Hisar, May 23
Giving new twist to the row of the sex racket unearthed in their hotel in Delhi, INLD general secretary and son of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, Ajay Chautala, has claimed the hotel did not belong to them when the incident took place.

At a news conference here today Mr Ajay Chautala asserted Regent hotel in the Karol Bagh area of Delhi was started in 1990. At that time, 40 per cent share in the hotel was of Chautala family, while one Prof Satbir and Congress MP Jai Prakash’s brother had 30 per cent share each in the hotel.

“In 1995, Jai Prakash’s brother sold his share to Prof Satbir, who became partner of 60 per cent. In 1996. Prof Satbir sold his entire share to the Chautala family, which then became the sole owners of the hotel. However, we never ran the hotel and gave it on lease to one Ashish Tuli,” said Mr Chautala.

He said later, Prof Satbir, his wife Bimla Devi and Mr Jai Prakash’s wife Savitri Devi started another hotel named Regent International adjoining the Regent hotel. In April, 2004, a sex racket was unearthed in the Regent International hotel.

“Around six months after the incident, we purchased the Regent International Hotel also. However, we had nothing to do with it when the sex racket was unearthed in it,” said the Rajya Sabha member, showing the hotel’s registration papers to reporters.

Mr Chautala said it was surprising that Mr Jai Prakash, whose wife was a partner in the hotel when the sex racket incident took place was levelling allegations against their family.

Former Haryana ministers Sampat Singh and Subhash Goel, Rajya Sabha member Sumitra Mahajan and other INLD leaders were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a number of INLD members staged protest march, blocked traffic and submitted a memorandum to the Haryana Governor through the Deputy Commissioner here against alleged vendetta against the party by the Hooda government.

Chandigarh, May 23
The Congress MLA from Palwal, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, today alleged that the family of the former Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had to pay a huge amount to several firms which supplied construction material for various buildings constructed by the Chautalas when they were in power.

Mr Dalal told newsmen here that while the MP son of the former Chief Minister, Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, had denied the allegations levelled in the Congress charge sheet and the CBI FIR against his family, the fact was that the property owned by the Chautalas was much more than that listed in the two documents.

To prove his contention, Mr Dalal circulated copies of accounts of a firm of Faridabad, which showed an outstanding amount of about Rs 1 crore against various members of the Chautala family for having supplied wooden doors to them. While about Rs 40 lakh was shown as outstanding against one "Abhishek care of Abhay Singh Chautala", another about Rs 18 lakh was shown against Mr Abhay Singh himself. Similarly, about Rs 20 lakh was shown as outstanding against the Devi Lal Trust.

Mr Dalal said if the outstanding amount on account of doors alone was around Rs 1 crore, one could imagine how much money must have been spent by the Chautalas on constructing palatial buildings.

He also alleged that many suppliers in Delhi and surrounding areas had a similar problem with the Chautalas. He said if the Chautalas did not clear their bills, he would paste copies of these bills outside their houses.

Mr Dalal also alleged that when the Chautalas were in power, firms supplying goods to the government had to contribute to the Devi Lal Trust before the orders were given to them. To prove his allegation, Mr Dalal produced a copy of a letter written by the Rewari branch of the State Bank of Patiala to the Director, Agriculture, Haryana, confirming that it had honoured a cheque for Rs 51,000 issued by a Rewari firm, which was one among those which had been approved to supply sprinkler sets to farmers under a NABARD scheme. Mr Dalal alleged that the cheque was in favour of the Devi Lal Trust.

He also accused the former Chief Minister of having fleeced farmers by stipulating in the order for sprinkler sets that these would not be sold at rates lower than those approved by the government under the scheme. Mr Dalal said in the open market the sets were available at much lower prices. 

Rohtak, May 23
The Haryana branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for a day’s strike by doctors of the state on May 25 to protest against the reservation proposed by the Centre in institutions of higher learning.

In a statement issued here today, Dr Ashok Mittal, secretary, Haryana IMA, said doctors would boycott work, hold rallies and hand over memoranda to respective Deputy Commissioners that day.

About 50 teachers of the local Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) have come out in support of the agitating medicos. They met the protestors last night and wore black badges today to express their support to the anti-reservation stir.

On the other hand, 25 students went on fast last night. Earlier, the medicos had been on relay fast for the past several days. Another group of protestors left for different parts of the state yesterday on motor cycles to canvass support for the agitation.

