Jalandhar, January 27
The decomposed body of seven-year-old boy, Sharik, was recovered from the fields in Badiana village here by the police. The boy, a resident of Sodhi village, had been missing since January 2.

A labourer working in a sugarcane farm of one Santokh Singh in Badiana first found the body in the farm on Thursday morning, the police said. Sharik’s mother, Samina, identified the body of his son by the clothes as the body was in a badly decomposed state.

Sharik was the son of one Nafis Ahmed, a migrant working as a labourer in Sodhi village for the past seven years. On the day of his disappearance, the boy went to his school, but never returned.

Five days later, on January 7, Sharik’s sweater, a pencil box, some books and a letter were found dumped near his residence. The letter stated that the boy had been abducted by two youth from the same village.

Investigations into the case by the police, however, did not lead to any breakthrough eventhough the two youth named in the letter were rounded up and interrogated.

Sadar police station SHO Balkar Singh got the body identified by the boy’s mother.

The police have now added Section 302 of the IPC to the FIR and sent the body to the Civil Hospital here for a postmortem.

Officials in the police department said that since the boy’s body was in a decomposed state, only an autopsy report could point out the cause of the death.

Jalandhar, January 27
The Mini Bus Operators’ Union has threatened to resort to self-immolation in Chandigarh in a bus if its demands were not met by the state government by January 31.

The state president of the union, Mr Harinder Sharma, and the district president, Mr Jarnail Singh Ghardiwala, said five mini-bus operators would immolate themselves aboard a bus at Matka Chowk on February 1.

They alleged that the state Transport Minister had earlier assured them that he would arrange their meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, on January 27.

However, they alleged, the Minister had now ensured their meeting with the Chief Minister on February 1.

Earlier also, the union leaders had threatened self-immolation.

Mr Harinder Sharma said the union would not deposit any taxes or cooperate with the government if the demands were not accepted.

“Our union has been demanding that the minimum bus fares be fixed at Rs five and the bus adda fee be waived, increased taxes be withdrawn, and harassment by the traffic police be stopped,” Mr Jarnail Singh Ghardiwala said.

They have also demanded that their representative be taken into the State Advisory Committee.

Phagwara, January 27
The Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner (DC) today asked the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and the ASP here to invoke Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and stop the spilling of “contaminated” water from a textile mill into a residential area, New Model Town. He cited that the water was causing damage to the structure of the buildings, besides being a health hazard to the people living there.

Mr Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, the SDM, said he had tomorrow summoned all the administrative officials concerned to discuss the matter.

The DC, Mr Sameer Kumar, along with the local MLA, Mr Joginder Singh Mann, recently inspected the site of the spillover. The Nagar Council President, Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbotra, was also present during the inspection.

The residents of New Model Town have been alleging that the “contaminated” water being released by the mill had taken the shape of a small drain along the Phagwara-Nawanshahr railway track.

They said the effluent was even seeping into the foundations of several houses in the locality.

The Section 133 empowers a magistrate to take remedial action for removing or checking a public nuisance.