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Love and money were their motives: police
Mohali, December 8 Hundreds of cellphone calls exchanged between the two over the past three days, the conversations duly recorded by the police and Neki’s heavily used ATM cards found with Himmat left the police with little doubt about either the murderers or their motives. “Presenting” the two before mediapersons at the SP’s office, the IGP Zone, Patiala, Mr S.M. Sharma, said they had confessed to having planned and killed Sukhvinder, the 35-year-old Quark engineer, who was shot on Sunday night. When questioned by the media, the lawyer in Himmat, however, made him just say: “The police believes that I killed Sukhvinder and the police believes that it has proof. I have nothing more to say,” he said. Neki chose to maintain absolute silence. Despite being egged on by the police and goaded by the media to tell her story, she did not utter a word even as her eyes filled with tears. The police said on the fateful night, Neki, who normally did not accompany Sukhvinder during his post-dinner walks, chose to go along. Himmat, who was drinking at the Chandigarh Club since the evening, was in constant contact with Neki and informed him about the route they would take. Himmat came to Mohali, parked his Maruti car in a park nearby, walked towards the couple, shot Sukhvinder and ran away. “In fact, he started running in the opposite direction when Neki corrected him and asked him to run the other way,” said Mr Virk. Relating their success story of having cracked a blind murder in two days, the DIG, Mr Parag Jain, said, “Neki was not happy with her marriage and wanted to be with her old friend-turned-paramour Himmat, alias Brandy. Himmat, wanted by the police in a flesh trade racket, was more interested in the money that she would bring along. Neki managed to convince Sukhvinder to file for divorce, which they did on February 14. But Sukhvinder backed out of it and wanted Neki to do the same. The two were supposed to withdraw their divorce papers on Monday morning. On Sunday night, Himmat shot Sukhvinder dead,” he said. Stating that the episode had to be seen in light of the couple’s lifestyle, Mr Jain added that the deceased too had certain personality defects that made their marriage incompatible. “It was second marriage for both. Neki’s first marriage had lasted barely 12 days. Neki, a talented interior designer, says she tried to make her marriage to Sukhvinder a success. But the situation at her house was hopeless due to Sukhvinder’s habits,” said Mr Jain. “Neki was overly dependent on Brandy, who even shifted near the couple’s house in Sector 68, leaving his own house in Phase VI. Brandy would borrow large amounts from Neki since he did not have any regular source of income. He used Neki’s ATM cards frequently and liberally. Sukhvinder too found out about Neki’s relationship with Brandy, which had gone beyond friendship, and after initially objecting to it, he chose to accept it,” said Mr Virk, adding that when he got into trouble at Quark, he promptly found himself a job in Dubai and was planning to shift with Neki and their son. “But this would have meant Neki’s separation from Brandy, which was unacceptable to both for their own reasons,” said Mr Jain, adding that they planned the timing of the murder to make it to look as if his expulsion from Quark has something to do with it. The police said Himmat had arranged a .32 bore pistol from his friend Vicky in Amritsar. The weapon belonged to Vicky’s cousin. The police was on the lookout for the two. Meanwhile, a Kharar court has remanded Neki in one-day police custody and Himmat in four-day police custody.
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2 killed in accident
Chandigarh, December 8 Giving details, sources in the police said the deceased were identified as 39-year-old Jaswinder Singh, Municipal Corporation employee and resident of Badheri village, and 35-year-old Prabhjot Singh, resident of Sector 40. The victims were rushed to the PGI. Jaswinder Singh was declared brought dead on arrival, while Prabhjot Singh succumbed to his injuries at around 11 am today. Prabhjot was living alone in Sector 40 and efforts to contact his family members were on. Mr Jasbir Singh, brother of Jaswinder Singh and an eyewitness to the accident was following his brother on his motorcycle. They were on their way back home from Naya Gaon when the accident took place at around 10:40 pm. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune in the Sector 16 General Hospital, he said, “No sooner we reached near the PGI chowk, than a rashly driven Ford Ikon Car (PB-02-Y-6261) rammed into Jaswinder’s motorcycle from the rear. Then it dragged the victims to a distance and halted after one of its tyres burst in the collision. The car driver fled on seeing me rushing for the help of the injured.” Mr Jasbir Singh alleged that the way the car was driven suggested that the driver was drunk. A case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving was registered. Jaswinder Singh is survived by his wife and three minor sons.
