Ludhiana, June 8
Statement of a 12-year-old girl, Anju, employed as a domestic help with in-laws of Amanpreet in house no 74-B, Model Town Extension Area, here, have put serious questions on the police role.

She has claimed she was murdered not only by her husband, but also by her mother-in-law and brother-in-law. The police has booked only the husband, Sukhdeep, alias Shelly, a prominent industrialist of the city.

Her statement is further strengthened with the post-mortem examination report, saying the deceased was strangled. The report does not suggest she died due to hanging as her neck bone was intact. Further, a stab wound was also found on her back.

The most startling revelation made in the report was that Amanpreet was carrying a female child. This adds new dimension to the case with her parents seeking the accused should be booked for female foeticide also.

The statement of the prime witness and the coroner's report exposes how the accused in-laws were trying to pass off the murder as suicide with Model Town cops also giving indications of following their line.

Interestingly, the model town police officials were ignoring the witness yesterday. Her statement was only recorded when parents and relatives of the deceased insisted.

Further, the police today claimed to have found a suicide note written by the deceased. The sudden appearance of the note which is in total contrast to the post-mortem report asks explanation from the cops.

Relatives of the deceased also showed pictures in which she had clasped tightly on a white bed cover. They said if she had committed suicide by hanging herself from the fan how come her hand held tightly to the sheet. She was covered with the same sheet.

Living in hiding for fear of the accused and coercion by the police, the witness, Rani, told Ludhiana Tribune that Aman was murdered by her husband Sukhdeep, his younger brother Rajan and mother.

She claims to have told the police all that she had seen and reiterated it to The Tribune. Still the cops only chose to book Sukhdev ignoring the testimony against others.

"Didi was very nice. They used to beat and harass her. On June 6 evening, Shelly had slapped her. Didi went inside her room and lie on the bed crying. Later, I heard cries from her room. I saw Rajan (Sukhdeep's younger brother), his mother and Shelly trying to overpower her. Shelly was strangling her while his mother held her legs and Rajan her arms and mouth."

She said the father of Shelly was a nice person, "Uncle ji did not allow anyone to shout at didi. There was peace whenever he was around. He is a nice man and totally innocent."

The maid was taken away by the relatives of the deceased. Daljit Singh, a maternal uncle of the deceased, said they feared the accused or the police would harm her.

Ludhiana, June 8
Rail traffic was disrupted for more than two hours on the Ludhiana-Delhi section here today as trade union activists, farmers and farm workers resorted to "rail roko" at Dhandari railway station from 12 noon to 2 pm in protest against the increase in prices of petroleum products. The call for protest against oil price hike was given by CPM.

The protesters, while squatting on the rail tracks, demanded rollback in the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and effective measures to check rise in prices of other essential commodities.

Raghunath Singh, member of state secretariat of CPM and national vice-president of the Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU), Rachpal Singh, member of state committee of the party, Jatinderpal Singh, district president of CITU, Raghbir Singh Benipal, Santokh Singh Gill, Roop Basant Baraich, Shiv Ratan, Sukhminder Singh Lotey, Subeg Singh, Dev Raj, Hanuman Prasad, Choudhry Jagdish, Ram Briksh and Subhash Rani, among others, addressed the rally.

Coming down heavily upon the Congress-led UPA government, the speakers charged it with pursuing "anti-people" economic policies and imposing burden of taxes and price rise on common masses while going soft on multinational corporations and corporate sector.

The trade union leaders said tax arrears of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore against corporate sector were not being recovered, loans of around Rs one lakh crore, outstanding against defaulting industrial units, had been waived, huge profits of oil marketing companies were not being touched but the people, who were already fighting a battle for survival, were being made to suffer on account of hike in oil prices.

The CPM and CITU functionaries also flogged the previous NDA government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which, they said, had increased prices of petroleum products six times during its five year term.

"The UPA government is also moving along similar lines. The hike in oil prices will have a direct bearing on farming operations, public transport, freight structure, services and commodities. Rather than making up losses of the oil companies by increasing oil prices, the government ought to have explored other alternatives like imposing taxes on big industry and digging out black money which was fuelling inflation," they added.

Ludhiana, June 8
A group of parents representing 88 missing children from the district today said the local police was not following instructions of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and not done anything to find their children even after assuring them the best possible help last month.

