Ambala, May 9
CBI Magistrate Abdul Majid dismissed the bail applications of Dr Amit, the main accused in the kidney scam, and Linda, a nurse at Dr Amit’s hospital, here today. However the court granted bail to three other accused in the scam - Ramesh, Umesh and Suresh.

S.D. Singh and Amit Gupta, counsel for Dr Amit, pleaded in the court that under section 167 a chargesheet should have been filed within 90 days after the arrest of the accused. They stated that the period of 90 days after the arrest of Dr Amit and Linda was already over, but the CBI had failed to file a chargesheet in the court against them.

In fact, they said, the CBI had filed a complaint under section 22 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act - 1994 a week ago claiming it to be a chargesheet. They said the complaint could not be treated as a chargesheet. They requested the court that since the CBI had failed to file the chargesheet against Dr Amit and Linda, so their bail should be allowed.

On the other hand, CBI senior public prosecutor A.K. Singh, quoting citations of the Supreme Court, said the complaint filed in such cases could be treated as a chargesheet. He said it contained the required formalities of a chargesheet. Moreover, he said, the names of Dr Amit and Linda were included in the chargesheet as an accused, so they should not be granted bail. After hearing the arguments of both sides, the Magistrate dismissed the plea of the defence side.

The court granted bail to three accused - Suresh, Ramesh and Umesh - as the CBI had not mentioned their names in the chargesheet. The court also granted exemption to Pooja from personnel appearance in the court till further orders. The counsel pleaded that her name was not mentioned in the chargesheet.

Pooja is the wife of Dr Jeevan, who is one of the prime accused in the scam. The court had already granted her interim bail.

The court has fixed May 17 for taking cognigence on the chargesheet. All nine accused, including Dr Amit, Dr Jeevan, Dr K.K. Aggarwal, Dr Sarj, Dr Upender and Linda were present in the court.

Fatehabad, May 9
A benevolent act by a Canada-based NRI Resham Singh Bhangal has provided much-needed relief to hundreds of fire victims of Ratia area of the district, whose houses had been gutted in Tuesday’s inferno.

Bhangal (65) had been active in philanthropist activities in the area in the past too. He hails from Dhani Masitanwali village near here and is settled in Canada for the last 40 years.

He was in his native village, when the fire broke out and engulfed more than 100 villages of this district.

One woman was burnt alive, over 10 heads of cattle had perished and more than 100 houses gutted in the fire.

Shehnal and Jallopur, the two villages near Ratia, were the worst affected where the dwelling areas too came under fire.

Bhangal was moved to see the sufferings of those who had to flee from their houses and talked to several NGOs and the authorities for providing aid to the victims.

When he found the aid getting delayed, he himself visited the affected villages today and distributed cash and wheat flour among the victims.

Chandigarh, May 9
Haryana cops, beware! Before you harass anyone or try to protect a criminal, think twice. You are being watched by the big brother, oops…your director-general of police (DGP) Ranjiv Dalal.

Five policemen faced punitive action by way of transfer to insignificant posts when Dalal received complaints against them in the “open durbar” organised in his Panchkula office today, which turned out to be a big draw. Not that Dalal acted on an impulse. He thoroughly questioned the complainants before he was convinced that an action was required against his subordinates.

It took him about three hours to patiently hear 43 complainants, who had come from far-flung areas of the state. Most of the heinous crimes like murders or robberies were already there in his knowledge. Dalal was harsh in cases of crimes against women or against members of weaker sections.

Though Dalal does not like to term his open-door policy to hear public grievances as a “durbar,” people coming to see him definitely expected “Jahagiri justice” from him. They came with all sorts of complaints.

A widow, with her face covered in the traditional Haryanavi manner, came from a Bhiwani village with a complaint that her three family members had been arrested for allegedly murdering her brother. Her plea was that since her brother was alcoholic, he had fallen in a well and suffered a head injury. But the police had arrested her other family members on the murder charge. Dalal directed the district police chief to get postmortem report reexamined by a board of doctors and to personally look into the investigation.

A sobbing father brought to his notice how his newly married daughter was murdered by her husband and threw her body near the Madhuban police complex in Karnal district. Dalal, who was aware of the crime, directed the district SP to ensure that the guilty should not get benefit in a court of law because of any shortcomings in the investigation.

Physically challenged Rambir, who lost his both legs, came all the way from Beri in Jhajjar district with an entreaty to Dalal to save his land from being grabbed by his unscrupulous relatives. The DGP, who appreciated the “fighting spirit” of the man, was quick to issue necessary instructions to the district police.

Common citizens were not alone to appear in the DGP’s durbar. Even policemen sought his help in getting justice.

A former ASI Bashir Ahmed, who was allegedly caught accepting bribe red-handed, told his senior how he was implicated in a false case by a DSP and an SHO and how the record was manipulated by them to get him convicted. Dalal asked a senior officer to personally look into the case so that no injustice was done.

A constable came with his mother to complain that his father and a brother had been kidnapped and murdered, but the main accused had still not been arrested. Dalal advised him to learn from this personal tragedy and serve the people zealously.

A young man told him that his family had not received any ex-gratia help from the government after the death of his father who was in the police.

Panipat, May 9
With most of the cases of minority rights violation being reported from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the two states have caught the attention of the minority commission. Worried, the commission has now decided to initiate appropriate measures to ensure social security for the minorities in these two states.

