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Another immigration racket busted, 5 held Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 23 The five accused persons arrested on the complaint of three persons, including two retired teachers and a former PSEB employee, have been identified as Shamsher Singh, Kulwant Singh, Bhupinder Singh, his wife Surinder Kaur and Makhan Singh. The persons were arrested after a case under Section 420 and 120B of IPC was registered. Police sources said in the FIR there were three complaints but the police has received dozens of complaints which were being investigated into. Joginder Singh, a retired teacher of nearby village, Maholi Khurd, alleged that Shamsher Singh , a resident of Vajidke Khurd village, his son Kulwant Singh and their accomplice Makhan Singh of Tibe Wala Dera, Phillaur, duped him of Rs 20.65 lakh on the pretext of sending his two grandsons and a nephew abroad. Narrating the sequence of events, he said he had met the accused at an educational academy at Sudhar village. Joginder said, “Shamsher Singh and Makhan Singh were introduced to me as established travel agents by Amar Singh at his academy in November 2001. These agents promised to send Gurpeet Singh and Gurdeep Singh, my grandsons, and nephew to America on a permanent basis and the deal was finalised for Rs 20.65 lakh.” Joginder Singh paid Rs 5.65 lakh to Shamsher Singh, Makhan Singh and Kulwant Singh in the presence of Amar Singh and Harkamal Singh at a shop owned by Surinder Kumar, a commission agent. Both boys along with their passports were sent with the agents for training in a factory. They were told that training was required for getting the youths a lucrative job in a foreign country. “We made the balance payment of Rs 15 lakh after seeing visas and tickets booked for a flight on January 5, 2002, we were told that Gurpreet and Gurdeep Singh would reach America safe and sound,” said Joginder Singh. The family was shocked when Samsher Singh brought back both the boys after a month and said there was some problem in the papers. He said he would send them abroad after some time. The accused disappeared later and the telephone calls went unanswered. The victims managed to trace a co-accused Makhan Singh, who maintained that Shamsher Singh was the main person. Joginder Singh reported the matter to Senior Superintendent of Police at Sangrur vide his letter number 11376 P, Mr Gurinder Singh Dhillon, SSP, Sangrur, directed the SHO (city) to register an FIR under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC against three accused Joginder Singh said he had to part with his hard-earned money he received after his retirement and even had to take a huge amount on loan at exorbitant interest. Mr Rajinder Dheer, another retired teacher, has also lodged a complaint against Surinder and Bhupinder Singh a couple of Mukand Singh Nagar, Ludhiana, for allegedly duping him of rupees Rs 45,000. Mr Dheer said, “Surinder Kaur and her husband Bhupinder Singh used to come to our home and promised to send my son Ashish Dheer to Nairobi. The deal was settled for Rs 50,000.” The complainant paid Rs 45,000 in two instalments along with the passport of his son in June, 2002. Instead of sending Ashish to Nairobi as promised, the accused started demanding more money. He said the police had initially not taken any action and all our complaints went unnoticed. The police lodged an FIR when more victims came. One of the fresh victims was Kulwinder Singh, another villager, who also lost thousands of rupees. It is pertinent to mention that the local police has been receiving a large number of complaints of this nature since long. In some cases the accused were made to return the money taken on the basis of an out-of court settlement.