Addressing mediapersons in a press conference here this evening, representatives Pawan Kumar, Vind Kumar, Gopal Singh along with others said they only hoped the media would help them in tracing their children as the police, politicians and commission members had just given them lip service.

They said the commission had said last month that a meeting of aggrieved parents would be held with the local police within 15 days but there was no response from the police.

Pawan Kumar's son Gaurav had gone missing in November, 2007, Vinod Kumar's son Ankush in February, 2008, and Gopal Singh's son Rakesh Kumar in May, 2007. They alleged their children were kidnapped but cops were not doing anything.

Sandhya Bajaj, member of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had on a visit to the city on May 16 pulled up the police for its lackadaisical approach to the problem. She had told the police to conduct a systematic investigation to trace the children.

The parents allege that there could be a group of child lifters who kidnapped all missing children.

Ludhiana, June 8
Elephants living in the captivity suddenly vanished from the city when a team of surveyors reached here to conduct census.

Surender Verma from the Indian Institute of Science, Banglore, and Suparna Ganguly, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action, (CUPA), reached the city yesterday and conducted the survey today. Bur, much to their amazement, not many elephants could be found in their shelters.

The experts had called a meeting of mahouts yesterday evening. They came but did not bring elephants along stating that the gentle giants had been sent to other cities. Today morning the experts reached their shelters but could only find a few elephants.

They have already surveyed southern states and conducted a census of where there are private elephants, temple elephants and government elephants used to carry heavy logs of wood.

Suparna Ganguly, who is involved in this survey from the past three years, said the government of India was concerned with the condition of captive elephants and has formed Project Elephant to help them out.

She said captive elephants had been tied in small spaces without much exercise and also without variety of food that elephants are used to eating in their natural habitat. They suffer from malnutrition or overweight and die a silent death. They are overworked in extreme weather.

Recalling the efforts of elephant rights activists, Suparna told about the elephant Vedanta, which was gifted to Armenia by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As Armenia is very cold country and it is difficult for elephant to survive there, CUPA along with other NGOs appealed to PM Manmohan Singh to stop the transportation of Vedanta and they succeeded.

Ludhiana, June 8
Mandhir Singh Aulakh, a floriculturist, was bid a warm farewell at a function organised by the department of floriculture and landscaping at PAU here recently.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jagtar Singh Dhiman, acting dean of College of Agriculture, who presided over the function, said Aulakh had contributed tremendously in making it possible to have chrysanthemum flowers in the months of May and June. He also remarked that Aulakh was a straightforward, friendly and true to purpose person and wished him a happy and comfortable retired life.

Those who shared their views on the occasion included former professor of floriculture and the retiring scientist’s teacher Dr Ajaypal Singh Gill, head of the department of agronomy Dr U.S. Walia, head of the department of horticulture Dr J.S. Randhawa, head of the department of vegetable crops Dr D.S. Cheema, professor of plant breeding Dr Allah Rang, former professor of agronomy Dr R.S. Brar, professor of economics Dr A.S. Joshi, professor of statistics Dr S.K. Gupta.

Dr Ramesh Kumar Sadavarti elaborated the research and teaching output of Aulakh and described him as a dedicated worker having a soft corner for field workers. H.S. Bhullar, hockey coach of PAU, shared the sportsmanship qualities of Aulakh and recited some couplets on this occasion.

Crime rate in the city is increasing day by day. Incidents of thefts, robbery, snatching and murders are on the rise. Every morning the local newspapers are full of reports of such incidents and the public holds the police responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation.

It is not possible for the police to appoint a cop at every step for the security of the common man and it is high time the citizens take charge of their own safety by being alert. One should be careful at all times be it while on a morning walk, in shopping centers or at one’s work place.

It’s advisable to be all the more alert during late hours. Women and children should particularly be careful to move outdoors after dark and should be escorted, if possible. Public transport like auto rickshaws, buses and taxis should be strictly avoided.

Besides this, I think the police should also be made more efficient in dealing with such situations and cops should be forthcoming in helping people.

Combined sincere efforts by the police as well as general public can help make society a better to place to live in.

