The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

COURTS

Sell SDM office building to pay compensation: Court
Our Correspondent

Mohali, May 3
Orders were issued by a local court for the auction of the office building of the Kharar SDM, its furniture and government vehicles here today. The orders were issued because the Administration failed to give the hiked compensation to the affected farmers whose land was acquired.

The court of Tarsem Mangla, Additional District and Sessions Judge, took a serious note of the violation of the earlier court orders.

A special district court had earlier issued orders for the attachment of the Kharar SDM’s office building, along with its computer and official vehicles for failing to give the hiked amount to affected farmers.

According to reports, the Railways had acquired a land in Khoonimajra village in 2001 for laying a railway line. The farmers whose land for the purpose was acquired included Gurdeep Singh and Gurinder Kaur.

The affected persons had approached the court against the inadequate compensation amount given to them.

In 2008, the court hiked the compensation amount. However, the office of the Kharar SDM failed to pay the hiked compensation.

land acquisition
Court orders freezing of GMADA bank accounts if farmers not paid by July 5
Our Correspondent

Mohali, May 3
A court here issued orders for the attachment of two bank accounts of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) if it fails to give due compensation to farmers whose land had been acquired for Knowledge City.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dilbagh Singh Johal, issued orders for the attachment of the bank accounts of GMADA.

GMADA had acquired land of two villages for Knowledge City in Sector 81 in 2004. About 300 acres had been acquired for the project.

The court had earlier directed GMADA to give compensation to farmers according to the market rate.

The next date of hearing was fixed for July 5. GMADA would be required to pay Rs 2 crore as compensation to the affected persons before this date failing which the bank accounts of the authority would be attached.

Mohali Bar Assn elections on May 7
Our Correspondent

Mohali, May 3
City-based Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana have ordered the holding of the elections to the Bar Association, Mohali, on May 7. Chairman of the council Rakesh Gupta said in an order issued today it was mentioned that the elections which were scheduled to be held on April 24 were cancelled as certain advocates had interfered in the election process.

The council said there were 476 eligible voters who would cast their votes during the poll to be held in Mohali.

He said the elections to the association would be held under the direct supervision of Karanjit Singh, honorary secretary of the bar council.

The orders stated that Parminder Pal Singh Tung and Sukhwinder Singh Bal, both advocates, had been appointed as observers.

CRIME

3 fake insurance agents held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3
With the arrest of three persons, the Chandigarh Police claimed to have busted a gang of fake insurance agents. They have been accused of duping over 50 people of Rs 8 lakh by issuing them fake insurance cover notes.

On May 2, a call was received at the police control room that a fake insurance company agent came to collect premium from a resident of Sector 10. The fake insurance agent insisted on payment in cash and even offered a discount of 10 per cent on the insurance premium.

The imposter, identified as Harun Kumar, was arrested and a case was registered against him at the Sector 3 police station.

His interrogation revealed that he was part of a gang operating from Manimajra and consisted of three others, namely Lalit Ghai (team leader), Amit Singh and a female member.

The police said the accused revealed that they joined different insurance companies for a few months to collect data of their clients. Thereafter, they used to call them (clients) and induce them to buy policies. The unsuspecting clients were swindled by issuing them fake insurance cover notes.

The police said two other members of the gang, Lalit Ghai and Amit Singh, have been arrested and 23 mobile phones, 13 SIM cards, two laptops, one printer and some documents have been recovered from their possession.

The female member of the gang is at large.

The police have initiated an investigation into the case.

Valuables worth Rs 7 lakh stolen
Our Correspondent

Zirakpur, May 3
Thieves struck at a house at Zimidara Enclave in Bhabat village here and decamped with cash, gold and silver jewellery and other household goods worth Rs 7 lakh. Owner of the house Bachan Singh, a retired government employee, and his three family members were out when the miscreants targeted the house.

All of them had gone to Amritsar on April 30. The incident came to light on Friday when a neighbour called them to inform that the house locks were broken.

The family immediately rushed back and were shocked to look at the ransack rooms in the house on Friday night. A lighter was found, suspected to be left by the thieves, in the house.

“Investigating officer Anup visited the ransacked house for inspection, but no dog squad or forensic expert teams were called,” Singh alleged.

