Crime , Compassion and ‘Serving Self’

Robbers target riches

June 27: Robbers took away Rs 5 lakh from a cash van of the State Bank of Patiala in Khuda Ali Sher.
August 4: A youth armed with two pistols shot at a salesman in a jewellery store at Sec 22. He fled with 18 gold chains and continues to be on the run despite being clearly captured on CCTV.
November 1: A businessman was robbed of Rs 1.10 crore in Sector 17. Later, his employee and two others were arrested in the case.

Extreme step

June 4: Deputy Director (Vocational), Punjab Education Department, Vinod Kumar, who had courted controversy for violating rules while purchasing books for school libraries, allegedly committed suicide by jumping into Sukhna Lake.
July 25: A UT police constable shot his wife to death at the GMSH-16. The constable, Anand Kumar, pumped four bullets into his wife using his 9 mm service pistol before shooting himself twice near the shoulder and stomach.
October 16: A 27-year-old woman was shot dead at a flat in the Punjab and Sind Bank Officers House Building Co-operative Society in Sector 49.
November 14: A 72-year-old woman was murdered by her domestic help and two others in Sector 35.

Self-service

A team of the anti-corruption branch of the CBI arrested Inspector Rajesh Shukla, SHO of the Sector 34 police station, along with a head constable and a constable, for allegedly accepting Rs 10,000 as ‘monthly collection’ from a parking contractor.
A WhatsApp message by the SHO of the Industrial Area police station levelling serious allegations of corruption against his immediate superior, a woman DSP, created a furore in the police departmen.
Controversial sect head Rampal’s arrest kept the Chandigarh police on toes. An amount of over Rs3.29 crore was spent on the security arrangements.
Major political parties wooed voters with liquor and money.

Chill down spine

August 22: Three youngsters, in their early twenties, were charred to death when the car they were travelling in collided with a Volvo bus at the Sector 45/46/49/50 light point. An NRI couple from the UK was also killed in the accident.

Unsung achievers

• An NGO, ENACTUS of Dr SSB University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology UICET, helped an HIV positive self-help women group run a bag manufacturing unit. The organisation consists of 67 members.
• Silent heroes: Without expecting any recognition, Shamsher Singh (left) has been running Prabh Asra for the homeless near Kharar. Around 285 such persons have been staying at his shelter homes in Padiala village and Jhanjheri. He has never got any help from the government. Ailing persons from far-flung areas are sent to him.
• For the past 14 years, 49-year-old Tilak has been guiding tourists while taking them on board the hop on hop off bus of CITCO. Tilak, who doubles as fitter and driver, acts as the ambassador of the Le Corbusier's city. Earlier, he used to drive CITCO's chartered buses.

Shipshape

The railway station was given a face-lift. The former railway minister mooted the first information technology industry of the region in Chandigarh over 400 acres of the Railway's land.