Sher Singh, Ludhiana

Khanna, June 8
A resident of Baho Majra village died in Aurangabad two days ago. Now, their family, which resides in Khanna, alleged today that he had been murdered. In a complaint lodged with the Sadar police station, wife of deceased, Balbir Kaur, alleged that other drivers who went to Aurangabad with her husband murdered her husband Nirmal Singh.

Nirmal Singh, a truck driver, left for Aurangabad a few days ago. His family received a call on Friday that Nirmal has died.

The complainant alleged that Nirmal’s friends refused to reveal the reason behind his death. When questioned about the cause behind the death, they claimed that Nirmal died due to excessive consumption of liquor. But, this was not acceptable to us as Nirmal was not addicted to liquor.

The family members reported the matter to the Khanna SSP who talked to the Aurangabad SSP and apprised him of the situation. The Sadar police station in charge also spoke to one Kashmira, who was with Nirmal.

Ludhiana, June 8
International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD) became the first professional institute here to have touched the grave issue of female foeticide through a “theme-based fashion show”. To make people aware of the evil of killing a girl child in the name of abortion and granting girls an equal status in the society, the INIFDins held their annual function ‘Essence -2008’ at Guru Nanak Bhawan with fervour and enthusiasm here last evening.

The event was a much-awaited one for the INIFDins, their parents and acquaintances to see their wards perform on such a platform.

Dignitaries present on the occasion complimented the students for their hard work they put in for their annual day. The event was inaugurated by Dr M.S. Kang, VC, PAU.

Apart from a welcome dance, solo performances, duets, skits and bhangra presented by the students mesmerised the audience who could not resist from swaying to the beats.

Highlight of the evening was a rock band named ‘Six Bold Souls’ formed by the students of INIFD. Days of rigorous practice sessions and high energy levels could be seen and felt in the band members who rocked the evening with their scintillating performance.

Well-blended cocktails of Hindi and English songs kept the audience engrossed till the fag end. The institute also felicitated the students with placement awards.

Ludhiana, June 8
SPS Apollo Hospital’s MD, Jugdiep Singh, gave a cash award of Rs 16,000 to Shilpi Negi, who topped in Humanities in the state.

She is the daughter of Prem Singh Negi, who serves as a cook in the canteen of Apollo Hospital. The hospital has pledged all support for the future of this hardworking student. Dr S.P. Singh, COO, Dr PS Bhatia, medical superintendent, and Sundresan, GM (Finance), were present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, June 8
The Ludhiana branch of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) organised a panel discussion on WHO’s action plan on “non-communicable diseases” here yesterday.

Noted cardiologist along with others discussed emerging epidemics like diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, cancers and respiratory diseases with focus on treatment, management and lifestyle changes as preventive measures.

Cardiologist Dr Wander while speaking on hypertension and coronary artery disease said 35 million people died due to the “non-communicable diseases” in 2005, which represented 60 per cent of all deaths globally.

The saddest part was that NCDs accounted for nearly 80 per cent deaths in low and middle-income countries out of which some 16 million died before achieving 70 years of age. He stressed on adopting healthy lifestyle and control on risk factors to keep these diseases at bay.

The NIMA secretary said henceforth June 7 would be observed as “healthy lifestyle day” every year.

Ludhiana, June 8
Bhagwan Mahavir Sansthan distributed callipers, prosthetics and hearing aids among 40 physically challenged persons at a camp organised in Rishi Nagar here today. Bhagwan Singh and councillor Ruchi Jain inaugurated the camp.

It was organised by Kangaroo industries in memory of Arihant Jain’s wife Raman Jain. Prominent among those present on the occasion were Tarun Jain, Kamal Jain, Dr Babita Jain, Vishwa Jain, Ambrish Jain, Neelam Jain, Dr Sandeep Jain, Dr Pran Gupta, Rajnish Jain, Rakesh Aggarwal, Suraj Jyoti, R.P. Gupta, Vijay Bhagat, Surendra Verma and Suparna Ganguli.

Ludhiana,June 8
At least 80 boys attended trials for selecting the Ludhiana district cricket team (u-19) at the Arya College here today.Trials were conducted to choose the probables for the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the Dhruve Pandove Trophy to be organised by the Punjab Cricket Association at a few venues from June 20 onwards, according to joint secretary, Ludhiana District Cricket Association, Naresh Marwaha.