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YC man threatens to expose senior Ludhiana, December 23 ‘‘I will provide details of the protection provided by certain Congress leaders to Guddu which allowed him to roam around freely even though he was a proclaimed offender. Not only this he continued to serve as SHO of various police stations and was a prominent member of the special investigation team formed to arrest pop singer Daler Mehndi in an alleged immigration racket,’’ said Mr G.S Grewal, an alleged victim of the cop. He was addressing a press conference here today. Mr Grewal, General Secretary, Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress, and three other persons who are fighting cases of different nature against Shamsher Singh Guddu in the High Court have expressed shock at the state government's order to send him on premature retirement instead of arresting him. Demanding a CBI inquiry they said a probe should be ordered into how the cop amassed wealth and why the Vigilance Bureau closed investigation against him in a disproportionate assets case. Mr Grewal said the Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, was informed about the ‘activities’ of the cop recently and he immediately ordered his retirement. However, this punishment is too less in comparison with the enormity of his ‘crimes’, he added. He was accompanied by Mr Kuldip Singh Ghai, a well-known builder, Mr Tarlochan Singh, a Malerkotla-based businessman and Mr Maninder Singh, a local Industrialist. They claimed that they had received several more complaints from the ‘victims’ of the cop who were slowly coming out as the cop was no longer in power. When asked if the much delayed action against the accused cop came because of the dissidents’ activity, Mr Grewal denied that the dissident camp had any hand in it. Shamsher Singh Guddu was forcibly retired when the dissident camp led by Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal was camping in Delhi. Mr Ghai informed that the accused cop had got a false case of rape registered against him and had kept him in illegal confinement for several days. He said the cop had demanded a plot of 500 sq. yards worth Rs 25 lakh in Barrewal in 1994 from him. He said he was being harassed for the past nine years as he had refused to oblige the cop. Mr Tarlochan Singh of Malerkotla alleged that Guddu had grabbed his land, had kept him in illegal confinement and had tortured him. Mr Maninder Singh, a local Industrialist, who claimed to be another victim said Guddu and his ‘accomplices’ had grabbed his property. He said the High Court had come to his rescue and had ordered strict action against the cop but the state government had not done anything in this regard. The victims have also demanded a separate probe by the CBI or any other agency against the Vigilance Department officials who had closed a case of disproportionate assets against the cop even after gathering evidence about his property worth one crore. The Vigilance Bureau had even released the details of his property to the media and the reports were widely published. |
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Candidate in MC poll charged with fraud Ludhiana, December 23 Giving details, Mr Verma informed that Mr Kamaljit Singh, who actually belonged to the “Jheor” caste, managed to get a false Scheduled Castes certificate, showing his caste as “Mahasha” on the basis of verification by Mr Jagdish Loomba, a former Senior Deputy Mayor of the municipal corporation. The Deputy Commissioner said after the elections, Mr Bhairaj Singh, councillor lodged a complaint against Mr Kamaljit Singh for contesting elections from a reserved ward on the basis of a false certificate. The complaint was marked for inquiry to the SDM (East), who further got it verified through the tehsildar and the kanungo of the circle. In the inquiry report, the SDM (E) said that Mr Loomba stated that he knew Mr Kamaljit Singh who was a regular visitor to the cycle market in the city. He said he had verified his caste as “Mahasha” only on the basis of an affidavit submitted by Mr Kamaljit Singh. Mr Ranjit Singh Dhillon, former Councillor, Ms Saroop Kaur, president, Istri Sabha ward 6, Mr Gurdip Singh, president, Lajpat Nagar and other residents of the locality had also stated that Mr Kamaljit Singh belonged to the “Jheor” caste. The inquiry officer had established that Mr Kamaljit Singh, by procuring a false Scheduled Caste certificate, had committed an offence. Mr Verma further said a legal report had been obtained from the District Attorney in this regard, who had agreed that the accused had committed a forgery by preparing a false Scheduled Castes certificate by misrepresenting himself and contested the elections. In his opinion, the accused person, prima facie had committed an offence punishable under Sections 420/419/465/467/468 of the IPC read with the Section 120-B of the IPC. He recommended the registration of a criminal case against him. |