Stating this here yesterday, chairman of the National Minority Commission (NMC) Mohammad Shafi Qureshi said it was a matter of concern and the commission was quite particular to resolve these issues at the earliest.

Qureshi was here to preside over a meeting of top functionaries of the civil as well as police administration of seven districts of the state, including Panipat, Karnal, Kaithal, Sonepat, Sirsa, Gurgaon and Faridabad. He said social security for all was a must for a healthy democracy and the commission intended to guarantee this across the nation.

The meeting had been convened to look into and settle complaints that had been received for these districts.

Rohtak, May 9
The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) has urged the university authorities to ensure full and final settlement of the issue pertaining to the erstwhile University College here.

The administrative control of the erstwhile University College was taken over by the state government, which led to a lot of confusion and messy situation regarding the fate of the teachers of this college. The college teachers have been suffering much harassment and humiliation for more than a year now.

While some teachers were adjusted in MDU teaching departments, others were sent to the same college (now christened Neki Ram Sharma Government College) on deputation. Still others approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for some permanent settlement.

During a recent hearing of the case, the university as well as the state authorities assured the high court that the remaining teachers would also be accommodated. However, the teachers’ association has expressed serious concern over the way the things are going on.

In a strong-worded letter addressed to the MDU vice-chancellor-cum-chairperson of the university executive council, the association maintains: “We are pained to note that again, only ad hoc arrangements are being made. For the past two years, these teachers have been living in an atmosphere of uncertainty and resultantly, the whole university has been destabilised. It is high time that the fallout of the ill-conceived and arbitrary decision of the government to take over the college and eagerness of the then university administration to surrender it are sorted out fully.”

Pointing out that some teachers had not been assigned any work, the association has alleged that arbitrary and discriminatory decisions were being taken in this regard. It has demanded that the status and terms of work allocation of the teachers adjusted in MDU teaching departments be clarified.

The association has further demanded that the seniority of the teachers should be kept in mind while allocating them work in the university. “Moreover, the teachers who had moved the court should be assigned work immediately as there is sufficient workload at the university. The pending salaries of these teachers should also be released,” the letter maintains.

The association has asserted that in view of the aforesaid facts, the authorities concerned should resolve the matter once and for all, and refrain from taking ad hoc, incomplete, arbitrary and discriminatory decisions.

Yamunanagar, May 9
The district blood bank authorities heaved a sigh of relief when no HIV infection was found in the nine local donors whose blood was transfused to a six-year-old thalassaemic girl, who has been infected with HIV.

The attention now shifts to the 57 donors whose blood was transfused to the girl in a hospital in Patiala.

A committee constituted to probe how the girl got infected with HIV during a blood transfusion visited the blood bank of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, today.

Dr N.K. Kalia, one of the members of the committee and medical superintendent of the local ESI hospital, clarified that the girl was given blood at the civil hospital and not the ESI hospital.

“A blood bank of the Haryana government is located on the ESI hospital premises, and after collecting blood from the bank, it was transfused at the civil hospital and the ESI hospital has nothing to do with it,” claimed Dr Kalia.

Dr Vijay Dahiya who, along with Dr Ashok Sharma, visited the Patiala hospital, said the blood bank authorities there provided them with names and addresses of seven donors.

“The girl was given blood 57 times in Patiala. The blood bank authorities have assured us that the name and addresses of the remaining donors would be forwarded to us at the earliest,” said Dr Dahiya.

Dr Dahiya said the Haryana government would be approached so that all donors whose blood was transfused to the girl in Patiala could be screened for HIV.

Meanwhile, the local blood bank officials appeared a bit relaxed when all nine local donors turned out to be non-reactive (HIV-free).

“We have screened all nine donors, including two girls, and all of them turned out be free from HIV,” claimed Dr Munish Rathi, in charge of the local blood bank.

Rewari, May 9
A prominent political activist of the Ahirwal region, Anil Rao, a confidant of the late Chief Minister Bansi Lal and former general secretary of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), formally joined the BJP, along with thousands of his supporters from Kosli, Jatusana, Dharuhera, Bawal, Rewari and Ateli areas, here today.

Party stalwarts Vijay Goyal, national general secretary of the BJP and in charge of the party affairs in Haryana, state party chief Atam Prakash Manchanda, national BJP secretary Sudha Yadav, state BJP vice-president Kailash Chand Sharma, the state general secretary, Capt Abhimanyu, and state BJP spokesman Ram Bilas Sharma were among those present on the occasion.

Welcoming Rao and his supporters, including numerous women, into the party fold, state party president Manchanda asserted that the entry of a seasoned politician like Rao had catapulted the BJP on a high pedestal in the Ahirwal region.

Vijay Goyal said Rao’s entry would strengthen the party. 

Kurukshetra, May 9
Haryana power and irrigation financial commissioner and principal secretary R.N. Prashar joined the cleanliness drive initiated by the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) on the banks of the Brahm Sarovar here today.

Prashar called upon the people to organise such kar sewa campaigns at other teerthas of Kurukshetra also. It should not be confined to the Brahm Sarovar alone, he added.

Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor R.P. Bajpai, along with his wife, joined the kar sewa and maintained that the ‘teertha’ should be cleaned in such a manner so that it inspired and preserved the ethos of the country.

Kurukshetra District and Sessions Judge R.C. Bansal lauded the efforts to clean the sarovar.