Bid to encash forged cheques
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Nov 12 — The police has registered cases against three persons for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to encash forged cheques worth Rs 6 lakh and against the Director, Agriculture, Punjab, for reportedly demanding a bribe from the owner of a seed farm.

The case in the first instance was registered under Section 380 \ 418 \ 465 \ 467 \ 471 \ 120 - B, IPC, at the Sector 36 police station following directions of Ms Paramvir Nijjar, JMIC, under Section 156 (3) of the Cr PC.

According to police sources, Mr Amit Arora, a resident of Sector 2, Panchkula, lodged a complaint that his employee, Vinod Kumar Arora, who had been looking after the accounts and handling all cash transactions of his company had attempted to encash two cheques totalling Rs 4. 75 lakh.

Since Vinod was in possession of the cheque books, he had hatched a plan with Mani Majra resident K L Khanduja, forged his signatures and presented the documents to Canara Bank, Sector 35. Since the complainant had already notified his bank about the theft of the cheques, the bank did not encash them and informed him accordingly.

Similarly, Vinod had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Rajiv Tandon, a flour mill owner of Ludhiana, and had attempted to get another cheque worth Rs 1. 30 lakh, encashed from the same bank.

In the second instance, a case under Section 7 \ 13 (1) (d), 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, has been registered at the Central police station against Dr Balkaran Singh, Director, Agriculture, Punjab. The case will now be investigated by Mr Alok Kumar, ASP, Central.

Sources said the Director had allegedly demanded Rs 5 per quintal for certifying the seed produced at M\s Ganga Seed Farm, Kotli, which is located near Maur Mandi in the state. The accused had demanded the bribe from Mr Ram Chander, owner of the farm.

A complaint accompanied by an affidavit by the complainant was submitted to the Principal Secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister who had forwarded it to the to the State Vigilance Bureau. An inquiry was conducted by the SSP, Bhatinda, who had recommended the registration of a case.

It may be recalled that a case in which the Director had reportedly demanded a " commission" of Rs 14 lakh was registered at the Sector 34 police station last week.

Liquor seized
The police has arrested four persons from various parts of the city for possessing 179 pouches of liquor.

Labh Singh and Rajesh, residents of Maloya, were arrested and 105 pouches of whisky were seized from them. Similarly, Ramesh Kumar and Manoj, both residents of Kumhar Colony, were arrested and 74 pouches of liquor were recovered from them.

Car stolen
Mr Jagdish Chander, a resident of Panchkula, reported that his car, HR-06-A-0002, has been stolen from the parking lot of the Punjab and Haryana high court. A case under Section 379, IPC, has been registered at the North police station.

Ex-Mayor seeks CBI probe
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 12 — A former Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, has demanded a CBI inquiry into the purchase and consumption of bitumen by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) during the year 1997-98.

In a statement, Mr Gupta alleged that despite assurances by the Commissioner, Mr M.P. Singh, at the meeting of the House in August that the report would be made public within a month, nothing had been done so far.

He added that the audit reports, submitted to the Commissioner on June 1,1998, had alleged that norms prescribed for the consumption of bitumen on the maintenance of roads and original road works had not been followed.

Similarly, norms were not followed regarding the consumption of fuel wood. In certain cases, no fuel wood was consumed for heating up the bitumen and in some cases the consumption of firewood was much lower than the standard norms, he said. In certain other cases, the officers concerned had not put up the relevant record to the auditor, he alleged.

Since the matter had been lying undecided for over one and a half years, the inquiry should be handed over to the CBI, he added.

Strike: On the call of the Government and MC Employees and Workers, the employees of the corporation will go on a one-day strike in support of their demands on November 16.

Among the major demands of the staff are treating the staff transferred by the Chandigarh Administration to the MCC on deputation, release of bonus for 1997-98 and 1998-99, regularisation of the services of the daily-wage and work-charged employees and filling of vacant posts.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Electricity Streetlight Employees and Workers Union: President- Mr Parkash Chand; Senior Vice-President-Mr Kashmir Singh; Vice-President-Mr Yadvinder Singh; General Secretary-Mr Vachaspati Uniyal; Joint Secretary-Mr Sohan Singh; and Treasurer-Mr Hukam Chand.

Hike in vegetable prices
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 12 — Priced at Rs 50 a kg, capsicum was the dearest item among the commonly consumed vegetables in the local markets on Friday. A better quality of the vegetable was, however, being sold at Rs 60 a kg.

A survey of the local markets revealed that prices of all commonly used vegetables had registered an increase in the past few days. Beans were being sold at Rs 25 a kg in the Phase 3B 2 market here.