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Tatkal booking for CHB flats
Chandigarh, December 8 Sources said at least 20 per cent of the flats under the new scheme would given to the enthusiasts for an early allotment. Of course, they will have to be paying more than a normal allottee. A senior official said the proposal, if cleared, would be applicable to the new housing scheme of 270 flats announced in Sector 49. Another housing scheme, likely to be covered under this scheme, is the one bed-room society in Sector 38. Explaining the mode of flat allocation under the new scheme, a senior official said that “applications for the fixed quota will be sought independently. The applications are expected to come after the board has announced the price for the flats.” “The board will fix the number of flats on the set principle of 20 per cent allocation which will be announced separately for each scheme. Following the receipt of the applications, the board will work on choosing the exact number of genuine applications for the allocation quota. In case the number of applicants is more than the number of fats available the selection can be made on a draw of lots or by selecting the top 20 payees”, the officer said. “The officer said after the office has selected the deserving applicants, a perusal of different prices quoted by the selected ‘tatkal’ seekers will be made. The lowest price quoted among the selected applications will be applicable to all those final selected”, the official added. The flats of the Chandigarh Housing Board under a special housing scheme in Sector 49 recently have witnessed good response recording much more than 12 times the number of applicants than the flats available. The ultimate gainer for a house will be decided by a draw of lots which will be held after the allocation under the ‘tatkal’ scheme. The dates for the draw of lots will be announced soon, official sources said. A big section of the applicants are peeved with the hiked price for the CHB flats. “To add flame to our woes, the ‘tatkal’ scheme will only mean giving homes only to the moneyed class of population”, a property dealer said,. The authorities, however, maintain that “there was nothing ethically wrong in quoting prices higher than the normal flats for the CHB flats because we cannot ignore the market trends. The quality of houses and flats under the scheme will be much better than the earlier ventures. There is no justification in we giving a house for peanuts when the actual market commanded big rates”. Experts, however, feel that the revised rates will not be able to handle the resale of flats. Middle income investors are a peeved lot because the resale value of the flats will also shoot.
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Draw for Mansa Devi plots on Dec 15
Panchkula, December 8 A decision to this effect was taken here today. The Estate Officer, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Panchkula, Mr S.P. Arora said that the draw of lots would be held at the HUDA Complex, Sector 6, from 10 am onwards. He said a list of eligible candidates had been displayed in the HUDA Complex, and discrepancies, if any, could be brought to his notice. This housing scheme was floated by HUDA in April 2004. As many as 33, 938 applicants had applied for 537 residential plots in the two sectors, by investing Rs 465.103 crore with HUDA. Over 5900 applications were received for residential plots in Sector 2 DC, and 27, 850 applications for 372 plots in Sector 6 MDC. However, a Naya Gaon resident, Dr B. Singh, filed a petition “Save The Sukhna” in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, restraining HUDA and the Chandigarh Administration from any urbanisation in the catchment area of Sukhna. HUDA was supposed to hold the draw for plots within six months of floating the scheme. But HUDA failed to hold the draw, because of the petition filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court, and later in Supreme Court. After the housing scheme was caught up in legal wranglings, HUDA offered the applicants to withdraw their earnest money. However, during the past one year, only 630 applicants withdrew their money. It was on November 18 this year that the Supreme Court dismissed Dr B Singh’s petition, thus paving the way for holding the draw of lots. Officials say that they have also received over 130 applications from oustees, who will be allotted plots in the oustee quota. These applications will be processed tomorrow, and about 75 plots are likely to be given to the oustees.
