The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Government fails to resolve liquor imbroglio
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
Even two weeks after the expiry of licenses of liquor vends that yielded around Rs 220 crore to the state exchequer last year, the imbroglio over the auction of vends still continues and detailed discussions held in the meeting of the State Cabinet at Chandigarh last evening also proved inconclusive.

According to highly-placed sources, the Government has constituted a three-member Cabinet sub-committee, comprising the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh; Food and Supplies Minister, Mr Madan Mohan Mittal and Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Adesh Partap Singh, to deliberate and find an amicable solution so that the remaining groups of liquor vends in Ludhiana could be put to auction without any further delay. Though the members of the Cabinet sub- committee could not be contacted for comments, yet it was reliably learnt that officials of the Excise and Taxation department had been asked to be prepared for holding the auction for the remaining nine groups in the district on Wednesday.

The stalemate over the auction of liquor vends is a direct fallout of the ‘clash of giants’ with the Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, the son-in-law and Mr Sukhbir Badal, son of the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, working in diametrically opposite directions. The junior Badal’s affinity to, what is commonly known as the liquor syndicate, headed by the family of Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, is well known and it was last year that Mr Kairon had inducted other contractors in the liquor trade here to pull the rug from under the feet of the ‘syndicate’.

According to well-placed trade sources, the liquor contractors had to suffer heavily for various reasons, with all of them, without exception, sustaining massive losses, mainly due to smuggling of liquor from other districts and rate cutting. Some contractors on condition of anonymity told “The Tribune” that those running the ‘syndicate’ had created such a situation that both country liquor and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) had to be sold at rates far too less than the minimum price fixed by the government. The police was also alleged to have played a partisan role in this dubious game, reportedly at the instance of the ‘higher ups’. As a result, scores of contractors had turned defaulters and owed huge money to the department. A senior official, when asked about the details of the defaulters and the amount involved, remarked, “The less said the better.”

Since the contractors inducted last year by Mr Kairon were in no position to incur more losses and were reluctant to take the ‘syndicate’ head-on once again, a liquor baron from Uttar Pradesh, claiming proximity to Mr Kairon had made an appearance in the local liquor scene and had secured one of the two groups of vends, auctioned in the district so far. Vehement denials by the Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Kairon, that he had no personal interest in the auction of liquor vends (in Ludhiana) notwithstanding, certain contractors, who had participated in the auction held at Ludhiana and later at Patiala, claimed that certain family members of Mr Kairon were seen negotiating on behalf of the ‘cartel’ of liquor contractors, headed by the UP contractor.

Several liquor contractors, including old timers, whom “The Tribune” talked to, seemed to be wary of both the ‘syndicate’ and the ‘cartel’. There was almost a “consensus” that the bigger groups of vends, formed last year, had failed to have the desired effect, and should be disbanded. The contractors favoured smaller groups, for which they could bid individually and would not have to seek the support of either of the two giants. There were, however, some others, who favoured the idea of awarding the remaining groups to the syndicate and the cartel, in equal numbers. “That seems to be the only way to ensure a reasonable hike in the revenue over last year and to avoid unhealthy competition and the resultant losses,” remarked one of the contractors.

Bootleggers and liquor smugglers were making the best of the uncertainty prevailing over the auction of remaining groups of vends and non-availability of the liquor in several city localities. Certain outsiders and those contractors, who had failed to join any of the two groups, but had a vend last year, were said to be bringing in both country liquor and IMFL from nearby areas, in truckloads and selling the same in the city. The 1,000 odd cases of liquor, claimed to have been seized by the Excise and Taxation department here during past two weeks were just the tip of the iceberg and did not tell the real magnitude of the menace.

Parking chaos outside courts
Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 16
A number of vehicles can always be seen parked along the road between the Old Courts complex and Lakkar Bridge. Those who do not find space here, park their vehicles in the nearby lanes to the annoyance of those who live there. The road gets blocked everyday and vehicles that cause it mostly belong to lawyers and those who visit the courts.

Most drivers and pedestrians say that the traffic police has not been able to enforce the parking rules in this area. Apparently, this is because most of the vehicles that are parked on the roadside belong to lawyers. Mr Rajesh Kumar, who regularly travels on this road, fears that soon there will be no space left on the road for driving a car.

