R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
2 BOOKED FOR RAPE: A registered medical practitioner and his friend have been booked for allegedly raping a Dalit minor girl, sources confirmed on Tuesday. The girl had gone to a clinic run by Gurbhej Singh at Panjawa village on the Abohar-Sriganganagar road as she was suffering from cough. Gurbej and his friend Sandeep Kumar of the same village allegedly bolted the clinic-room from inside and raped the girl, belonging to the Meghwal community. A case under Sections 376 and 341, IPC, has been registered.

Amritsar
Drug menace: A meeting of senior police officials of the border range was held to take stock of the law and order situation and chalk out a strategy for eradicating the drug menace. The meeting was chaired by Mr Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Parliamentary Secretary for Home, Justice and PWD (B&R). Commenting upon the budgetary constraints for the Police Department, Mr Dharamsot said he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister.

Bathinda
VISITED: Lieut-Gen K. Nagaraj, General Officer Commanding in chief of the newly raised South Western Command, visited the city on Tuesday after taking over as Army Commander South Western command. He expressed satisfaction over the high standards of training and operational preparedness.

ASSUMES CHARGE: Mr V. K. Kapoor has taken over as Chief Engineer, Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat.

CONDEMNED: The Revenue Officers Association has condemned the “false allegations” levelled by former minister Gobind Singh Kanjhla against Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, Hussan Lal and Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Rupan Deol Bajaj.

Hoshiarpur
Harry killing: The police produced Vikramjit Singh, alias Vicky Walia, Jasbir Singh and his wife Sonia, all accused of kidnapping and killing Abhi Verma, alias Harry, in the court of Mr G.K. Rai District and Sessions Judge here on Tuesday. The judge further extended their judicial remand up to June 2, 2005. All accused have been kept in judicial lockup in Jalandhar. Abhi, a student of Class IX of the local DAV Senior Secondary School was kidnapped while he was going to school on February 14, 2005. His body was found the next day at Daulatpur village in Jalandhar district.

Liquor trade: The Hariana police intercepted Scorpio Jeep No. HR 02-J4683 and found 146 bottles of liquor on Monday. Pradeep Kumar, son of Lal Chand of Ashok Nagar, Jalandhar, was arrested. One .32-bore pistol was found in his possession. A case under the Excise Act and the Arms Act has been registered against him.

Moga
BOOKED: Two persons have been booked for allegedly killing Teja Singh of the Umriana village, near Kot Ise Khan. According to sources, Jeetu and his father, Sulakhan Singh from the same village, killed Teja with sharp-edged weapons and also injured his brother, Nahar Singh, who has been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Moga. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered.

Nawanshahr
touching gesture: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Harjit Inder Singh Grewal, presented a sum of Rs 10,000, sent by Mr Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday of the Pakistan Supreme Court to 100- year-old Sunder Ram of Karyam at his residence on Tuesday. The forefathers of Mr Justice Ramday belonged to the village . Sunder Ram used to work in their fields before Partition. Last month, Mr Justice Ramday visited the village and met Sunder Ram. It was a touching experience for the judge to meet Sunder who had worked for his father and grandfather. Mr Justice Ramday had requested Mr Grewal to provide him ‘Nanakshahi’ bricks from the remains of his ancestral house. Mr Grewal had acceded to his request.

Strike: On a call given by the PSEB Employees Joint Forum, PSEB employees of local subdivisions — Nawanshahr urban and rural, Rahon, Aur and Jadla — organised rallies to protest against the suspension of eight PSEB employees in Taran Taran circle.

Phagwara
Trafficking act: The police on Tuesday evening busted an inter-state gang of traffickers in women and arrested six persons, including four women, under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956. These persons were arrested from a house in the Urban Estate area here.

HOARDINGS REMOVED: On the instructions of Deputy Ranger Darshan Singh, Forest Department officials removed hoardings and boards from atop the trees and forest land adjoining the highway between Rama Mandi and Goraya. A complaint was also lodged with the Sadar police station.

DONATION: NRI philanthropist Gurdial Singh Soondh on Tuesday donated Rs 21,000 to Guru Nanak College. College president Jagat Singh Palahi and noted Punjabi writer Prof Piara Singh Bhogal honoured him with a memento.

CHANDIGARH

BANK SCHEME: The State Bank of Patiala, Kalka will spend Rs 5 crore for creating job opportunities and development works in Kalka during this financial year. Mr S.C. Dhall, manager of the bank, said that a special team has been constituted to monitor schemes launched by the residents for business activities. He also said that the bank was associating itself with various social causes in Kalka.

Satluj School wins: An all-round performance by Sumit (35 n o and 3 for 15) helped Satluj Public School beat Bhawan Vidyalaya by 22 runs in the league match of Satluj League Cricket Tournament played at the grounds of Satluj School, Sector 4, here today. Brief scores: SPS 141 for 7 in 25 overs (Sumit 35 n o , Vipul Chadda 30, Pranav 2 for 21). BVS 119 all out in 23. 4 overs ( Krishana 35, Nitish 33, Sumit 3 for 15).

HARYANA

AMBALA
CONTEST: An on-the-spot embroidery contest was held at Police DAV Public School, Ambala City, on Wednesday. The Principal, Dr Vikas Kohli, said Harneet Kaur was first, Gurleen was second, Manisha Saini was third while the consolation prize winners were Manpreet, Jaspreet and Rekha.

Fatehabad
Exam results: Students of Class VIII, X and XII, who had taken examinations of the Board of School Education, Haryana, can know their results from the National Informatics Center (NIC) situated in the local Mini-Secretariat personally or on phone numbers 230321, 230322 and 231007, said the National Informatics Officer, Fatehabad, Mr S.M. Hussain. The result of Class X examination will be out on Thursday.

Rewari
Minor RapeD: A minor girl (13) was allegedly raped by a youth of Budani village, about 10 km from here, on Sunday. The suspect was also allegedly assisted by his associate in enticing the girl. A case under Sections 376, 342 and 34 of the IPC against Suresh (21) and his associate Mahesh has been registered.

Jawan killed: Ram Karan (38), a jawan of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was killed on the spot when the balcony of his house collapsed at Tint village, about 15 km from here, on Monday. The jawan was posted at Ayodhya (UP).

Sonepat
STRIKE CALLED OFF: The two-week-old strike by the workers was called off in Hindustan Everest Tools Limited at Jatheri village, 7 km from here, on Tuesday. An agreement was reached between the representatives of the management and the workers union in the presence of Mr R.S. Khola, Deputy Labour Commissioner Panipat. Four workers, who had been terminated from the service of account of indiscipline, would not be taken back.

DEMANDED: The Haryana Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Uthan Sabha on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to pass orders for setting up a government college in the city which was a district headquarters in Haryana. It 
has criticised the managements of the privately managed colleges for hiking fees.

APPOINTED: The Haryana Government has appointed Mr Rajbir Deswal SP (Vigilance) and posted him at Rohtak with immediate effect.