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Outsourcing corruption to escape Vigilance dragnet
Shifting of sugar mill: farmers to launch stir
Dudi group regains control over Bishnoi Sabha
President’s Police Medal for DGP
MP’s relative in another row
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Criminal wanted in 11 cases arrested
3 die after consuming
poison
Healthy baby contest held
250 panchayats to be honoured today
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Outsourcing corruption to escape Vigilance dragnet
Rohtak, August 14 They have now outsourced the risky job of asking, negotiating and accepting bribe to outside agencies that use new technology to minimise the risk. According to sources instead of accepting bribes themselves these officials have hired the services of close relatives or middlemen for a cut. The underlying idea is to avoid getting caught red handed. Although most senior officers usually entrust the dirty job to their trusted subordinates, even these lowly personal assistants and their ilk have now hired the services of outsiders as a safety measure. Over the past few weeks new faces have become a regular feature in different government offices. These are the touts who can be found loitering in the lawns, lounging in a rest room or posing as a visitor standing next to the official. The corrupt officials now simply direct a victim to the tout on the pretext that he will help him complete the “formalities”. The tout takes the victim to a nearby tea stall or under a shady tree and negotiates the amount of bribe. Once it is final, the tout simply sends a 10-digit figure as SMS to the official concerned. The 10-digit figure’s last four or five digits represent the amount of bribe he has collected. The 10-digit figure is used to disguise the amount as a mobile number. So an SMS indicating that a bribe of Rs 5,000 has been received could look like this – 9876505000. Sources said the system also ensures that the amount could be tallied at the end of the day by adding up the amount from such messages in the Inbox. The service, however, does not come cheap. The tout takes a 10 to 12 per cent cut in the collections for the risk, maintenance of accounts and safe custody of tainted money. With such a meticulous planning behind the whole system it is no wonder that heads of various departments who were provided lists of suspected touts in their offices never bothered to cooperate with the Vigilance Bureau officials. The bureau has now resorted to deputing its men to keep an eye on these touts and questioning their presence. Lawyers, however, say “outsourcing” does not necessarily guarantee immunity from being charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act even if the bribe is not found on the person of the official. Much depends on the circumstantial evidence and the manner in which the tout is linked to the official and the purpose for which it was paid. But they do agree that that not being caught red handed does dilute the case somewhat unless the investigation later on builds up a foolproof case. |
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Shifting of sugar mill: farmers to launch stir
Israna (Panipat), August 14 Mr Surender Nandal of Mehrana village said farmers of Israna, Madlauda, Smalakha and Panipat blocks were against the shifting the mill to any other place of the
district. Even if the government finds it necessary to shift the mill from the present location the panchayats of Jatal, Dahar, Noltha and Balana villages were ready to provide the required land, added Mr Nandal. In case the MLAs from the region did not come to the help of the farmers they would be forced to stop their entry in their respective constituencies, announced Mr Nangal while addressing a farmers' meeting. Sewa Singh, another farmer of Bahal village alleged that the proposal was to favour the Bapoli block of the district and the villages falling in Uttar Pradesh as the proposed location was just 10 km away from the border of the neighbouring state. A meeting to decide the future course of action would be convened at Madlauda on August 20, he informed. On the other hand Dr R P Singh, Commissioner, Sugarfed, Haryana, when contacted claimed that the shifting of the mill would benefit the farmers as well as the government as the machinery of the present mill established in 1956 had become obsolete and the mill was suffering losses for the past many years. To install new mill more land would be needed. Moreover the present location of the mill was near the GT Road aggravating traffic problem at Panipat, added Dr Singh. The present cane crushing capacity of the mill was just 1660 tonnes per day and to operate economically the capacity of the mill should not be less than 2500 tpd, informed Dr Singh. So the mill with the bigger capacity with modern technology would help in getting profits, claimed Dr Singh The proposed location of the mill was near the border of Uttar Pradesh would assure the required supply of the cane throughout the season as the proposed capacity of the mill would be between 2500tpd and 3500tpd, added Dr Singh. The MLA from the region Parsanni Devi when contacted said everything would be resolved after consulting farmers. |
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Dudi group regains control over Bishnoi Sabha