Thousands of vehicles cross this road daily to reach Domorian Bridge for taking a shorter route across the railway line and avoiding the Jagraon overbridge. Though a traffic cop is always there, no measure has been taken to check unauthorised parking.

A traffic police official said it was difficult to convince lawyers not park their vehicles on the road. “They know the law and are in a better position to defend themselves and others follow suit. Soon, it will become difficult to control the situation,” the police official said.

Those who live nearby have also been protesting against parking of vehicles outside their houses. The owner of a factory said, “Due to the parking of vehicles in nearby lanes, workers cannot take their vehicles out of the factory premises,” he said. He said repeated representations to the traffic police officials had been fruitless.

Lawyers say that they don’t have any other place to park their vehicles. An advocate said, “The parking space within the Sessions Courts premises is inadequate and not more than 20 vehicles can be parked there at one time. In the lower courts complex, there is no parking lot and vehicles have to be parked on roadside. The problem can get solved only after the courts shift to the new complex in the Mini Secretariat that has an adequate parking space.

Vacancies in govt schools affect teaching
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, April 16
Teaching in government schools of the district is yet to start, even though the new academic session began more than two weeks ago. Hundreds of students return home each day without opening their bags, owing to an acute shortage of staff in these schools. The vacancies include those of principals, head teachers, teachers and lecturers.

Of the total 89 sanctioned posts of principals, 50 posts have been lying vacant and the number has been increasing for the past two years, as no new appointments have been made since.

While a majority of these posts have been lying vacant in the Sidhwan bet area, three posts for principal are vacant in the three girls’ schools of the city area. These include the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Jawahar Nagar, where the post has been lying vacant for the past two years, after the principal, Ms Manjit Kaur, was promoted as Deputy District Education Officer (Secondary).

The post for a principal is also vacant at the Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Bharat Nagar, since 1999, when the principal of the school was suspended. Another post at Hargobindpur has been vacant due to retirement of the principal in the school.

Besides, posts for principals of girls’ and boys’ schools of Sahnewal and Jagraon have also been lying vacant. Senior Secondary Schools of Machhiwara, Payal, Raikot, Malaud, Doraha, Hambowal, Balaulpur and Dhanansu are also without principals.

Similarly, with 239 of the 675 posts of head teachers lying vacant, the administrative work of government primary schools of the district has been affected. Posts for 62 out of the total 112 centre heads who administer a cluster of five to seven closeby primary schools, are lying vacant.

Teaching in government primary schools is also limping as the number of vacant posts for JBT lecturers has jumped to 917. Again, it is the Sidhwan bet area which has been affected the most. There are as many as 58 single teacher schools in the district, which include 20 each in the Mangat and Machhiwara blocks.

Vacancies for the posts of several lecturers in the government senior secondary schools of the district have also increased over the past two years. These include 31 vacancies for mathematics, 26 for political science, 22 for economics, 20 for Punjabi, 17 for English, 13 for history, 10 for commerce subjects and two for Hindi.

The number of vacancies of teachers for government primary schools have also risen, where 12 posts for science teachers, seven for mathematics, 13 for social studies and one for physical education are yet to be filled.

While the Punjab Government had made it mandatory for all fresh and promoted government teachers to do their services in the schools of remote villages for at least the first three years, a maximum number of posts are still vacant in these areas. Sources in the education department revealed that all such teachers started their services from the remote parts, but using their “approach”, a Citing reasons for preference for city schools, sources disclosed that besides getting better facilities, the transferred teachers were also availing house rent to the tune of 15 per cent.

Cheating charge against ASI
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
A number of migrant residents of Sherpur have approached Mr Kuldip Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, to get back Rs 9,000 which was said to have been taken away by Mr Jarnail Singh, ASI, in charge of Sherpur police post, on the night of April 8.

The migrants in an affidavit have stated that they had organised a function that night in connection with some festival of theirs.

Permission for the use of loudspeakers from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. had also been obtained by them. Certain radio artistes had been invited to make the celebrations a success.

The celebrations were going on until ASI Jarnail Singh arrived on the scene in an inebriated condition. Some persons in plainclothes were accompanying him. These men terrorised the migrants into handing over Rs 9,000 to them which had been collected by the singers as their reward money.

When the migrants asked for a receipt for the money being ''confiscated'' they were abused and threatened by the ASI.

