists deliberated upon the new techniques in treating eye ailments. Besides, there was special debate on ill-effects of the growing pollution on eyes. |
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Police
charged with extortion Amritsar, December 13 The function is being organised by the Punjab Welfare Society and will be held on December 14 in the Ranjit Avenue area here. Residents of the city alleged that “special duties” were assigned to policemen for collecting cash donations from the public to arrange the function. However, Mr Harminder Singh Gill, SP (City-II), refuted the allegations and said the
programme was being organised for raising funds for the welfare of the families of the policemen who had laid down their lives during militancy. |
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Show ends on discordant note Barnala, December 13 The show featured Punjabi pop singer Jasvir Jassi, Paramjit Singh alias Pammi Bai, a Punjabi folk artiste, Kamaljit Neeru, a folk dancer and Balwinder Vickey alias Chacha Raunaqi Ram, a TV artiste. Mr Rabindra Narayan, President ETC and Rajiee M. Shinde Vice President (Programming) told reporters the show aimed at reaching out large audience and viewers in semi-urban areas. After the performances of Kamaljit Neeru,Pammi Bai and Balwinder Vickey who regaled the audience with the Punjabi folk art and comedy Jasvir Jassi entertained the audience with popular numbers. When Jassi had hardly presented four/five of his numbers two young men were beaten by policemen outside the pandal. After this,the show was closed. |
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Bitta asks PM not to visit Pak Amritsar, December 13 Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Bitta said he had sought a personal meeting with the Prime Minister in the next few days to apprise him about his views on Pakistan, which was bent upon abetting terrorism. He said India should not hold any dialogue with Pakistan till it gave unconditional apology for killing thousands of people since 1948 and fomenting trouble in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and in other parts of the country. Mr Bitta felt that the time has come to expose Pakistan and its nefarious designs to disturb the peace and attempt to disintegrate India through devious means. |
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Hospital building inaugurated Fatehgarh Sahib, December 13 Earlier, Bhai Jaswinder Singh, Head
Granthi, Golden Temple, inaugurated the building of the hospital. The Deputy Commissioner said such camps should be made a regular feature and the district administration would extend full support in this connection. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Bhai Jasbir Singh Khalsa
Khannawale, chairman of the trust, said the new hospital was well-equipped with latest facilities. |
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Villages to host
grievances meeting Dera Bassi, December 13 This was stated by Mr D.R. Garg, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, while talking to the mediapersons here yesterday. Licences for two-wheelers would be issued to villagers at the SDM office. He further added that a camp would soon be organised to educate farmers on driving tractors on highways and village link roads. |
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2-day women’s conference opens Amritsar, December 13 A senior advocate of the Delhi High Court and vice-president of the AIWC, Ms Chandra Mani Chopra, expressed concern over the growing rate of divorce among young couples. |
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5 of family killed in accident Barnala, December 13 Those killed have been identified as Mr Harminder Singh (30), Mr Manjinder Singh (22), both brothers belonging to Kheeva village, Mr Jaswinder Singh (23), a resident of Barnala, Mr Jasbir Singh (25), an NRI hailing from Shehna village and Mr Inderjit Singh (22), a resident of Ludhiana. |
Need for mechanism on official witnesses: HC Chandigarh, December 13 Punjab’s Director-General of Police (DGP) has also been asked to look into the matter and “convey to the court the viability of working out such a mechanism after the necessary deliberations”. In a significant judgement, Mr Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel of the High Court ruled: “In cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), evidence comprises of official witnesses and there should be no difficulty in concluding the trial expeditiously.... but it appears that there is delay on account of non-availability of investigating officers”. The judge further ruled: “It will be in the interest of fair and expeditious trials that a mechanism is worked out to coordinate the appearance of official witnesses sometimes required to appear on the same day before several courts”. The judge added: “Let this aspect of the matter be considered by or under the guidance of the Punjab DGP after ascertaining the views of all or such Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) as may be considered proper”. Offering a solution, the judge suggested: “The SSPs, at their periodical meetings with the District and Sessions Judges, can obtain a list of police officers required to appear in the cases and indicate their response about the difficulty faced by a particular officer to appear before the court on a particular date”. The case will now come up for further hearing on January 29 next year. The order was not the first of its kind aimed at reducing the possibility of implicating innocents in NDPS cases. Earlier also Mr Justice Goel had paved the way for effective pre-trial disposal of seized contraband for reducing the possibility of police planting the stuff on innocents. After hearing Punjab’s Deputy Advocate-General Mansur Ali, Mr Justice Goel had clarified that the magistrates, before whom applications were made for disposal of contraband, would deal with the same as per the statutory provisions. |