Hisar, August 14 On seeing the order, the administrative officials present there opened the lock of the sabha office and allowed Mr Dudi and his executive members in. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ms Ashima Garg, had yesterday stated that the party showing the certified copy of court's order in its favour would be allowed to enter the sabha office. Following this, the sabha office was locked and the police deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The trouble had begun when the other faction, led by Mr Hanuman Jyani, had objected to Mr Dudi and his team occupying the office on the ground that they did not have a certified copy of the court's order. After assuming control over the sabha office, Mr Dudi announced that former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal would be the chief guest at the Janmashtami function to be organised on the temple premises. The court of Ms Poonam Suneja, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), had ordered that the new executive formed with Mr Hanuman Jyani as president would not be allowed to interfere in the peaceful working of the sabha. The court also fixed the next date of hearing in the case on October 10. |
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President’s Police Medal for DGP
Chandigarh, August 14 Mr Nirmal Singh joined the Indian Police Service in 1973 after serving for over five years in the Army. He fought insurgency in Mizoram and NEFA. He also participated in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. In 1991, he filed a case against the then Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. The court awarded him compensation of Rs 50,000 along with interest. Because of the case, his annual confidential reports were not recorded for the period from 1999 to 2005. The state government recommended the medal for Mr Nirmal Singh "in view of his outstanding service to the people, unimpeachable integrity, devotion to duty, diligence and conscientiousness". Seven men of the Haryana Police have been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Those who have won the medal are Mr Prabhat Ranjan Deo, IG, HPA, Madhuban; Mr Balbir Singh, DSP, Naraingarh; Inspector Vidya Wati, HPA, Madhuban; Inspector Jagtar Singh, Chandigarh; Sub-Inspector Dharam Pal, HAP, Madhuban; ASI Jai Singh, Hisar; and Head Constable Prem Chand, HPA, Madhuban. The Centre has also announced the President's Medal for Gallantry to Mr Arun Nehra, DSP; and Head Constable Jaivir Singh. |
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MP’s relative in another row
Karnal, August 14 A compact disc (CD) in possession of The Tribune containing footage of a public function chaired by Mr Dinesh Sharma at Jundla village, near here, on August 10 clearly shows at least one Haryana cop in uniform escorting him. In the backdrop a white car (Zen) is visible fitted with a red light on top that allegedly belongs to cousin of the MP. The Tribune had highlighted on Monday how Mr Dinesh Sharma had indulged in making announcements to the extent of lakhs of rupees from the MPLAD Fund. He claims to make the announcements of financial aid on ``behalf of the Karnal MP'' in the latter’s absence. Investigations revealed that Mr Dinesh Sharma was involved in numerous cases pending with the local police. Most of the cases related to property disputes. He had also reportedly written to the district police for security cover fearing a threat to his life from the complainants against whom he also filed counter complaints. When contacted, the SP, Mr Shibas Kabiraj, confirmed that no security cover had been given to Mr Dinesh Sharma. He promised to investigate the matter on how a policeman was escorting him unofficially at public functions. The SP further added that it would be probed whether the security guards attached with MP were unofficially escorting Dinesh. A source admitted that owing to political pressure no action had been taken against Dinesh. Meanwhile, terming the activities of the MP's relative as ``unfortunate'', a Congress MLA admitted that it presented a wrong picture of the party. The senior party leader said that issuing of press notes by Dinesh on the MP's letterhead was a serious matter and should be dealt with strictly. |
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Criminal wanted in 11 cases arrested
Fatehabad, August 14 According to the SP, Mr Saurabh Singh, a police party was on patrol duty at a T-point near Hinjrawan Kalan village. A private jeep stopped ahead of the police party and a youth, who stepped out of the jeep, started running towards the opposite direction. The police nabbed the youth and on search found four cartridges in his pocket. He later revealed his name as Ravinder Kumar, who was wanted by the police in 11 cases. He was arrested many times after the crime, but he jumped bail. He was also a proclaimed offender in two cases.
— OC |
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3 die after consuming
poison
Karnal, August 14 According to the hospital sources, Raj Kumari and her two sons Sanjit (10) and Sachin (12) died at the hospital while the condition of Neeru (14) and Naina (16) is stated to be ‘‘highly critical’’. Strained family relations are stated to be the reason for the suicide.
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Healthy baby contest held
Fatehabad, August 14 Dr Prabha Batra and Dr Ramesh Chakarvarty were the judges for the contest. Dinesh, Vanya and Naz were adjudged first in their respective groups. Mahi, Lakshya and Khushi got the second position in the groups. Mrs Shoeoran gave away prizes to the winners. |
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250 panchayats to be honoured today
Chandigarh, August 14 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said the Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, would honour these panchayats. He said earlier 109 panchayats of Karnal district were honoured on Republic Day for paving the way for proper sanitation. |
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Remand of Rampal extended
Jhajjar, August 14 The police had brought Rampal and seven others here on production warrant to interrogate them. The court had sent all the accused in judicial custody after a five-day police remand on August 1 which was further extended for 14 days today.
— OC |
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Trade test results
Chandigarh, August 14 |
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