A vendor at the Phase 4 market was selling gourd at Rs 10 a kg. A few days back the vegetable was available at Rs 6 a kg. Once a king of vegetable, onion was being sold at Rs 10 a kg. The better quality of the vegetable was selling at Rs 12 a kg.

Tomato was another vegetable which had registered an increase in its price. It was being sold by a vendor in Phase 5 at Rs 18 a kg. A five-kg pack of the vegetable was being sold for Rs 80. A vendor in Phase 4 was selling turnip at Rs 8 a kg. Another commonly consumed item — brinjal — was selling at Rs 8 a kg. Bitter gourd, which was selling at Rs 15 a kg last week, was today available for Rs 20 a kg.

Cucumber was being sold by a vendor in the Phase 7 market for Rs 24 a kg. Another vegetable, peas, was selling at Rs 22 a kg. However, a better quality of the vegetable was selling at Rs 24 a kg. Cabbage and cauliflower were availabe at Rs 10 a kg and Rs 7 a kg, respectively. Potato was being sold in Phase 5 market at Rs 5 a kg.

GMSSS-33 emerge champs
By Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, Nov 12 — Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, clinched the under-17 UT inter-school ball badminton title by defeating Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, 29-14, 29-15 in the final at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, here today.

The third place went to MDAV School, Sector 22, who beat Government Model High School, Sector 28.

In the under-14 final, Government High School, Sarangpur, got the better of Government Model High School, Sector 36, 29-28, 22-29, 29-27.

Inter-school cricket

Government Model High School, Sector 38, and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 40, reached the last eight of the UT inter-school cricket tournament for under-14 years being played at St John's High School, Sector 26.

Results: first match — GMHS-38 b GMSSS-20 by 82 runs. Brief scores: GMHS-38 127 all out in 20 overs (Simranjeet 25, Akash Bhalla 24, Navdeep 2 for 15, Anmoljeet 2 for 23, Varun Kumar 2 for 30); GMSSS-20 45 all out in 13.2 overs (Jatin Sharma 5 for 22, Ashish 2 for 11).

Second match — GMSSS-40 b BV-27 by 4 wickets. Brief scores: BV-27 110 all out in 16.5 overs (Aseem 28, Saurav 18, Anupam 15, Amit 13, Nitin 4 for 23, Navpreet 2 for 15); GMSSS-40 111 for 6 in 17.4 overs (Arun 34, Navpreet 32, Shivankit 4 for 14, Saurav 2 for 22).

GHS-35 triumph

In the under-16 UT inter-school cricket at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Government High School, Sector 35, defeated Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, by 4 wickets. Manav Mangal School scored 132 all out, with Sandeep scoring 41 runs off 24 balls. Gurvinder took 3 wickets for GHS-35.

In reply, GHS-35 achieved the target in 18 overs, with Brij Mohan remaining unbeaten with 32 runs off 23 balls and Pardeep scoring 31 runs off 16 balls. Manjit took 2 wickets for 34 runs.

Shishu Niketan win

Shishu Niketan Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, defeated Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, by 9 wickets to enter the semi-finals of the under-16 section of the Lions Trophy cricket tournament at GMS-32.

Vinay took 4 wickets for 12 runs and Sanjay School were bundled out for 64 runs in 16 overs. In reply, Shishu Niketan reached the target in 10 overs, with Uday remaining not out on 29 runs.

Dev Samaj-21 lift basketball title
By Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, Nov 12 — IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, lifted the CBSE under-19 basketball title for girls by defeating Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, 21-6 in the final played at ISDSSS-21 here today. Mr Brahmjit Kalia, District Education Officer, UT, gave away the prizes.

The half-time score was 11-2 in favour of Dev Samaj School. Kavita was the captain of the winning team while Manisha led the losing team. Manpreet and Navnet scored 8 points each for the winners while Shweta scored 5 points. Ranjita and Nisha netted 3 points for the losers.

The third place went to Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, who defeated Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, 27-15. Sacred Heart School led 12-11 at half-time. Neha netted 17 points and Ayesha 8 points for the winners while Manik netted 7, Chetan 4 and Mehak 4 points for the losers.

Rajiv wins gold

Rajiv Kumar of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 38, won the gold medal in the below-35 kg category in the UT inter-school karate championship held at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41.

Irshad Ali of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, won the silver medal while the bronze medal went to Satish of Government High School, Sector 26.

The overall trophy was won by Government High School, Sector 41, and St Joseph's High School, Sector 9, were runners-up.