Woman commits suicide
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — A Sector 26 resident reportedly committed suicide by consuming insecticide here today.

According to police sources, Mona (20) had a tiff with Ajit, her husband, who is a taxi driver. She had asked him to stay at home last evening but he had to go due to a previous engagement. This infuriated her and after he left this morning, she consumed the insecticide.

No one was at home when the incident happened as her father-in-law and mother-in-law were away to a marriage party. The father and mother of the deceased, Balraj and Poonam, have not expressed any foul play as the couple had very cordial relations. The body was handed over to them after a post mortem.

Eve-teasing: Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Sector 31, was arrested for eve-teasing from near the Sector 31 and 47 roundabout. A case under Section 509, IPC, has been registered.

Three held: The police has arrested three persons from various parts of the city and recovered 300 pouches and 11 bottles of whisky from them. Cases under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act have been registered at the Central police station.

Ajit Ram and Raj Kumar, residents of Naraingarh, were arrested from near the Fire Brigade Station and Rehan Basera with 200 pouches of whisky.

Pan Singh, a resident of Dhanas village, was arrested from near Football Stadium with 11 bottles of whisky.

Car stolen: Mr Rajinder Singh, a resident of Sector 22, reported that his car (CHOI-V-5245) was stolen from his residence. A case under Section 379, IPC, has been registered.

Molestation bid: A resident of Tribune Colony reported that someone tried to molest her when she was taking a walk with her friend near the colony. In the melee, her silver chain got lost. The police, however, claimed that it had received no complaint but was fully geared to meet such incidents in view of ''Karva Chauth'' tomorrow.

SAS NAGAR

Killed in mishap: One person was killed and another injured when the scooter they were riding was hit by a truck near Dawali village on the Ladran-Banur road, near here, on Tuesday.

The victims, Gurbachan Singh and Labh Singh, both residents of Dawali village, were going towards Kharar when the truck coming from the other direction hit the scooter. While, Gurcharan Singh, who was driving the scooter, died on the way to the civil hospital in Phase 6 here, Labh Singh, was admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, with serious injuries.

Though the driver escaped, the truck was impounded by the police. A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the truck driver.

Theft: Burglars broke into a house in Phase 7 here on the night of October 17 and reportedly decamped with jewellery and clothes worth Rs 1.10 lakh.

According to a police official, the occupants of the house had gone to Uttar Pradesh when the burglars struck. A case has been registered by the police on the statement given by owner of house, Mr Kanawljeet Singh, a local industrialist.

Studio pottery on display
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — An exhibition-cum-sale of studio pottery, which has everything from terracota to lamp-shades and photo-frames, is on at the Art Folio Gallery, Sector 9. Three women have put up the exhibition — Zoya Reikhy and Ruby Singh, who are based in Chandigarh, and Chitwan Singh, who practises in Delhi.

Zoya's teracotta works can be found in the gallery, since her works are a prominent fixture here. She has also exhibited some traditional 'diyas'.

Ruby's blue pottery and other works stand out. Exhibits like huge yellow jugs catch the viewers' attention. She has the biggest corner in the gallery.

Chitwan has put up exquisite lamp-shades, picturesque photo-frames, attractive wall-clocks and delicate-looking 'diyas'. She has used rakhu pottery, a Japanese style.

The gallery has also put up eight works of traditional Tanjore paintings of Ganesh and Saraswati. Also on display are paintings from the previous collection of the gallery. The prices of the items are on the higer side. This exhibition will be on till October 28.

Charges against CE 'baseless'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — The Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, has termed the charges of sexual harassment against the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC), Mr Puranjit Singh, as "baseless" and levelled with a view to malign him.

In a written statement, the Mayor said since the formation of the civic body about three years ago, he had been interacting with the Chief Engineer and found him as one of the very good officers of the corporation.

"No such harassment had been brought to my notice by anybody," he added.

Meeting: The 33rd meeting of the civic body will be held in the assembly hall of the corporation in Sector 17 on Wednesday

Bail pleas by Jerath, 3 others dismissed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed four separate applications for bail preferred by K.K. Jerath, former Chief Engineer of the Chandigarh Administration, in four FIRs registered against him by the administration.

Pronouncing the judgement two months and 13 days after it was reserved on August 12, Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran ruled: "The earleir application filed by the petitioner has been dismissed by this court and I find that there are no new grounds for granting him bail.

"This is a case where, after the registration of FIR on February 3, 1998, the petitioner had been evading arrest either by filing applications for bail under Section 438, Cr PC which were dismissed or by absconding," observed by Mr Justice Kumaran. "They petitioner had been declared a proclaimed offender and only after that did he surrender. Further at this stage, it cannot also be stated that there is no justification or necessity to arrest the petitioner."

