21-year-old youth ends life by suicide in Amritsar

Amritsar: A youth identified as Raghav Sharma (21) of Nangal Pannuan village ended life by suicide after he was defrauded of Rs 3.5 lakh by Mandeep Singh of the SG Enclave area on the Majitha road here. Mandeep cheated the victim on the pretext of getting him a job in the Amritsar MC. Following a complaint by victim’s father, the police have booked Mandeep on the charge of abatement to suicide. Sohan Lal, victim’s father, told the police that he works as driver and his son Raghav completed his Class XII recently. He said they met Mandeep Singh around three years ago. He used to live in Naag Khurd village at that time. He said Mandeep used to work as DJ player and was also a dealer of old cars. He said Mandeep lured them by stating that he had good relations with officials of the MC and could get his son Raghav recruited in the civic body. He demanded Rs 3.5 lakh for the same. Lal said the accused neither returned his money nor got his son a job in the MC. He also stopped answering their phone calls. Upset over this development, Raghav went out of the house on Saturday evening on pretext of going to temple. When he did not return, his family started looking for him. Later, he was found dead near their house. He had consumed some poisonous substance. The police took the body into custody for the post-mortem examination and registered a case against Mandeep Singh. TNS

Dry fruit worth lakhs gutted

Amritsar: A major fire broke out at a dry fruit warehouse in Majith Mandi today morning. No loss of life has been reported in the fire. Naaresh Manchanda from Sewa Society Fire Brigade said they got information about fire in the dry fruit godown at 9.15 am and reached the spot at 9.22 am. They immediately started dousing flames. Meanwhile, two fire tenders of the Municipal Corporation also arrived on the spot within few minutes, he said. Huge quantity of cashew packets and boxes were stored in the godown. All dry fruit worth lakhs was destroyed in the fire. Firemen brought the blaze under control within one hour. Flames were doused completely by 11 am. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. A short circuit might have caused fire.