J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Mystery shrouds death of live-in couple
Amritsar, January 15
Mystery shrouds the death of an old-age couple who were found strangled in Fateh Singh Colony falling under the Sadar police station here late this afternoon. The deceased, who were sharing a live-in relationship, were identified as Iqbal Singh (80) and Gurmej Kaur (around 60).

Tax evasion: Excise officials confiscate goods
Jalandhar, January 15
Sleuths of the excise and taxation department took nearly 200 boxes, that were recovered from platform No 1 of the local railway station on Tuesday night, in custody, despite objections by railway officials here today.

Fancy numbers go for Rs 10 lakh
Kapurthala, January 15
In what may be termed as a successful auction of 69 fancy numbers, as much as Rs 10,07,500 was collected at the district transport office (DTO) here today. DTO Daljit Kaur told The Tribune that the highest bidder for the fancy number (PB-09-K-0001) was Sohan Singh, who purchased the number for Rs 3.80 lakh.

Insurance firm told to pay up
Hoshiarpur, January 15
In response to a complaint by Ashok Mahajan, proprietor of Mahajan Emporium, Mukerian, the district consumers forum here has directed National Insurance Company Limited, Mukerian, to pay Rs 24,852 to the complainant with interest at 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint till realisation along with litigation expenses of Rs 10,000 within one month.

Poll Campaign
Khanna addresses BJP-SAD workers
Batala, January 15
Sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur and nominee for the next parliamentary elections visited Community Hall, Khajuri Gate, and addressed a meeting of workers and members of the SAD-BJP combine here today.

‘Threatened’ brothers seek police protection
Jalandhar, January 15
Facing repeated threats to their lives and property from certain persons who were booked by the Maqsudan police in a criminal case, two Nurpur village-based brothers have sought police protection.

3 booked on rape charge
Hoshiarpur, January 15
A case of rape and another one for attempt to rape of two minor girls by three youths were reported at Garhdiwala and Hariana police stations of the district last evening.

Tractor-trailer snatched
Nawanshahr, January 15
The police has registered a case under sections 160 and 379, IPC, on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kashmir Singh, a farmer of Bhangal Kalan village. In his complaint, he stated that he had sent his servant Naresh Kumar, resident of Slempur village (Hoshiarpur), to supply sugarcane at the local sugar mill on his tractor-trailer.

Mystery shrouds death of live-in couple
P.K. Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 15
Mystery shrouds the death of an old-age couple who were found strangled in Fateh Singh Colony falling under the Sadar police station here late this afternoon.

The deceased, who were sharing a live-in relationship, were identified as Iqbal Singh (80) and Gurmej Kaur (around 60). The incident came to light when Amarjit Kaur, daughter of Iqbal Singh, visited his house today afternoon to enquire about his health because Iqbal, (a retired patwari), who used to visit her daughter’s house daily, had not been visiting her. She knocked at the door but did not get anyresponse.

She immediately informed the police which broke opened the door. The body of Gurmej was found lying on the bed in the back room, while that of Iqbal Singh was found hanging from the fan.

Deputy superintendent of police Balkar Singh said according to preliminary investigations, Iqbal Singh was strangled before being hung from the ceiling fan, making it look like suicide.

The scars of strangulation were found on the neck of Gurmej Kaur who had been living with Iqbal for the past one and a half months.

A case under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against unidentified persons. The DSP said the police was working on the case and anything concrete could be said only after the post-mortem report was received. The murder seemed to have been committed on the night of January 14.

Police sources said Iqbal Singh had a property dispute with one of his sons Baldev Singh, while his second son Kuldip Singh had expired.

Tax evasion: Excise officials confiscate goods
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 15
Sleuths of the excise and taxation department took nearly 200 boxes, that were recovered from platform No 1 of the local railway station on Tuesday night, in custody, despite objections by railway officials here today.

The sleuths confiscated the goods and issued notice to the railway department for detention and verification of the confiscated goods. Employees of both departments claimed “right” over the goods that were transported to Jalandhar from Delhi by certain traders evading taxes.

While officials of the excise and taxation department claimed that they were the authorities for taking the confiscated goods in possession as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, railway officials, however, staked their claim on the goods giving reference of a report of the joint action committee of the railways (national-level committee) and the excise and taxation department.

