Jalandhar, January 6
A woman, along with two young girls and three male accomplices, ganged up to brutally murder a financier who was pestering them for the recovery of his loan here on New Year’s day.

Those charged with the murder are Lakhbir Kaur alias Rimpy (22), Manpreet Kaur alias Sonia (17), Paramjit Kaur, Sonia’s mother, Jagjit Singh alias Tona, and Lal Muni. Two other accomplices, Hardeep Singh alias Titu and Vipan Kumar, are absconding.

Briefing media persons here today, the DIG, Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, said the victim, who retired from the BSF to go abroad in 1992, returned to India in 1995 and began the business of lending money. “He lent an amount of Rs 6.5 lakh, in two installment of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, to Paramjit Kaur, and Lakhbir Kaur stood guarantee for the loan. They then used the money to open the cyber café and a fast food joint by the name of Guru Kripa, opposite the regional campus of the Guru Nanak Dev University, on Ladhewali. Soon, Manpreet Kaur alias Sonia, the daughter of Paramjit Kaur, began working in the cafe.”

The DIG added that the victim regularly used to recover the money from Paramjit on a monthly basis. “The motive behind the killing was to avoid the payments, which were getting bigger because of the interest rates, and Sukhdev Singh was getting impatient by the day.”

Mr Gill said Lakhvir Kaur and Manpreet Kaur then hatched the plan to kill Sukhdev and coaxed an employee of the café, Lal Muni, for getting the job done. “Lal Muni then got hold of three other persons—- Jagjit Singh, Hardeep Kumar and Vipan Kumar. And the contract amount for the murder was fixed at only Rs 80,000.”

On Sunday evening, Sukhdev Singh came to the cyber café to ask for his money, the DGP said. “All the five accused were present in the café that time and they pulled down the shutters trapping the victim. Hardip attacked Sukhdev Singh with a sharp-edged weapon and killed him, as the three women silently watched. The body was then loaded into Lakhvir Kaur’s car and dumped into a gutter near Surya Enclave.”

Jalandhar, January 6
The temperatures in the district touched a new low with the minimum temperature recorded at -2.6 degrees as compared to -2.2 degrees recorded on December 14. Amritsar had the minimum temperature of -0.7 degrees, Bathinda’s low temperature stood at 1.2 degrees, Pathankot at 4 degrees and Jammu recorded -0.5 degrees.

The temperature in the district was lower than the minimum temperature of the Srinagar valley, which was recorded at -2.4 degrees, according to the Meteorological Department.

Chandigarh recorded the minimum temperature of 3.4 degrees, while Ambala recorded 3.8 degrees. Halwara recorded 1 degree as its minimum temperature.

According to the Met department, the fall in temperatures is due to the intensifying cold wave conditions in the region,

The department has also predicted similar cold wave conditions for the next 36 hours as the cold waves are expected to intensify due to the snow fall in the Jammu and Kashmir.

This is the second lowest temperature recorded in the past 30 years. The last lowest temperature was recorded in the first fortnight of December in the year 1984.

This season, the temperatures had last touched the low of -2.2 in the district on December 14 with Amritsar, which traditionally records the lowest temperatures in the region, recording 0.2 degrees.

The New Year has, however, brought another low of temperatures with lowest temperatures touching -2.6 degrees. The chill in the air paralyzed life in the region as most people remained indoors. The poor on the roads had to resort to saving themselves from the chill through small bon fires made of what ever they could get their hands on.

Meanwhile, agricultural experts say the cold wave conditions would adversely affect the crops. The Chief Agriculture Officer, Dr Baldev Singh Kahlon, said the severing winter conditions could damage crops, which needed natural water through rains at this point. He said the crops like wheat, mustard, gram, and sugarcane were the most affected as the cold season could stunt their growth and the crops could contract diseases also.

Jalandhar, January 6
Laying stress on boosting confidence among traders for strengthening Indo-Pak business ties, over 150 delegates comprising industrialists, agriculturists and media persons from Pakistani and Indian Punjab held discussions during “Punjab-Punjab consultation,” a conference organised by the South Asian Free Media Agency (SAFMA) at Lovely Institutes here today.

As a part of the 30-plus delegation from the Pakistani side, Mr Sohail Lashari, former senior vice-president and convener of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce, said even as the SAFTA agreement had come into effect from January 1, no trade was happening across the border. “The traders seem to be shying away from entering any business ties as they are probably not much aware as to how they should go about it”, he said.

Mr Lashari pointed out, “The volume of trade between the two countries is just worth US dollars 500 million a year but the potential is higher. If this potential is fully exploited, the trade can go up to as much as US dollars one billion annually after a five years time.”

“The commodities like salt, chemicals and molasses can be supplied from Pakistan whereas engineered products such as cars, motor bikes that are cheaper in India can come from here”, he said.

“The governments on both sides must strive to build more trust among traders and spread awareness about it. Plain talks can be of no help. I am coming here for the fifth time in a year and I do not find anything significant happening ever since,” he added.

Mr Shafiq Ahmed, Director of the College of Tourism and Hotel Management, Lahore, too said he did not find the conference very meaningful as he did not meet anyone from the tourism sector here that could help build the tourism industry in the East and West Punjab. “The tourism and hotel industry on either side has much potential as the people are much interested in visiting the land where their parents or grandparents lived about six decades back,” he said.

In fact, most of the Pakistani delegates who were here said they had connections on the Indian side. Mr Ahmed said his father lived in Nangal Khera village on the outskirts of Phagwara, the place he wanted to visit. Ms Gull Sadia, coordinator of Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), a Pakistan-based NGO, too said her parents used to live in Ambala before they migrated to Pakistan.

Besides Ms Sadia, there were two other female members in the delegation. Ms Tehmeena Daulatana, a Senate member, and Ms Nadia, reporter with Geo TV, too participated in the discussions.

Mr Imtiaz Alam, secretary general, SAFMA, said he was coordinating with the secretary generals of all South Asian countries for expediting the implementation of visa-free travel for the journalists.

He also said Pakistan would carry out rectification in the SAFTA agreement in March when the country would present its national budget.

The Indian delegation included Dr J.S. Puar, former vice-chancellor, Punjabi University, Mr Raghbir Singh, president of Jalandhar Potato Growers’ Association, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sangha, popularly known as potato prince, Mr Harsh Gupta, president of Pipe Fitting Manufacturing Association, and Mr Ashok Mittal, president, Lovely Institutes.

Jalandhar, January 6
The District Food and Supply Controller (DFSC) has fined the Lovely Sweets of Rs 3,000 for weighing the products along with the card board containers in violation of rules of the Weight and Measures Act.

The fine was imposed after complaints to this effect were verified, a press release issued here said.

Popli Sweets will have to pay two fines of Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500. Mahajan Sweet Shop was fined Rs 1,500, while Rs 2,500 of fine has been imposed on Nijjer Sweet shop Lambra. A dozen shops were also issued notices to this effect.

The sweet shops were found engaging in weighing the sweets along with card board boxes.