In his seven-page order, the Judge held that in view of the high position occupied by the petitioner and the serious allegations against him and the amount involved either by way of bribe or by the way of wrongful loss to the government or wrongful gain to the petitioner and others, it could not be stated that there was no necessity and justification for arresting the petitioner.

Mr Jerath had surrendered in the court of the Ilaqa Magistrate in November 27 last year. Since then he has been first in the police custody and later in the judicial lock-up. All other accused arrested by the administration had been granted bail.

Mediaman's plea for exemption

Our Legal Correspondent: On a petition moved by Mr Rajat Sharma, a prominent TV personality connected with Independent Media Private Limited, New Delhi, Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi today issued notice to Mr Bhajan Lal, former Chief Minister of Haryana, for November 1.

Mr Sharma sought exemption from personal appearance in a case pending before Mr Sant Parkash, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh, on a criminal complaint filed by Mr Bhajan Lal, for alleged defamation, along with others including Mr Subhash Goenka, Director of Zee TV. The case was fixed for November 2 before the CJM.

Mr Sharma had allegedly given a news item on TV stating that a raid had allegedly been conducted by the CBI on the residence of Mr Bhajan Lal at Hisar in connection with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Corruption case.

Mr Bhajan Lal issued a contradiction but it was allegedly not given on TV. Mr Bhajan Lal proceeded to file a defamation case against Mr Sharma, Mr Subhash Goenka and others.

Mr Sharma prayed in his petition that he be shown the same indulgence as Mr Subhash Goenka has been shown in exempting him from personal appearance, except for effective dates of hearing.

SPS-44, GMHS-38 enter final
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, and Government Model High School, Sector 38, will meet in the under-17 boys' final of the UT inter-school football tournament being played at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 22.

In the first semi-final, SPS-44 blanked Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 15, 5-0. Sunil (15th minute), Vinay (18th, 38th and 50th minute) and Chetan (42nd minute) were the scorers.

In the second semi-final, GMHS-38 surprised Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, 3-2 in the tie-breaker. Manpreet, Vipin and Amarpreet converted the penalty kicks for the winners while Sunny Toor and Bhupinder Singh scored for the losers.

GGSSS-18 win: Government Model High School, Sector 26, and Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, won the under-14 and under-19 titles in the UT inter-school basketball tournament for girls concluded at SPS-41. In the under-14 final, GMHS-26 defeated SPS-41 9-8.

In the under-19 final, GGSSS-18 drubbed Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, 33-2. In under-14 section, third place went to Sacred Heart School, Sector 26. In under-19 section, third place was bagged by IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21.

St John's triumph: Hosts St John's High School and YPS, SAS Nagar, will meet in the under-12 final of the Blessed Edmund Rice cricket tournament. In under-14 section, the hosts reached the final where they will take on Shivalik Public School, Sector 41.

Results — under-12: first match- St John's 182 for 4 in 25 overs (Nalin Chopra 62, Jasdeep 28, Karan 16); St Kabir 71 all out in 20.1 overs (Bakul 24, Jasdeep 3 for 8, Abhey Kaushal 3 for 10); second match- YPS 166 for 5 in 25 overs (Varinder 67, Angad 19, Ankit Bhatia 2 for 17); St Anne's 114 all out in 21 overs (Abhishek 33, Sanjeev 13, Harshdeep 2 for 34, Kirat 2 for16).

Under-14: first match- GMSS-35 102 all out in 22.4 overs (Siddharth 32, Keshav 17, Asim Gupta 5 for 5, M. Sohi 2 for4); St John's 103 for 1 in 11.3 overs (Harneet Arora 55 n.o., Gauhar 19 n.o.); second match- YPS 137 for 9 in 25 overs (Aman Gupta 39, Sangam 15, Gaurav 3 for 27, Harjinder 2 for 18); SPS-41 138 for 6 in 24.5 overs (Ankush 32, Karan 32, Gaurav 23).

Sub-jr basketball: Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, and Government Model High School, Sector 26, won their matches in girls' section of the Chandigarh sub-junior basketball tournament being played at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8. New Public School, Sector 18, and DAV School Club, Sector 8, won their matches in the boys' section.

Athletics trials: The Amateur Athletics Association will hold selection trials at DAV College, Sector 10, on October 28, according to Mr Ravinder Chaudhary, Secretary of the association. Only bonafide athletes of Chandigarh are eligible to take part.

The team selected will take part in the seventh national athletics championship (under-22) to be held at Imphal in Manipur on November 10 and 11. Entries close on October 27 at the Sector 7 Sports Complex.