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| Friday,
July 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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2 Cong MLAs working overtime to help Tangri Ludhiana, July 11 Reliable information with Ludhiana Tribune reveals that the network of Tangri was not only limited to his den in Gur Mandi. Besides his alleged illegal activities of sheltering duplicate CD preparation work or holding his own darbar (court room) in the market collecting hafta (illegal tax) from shopkeepers in the area, his activities also extended to using muscle power for influencing successive elections in the state. Sources said this is evident from the zeal with which the two Congress legislatures were trying to pressurise the police officers in the city to go slow against Tangri, or at least give him some kind of relief. Sources said this also explains why nobody could lay his hands on Tangri so far. With help from politicians, he normally managed to go scot free. But this time strong political will to rein him along with a determined police force seem to have blocked all escape routes for Tangri. Police sources, confirming the curious ‘interest’ of the two legislatures, said the police has refused to buckle under any political pressure. With the present police administration well-known for not tolerating political interference, the two legislatures have been politely educated about the kind of activities of Tangri. Reliable sources told Ludhiana Tribune that the one of the legislatures appeared on the scene on the very first night of the crackdown on Tangri. His nephew, S P Tangri, was in the custody of the CIA police and the legislator went their at about 1:30 a.m. in the night to seek his release and to question what was his fault. The legislator, however, had to return as the police expressed its determination to go all out against Tangri and his men. He was informed about the kind of activities Tangri and his associates were indulging into. Facing such opposition, the legislator had to turn back. The MLAs did not stop at this. Whenever the police was raiding Tangri’s den or demolishing the illegal structures, the two legislators were making frantic calls on the mobile phones of the police officers to question the motive. They were also trying to stall the move but could not get much success. This correspondent happened to overhear one such telephonic conversation between the legislator and a police officer during a raid at Gur Mandi. This correspondent, standing
A senior police officer, preferring anonymity confessed to Ludhiana Tribune that they were facing problems from the two MLAs. “However, we have succeeded in convincing them,’’ he said. “They have their vote bank in mind and may have other compulsions. We will continue our work as we have orders from the Chief Minister’’, the officer said. |
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‘Pirate’ Tangri’s temple of booze and porn
Ludhiana, July 11 A demolition squad of the Municipal Corporation, with a heavy security cover, descended on Gur Mandi today and razed a large illegal structure on an encroached land there. The land was originally a parking lot. Meanwhile, a new management committee headed by Mr Pawan Sharma took over at the temple yesterday. The committee conducted a massive purification exercise on the temple premises that was cleaned with holy water from the Ganges. Mr Pawan Sharma said the Temple Trust had taken over this religious place. He said the trust had been looking after the temple since 1947 before Tangri had sought its permission in the 1980s to hold some meetings here. Soon after that, he had made the place his private property.
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TANGRI ISSUE Ludhiana, July 11 In a major crackdown against Shiv Sena (Tangri) President Jagdish Tangri and his close associates, the police had held the wholesale market of Gur Mandi under siege for three days and the big iron gates, installed on both the entry points to the market, were demolished by the police with the help of civic officials. The police officials had also handed over the possession of Mahavir Mandir in the market, where head office of the Shiv Sena was located, to the temple trust. Addressing an emergency meeting of the mandal here last evening, the district president, Mr Kasturi Lal Mittal, while maintaining complete silence on the role of Tangri, expressed concern over demolition of the gates on both sides of the market. The probe panel, added Mr Mittal, would submit its report within one week. |
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Hearing
on Tangri’s bail plea today Ludhiana, July 11 A case under Sections 4, 5 of Explosive Act, 25,54,59 of the Arms Act and 302/ 115/ 384/ 148/ 149/149 of IPC was registered against Tangri and his son. Apart from them the police has also booked Darshan Singh, Surinder Kali and S P Tangri. Apprehending their arrest, Shiv Sena chief had moved anticipatory bail applications. On July 6, the police had registered the case on the basis of the information given by one of their informers. Wherein he had alleged that Tangri, in connivance with his other associates, had collected and distributed petrol bombs, deadly weapons and explosive substances with the instructions that whenever the police entered the Gur Mandi premises to investigate the matter of faked CDs, kill them. |