Meanwhile, work in the PGIMS continued to be paralysed for the eighth day. Although the striking medicos are running parallel OPDs in the PGIMS lawns, senior teachers are manning the emergency surgical theatres. 

Ambala, May 23
Dr Rita Jaspal, senior vice-president, Indian Medical Association, Haryana, said today that all members of the IMA, Haryana, would observe a state wide bandh on May 25 in protest against the proposed OBC reservation in institutions of higher learning.

Dr Jaspal said the IMA, Haryana, strongly condemns the brutal police action on doctors in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Rohtak. “We demand action against the police officers responsible for manhandling the medicoes,” she said.

She criticise the vote bank politics of the political parties and observe that it was an attempt to divide society on the basis of caste. Instead of the quota system, merit should be the only criteria for admission.

The Ambala Cantt unit of the IMA would take out a protest march against the reservation proposal on May 25. Dr Malhotra of the Ambala Cantt unit said the doctors would assemble at the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt, and march through different areas of Ambala Cantt as well as Ambala City. A memorandum would be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner.

Chandigarh, May 23
The Central Government has decided to withdraw the licences granted for manufacturing declofenac formulations for veterinary use. Steps will also be taken to phase out marketing of such formulations within three months in view of studies indicating that the use of declofenac in livestock was resulting in decline in the population of vultures.

Stating this here today, the Haryana Minister of State for Forests, Ms Kiran Chaudhary, said directions to this effect had been received by the state government from the Drugs Controller-General.

The Drugs Controller-General said serious concern had been expressed at different fora over the decline in the population of vultures in the subcontinent. Vultures get exposed to declofenac when they consume carcasses of livestock treated with declofenac before death.

The meat laced with the drug kills the birds by renal failure and other complications. 

Chandigarh, May 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association has convened a general house meeting tomorrow afternoon to decide the future course of action on the complaint of a lawyer, Mr Madan Dev, alleging that the DGP, Haryana, Mr Kanwar Nirmal Singh, issued him threats of liquidation.

In his complaint, Mr Madan Dev, who is a practising lawyer at the High Court, has stated that the tenant at his Sector 8 Panchkula house left with all his belongings in the dead of the night on April 21. Since the tenant, Mr Hitesh Sharma, had left without clearing his dues, Mr Madan Dev started searching for him. But when he could not find about his whereabouts, he went to Police Post Sector 17 , Panchkula, on May 17 to bring the matter to the notice of the police.

The complaint further says that on the request of a Haryana Police DSP, Mr Madan Dev took back his complaint as he was told that the DGP, who allegedly had good relations with the tenant's family, would get his dues paid.

On May 18, the lawyer along with another lawyer accompanied the DSP to the Haryana Police headquarters at Panchkula to meet the DGP.

There, the complaint alleges, the DGP started questioning the claims of the lawyer and finally threatened him of dire consequences if he did not forget the entire issue.

"I could not believe that the DGP could behave in such a manner. He even threatened to get me liquidated. Finally, I got out of his office. After some time, I was again called inside and the entire drama was played out again," alleges Mr Madan Dev.

Interestingly, along with his complaint, the lawyer has also attached three pages of the transcripts of the entire conversation between him, the DGP and the DSP.

However, DGP Kanwar Nirmal Singh, when contacted on phone, denied the occurrence of any such incident.

"Why should I threaten anybody? There is an inquiry going on regarding a tenancy dispute concerning the same house. I don't know why I am being unnecessarily involved in the matter," he said. Asked if he had issued any threats to the lawyer, the DGP replied in the negative.

Chandigarh, May 23
Mr Justice Baldev Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed the plea of the former Chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), Mr K.C. Bangar, for grant of anticipatory bail in a case registered against him by the State Vigilance Bureau, Sirsa.

On October 18, 2005, Mr Bangar, who had been appointed Chairman of the HPSC by the previous Om Prakash Chautala government, had been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In his plea for directions to the government not to arrest him, Mr Bangar has asserted that the case against him is politically motivated and false.

The case had been registered against Mr Bangar, considered very close to former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, following a complaint sent by a Jalandhar resident to the Haryana Chief Secretary.

In his complaint, Mr Vishal Chouhan had alleged that large-scale irregularities had been committed by the HPSC under Mr Bangar while making selections for various posts. The complaint had given instances of many such alleged wrong-doings, particularly cases where ineligible candidates had been favoured for appointment to various posts while people of merit were ignored.