Two days later, when the migrants called upon the SSP with their complaint against the ASI, the police chief assured them that he would be suspend ASI Jarnail Singh immediately. But that did not happen.

In the application addressed to the SSP, the migrants stated that Jarnail Singh was a terror for the area residents. Particular instances of illegal confinement of migrants for up to five days by the said ASI have also been mentioned in the application which is on behalf of the general public of Sherpur Khurd.

Even a week after the incident, instead of getting their money back from the ASI, the migrants are again being threatened by the ASI with getting them implicated in some case under the Arms Act and so on.

The affected migrants today called upon the Mr S.R. Kaler with a copy of the application they had submitted to the SSP who assured them a speedy redressal.

COMMUNITY

Vegetable market project waiting for CM
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 16
One of the modern vegetable markets in Punjab, which has been planned to boost the quality vegetable trading on large-scale and increase the vegetable exports from the state, will be set up soon after the state Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, inaugurates the building sometime soon. The Punjab Mandi Board and the marketing committee, Ludhiana, have already provided about Rs 7 crore in the current financial year for this project.

Mr Mal Singh Ghuman, Chairperson, Punjab Mandi Board, in an interview to Ludhiana Tribune disclosed that about 54 acres of land has already been acquired near the new grain market in the Salem Tabri area. The design of the project has been prepared and the board was waiting for a suitable ‘date’ from the Chief Minister’s Office so that the project could be started at the earliest.

Interestingly, the Punjab Mandi Board had planned this project about two decades earlier but could not be started due to one controversy or the other. The land was also encroached upon by few influencing parties. The board had to fight cases in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court to get back that land. But the project failed to start as some officials of the board were opposing the plans and tenders to particular parties.

Mr Guman said, ‘‘The project will be, hopefully, completed in the next three to four years. A large cold store and computerised handling system are planned to handle the sale and purchase of vegetables.’’ About 500 shops will be allotted to the present traders, including auction of the some shops to the new entrants. Adequate parking facilities will be ensured for the trucks and trollies, he added.

He further informed that the Mandi Board will try to explore the export of vegetables and fruits from this market to other states and countries via Sahnewal airport. An expert committee is being constituted to study the potential of export of vegetables and fruits in the domestic and foreign markets. The market will play a crucial role in encouraging the farmers to diversify from the present wheat-paddy rotation in the region.

The board has also constructed such markets in Amritsar and Jalandhar. More than 80 per cent of the traders in the old markets have shifted to these markets. The farmers are also said to be happy from these markets. However, the space in the Ludhiana vegetable market is so congested that the traffic almost always remains jammed.

The sources in the Mandi Board say that the board may experiment to privatise the planned market as it will fetch additional financial sources to the board. A team of board that had gone to Canada to study the markets, has also recommended the privatisation of some of the vegetable markets in the state.

Evicted from home and no justice yet
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
It has already taken him four years. But he has not lost heart nor faith in the legal system of the country or in the proverbial victory of truth over falsehood. Among the various complainants who have filed separate applications against the repression being perpetrated by Manju Verma, is Shameem Ahmed.

According to the application submitted by Shamim Ahmed to the Chief Minister, as also the Director General of Police on April 21,1997, Manju Verma, his neighbour, entered his house in the wee hours on February 24,1997 accompanied by six men and four women. At that time, he was sleeping in his small tea shop as the accused had attempted to burn his wooden kiosk once before. The men accompanying Manju Verma were carrying knives and had their faces covered. They gagged his wife and children and took away all his household goods in a Tata 407 truck.

Even the room of his house which he had rented out to one Gulzar Masih was broken into by the accused in his absence and ransacked. The accused’s men issued threats to his wife and children that if they informed anybody about the incident, they would be done away with. When he reached home, he found his wife and children crying on the road outside his house as they had been forcibly pushed out by the intruders. When he went inside his house, he found three women inside who were strangers to him.

With great difficulty he managed to register a case. He narrated all the facts to Dilbagh Singh and Mr Ramji Dass, both ASIs, in the presence of the SHO of the Focal Point police station.