Bachan informed that Rs 1.5 lakh cash, gold and silver worth Rs 4.5 lakh, two LPG gas cylinders, one sewing machine and clothes had been stolen.

One hurt as tipsy driver rams SUV into car
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3
A speeding Toyota Fortuner hit a Swift car at the Sector 43/44 roundabout this afternoon. The collision left both the vehicles badly damaged. Kulraj Singh, who was driving the Fortuner and was alone in the car, was reportedly in an inebriated condition.

He rammed the SUV into a Swift car driven by Pankaj Sharma, a Panjab University employee. While the SUV was heading for Mohali, the Swift driven by Sharma was coming from Sector 44 and going towards Sector 43.

Pankaj received minor injuries while Kulraj escaped unhurt.

Former SSP of Punjab Guriqbal Singh owns the Toyota Fortuner.

The police said the SUV hit the Swift car at the roundabout and dragged it on the roadside before jumping on to the footpath. Passersby rushed to the rescue of the occupants of both the vehicles and helped them in coming out of the vehicle.

Sources said that the medical examination of the SUV driver confirmed that he was drunk.

A case under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (Driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs) has been registered against the SUV driver at the Sector 36 police station. The SUV has been impounded.

The police said the Swift driver was yet to lodge a complaint, following which relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) would be slapped on the SUV driver.

Man loses Rs 7,000 to pickpocket
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 3
An attendant with a patient at the general hospital in Sector 6 today alleged that cash amounting to Rs 7,000 was stolen from his pocket while he was waiting in a queue to take medicines.

The victim, Teerth, had gone to the medicine counter to take medicines for his daughter. A complaint in this regard has been submitted to the police.

The hospital authorities are checking the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage to get a clue in the case.

Incidentally, the father-in-law of the victim had lost around Rs 10,000 last time in a similar manner.

Two brothers booked for rape
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3
The UT police have booked two brothers for raping a woman. On the order of the District Court, the police have booked Gurmail Singh and Balbir Singh, both residents of Kharar.

Police sources said the victim, a resident of Sector 51, had alleged that she was raped by the duo a few months ago. The case was under proceedings in the District Courts here.

Officials at the Sector 34 police station stated that they would be further investigating the case.

One held with charas

The Chandigarh Police have arrested Sachin (21), a resident of Sector-38 (West), and recovered 100 gram of charas from his possession.

The accused was arrested from near Maloya while he was walking towards Dadu Majra Colony. The police personnel on patrolling duty stopped the accused on suspicion and on checking, recovered a packet containing charas.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Embezzlement: Construction firm owner held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3
The Chandigarh Police have arrested the owner of Dream Group Construction Estate, Sector 11, Panchkula, in a cheating case. Following a complaint by advocates, a case was registered against Rajesh Sood at the Sector 36 police station earlier this year.

The advocates had accused Sood of embezzling funds in the construction of chambers at the District Courts in Sector 43 here.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chandigarh Police have arrested Sood.

He was produced in the district court today and has been sent on three-day police remand.

SPORTS

Ropar thrash Chandigarh in cricket

Chandigarh, May 3
Continuing the blunders, batsmen of the Chandigarh team failed to cover up and lost their match against Ropar to find place at the bottom of the point tally of the ongoing ML Markan Cricket Trophy for Boys’ (U-16) today.

Ropar defeated Chandigarh by 3 wickets. After resuming from their overnight score of 48 runs for 3 wickets in 27 overs, the team folded up for 92 runs in 63.3 overs. Saksham Gupta remained the only main scorer.

For Ropar, Navpreet Singh wretched Chandigarh’s innings by claiming 6 for 33, while Resham Sharma claimed 3 for 21.

Chasing the total, Navpreet Singh and Ishan Goyal guided Ropar to register win.

For Chandigarh, Satyam Sharma took 4 for 11 and Arshdeep claimed 2 for 36.

The Chandigarh team, last year’s runners-up, is at the bottom with a single point. Amritsar is leading the table with 20 points, followed by Patiala (17 points), Mohali (9 points), Ropar (8 points) and Jalandhar (5 points). — TNS