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Seize the moment — do not hesitate, says ‘Father of Pentium’
Chandigarh, December 8 Describing himself as an “operating venture capitalist”, a term he has coined for describing his involvement in helping budding entrepreneurs build start-ups, Mr Dham proposes to help startups not only with the much-needed capital, but also provide mentoring and coaching for building size and scale. “India has established itself as the world’s preferred destination for outsourcing IT” based on the talent pool of engineers who provide these services at a low cost. The worldwide software market is over half a trillion dollars and India still has a huge potential for continuing to reap the benefits of outsourcing. However, the labour arbitrage business model in the long term is not sustainable. What is also needed is to build companies that develop differentiated products with unique intellectual property for meeting India’s domestic needs as well as the global needs around the world,” he explains. He says, “India must continue to move up the value chain by continually adding more value than simply taking advantage of the lower cost. At NewPath, we have invested in four companies working out of India that are focussing on this theme. Newpath II proposes to invest $ 200 to 300 million (US) to further expand and help build global Indian companies around this theme”. Currently in Chandigarh on a personal visit, Mr Dham sees a tremendous future for IT in India that will engulf second-tier cities like Chandigarh as metros like Bangalore have become overcrowded and expensive. NewPath Ventures is exploring opportunities to support companies in secondary and tertiary cities where manpower resource in the form of IT talent is available. He sees a tremendous IT potential in Delhi and Chandigarh. Very sceptical of China baiters, Mr Dham is not worried about IT competition to India from China. “Creativity and innovation emerges from a free and analytical mind”, he says. Creativity of Indian minds emerges out of deep cultural roots in freedom of expression, thought and democracy. Mr Dham makes his point by stressing the lack of attention on infrastructural developmental issues by Indian leaders and civil servants. Lack of infrastructure is affecting our productivity and will soon begin to have an impact on our ability to attract new businesses. “Our government should take a very serious note of this and implement urgent steps rather then debate the subject forever. We should learn to replicate from the great job China has done in developing it’s infrastructure in a short time”, he states. Reacting to a question about his achievement as the leader of a team that developed the Pentium chip, he says, “The best thing that happened to me in my life was joining Intel and the second best was to leave Intel. Intel taught me everything I know as a leader and manager. The world of startups and venture capital has provided me with the opportunity to apply that learning to build and help build successful companies,” he says.
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HC ready to receive guests
Chandigarh, December 8 Among the VVIPs, who will attend the celebrations, are the country's First Citizen, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Chief Justice of India, Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, the Union Law Minister, Mr Hans Raj Bhardwaj, Judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Mr Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhary, serving and retired Judges and lawyers from the Lahore High Court and Chief Justices of some other High Courts in the country. While the President and the Union Law Minister are expected to arrive on the morning of December 10, the Chief Justice of India will arrive tomorrow. Some leading luminaries from other parts of the country are also expected to make it for the main function, which will be held at the High Court complex on the morning of December 10. Tomorrow evening, the Punjab Government is hosting a dinner for the guests. Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali and Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans will regale the guests before the dinner. On the evening of October 10, the guests have been invited to another dinner, this one being hosted by the Haryana Chief Minister. Earlier, the venue of the dinner was the Yadavindra Gardens, Pinjore, but due to certain reasons it is now being held at the High Court itself. Indian ghazal singer Talat Aziz will perform at the venue. Meanwhile, an 18-member delegation of Pakistani advocates arrived here today to participate in the celebrations. Led by former Lahore High Court Judge Fakhar-un-Nisa, the lawyers will be in the city till December 12. The Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Judges and some more lawyers will join them tomorrow.
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NH-22 four-laning to start in January
Zirakpur, December 8 While the survey and alignment work of the project have started, the actual work on the 35-km stretch on the National Highway No 22 will get underway next month. The project is slated to be completed by mid 2008, sources told Chandigarh Tribune today. In fact, the completion of the project, which entails building a huge flyover at Zirakpur, three major bridges, besides service roads, will remove major traffic bottlenecks on the
highway. With thousands of vehicles passing through the road everyday, accidents are a routine affair making this a “killer stretch”. The four-laning of the highway will also reduce travelling between Chandigarh and Ambala. While currently close to one hour is spent between two places, the four-laning will reduce the time up to 30 minutes much to the relief of the harassed commuters. Currently, in the wake of the alleged encroachments on both sides of the road at Zirakpur, traffic jams are everyday affair. The flyover at Zirakpur, the sources said, would take care of the traffic jams. In fact, a major portion of the township would get under the flyover as it would stretch from near the Bains Petrol Station to the side of the Mayur Hotel on the Chandigarh side. It may be recalled that the four-laning project had been hanging fire for at least a decade now inconveniencing the commuters. It was during the previous NDA regime that the project was approved under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).
