Jalandhar, July 26
The DIG Jalandhar Range, Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, today announced the busting of a 19-member gang involved in 42 incidents of looting, snatching and dacoity in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts.

Stating this in a press note, the DIG said the gang had been active since 1992, and its members were nabbed during a joint operation conducted by the police of the three districts. He said the kingpin of the gang, Roshan Lal, a resident of Nawanshahr, had been arrested during the police raid. He added that the kingpin’s two accomplices, Balkar Singh from Madhopur in Kapurthala, and Ajmer Singh from Bhojewal in Jalandhar, too, had been rounded up and weapons were recovered from their possession.

Meanwhile, SSP Nawanshahr, Mr S.P.S. Virk, held a press conference in which he said that Balkar Singh had been arrested at Sukhni Puli naka, and a case under Section 25 A had been registered against him at Sadar Police Station in Kapurthala. A .9mm pistol was also recovered from him. He had robbed this pistol from ASI Joginder Singh of Kapurthala Police Station on June 13 in Nakodar area.

Mr Virk said the gang leader Roshan Lal, who had recently come out of jail on fake papers, had been arrested in another encounter, and a case had been registered against him under Section 307 of the IPC at Behram Police Station. One pistol of .32 bore, two magazines, 10 live cartridges of .32 bore, one empty cartridge of .32 bore, one pistol of .315 bore and a Bajaj Chetak scooter without number were recovered from his possession, the SSP said.

The SSP said that Ajmer Singh convicted in a criminal case had been arrested under Sections 25, 54 and 59 A, and one country-made pistol had been recovered from his possession. He added that the three arrested gangsters had been involved in six cases of looting cash and gold chains at gunpoint. The trio were using weapons smuggled from UP and Bihar through contacts with migratory robbers and criminals lodged in different jails of Punjab, Mr Virk said.

Jalandhar, July 26
There is some good news for elderly and physically challenged residents, who had earlier been avoiding a visit to the quadruple-storey building of the District Administrative Complex here because of its inaccessibility.

After a gap of nearly two years, the lift of the complex has become operational.

The lift became operational reportedly after the issue was raised by the members of the District Grievances’ Committee on July 7.

The DC, Mr A.Venu Prasad, had assured the members and the Chairman of the committee, Mr R.C. Dogra, of getting the lift operational in 15 days, which he did.

The officials in the administration revealed that while the lift had been in fully-functional condition, the only problem was that there was no manpower available to run it. This manpower had now been provided. Most residents and employees, however, had earlier believed that the lift was out of order.

Mr Mahinder Singh Kainth, previous ADC, had always said that the lift had been out of order as there were no funds to get it repaired or run it.

He had then said that the AMC of the lift could also not be done as it was not under the charge of the PWD (B and R) as PUDA continued to be the owner of the building.

The laxity on the part of the administration to get the lift repaired was creating a problem for the elderly and physically challenged who found it hard to climb the stairs up and down.

Many departments, including the Employment Exchange, Social Welfare Department and Labour Department, are situated on the third floor.

The second floor has other important offices such as those for getting pictures clicked for driving licences, the office of Additional District Transport Officer, the District Consumers’ Redressal Forum, the election office and the Language Department. 

Jalandhar, July 26
Octroi employees from Municipal Councils all across the state held a rally outside the office of Deputy Director, Local Bodies, at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium here today.

Under the banner of the Punjab MC Employees’ Union, the members raised slogans against the government for taking a decision on abolishing octroi.

They said that in such a situation, it would be difficult for them to get their salaries from the department.

They said that earlier, too, when a similar situation had arisen, they had to stage dharnas to get their salary. 

Jalandhar, July 26
Varuna Sondhi, an alumna from Delhi Public School, Jalandhar Cantonment, represented India as a peace ambassador in the 18th Asian Pacific Children’s Convention held at Fukuoka, Japan, from July 12 to July 25. The conference was attended by 450 children from 43 countries.

Currently studying at Mayo College Girls’ School, Ajmer, Varuna had earlier represented India as a junior ambassador at the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention in Japan in the year 2000.

While the selection of junior ambassador is done by the Indian Jaycees who invite applications from all over India, the selection of peace ambassador is only on invitation received from Fukuoka. The invitation is extended to all junior ambassadors of earlier years on the basis of their performance and participation.

This year, only two children were selected as peace ambassadors, and eight as junior ambassadors. 

Kapurthala, July 26
A hotelier, Purshotam Singh Sidhu, has alleged that SHO of Sadar police station Balbir Singh had threatened him to implicate him in a false case.

The owner of Preet Plaza Hotel, located near the Rail Coach Factory, had submitted a formal complaint in this regard to Kapurthala SSP Rajiv Ahir, who has now marked an inquiry to DSP City Amrik Singh Powar. Copies of the complaint have also been sent to the DGP, DIG and Punjab State Human Rights Commission.

Mr Sidhu claimed that he had approached the SHO to ask him to register an FIR against one Ranjit Singh Rana, who ran a PCO booth at Purani Dana Mandi on charges of injuring attacking and injuring his (Mr Sidhu’s ) employee a few days back.

But instead of registering an FIR, the SHO had threatened to implicate him in a false case, the complaint said.

The hotelier alleged that Ranjit Singh Rana along with some other persons had attacked his gatekeeper Rakesh Kumar and injured him. He was admitted to the civil hospital where a Medico Legal Report was also prepared. But even then the concerned Sadar police did not register any FIR, Mr Sidhu alleged.

When he approached the SHO, he threatened to implicate him in a false case, the Mr Sidhu alleged. “Several policemen used to make calls from Rana’s PCO,” Mr Sidhu added.

He further alleged that an ASI, Lakhwinder Singh, posted as a reader with former Kapurthala City DSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon, had called him two months back.

“He wanted a room to stay with a woman in the hotel. But I refused to entertain him,” Mr Sidhu claimed.

The hotelier said another ASI along with three to four policemen had come to his hotel the next morning and misbehaved and abused some of his clients who were taking lunch there.

Mr Sidhu said he had brought the matter to the notice of the then DSP. Following this, the policemen had mended their ways, he said. “But again, they started harassing me in one or the other,” he alleged.