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May be booked under POTA Ludhiana, July 11 The possibility of invoking POTA against Jagdish Tangri is not remote, say sources close to the police top brass. The police is currently painstakingly going through the contents of the various inflammatory pamphlets recovered from the den of the absconding Shiv Sena supremo. The sources say that the pamphlets contain enough communal content capable of inciting riots against any non-Hindu section of the society. The inflammatory pamphlets and booklets apart, the huge cache of conventional sharp-edged weapons from Tangri’s so-called Shastra Bhandar may also be construed as a terrorism-linked activity but Tangri can safely counter the charge of amassing these weapons on the plea that he was merely selling these to the public. The police is hopeful of unearthing some startling facts during the investigations that are in full swing and it would not like to miss out any opportunity to nail Tangri once and for all for which end POTA would indeed come handy. It may be mentioned here that Jagdish Tangri’s cookie crumbled a couple of days ago with the police dismantling the gates of the little fortress known as Gur Mandi which had been serving as his den for the past 18 years or so. In 1986 Jagdish Tangri had been detained under the NSA for about one year by the then district police chief, Mr. S.S. Bains. Meanwhile, Lieut-Col Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd), president, Panjab and Chandigarh Ex-servicemen’s League, issued a statement here today in which he congratulated the Chief Minister for ordering action against Jagdish Tangri and giving relief to the trader community of the city in particular which was being unnecessarily blackmailed by him and the people of Punjab in general who were fed up with his communal utterances from time to time. He demanded that he should be booked under the POTA as he posed a serious threat to the communal amity in the state and elsewhere in the country as well. |
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Lawyer with ‘licence’ to collect traffic fine How they rob you Ludhiana, July 11 A person named S.K. Mishra, claiming to be a lawyer in the district courts, in connivance with the traffic police, has been running a “parallel traffic-ticket network”. On May 26, Prof J.P. Singh, a former
Dean of Punjabi University at Patiala, was going to Chandigarh with his wife, a retired principal of Government College, to attend a marriage party. Some traffic policemen stopped the couple at Arti Chowk and demanded papers of the vehicle. Though everything was in order, the policemen impounded the RC and accepted no argument from the couple, who was told that the RC would be returned only after a proper verification. When the couple demanded a traffic ticket, the policemen said, “What for?”. When the professor returned from Chandigarh, he tried to trace the policemen, but failed. The attempts to locate the RC also proved futile, as even some friendly police officials could not help. Tired, he had decided to obtain a duplicate RC, but within a week, he received a postcard with the stamp and signature reading: S.K. Mishra, advocate, District Courts, Ludhiana. The message was: “Please pay Rs 600 (six hundred only) and collect your original registration book of the vehicle immediately; otherwise, you will be liable for paying the fine.” The message also included a telephone number (643645) of the lawyer. It turned out to be not the
This reporter posed as a client wanting to know what had happened to his registration certificate that had been impounded. Sumit said only his father could tell, but all licences and the RCs could be collected from his house as well as his father in the court. The lawyer could not be contacted.
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Live bomb found Khanna, July 11 It is the first such incident in the town. According to information, the sweeper was cleaning the street adjacent to sabzi mandi, when he noticed the bomb. Later, he informed the police. The SHO, City police station Mr Satnam Singh, reached the spot and a police party took the bomb to an open place in the military camping ground. Some policemen hesitated to carry the bomb. But a head constable Baljit Singh, along with constable Amar Singh, carried the bomb. By that time the SSP, Mr Davinder Singh Garcha, reached the site. He directed the policemen to place the bomb in two-foot-deep pit and to cover it with sand bags. Security has been deputed to avoid any untoward incident. The SSP said the Army’s anti-bomb squad would come in a day or two to dispose it off. According to the police, a list of the scraps dealers in the area is being prepared. The police doubts that the bomb was found in scrap and was later thrown into the garbage. The bomb was one-and-half-foot long and nearly 10 kg in weight. |