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Confusion over school, college timings Ludhiana, December 23 Since no oral or written communication has been sent by the DC office or the District Education Department to the schools and colleges, most of the students and staff members got the information only when they read today’s newspapers. As a result, all schools and colleges opened as per their previous schedule though the orders were to be effective from today. Abiding by the orders, principals of some schools announced change in timings from tomorrow. However, there are many others who said that since they did not receive any direct intimation in this regard, they would not comply by the orders. Timings were changed as per orders in Kundan Vidya Mandir but the authorities of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School remained adamant with their previous schedule. Explaining her point, Ms Paramjit Kaur, Principal, said that she had already changed the timings from 9 am to 9:30 am due to cold and foggy conditions. Delaying the timing by another half an hour would hardly make any difference, she said. Besides, she said that she had not received any copy of the order from the office of the DC in the school. Most of the schools, including Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, St Thomas Senior Secondary School, DAV Public School and GGN Public School have been closed owing to winter break. On the last working day Even the principals of some colleges were of the view that such orders should be implemented just in schools as college-level students could endure harsh winters. Principal Gurdeep Singh of Gujranwala Guru Nanak College, Civil Lines, said that examinations were being conducted in the college from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and he did not want to disturb the schedule of the students. He said that had he received a copy of the order from the DC in this regard, he could have thought about it. Mr M.S. Jaggi, GA to DC, when contacted said that he sent a notification to the
District Education Department yesterday. He said that if they felt the need, they could have sent copies of the order to the schools. He also pointed out that there were over 2000 schools and 45 colleges in the district and it was practically not possible to send individual copy to all of them. He said that even if they had read about it in newspapers, they should ideally abide by it. |
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Providential escape for two as truck falls into nullah Ludhiana, December 23 According to Mr Lakhbir Singh, an ex-sarpanch of Talwara village, the bridge is in a dilapidated condition and has not been repaired since 1934, the year of its construction. It connects a number of villages with Nurpur Bet area. He said for the past so many years they had been appealing to the administration and political leaders to get the bridge repaired, but in vain. The road remains damp as it is not metaled. Villagers expressed relief that there was no loss of life in the accident. However, they said a major tragedy could take place anytime as there was no alternative route or bridge. They said it was sheer providence that the driver and the conductor managed to escape safe, although the truck submerged into the nullah completely. |
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PAU students boycott exams Ludhiana, December 23 A rally was held in the morning in which students from all five constituent colleges participated. The rally began from the examination hall. After taking a round of the colleges,
agitating student raised slogans against the university authorities. Finally, they gathered outside the Thapar Hall where Gurbir Singh Bhullar, spokesperson, and Sandeep Singh, president of the association, addressed the students. The students presented a memorandum to Dr Darshan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate Studies. They told him that examinations conducted by other state agricultural universities were much more scoring than those conducted by the PAU. |
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‘Press’ is easily one of the most misused labels on vehicles. Every Amar, Akbar and Anthony seems to have the liberty to paint the words on the vehicles or get visiting cards made. With no verification, the person goes scot-free. Sometimes, people using a Press visiting card forget to hide their real identity and are easily caught. One such person was seen flaunting his cards at a recent social function but became a butt of jokes. For his card having PRESS printed in red bold letters had a bottom line printed in small fonts, ‘ Vivah-Shadiyon ke liye Paneer ka special prabandh hai’, it said with the address of his halwai shop. Good for some, bad for others People have not been able to decide between the current fog-dominated weather as being good or bad. While the younger lot, who can move out and enjoy the weather, say that it’s wonderful, while the aged confined indoors have been cursing the weather gods for not showing any mercy on them. The younger ones enjoy a walk with the mist hitting their face, while those not so young at heart get indoors even before it is dark. Now one wonders how the gods are going to react on the weather. Will he oblige the young or the old? Paper tigers Some people just want to be in the news by whatever means. A careful scrutiny of the scores of press notes one receives shows that the person running the show in many of these organisations is the same. But what is interesting is that one such person in one press note becomes president of a anti-corruption organisation, in another a politician and in the third a social worker. But people known to such persons simply put such people in the category of ‘paper tigers’. Mistake rectified The National Highway Authority has rectified its mistake of painting wrong names of the Punjab villages along the GT road besides giving utterly confusing and wrong distance from the road. After a hue and cry was raised by the villagers the authority has painted the information boards afresh. Sentinel was the first to point