But Ahmed was shocked when he saw the version of the FIR of both the officers. The allegations against the accused had been diluted. The case had been made out to be that of an ordinary theft and trespass, whereas it had been a dacoity which had been part of a well-planned conspiracy to get possession of his house. In his application, Shameem Ahmed has accused the police officers of dishonesty because they were giving protection to Manju Verma to allegedly run her flesh business. He also pointed out that Manju Verma had a criminal past and had been involved in immoral trafficking of women.

Having failed to get justice for a long time, Shameem Ahmed filed another application with the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ludhiana, on March 21. In his eight-point application, he had stated that although an FIR ( Number 35/97) had been registered against the accused, the Focal Point police had neither taken any action against the accused, nor recovered any of his household items from them.

Further, he stated that after the registration of a case against her, Manju Verma had become more hostile towards him. He also pointed out that after her marriage to a sub- inspector, Nirmaljit Singh, she had formed a gang of women of disputable characters, who had been engaged in unlawful activities and that there were a number of cases already registered against the accused.

The complainant further stated that on December 12 last year, he had been picked up by two cops on the pretext of taking him to the police station for recording his statement and kept in illegal confinement from 11p.m. to 4 p.m. the next day. During his confinement, the cops visited his wife and demanded Rs 3,000 for his release. His wife told the cops that there were only Rs 2,500 in the house which had been kept aside for paying the installment for the cycle-rickshaw. The cops took away the money before freeing him. He also mentioned the registration number of the car in which he had been taken away and also the name of the havaldar who, he alleges did not belong to the Focal Point police station.

The cops threatened him not to go back to his locality and face the accused. The cops served him tea laced with some intoxicant during his illegal detention as a result of which he became unconscious. When he came to senses, he found himself lying in the bushes along a road. His pockets had been emptied by the cops who had also taken away his wrist watch.

Taking note of the case, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission recommended the registration of a case on the basis of facts stated by Shameem Ahmed. Mr Maninder K. Mattewal, a member of the Commission, observed in his order of January 22 last that after a perusal of the facts the Commission was of the opinion that it was a fit case to be taken cognizance of under the provisions of the protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. According to the order, the case had been listed to come up before the Commission on April 5. Shameem Ahmed has no knowledge of the action taken by the PHRC.

He had been eagerly looking forward to the inquiry which was to be conducted by SP ( Headquarters) on Thursday last. But that day he was made to run from door to door by the cops who wanted all signatories to another common complaint of the colony to assemble at one place. He could not gather all of them and in the process, his own case had gone unheeded once again.

Authorship of Chritropakhyan disputable, Sikh scholar
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 16
Pritpal Singh Bindra, a Canada based columnist and writer and a leading scholar on Sikhism, was of the opinion that the Chritropakhyan (triyachitr), a chapter of the Dasham Granth, could not have been written by Guru Gobind Singh. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune after attending function at Punjabi Bhavan here today, noted writer said, while it was being attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, the contents of the Chritopakhyan are such that it was difficult to accept that it would be Guru’s vani.

Bindra is already in the process of bringing out a research based translation of over 1200 page text, which would be ready within a few months from now. The translation has been divided into two parts of about 600 pages each. He observes that Chritopakhyan appears to be a medieval Hindu text and probably written by Ram and Shyam whose name figures in the text. However, he was yet to come to a conclusion.

The controversial chapter of the Dasham Granth is said to contain some derogatory references about woman which denigrates the womanhood. This cannot be the vani of the Guru, he argues, while trying to substantiate his point that it has been wrongly attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.

Bindra, who is settled in Canada for about last one decade, has compiled a conceptual reference book on Guru Granth Sahib, Thus Sayeth Gurbani, which contains over 10,000 quotations from the Holy Book. He was awarded with Akali Phoola Singh Book Award for the year 1998 for this work. He has also brought out a collection of short stories and novels which reflects the life in and alien land and other problems related to it.

Another Canadian writer Harmohanjit Singh also read out poems from his recently released book Sugar, Steel and Maple Leaf, which is a collection of poems by the young poet.

Speaking on the occasion Janmeja Singh Johl appreciated the efforts of the Punjabi writers settled abroad for keeping the Punjabi culture alive through their writings.

Left parties, INTUC protest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
Left parties, including All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) and All India Council of Trade Unions, staged a dharna and held a demonstration to protest against the anti-labour and anti-employee policies of the government.