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Selective demolitions resented
Chandigarh, December 8 Residents complain that officials of the enforcement staff are adopting a pick and choose policy in targeting the structures which have been raised without the permission of the competent authorities. They claim that structures in the rear court yard have been allowed up to a height of nine feet. But no formal notification has been issued by the Chandigarh Administration. A recent example in this case has been the demolition carried out in the rear court yard of house No. 1441, Sector 22-B. The owner of the house, Mr Gurdial Singh, lamented that while his structure was targeted, the structures raised in the neighbouring houses were not touched (as seen in the picture). The victim yesterday met the Deputy Commissioner, who assured to inquire in to the matter. Sources in the Estate Office revealed that the enforcement staff had adopted the yardstick of leaving out old structures and was targeting the new constructions. A survey carried out by Chandigarh Tribune revealed that a number of residents had recently raised constructions or were in the process of raising structures in the rear courtyard. In some of the cases, the rear courtyard had been completely covered by concrete roof. Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Svayam Jagriti Manch in a separate representation to the Deputy Commissioner has sought that the enforcement staff should stop harassing the residents till the issue of regularising the need based changes in marla houses was resolved. The issue is under the active consideration with the Parliaments Standing Committee on Home Affairs.
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Sub-surface dam inaugurated
Panchkula, December 8 He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the sub-surface dam at Ganeshpur village in the Pinjore block today. The proposed projects under approval of the Central Government, included the Kaushlaya river dam to cost Rs 51 crore, Dangrana dam to cost Rs 63 crore and Diwanwala dam project to cost Rs 132 crore, added Capt Yadav. He lauded the efforts of the Ningania Social Welfare and Environmental society for constructing the sub-surface dam for the benefit of the farmers of three villages of Ganeshpur, Bhorian and Dhatogda of the Pinjore block. The NGO secretary, Mr Surinder Yadav, explained that the sub-surface dam was planned after the society found that there was an acute shortage of irrigation water in the villages way back in 2002. The project carried
out with financial help from the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural
Technology (CAPART) was constructed in a record time. The additional DC, Mr Parveen Kumar, called upon NGOs to undertake more such projects for the benefit of society.
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Appeal by sons of accident victim
Chandigarh, December 8 However, today they are lost and desperate. Their world has turned upside down. They are sons of Dr Sangeeta Malhotra, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident near Zirakpur on December 2. Rohit was in Canada when he learnt that a rash driver had claimed the life of his mother opposite Richmond Garden, Silver City, Zirakpur, where she had gone to attend a marriage with her husband, Dr Sunil Malhotra. The two brothers, as the rest of the family, say the justice would be done only if the rash driver is brought to book. They have appealed to the public to provide them with any clue about the identity of the vehicle so that such tragedy do not come to visit some other happy family. Rohit and Suhel have also said that they would give a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anybody on whose information the culprit would be successfully prosecuted. They have promised to keep the identity of the informant secret. They can be contacted at 0172-2596286 or 09872722511.
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School kids have miraculous escape
Mohali, December 8 The children, who were going to the school only to practice for the school’s annual day celebrations scheduled for December 10, were a frightened lot. The school Principal, Sister
Selicia, said the children were safe and reached the school. “However we cannot take responsibility of the bus driver or comment on the road worthiness of the bus since the bus is not registered by us, but is being used on contract by the parents,” she said. According to the bus driver, who had been discharged from the Phase VI Civil Hospital after first aid, the brakes of the bus failed and he lost control over the bus which hit an electrical pole on the road in Phase II here.
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PSEB staff hold dharna
Chandigarh, December 8 Addressing the dharna, employees’ leaders charged the Punjab Government with going back on demands already-agreed upon with union representatives. They also opposed the privatisation of the power sector by the government. Prominent among those who spoke were Mr Charan Singh, Mr Satnam Singh, Mr Gurdip Singh Saidkheri, Mr Harbhajan Singh, Mr Tarlochan Singh, Rajinder Singh and Ishwar Chand.