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CITY SCAN MUGHALS as invaders destroyed many towns and cities. As rulers they rechristened some, re-built a few others. Many small towns and villages they never visited, bear their names. Akbar made Lahore his capital, shifted to Agra, built Fatehpuri Sikri. Abandoned it for want of water. It is believed the sufi mystic Saleem Chishti blessed Akbar with a son, Saleem, who later came to known as Jahangir. Akbar fondly called him Sheikhu. Akbar liked the environments of area North-West of Lahore. At a suitable place, he raised a township, Sheikhupura, with fortress, gardens and towers. The Hiran Minara indicates Shahi Shikargah. The area is rich in folk-lore. Folk genre dhola preserves past and choreographs it alive. During the middle ages, many Rajput feudal states appeared. The Bhattis were in the fore front in the South and south-west of large geographical area of Punjab : Bhatiana was roughly the area encircling Bathinda. The south-western gate of Lahore City even this day bears the historically significant name Bhati Darwaza. It opens out to Neelibar(Sahiwal), Sandalbar (Sheikhupura) etc. were Bhatti-Rajput principalities. No wonder, Dulla Bhatti rebelled against the Mughal might and is eulogised as hero, Robinhood of Punjab. The Lohri folksongs carry forward this folk-tradition. Sandalkhan is the earlier hero. The vast tract from Shahdara to Shorekot, Sangla Hill to Toba Tek Singh, is traditionally called Sandalbar. Guru Nanak was born and brought up here at Talwandi Rai Bhoey, now Nanakana Sahib. Guru Nanak recalled the scenery of the bar. He treated it with poetic sensibility. The imagery of bar forms part of finest word-pictures of our literature. Punjabi poetry has a rich tradition of ballads. The romantic legends are sung by thousands. Credit goes to Sheikhupura as one of its sons, Waris Shah, wrote the immortal romance of Heer-Ranjha. He stands head and shoulders above all others of this genre. His birth place is Jandiala Sherkhan on road to Gujranwala. Another fine balladist is Qadir Yaar, born at Machchike village. He sings the glory of Pooran Bhagat. Tears wellup in the eyes of all irrespective of religious affiliations. Such is the magic of that land. Sheikhupura is dotted with historical landmarks. Alexander left footprints. Greek horses drank the waters of degh. The romantic hero Mirza hailed from Danabad on the Ravi. Mirza and Sahiban died in the heart of Sandalbar. Poet Peelu’s love-legend is sung this day. Who can forget Kartar Singh Jhabbar? Dalip Singh and Lachchman Singh martyrs? The tornado of 1947 shook the big banyan down to its roots. Healthy roots survived. Off-shoots made a new history. Sheikhupuri carried the best of past as they crossed the borders. Sher Singh (Padma Shree) as a student of Government Agricultural College recollected as many ‘dholas’ as he could. He later published his collection Bar dey Dholey. Kulwant Singh Virk distilled the best tradition of the sons and their soil in most of his short stories. He is the king of Punjab short story, unquestioned and unparalleled in the field of collective sandal bar psyche. He is to Sheikhupura what Duggal is to Pothohar, Ram Sarup Ankhi to Malwa. In our city Kulwant Jagraon carries on the tradition of lyrical poetry. Amarjit Singh Gorki has reconstructed the ‘chuharkana’ ethos in his novels. Most of the Sheikhupurias resettled at Karnal. Some took Ludhiana as their future home. Among them freedomfighter, Atma Singh Khandpur, was the vanguard. To the city-scape, he added the Lakshmi cinema. His family pursued different avenues of business. Abnash Singh and Pritpal Singh rose up socially. Jathedar Surjan Singh pursued panthic politics. Harnam Singh Machhiwara became a city father. Similarly, Amar Singh, Kishan Singh and Bishan Singh picked up transport business. The Sheikhupura Transport Co. earned goodwill. Mr Kuldip Singh Virk made mark as magistrate while Kulwant Singh Virk added glory to PAU. These are healthy off-shoots. The Duggal brothers, Surinder, Jagdish, Subhash, hailing from Mandi Chuharkana are serving the land of adoption very well. In the unforeseeable age of fast-food, Harnam Dass , restarted his dhaba as Sheikhupura da dhaba. M.S. Cheema
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Facing the wrath of weather and PSEB Ludhiana, July 11 The problem seems to be uniform everywhere with hardly a place from where the complaints about the frequent electricity failures were not received. At some places like Dad village, electric supply remained suspended for several hours. According to Prof S.S. Sirohi, a retired scientist of Punjab Agricultural University, who is now living in an upcoming colony near Dad village, they have not received power supply for more than 20 hours during the past four days. Repeated complaints to the PSEB authorities have not yielded any results. Another similar complaint was lodged by Mr Jagev Singh Grewal, a retired PCS officer living in Model Town Extension. He said power supply remained suspended in their area for about eight hours. This was without any advance notice or information. He said nobody picked up the phone at the complaint office. He disclosed that when one of the SDOs of the area was contacted, he expressed his ignorance about the power failure. Although no senior PSEB official was available for comments some junior level officers expressed, their helplessness saying that the supply of power had fallen and they had to resort to the cuts. Moreover, they disclosed, at some places it is the problem of overloading which leads to the burning of the transformers.