The Mr Bant Singh Brar, general secretary, AITUC, Punjab, Mr Om Parkash Mehta, state secretary, and Mr Kewal Krishan, district president, AITUC, lambasted the policies of the government which were discriminatory and detrimental to the labour class. Focussing on the government policy of privatisation, they alleged that the government, under pressure from international bodies like the World Bank, was throttling the poor and the common people. Mr Vijay Kumar, an activist of the MC Employees Union, charged the state government with promoting the contract system of labour, at the cost of the employees.

CITU activists, including Mr Jatinder Pal Singh, Mr Jagdish Lal and Mr Harminder Singh, attacked the government for its total failure in enforcing the Minimum Wages Act. They urged the trade union bodies to take measures to ensure that proper attendance of workers was marked in all factories.

The District Council INTUC activists staged a demonstration at Municipal Corporation headquarters here today to protest against the pro-capitalist policies of the government. Among others, Mr Sunder Lal Mehta, president INTUC, Mr Hans Raj Gagat, president, Punjab Municipal Corporation Employees Sangharsh Samiti, Dr Shiv Gupta, general secretary, INTUC, Punjab, addressed the protesters and lashed the government for pursuing anti-people and anti-labour policies.

YC to hold rallies
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
The District Youth Congress (DYC) will hold a series of rallies on ward level under its ‘Lok Shakti’ campaign to prepare the party ranks for the forthcoming Assembly elections. Addressing a meeting of party workers at the residence of Mr Sarbjit Singh Bunty, Vice-President, the DYC President, Mr Parminder Mehta, urged the senior party leaders to participate in these rallies to provide guidance and inspiration to the youth.

He said the YC activists were striving to carry the message of party leadership to the masses and all units of the party were carrying out the directions of the IYC Chief, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala to expose the real face of constituent parties of the NDA government in Centre, including the BJP for their involvement in dubious defence deals, as exposed by the tehelka.com.

Mr Mehta further said that four office-bearers of the DYC had been asked to finalise the programme for party meetings in all the 70 wards of the city, who will chalk out a final programme by the end of this week.

Prominent among others present at the occasion were Mr Sarbjit Kaushal, Mr Arun Bedi, Mr Narinder Gupta, Mr Raj Kashyap, Mr Caharanjit Channy, Mr Pankaj Sood, Mr Kewal Arora, Mr Anil Sachdeva, Mr H.L. Khurana and Mr Ravinder Syan.

Aggar Nagar residents demand subway
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
In the wake of heavy vehicular traffic on the Ferozepore road and difficulties faced by the residents, particularly the school going children, in crossing over from A Block to B Block of the locality, the residents have urged the Municipal Corporation to provide a subway.

A deputation of the Board of Directors of the Ludhiana Aggarwala Cooperative House Building Society, comprising its President, Mr Surinder Kumar Gupta, Vice-President Mr Jinder Pal Gupta, Cashier, Mr D.J. Jain, and the Director, Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, met the city Mayor, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, to apprise him of the pressing need for a subway, connecting the two blocks of Aggar Nagar.

The deputation explained to the Mayor that several important buildings like Gurdwara Sahib, Tagore Public School, Nursery Wing of Tagore Public School, Jain Sthanak and bank were located in A Block of the colony while Shri Raghunath Hospital, Raghunath Temple, Arya Samaj Mandir, Community Centre, Ram Lila Ground and Old Citizens Home were situated in the B Block.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune later, Mr Grewal informed that the proposal for a subway will be got examined from experts since it entailed deep digging beneath the national highway. He, however, said that the MC had a positive attitude towards the problems being faced by the residents and steps will be taken to provide easier access either through a subway or a foot bridge between the two blocks of the colony.

Admn’s intervention sought
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 16
The Moulder and Steel Workers Union has demanded the intervention of the district administration and the labour commissioner to force the management of Pearl Oswals to honour the agreement that was settled a few days ago. The union had held an emergency meeting today in which about 300 workers participated.

Mr Vijay Narain, president, Moulder and Steel Workers Union in a press statement said, “The management had agreed to accept seven out of the eight demands of the union in the presence of the labour officer. But the retrenchment has been started from April 10 resulting in widespread resentment among workers.”

BSNL employees hold rally
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
Employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited held a gate rally outside the Mata Rani Telephone Exchange on a call given by all government employees' organisations (central and states) here today. The BSNL employees observed the day as protest day against the anti-people and anti-employee budget.

