Kapurthala, May 24
An assistant posted at the office of the SDM, Sultanpur Lodhi, has allegedly amassed property worth crores of rupees disproportionate to his known sources of income in the last 15 years. The Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala has, as such, asked the SSP, Vigilance, Jalandhar, to register a case against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The accused, Samittar Singh, his father, son and wife have more than 34 acres of land in their names, in addition to a palatial residence in a posh locality of Kapurthala, as alleged in the inquiry report submitted by Bhavna Garg, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Kapurthala, after conducting an enquiry on a complaint by a Lambardar, Samittar Singh, a resident of Kanjli village.

It is also apprehended in the report submitted by the ADC that there may be more sale deeds vide whereby Samittar Singh had become owner of other lands, but mutations have not been entered. The report also mentions that the immovable properties were not counted at all in the inquiry.

The report said Ujagar Singh, father of Samittar Singh, inherited 13 kanal and five marla of land in Kanjli village. Samittar Singh bought 48 kanals and 18 marlas of land in November 1991, the ADC has said in the report. Jaswinder Kaur, the wife of Samittar Singh, bought 25 kanals and 3 marlas of land in 1992, she added.

In 1999, a total of 39 kanals was transferred in the name of the residence of the accused vide a sale deed.

Again, 32 kanals of land was transferred in the name of Gagandeep Singh, the son of Samittar Singh, in 2001 against a sale deed executed in 1991.

Though Ujagar Singh was a retired havaldar from the Army and got only 13 kanals and 5 marlas of land in heritance, such huge incomes cannot be justified from less than two acres of agricultural land, argues the ADC in the report.

Bhavna Garg, when contacted, informed that Gagandeep Singh, the son of the accused, had also forged a letter depicting her orders in a case of land dispute, though the case was under consideration in the sessions court.

Meanwhile, Mr Samittar Singh denied all the allegations contained in the report. He said it was biased, adding that he had complained against the ADC for taking action in the case.

Jalandhar, May 24
The slackened pace of the investigations in the recently-exposed kidney racket has raised many a eyebrows.

The sale of kidneys, which came to light after the May 3 arrest from the city of two persons alleged to have traded a kidney, has not seen any breakthrough even after the licence of the hospital allegedly involved in the racket was seized by the authorities. The racket had put into question the role of the Kidney Transplant Authorisation Committee that gave a go ahead on transplant operation after all the required verifications.

The shifting of a senior police officer from the case has been the only development in the investigation process. The SP City (I), Dr S.K. Kalia, who was spearheading the investigation, was replaced by the ASP, Phagwara, Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill.

Till now Raj Kumar who sold his kidney for Rs 80,000, his agent Rajiv Aggarwal and the kingpin of the racket Chandan Singh, have been arrested and the license of the New Ruby Hospital had been seized. Though the SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, declined to comment on the issue, the Phagwara ASP confirmed that no new names had been made part of the investigations so far. He blamed this on delay in receiving details.

A former member of the Kidney Transplant Authorisation Committee, on conditions of anonymity, alleged that the pace of the investigations was slowed down to protect the members of the Kidney Transplant Authorisation Committee. He alleged that the committee had failed to scan all the cases properly and many top officials, known doctors and police officers, were likely to be exposed once the investigations were done “seriously”.

Jalandhar, May 24
In tune with the objections raised over the contents of the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Da Vinci Code’ in other parts of the country, the Diocese of Jalandhar today said it would oppose the screening of the film in Punjab.

Talking to The Tribune at Trinity College here, Monsignor Mathew Nilappana, the Vicar General of the Diocese, said the movie had raised a hornet’s nest within the Catholic circles.

The Diocese, he said, believed that it would be a “great mistake and offensive to the right thinking people in the world if the screening of ‘Da Vinci Code’ was allowed under the garb of fiction”.

The spokesperson of the Diocese, Dr Franco Mulakkal, said, “We would not have opposed its screening if the movie had been produced for the search of the truth. We would have readily allowed it, as we are not afraid of accepting any challenge of examining any historical evidence. Unfortunately that has not clearly been the attempt of its producer. The screening of the movie would simply malign our community and make a mockery of our God, Lord Jesus.”

Dr Franco added, “The name of Jesus is sacred to the Christians, and therefore, it should not be used in a sacrilegious manner. The screening of films like ‘Da Vinci Code’ should never be allowed in the country”.

He cited the acrimonious reactions from the Sikh community during the screening of the Bollywood film, ‘Jo Bole So Nihal’.

Dr Kurian Muttathupadam, Chairman of the Education Board of the Diocese, said, “No matter what be the theme of a film or a novel, there must be a limit to the public expression and the free play of imagination in art and literature. The producer of ‘Da Vinci Code’ has admitted that it is only a fiction. But the tragedy is that he is telling the whole world that Lord Jesus is a sensual person. This has hurt the sentiments of the Christians and, therefore, the screening of the film should be banned.”

The Diocese exhorted the community to keep peace and maintain communal amity.

It said that so far the protests have been peaceful, but it warned that in case such methods proved to be ineffective, the Christian community would be forced to consider other options. 

Jalandhar, May 24
Today, vegetable vendors were joined by their children in their ongoing chain hunger strike. The vendors are demanding alternate sites for setting up rehris in the city.

For three days now, vegetable vendors have been protesting the decision of the Municipal Corporation (MC) that disallows them from putting up rehri markets in certain areas of the city. The MC claims that the rehris cause traffic jams.

The children, holding placards and sitting in front of the Municipal Corporation’s office, demanded food for their families suffering from the MC’s decision.

The children, part of the protest, were Rhit, Rahul, Sunny, Gurpreet, Karan, Vikram, Kamal, Harish and Sunil. Rahul had to be admitted in the hospital after his condition deteriorated due to heat. He was later discharged.

The protesting vendors alleged that they were not being allowed to put up their weekly rehri markets in Urban Estate Phase II, Babbri Chowk in Basti Sheikh, Ghah Mandi, Pratap Bagh, Guru Teg Nahadur Nagar Model Town and Ladowali Road by the MC.

They claimed that they had not even been provided with alternate sites for selling vegetables.

The protest is being organised by Apni Mandi and Nyay Morcha.

The Lok Bhalai Party, CPI, CITU, Kul Hind Khet Mazdoor Union and other bodies have now come in support of the vendors.