the blunder out through the Ludhiana Calling. Few words here surely go a long way to mend matters. Black ticketing The loss of business of cinema owners owing to duplicate CD business and inferior quality movies or films based on mundane themes had put on extinction the class of black ticket sellers. Those ubiquitous people were seen at all cinema halls during the last decade. But then they had disappeared. Now thanks to the resurgence of Indian cinema and crackdown on duplicate video CDs, the viewers are again queuing up outside cinema halls. But this has brought the black ticketers back but with a difference. Employees of the cinema hall now indulge in this illegal activity as the booking windows claim the house was full. A number of cinegoers have been complaining about this activity to the authorities but no action has been taken. New faces in police administration The local police has got new faces recently. From an entirely new team of the CIA wing to several SHOs and DSPs, a number of new officers have been posted on key positions in the district. The Division No. 7, 6, 3 and 1, besides Basti Jodhewal, Kailash Police station and CIA in charge Mangat Singh all have been new entrants in the district. Police officials said the such changes provide a fresh look at the problems of the city. New officers would always preform better, it is hoped. Reflectors please The fog does not bring in chilly winter but also becomes a cause of several accidents as well. Daily newspapers are reporting a number of accidents occurring because of the dense fog. While one has no control over nature, one can always adopt means to avoid being hit in this weather. The answer is fog lights and reflectors. For umpteen times, the city traffic police has asked the public to use these for safe drive back home but very few seem to listen as is reflected by the growing number of accidents. Late Much has been written about the graffiti boards at the rear side of the trucks. But the truck drivers continue to spring in new ones. One wonders how these drivers, they may not be very educated, find such thought provoking one liers. The latest one is this, ‘Better late than being called the late Shri — so and so.’ Praying in police station Police station is the last place one likes to visit. A large number of devotees of a muslim shrine in Division No. 6 police station are forced to visit it to offer prayers at the place every Thursday. “The presence of cops is an irritating factor but one cannot help it,” a regular devotee said. The place has quite a lot reverence among the cops also. All police personnel pay obeisance at the shrine before starting their work daily. Every new cop posted in the area makes it a point to pay obeisance at the shrine. Helping hand
The influx of several newspapers and TV channels has brought a problem of plenty for the organisers of the press conferences. First the reporters from print media are to be briefed and then it is the turn of TV channels. The channel reporters have a unique problem. They really get space for keeping cameras or mikes. But most of the times, the organisers come forward to help them. Recently at a function of a political party a politician lent such a helping hand to the electronic media. He had become quite an expert and knew the exact distance the mike should be placed for good sound quality as well as for the better appearance of the logo of the channel, ‘‘After all hum bhi hain team mein,’’ he said, boasting that he has done this duty at several functions to help brother journalists and was an expert now. (see picture) Blessings as gift World is getting materialistic day by day, thanks to commercialisation. But there are still others who believe human relations are better than any material gifts. A wedding card received by a fellow journalist provides one such example. Inviting the guests the card specifically mentioned, “Presents in the form of blessings only”. Value of a speaker Loudspeakers are considered more of a nuisance but it proved quite beneficial to a group of employees demonstrating for the acceptance of their demands before the office of the Deputy Commissioner in the Mini Secretariat here the other day. The employees were staging the protest for some hours but no official came forward. Then one briany fellow said the problem was that the loudspeaker was facing the opposite direction to the DC’s office. The employees changed its direction towards the intended office. And lo, behold, they were soon called in. Press photographers covering the rally witnessed the event and were relieved, otherwise they would have to wait for long for the ending of the rally. — Sentinel |
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Fog disperses, cold persists Ludhiana, December, 23 Last evening , when fog started descending as early as 5.30 p.m., one thought that it would be even more foggy today. However, a steady, but moderate east wind, which continued to sweep the plains till afternoon, helped a lot in dispersing the fog albeit adding to the cold. Visibility improved this morning compared to the dense fog of yesterday morning. Amritsar-bound Shatabdi Express, which was running late by two hours yesterday, arrived on time today, but several other trains continued to run hours behind their scheduled time. The Amarpalli Express , on its way from Amritsar to Barauni, scheduled to reach here at 9.45 a.m. was running late by 10 hours, according to the latest information available from Railways’ sources. The 5210 Janseva Express , also from Amritsar to Barauni , was running seven hours behind its scheduled arrival time of 9 a.m. The Dadar Express which was scheduled to arrive here at 1.15 p.m. was running late by three hours. The Superfast train (4660) running from Amritsar to New Delhi, which was supposed to reach here at 8.35 a.m. was running late by seven hours. Train number 9367, the Malwa Express, was running late by 70 minutes or so. Train number 2497, the Shan-e-Punjab between New Delhi and Amritsar, was late by about 90 minutes. Train number 5211, the Jan Nayak Express, on its way to Amritsar from Darbhanga, which was scheduled to arrive here at 4.35 p.m. was running late by more than four hours. Passenger trains on the Ludhiana-Jakhal and the Ludhiana-Ferozepore sections also continued to run late due to poor visibility. |