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Sangrur lawyers’ body splits? Sangrur, December 13 As per lists, of both sides, majority of the names figure in both lists. It seems that many candidates have submitted nomination papers to both sides to avoid problem of candidature in the election. In the list, issued by Mr Jain, nomination papers of the following have been declared after scrutiny. Mr Ashwani Chowdhri, Mr Gurtej Singh Grewal and Mr Harkewal Singh Sajuma for the post of President, Mr Jagdeep Singh Jawandha and Mr Surjeet Singh Grewal for the post of Vice-President, Mr Ashi Goyal and Mr Gurbinder Singh Cheema for the post of secretary; Mr Kuldip Jain for the post of Joint Secretary; and Mr Shankar Puri for the post of treasurer. In the list, issued by Mr Anurag Chopra and Secretary of the association Gurpreet Singh Nandpuri, the following names have been issued after scrutiny of nominations. Mr Gurtej Singh Grewal and Mr Harkewal Singh Sajuma for the post of President Mr Jagdeep Singh Jawandha and Mr Sukhwinder Singh for the post of Vice-President; Mr Gurwinder Singh Cheema for the post of Secretary and Mr Kuldeep Kumar Jain for the post of Joint Secretary. A section of the association members on December 9 at a meeting stopped Mr Sirjiwan Jain, president of the association from functioning as President. At this meeting, Mr Anurag Chopra, Vice-President of the DBA, was also asked to act as Acting President and conduct the election of the DBA, held on December 20. Mr Sirjiwan Jain had declared that the meeting was void. |
Mayors in Punjab given more powers Chandigarh, December 13 A decision to empower the Mayors with more powers was taken today by the Punjab Local Government Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, to accelerate the pace of development activities in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda. In a significant decision, the Mayors have been authorised to write the annual confidential reports of Commissioners of the corporations. The Commissioners of the corporations will transfer officials of the level of Building Inspectors and above only with the approval of the Mayors. This step, according to the minister, will help ensure better administrative control over the civic bodies. The minister has also asked the Commissioners to keep the Mayors informed regarding the expenditure and payments to be released to ensure accountability and transparency in the financial management of the corporations. The honorarium of the Mayors has also been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. It has also been decided that the Mayors can now sanction expenditure up to Rs 5 lakh to meet any natural calamity and other emergency situations for which the Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, is being amended suitably. |
Medical practitioner held for cheating 24 youths Ludhiana, December 13 Gurnam Singh, who hails from Manakpur village near Jalandhar, started practice at Shahkot but failed to earn livelihood. Then he bought a Tata Sumo car and hired a driver to ferry passengers and looked for those going to the embassy area in Delhi. After a trip or two, they would befriend the unsuspecting victims and claim that they could sent them abroad. America was the destination promised. Sources said once they won the trust of the person, they would ask for a draft of Rs 10,000 in favour of the embassy of the country chosen by the aspirant and take him to the embassy. While the victim waited in the vehicle outside, they would pretend submitting documents and drive back home. The agreed amount would be collected in instalments later. The use of forged documents in the case has not been ruled out by the police. It is estimated that the accused and his accomplices had duped 24 youths of more than Rs 60 lakh in the past two years. He was wanted in several cases of cheating registered across Punjab and it was on the basis of a tip-off that the police nabbed him from his rented accommodation in the elegant Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar locality of Ludhiana. Sources said Gurnam Singh operated from this residence and was nabbed by a police party from the Sarabha Nagar police station. Search of his house yielded Rs 2. 30 lakh in cash besides 10 passports of youths. His wife Jasbir Kaur and his other accomplice Venod are absconding. The police is raiding various places of suspected hideouts. During interrogation, Gurnam confessed to his crime and said that he was dazzled by the easy money earned by the travel agents and would up practice to rake in the
moolah. Several cases were got registered by his victims at various places in the city. He never lived in any town long enough for the police to catch him. |
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Witness held for turning hostile Jalandhar, December 13 According to Vigilance Bureau sources, the arrested person was identified as Daljit Singh of the local Friends Colony. Sources further said that Daljit Singh had applied for extension of load with the PSEB office at Maqsodan about a year back. The junior engineer concerned Gagandeep Singh allegedly demanded Rs 1,000 to clear his file. Subsequently, Dajit Singh informed VB officials, who caught the JE redhanded. But, during the trial of the case in the court, Daljit Singh turned hostile resulting in acquittal of the accused. |
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Dacoit
re-arrested Patiala, December 13 Amarjit, a resident of Jujhar Nagar locality in the city, had escaped from the temporary jail in the court complex on September 2 along with seven others. All of them had been taken to the court for a hearing from the local Central Jail. According to a police press note, Amarjit and Rajesh had been arrested near Nabha following a tip-off. The two were allegedly part of a gang which used to strike at farm houses in rural areas as well as deras of religious persons. The CIA staff claimed that Amarjit and Rajesh had admitted to several dacoities in Sangrur and Bathinda districts. |
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Petrol station looted, employee shot dead Batala, December 13 The police registered a case and the body of Gajjan Singh was sent to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem. This was second incident of looting in Gurdaspur district.