CRIME

Gangs selling fake watches active
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16
Three to four persons, including this correspondent, are having tea at a shop when a good-looking sari-clad woman with her two children arrives there. The woman has chiselled features with black dots tattooed on her face. She buys a couple of “matthis” and orders a cup of tea.

While the children start munching on the “matthis” and she waits for her tea, she takes out a wrist watch and asks one of the men to buy the watch. She needs some money badly, she says. How much? asks one of them. Slowly, with deliberate movements, she produces a small cash memo which shows that the watch had been bought about a month ago from Sujata Watch Company, Jalgaon (Maharashtra) about a month ago. The name of the buyer is scribbled in such a manner that it is difficult to make out anything.

The cash memo does not carry any exact address of the watch company nor any telephone number. In the space reserved for particulars, there are printed several reputed names of watch industry. The name HMT has been ticked, indicating the brand of the watch sold.

The dial of the watch says it is HMT. But on closer scrutiny, one can see that it is just an imitation. The woman demands Rs 300 for it because it is only a month old. “If you want to open it, go ahead and satisfy yourself”, she says in a peculiar tone. But nobody is willing to buy the watch at that price. The tea-seller offers her Rs 100 for the watch but she declines it. She has not stolen it, she says. There is a “pucca receipt” to prove that she had actually bought it a month or so ago.

When this correspondent asks the woman about her whereabouts she just points towards the Chandigarh Road. Asked about the name of the locality where she lives , the woman says she is new to the town and as such has no idea what the name of the place was.

Inquiries by Ludhiana Tribune revealed that certain women and men from Rajasthan and certain parts of Haryana were adopting this modus operandi to sell watches which cost them anything between Rs 80 to 100.

Men and women of a particular tribe with its roots in Rajasthan have found it a safe way of cheating gullible migrants and locals alike. Anybody who is duped of a couple of hundreds does not bother to report the minor fraud to the police for the fear of getting laughed at by the cops.

Such petty cheats can be held by an alert beat cop but then there are not many beat cops who do their rounds honestly as they prefer to be busy in “making money elsewhere”.

‘Ideal daughter’ shocks villagers
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Mor Karima (Ludhiana), April 16
Only a week ago, residents of this village near Ludhiana used to consider Karamjit Kaur a role model for their daughters and daughters-in-law. Today, there is no worse role model than her.

Karamjit Kaur, wife of an Armyman, is in Central Jail now. She and her paramour, Shamsher, are accused of murdering her two minor children.

Even a week after the incident, villagers have not been able to overcome the shock. Elders said, before this, not a single case of violence had ever been registered in the village.

Mr Jaswant Singh, a village elder, said, “Karamjit Kaur used to be a quiet and shy woman. Even when she had to scold her children, she would do it politely. Her children, students of a school at Halwara, were brilliant and used to speak fluent English.”

Villagers say that the woman’s husband has not been able to sleep ever since his return from Bihar a few days ago and keeps talking about the betrayal.

He had even invited Shamsher to Bihar for recruitment in the Army, but he could not make it.

The Armyman never suspected anything as the woman used to tie ‘rakhi’ to Shamsher.

The woman allegedly murdered her two children at the behest of her paramour on April 7, so that she could marry her paramour.

The police said the two had also planned to murder the Armyman later.

One hurt in accident
Our Correspondent

Doraha, April 16
A man is reported to have been injured in a road accident when his car was hit by a speedy truck at Doraha.

It is learnt that Amar Singh of Mannawal village in Karnal, was on his Esteem car (UP-ISD-8444) when a speedy truck hit his car.

A case has been registered under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the IPC at the Payal police station against the truck driver.

Man beaten
A man was allegedly beaten by a few persons, when he had gone to another village to settle a dispute of water with his father-in-law.

According to an FIR registered at the Payal police station, Sukhjit Singh of Jaspalon village had gone to meet his brother-in-law, Bhagwan Singh, at his village for settling a dispute about water going on for quite sometime, when he was reportedly attacked by Kesal Singh, Bikkar Singh, Kulwant Singh and Harjinder Singh.

A case has been registered against them under Sections 332, 324 and 334 of the IPC. However, no arrests have been made so far.