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Two killed in road mishaps Ludhiana, December 23 The Division No 6 police has registered a case on the statement of Mr Charan Dass, who lives near the Military Camp at Sherpur chowk, against an unidentified driver of a vehicle that hit a man resulting in his death on the spot on Sunday. Fake sewing machines:
In-laws booked:
Temple burgled:
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Online mobile credit card launched Ludhiana, December 23 The solution works by setting up a secure connection over the air between a Reliance IndiaMobile handset and the mobile payment gateway of Citibank. Using the facility, customers can view billing details and make payment by entering a personal four digit PIN for security and authentication. The service also provides the facility to check details of the last transaction. All Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club credit cards can be used for the transaction. “With this new feature added to the R World service portfolio, customers have the convenience of paying bills anytime, anywhere,” said Mr Mahesh Prasad, president, Applications Solutions Group, Reliance Infocomm Ltd. He said apart from the ease of use, this application provides many benefits to customers, including the ability to pay anytime, anywhere, the option to store card details through a one-time sign up process or to enter card details at the time of transaction without storage and a free credit period of up to 50 days and reward points on credit card as a result of the usage. The service is currently free of charge. Citibank Credit card customers have a special inaugural privilege. All bill payments made through the R World application with their Citibank credit would earn double the reward points till March 31, 2004. Mr Prasad maintained that the transmission of data in Reliance India Mobile network was more secure than conventional channels due to multiple layers of security. The Java-based R World suite of services is unique in India and the world. |
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Hero Cycles, OBC sign MoU on bicycle financing Ludhiana, December 23 This MOU was signed by Mr Suresh C. Munjal, Managing Director (Mktg) on behalf of Hero Cycles Limited and by Mr Ashok Verma, DGM, OBC on behalf of the bank. The OBC, rated this year’s best bank by Business India, has created an innovative scheme to help weaker sections of the society by financing the bicycles. OBC is also one of the three Indian banks, rated as the fastest growing 200 global companies by the Forbes magazine this year. The scheme known as Oriental Bank-Hero Cycles Finance Scheme (OBHCS) will endeavour to finance bicycles to individual customers at a nominal interest rate of 10 per cent for general customers and 9.5 per cent for women folk. As a gesture of goodwill to the society, the bank would not charge any processing cost. The bank will also open a savings account of the customer seeking the loan under this scheme, at a nominal deposit of Rs 200 with a cheque-book facility. Such cases would be dealt with a simple procedure which would be hassle free and the dealers would have easy access to the branch managers for facilitating individual customers enjoy this scheme. The OBC with more than 1,000 branches would be using the network of about 3500 dealers and, therefore, would contribute in increasing the penetration of bicycles, financing the same, all across the country. Mr Ashok Verma while speaking on the occasion said the scheme was a part of the “kisan bike scheme” under which farmers can avail finance for two-wheelers and autorickshaws. |
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Mann seeks concessions for Punjab industry Ludhiana, December 23 In a letter addressed to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, a copy of which was sent to the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Mr Mann pointed out that with massive concessions provided to industry in those three states, the industry was contemplating to move out of Punjab. Mr Mann apprehended that this might complicate the problem of unemployment in the state. Quoting the Chief Minister he revealed that there were already 30 lakh unemployed youth in the state. In case the industry started shifting the number might increase thus leading to other problems in the state. Mr Mann said he was not against the concession to any state, but wanted, since Punjab was also a border state and faced so many problems, it should also be provided such facilities and concessions. He pointed out only a year ago Indian and Pakistani armies came too close to war thus creating fear among the people and the industrialists who became reluctant to invest here.
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