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UT’s list of holidays
Chandigarh, December 8 The public holidays are Guru Gobind Singh birthday — January 5; Id-ul-Zuha — January 11; Republic Day — January 26; Muharram — February 9; Guru Ravi Dass Jayanti — February 13; Holi — March 15; Ram Navmi — April 6; Mahavir Jayanti — April 11; Birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar\Good Friday — April 14; Independence Day — August 15; Janamashtami — August 15; Gandhi Jayanti — October 2; Dusehra — October 2; Maharishi Balmiki Jayanti — October 7; Divali — October 21; Id-ul-Fitr — October 25; Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev — November 5; Christmas — December 25.
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Rickshaw-puller accused of robbery
Chandigarh, December 8 Sources in the Sector 36 police station said a case of robbery had been registered under Section 394 of the Indian Penal Code following a complaint made by Mr Rakesh Kumar. The police is investigating the matter as a robbery case. But the preliminary investigations show certain inconsistencies in the complaint. Mr Rakesh Kumar reported to the police that he had boarded a rickshaw from the Sector 17 ISBT around 10:30 pm on Wednesday night for his sister’s house in Sector 41-D. The rickshaw-puller allegedly took him to the jungle area in Sector 53, pulled out a knife and asked him to hand over his bag. When he bent to pick his bag, the rickshaw-puller stabbed him twice and decamped with his bag leaving him injured. The bag contained a mobile phone, some cash and other articles. After some time he recollected himself and walked down to the Sector 42 petrol station and informed the police about the incident around 1.15 am. The police sources added that Rakesh Kumar was rushed to the PGI. The doctors said his condition was stable. The doctors reportedly told the police that the injuries inflicted on the victim were minor and not caused by knife. The UT Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) (South), Mr K.I.P. Singh said, “We are investigating the matter with an open mind and are looking into other aspects also. The medical examination has revealed that the injuries were not caused by knife so we are verifying the victim’s statement also.”
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5 of family hurt in attack
Panchkula, December 8 Piara Singh, his three sons — Balbir Singh, Nirmal Singh and Charan Singh, and son-in-law, Karnail Singh sustained injuries in their heads, arms and face. The incident took place when these five persons were digging the land for a tubewell. Harpal Singh, Nirmal Singh alias Neru, Malkiat Singh, Dev Singh, Ram Singh, Dharno Devi, Darbara Singh, Nasib Singh and 30 others attacked them with sharp edged weapons. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune Nirmal Singh alleged that the accused were angry after they had lost a court case with regard to the land dispute. “Our clan owned 80 bighas in the village. The land was to be equally distributed among the two families, but our uncle, Harpal Singh denied us our share. We went to the court, and three months ago, the case was decided in our favour. The land was demarcated in the presence of the Kanungo and the Patwari,” he said. Piara Singh, 70, who received serious injuries in his head, alleged that the accused charged at them with sharp-edged weapons and lathis and beat them up. A number of villagers gathered on the spot and the police was also informed. The accused not only hit men, but also barged into their house and hit all the women. Just as the police reached the spot, the accused fled to the nearby jungle. The police chased them, but they managed to escape. A case on the charges of rioting and assault has been registered against accused in the Pinjore police station.
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Purse stolen from city hotel
Chandigarh, December 8 Giving details about the theft sources in the Sector 22 police station said Shabnam Sharma of Sector 23 lodged a complaint alleging that her purse was stolen from Piccadilly Hotel this afternoon. The purse contained Rs 25,000, a gold chain, tops and other important articles. She told the police that she had gone to attend a party there and during the lunch break, she placed her purse in a chair lying beside her. After sometime she noticed that her purse was missing. She raised an alarm and also informed the police. A case has been registered and the police has quizzed waiters and other employees of the hotel.
Liquor seized
The police arrested two persons from different parts of the city and seized five bottles of liquor on Wednesday. Police sources said Leelu and Gurcharan, both residents of Colony number 5, were picked up from different places in the colony. The police recovered two bottles of Officer’s Choice whisky and three bottles of Hulchal whisky from them. Two separate cases under the Excise Act have been registered.
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