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Retired
cop honoured; recounts Partition days Ludhiana, July 11 In an interaction with Ludhiana Tribune, the old-timer traced his journey from his native place to his joining the force in India. He added that after his retirement, he had been actively pursuing the activities of the association for the past 15 years. We have been forcefully and peacefully fighting for the welfare of our members, besides extending all possible help to the families of destitute pensioners in getting their due from the Police Department, the treasury and banks, he said. Turning nostalgic, he said he was born in the lone Hindu family in Chak 51/3R in Okara tehsil (now a district) of Montgomery district. “I vividly remember my childhood friends and classmates Nazir Ahmed, Sher Mohammed, Sardar Mohd., Ahmed Din, Allah Rakha” etc. of my village. “Since my elder brother, Sardar Lal Vij, was posted at Ludhiana, I joined Government College, Ludhiana, in 1947, where Mr Jehangir Mohammed, who later became Education Minister of Pakistan, was the Principal. The summer vacation was announced early that year due to the worsening law and order situation and I went to my native village. Although the clouds of communal frenzy had started thickening and hordes of misguided youths and anti-social elements had started looting members of the minority community, yet our village remained an island of peace,” he recalled. “We lustily joined the celebrations of the creation of Pakistan when the Pakistani flag was hoisted atop our village mosque. However, things started worsening and we were advised to move out of the village. But it was not safe for us to travel alone and nobody in our village was prepared to accompany us to Chak 56/4R (Chak Mellewala), inhabited mostly by Sikhs, for fear of the roaming gangs of marauders. “At last Chaudhry Mohammed Mangta came forward and escorted us safely to Chak Mellewala on August 18. Ironically, my elder brother, Madan Lal, who was in the Army and was working with Capt. Mehboob Ali Khan Grumani, Army Recruiting Officer at Multan, had opted for the Pakistan Army. However, later when my father realised that cordial relations between India and Pakistan were a very distant possibility, he requested my brother to get a release from the Pakistan army. Capt. Mehboob Ali Khan Grumani not only got him released but personally escorted him to safety up to the Hussainiwala border and even gave him cash and some other parting gifts to prove that there was no dearth of noble souls among the Muslims,” he added. “By August 19, it had become clear to the Hindus and Sikhs at Chak Mellewala that they would have to leave for India, and for the sake of safety they must travel in big caravans or ‘kafilas’. All of us shifted to Chak 67 of Captain Gurdial Singh with whatever that we could carry in carts or on our heads. Thus, haggard, and in tattered clothes, braving incessant rain and the ever lurking fear of the killers, we covered 15 to 20 miles a day and at last heaved a sigh of relief on reaching Fazilka via Sulemanki on our way to Ferozepore and Ludhiana on September 2, only to discover that we had become refugees in our own country. “Much water has since flown down the Jhelum and the Sutlej and I have retired as Superintendent of Police and my only son, Parveen, who was a captain in the Army, at present is the District Food and Supplies Controller at Ludhiana. But we still cannot forget out lost home, land and some of the very affectionate and sincere friends there and still long to visit them”, he added. |
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Society
demands houses for riot-hit Ludhiana, July 11 The demand was raised at a special meeting of the society which was held here and presided over by Mr. Surjit Singh. In another resolution, the society also demanded that 327 booths in Dugri, draw of lots for which has already taken place, should also be allotted at the earliest. The society also demanded that a school up till plus two, at Dugri, for which PUDA has earmarked a 2-acre plot, should also be constructed immediately. Those riot-hit persons who have not got any house allotted to them should be given land at subsidised rates, it further demanded. Others who attended the meeting were Mr Gurdev Singh, Mr Amarjit Singh Dhawan, Mr Surjit Singh Saluja, Mr Harcharn Singh, Mr Kuldip Singh, Mr Gurcharan Singh, Mr Darshan Singh, Mr Pritam Singh, Ms Gurdip Kaur, Ms Gurcharan Kaur and Ms Harbans Kaur. |
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Industrialist
donates land Ludhiana, July 9 Giving this information, Dr T.M. Jaison, acting director, CMC Hospital, said the management of the CMC Hospital has also decided to purchase additional 10-acre of land for the construction of houses for staff members. Dr Jaison said first phase of the hospital would cost Rs 5 crore. The new hospital would have bonemarrow and haemotology super specialists besides physical medicine and rehabilitation and developmental pediatrics. The proposed hospital would benefit the rural population and people living on the periphery of the city, he said. |
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Undertrial injured Ludhiana, July 11 According to jail sources, an undertrial, Makhan Singh, facing a murder charge, attacked another undertrial Jagdish Singh with a sharp-edged weapon on the jail premises. Jagdish Singh was hit on the neck. Some other undertrials tried to separate the two.