— PTI |
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Driven by poverty, woman ends life Barnala, December 13 According to information, Mr Dev Narayan and his wife, Babita, had been living in rented accommodation here for the past some time. Last evening, Babita set herself ablaze by pouring kerosene over herself and when her husband tried to resure her, he also suffered some burn injuries. Later, they both were admitted to the Civil Hospital here, where Babita succumbed to her burn injuries. The police has registered a case and is investigating.
— UNI |
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Servant held for killing landlady Jalandhar, December 13 According to the police, the accused, identified as Shahid Khan of Uttar Pradesh, got agitated following some an argument with his landlady, Amarjit Kaur. Subsequently, he attacked her with a sharp-edged weapon inflicting serious injuries on her face. She was taken to the Kala Bakra Civil Hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead. The accused was arrested by the Bhogpur police while he was trying to flee the place. A case under Section 302, IPC, has been registered. |
Suspended don wants probe against VC Patiala, December 13 In a letter to the Chancellor, Dr Sidhu urged that the entire file of the case should be summoned by the Chancellor and that an inquiry should be done in the case under the latter’s supervision. He has also requested that his suspension be revoked and he be restored to his position as Professor and Head of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies. Dr Sidhu, in his representation to the Chancellor, claimed that earlier he had appealed to the latter with regard to withholding of his request for issuance of a no-objection certificate so that he could go to Sri Lanka to participate in an international conference. He said instead of allowing him to perform his duties and bringing fame to the university by participating in the conference, the Vice-Chancellor had resorted to “vindictive” action of suspending him on “flimsy grounds”. The senior teacher claimed that he had been suspended without being served any show-cause notice or even being issued a formal chargesheet. He claimed that this was against the norms laid down by the Punjab Government. Dr Sidhu said the rules clearly stated that suspension should only be ordered if prima facie the case appeared to be serious enough to warrant dismissal or removal of the employee from service. Speaking about the charge of confirming an Assistant Public Relations Officer (APRO), Dr Sidhu said the allegation of overstepping his authority did not hold because he did not add anything on the file put up to him by the Establishment Branch. He claimed that he had only given approval to the noting of various officers of the Establishment Branch, who had been dealing with the case. He also claimed that the Vice-Chancellor had through a letter dated October 30, 2002, delegated the powers of clearing the probation of “B” category employees to the Registrar. He claimed he was therefore competent to clear the file of the APRO. The suspended teacher claimed that even if he had wrongly approved the confirmation of the employee on the recommendations of the Director, Public Relations, and officers of the Establishment Branch, the file should have been sent back for correction of the “inadvertent” mistake and that “post facto” approval of the Vice-Chancellor could have been taken on the issue. Dr Sidhu claimed that the “real reason” for his suspension one year after he confirmed the employee was to pressurise him to withdraw the “defamation” case filed by him against the Vice-Chancellor. He said he had filed the defamation suit because he had repeatedly been insulted by the Vice-Chancellor, who had given defamatory notings on official files. |
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