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City girl found dead at Chintpurni; 1 held Ludhiana, July 11 Though the Una police picked up Harpreet, alias Sahil Verma, from his residence in Durga Colony yesterday on the basis of his address found in the hotel register at Una, five to six other youths of the city, who had also accompanied them to Chintpurni, have not been identified so far. According to the information, Ria had been into drugs as well as alcohol for a long time now and she preferred kinky sex to normal sex, going to the various hill stations now and then with a bunch of boys. She belonged to Balachaur and had been staying in Phillaur for the past many years. The boys, along with Ria, reached Chintpurni on July 6 where Ria and Harpreet , who is said to be in modelling, checked in a hotel. According to sources, Ria was known to the hotel staff as it was not her first trip there. The hotel management was trying to save
itself by not giving full information to the Una police about the exact number of boys accompanying Ria. Regarding the murder angle being propounded by the Una police, the sources, close to one of the boys who came back in a jiffy after her death, said probably Ria died of an overdose of drugs and sex. A majority of the boys who accompanied Ria are also reported to be addicted to various drugs. Sources said Ria’s death was purely accidental as the boys had no grudge against Ria. Had they any nefarious design in mind, then they would have asked Harpreet to make a fictitious entry in the hotel register. However, following an interrogation of Harpreet by the Una police , more city-based boys may be arrested in the near future. The Una police is working on the hypothesis that Ria must have been suffocated to death with the help of a pillow since there was no injury mark on her body which was found in a naked condition. |
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Killed
for cash and jewellery? Ludhiana, July 11 The police said the family had reported the loss after rummaging through the contents of its cabinets and lockers. Sources said the family had taken its time in reporting the loss as it was trying to come out of a shock. The robbery, now established, has strengthened the theory that the break-in was planned, but it is still unestablished that robbery was the only motive. The police said there had been no other development in the case, so far, though suspects were being rounded up every day. Most suspects in the case have already been released. Sources said the police was working on several theories, but was convinced, so far, of only one thing — Ritika knew the attackers. The police is also probing the possibility of revenge being the motive. It suspects that the murderers live in Ritika’s neighbourhood, as the break-in happened as soon as the other family members left on the day of the murder. |
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Two die in mishaps Ludhiana, July 11 The first case was registered at the Division No 6 police station under Sections 279,427 and 304-A of the IPC against the driver of a truck which hit Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Sanjay Gandhi Colony, near the Dholewal bridge, killing him on the spot. The other case was registered under the same sections of the IPC at the Basti Jodhewal police station, against the driver of an unknown vehicle which hit Rohit Kumar in front of Milan Palace and killed him on the spot. The vehicle sped away from the scene of the accident. |
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Modern commercial complex planned Ludhiana, July 11 Subsequently it was shifted to its new premises in Feroze Gandhi Market in 1978. The Ludhiana Stock Exchange also functioned from this complex for about 10 to 12 years. Some shops on its ground floor are still functioning and the shopkeepers have demanded for their adjustments in the proposed complex. The Administrator disclosed that the design and drawings for the proposed complex had been finalised. |
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