Talking to The Tribune, assistant excise and taxation commissioners J.S. Brar from Chandigarh and Jaspinder Singh from Jalandhar claimed that the railway officials did not cooperate with them and denied permission for taking the consignment in their possession.

“We finally confiscated the goods following court directions and asked the railway officials to produce the documents on which they were staking their claim,” revealed Jaspinder Singh.

He said the exact cost of the goods and tax evasion could be ascertained after the physical verification by tomorrow.

Fancy numbers go for Rs 10 lakh

Kapurthala, January 15
In what may be termed as a successful auction of 69 fancy numbers, as much as Rs 10,07,500 was collected at the district transport office (DTO) here today. DTO Daljit Kaur told The Tribune that the highest bidder for the fancy number (PB-09-K-0001) was Sohan Singh, who purchased the number for Rs 3.80 lakh.

Similarly, Tanuj Batra and Sant Prem Singh purchased the PB-09-K-0009 and PB-09-K-0010 numbers for Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively. A large number of car owners participated in the auction. — TNS

Insurance firm told to pay up
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, January 15
In response to a complaint by Ashok Mahajan, proprietor of Mahajan Emporium, Mukerian, the district consumers forum here has directed National Insurance Company Limited, Mukerian, to pay Rs 24,852 to the complainant with interest at 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint till realisation along with litigation expenses of Rs 10,000 within one month.

The complainant had got the stock of his firm, comprising mattresses, steel furniture and allied goods insured for Rs 30 lakh.

On August 24, 2007, due to a heavy rain, water entered the basement of his shop and damaged the stock lying there.

The complainant firm filed a claim on August 25, 2007, but National Insurance Company Limited repudiated the claim on the ground that water had entered the lower portion of the building.

The company advocated that rather than inundation of water, the damage to the stocks had occurred due to seepage of muddy water from the fields at the rear of the building and damage of this sort was not covered as per the policy terms and conditions.

After going through evidence, the forum, headed by its president P.D. Goel, came to the conclusion that the insurance company had not produced sufficient evidence to prove that the insured firm had not taken reasonable steps to safeguard the property insured against any loss or damage. On the contrary, the complainant had proved that all reasonable steps had been taken.

Poll Campaign
Khanna addresses BJP-SAD workers

Batala, January 15
Sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur and nominee for the next parliamentary elections visited Community Hall, Khajuri Gate, and addressed a meeting of workers and members of the SAD-BJP combine here today.

He said he had secured funds for the Gurdaspur-Mukerian bridge on the Beas and the Dinanagar-Narot Jaimalsingh bridge. He disclosed that another bridge would be constructed over the Ugh, near Bambial. With the completion of the bridge, the distance from Amritsar to Jammu would be reduced by 55 km.

PATHANKOT: Khanna laid the foundation stone of the Shaheed Triveni Singh Chowk to Khuddi Chowk road worth Rs 5 lakh and tile flooring of the samiti market. — OC

‘Threatened’ brothers seek police protection
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 15
Facing repeated threats to their lives and property from certain persons who were booked by the Maqsudan police in a criminal case, two Nurpur village-based brothers have sought police protection.

In a complaint to the district police chief, Vijay Kumar and Jagjit Singh said Pyara Ram, Raj Kumar and their accomplices of the same village had been threatening them with losing their lives and property and asking them to leave the village.

The suspects had attacked them at their showroom in the village on December 13, 2008.

The complainants said cases under sections 452, 323, 148, 149 and 506 of the IPC were registered against them on December 17 at Maqsudan police station.

Despite being booked by the police, the suspects often abused them and threatened them, they said.

In a fresh complaint to the SSP, Vijay Kumar alleged that Rajkumar, alias Raja, again threatened him publicly and directed him to leave the village and their showroom on January 14 again.

The brothers have sought police help and protection for their lives and property, besides action against the suspects.

3 booked on rape charge

Hoshiarpur, January 15
A case of rape and another one for attempt to rape of two minor girls by three youths were reported at Garhdiwala and Hariana police stations of the district last evening.

According to police sources, Sonu of Ward 2 of Garhdiwala took a seven-year-old girl of his neighbour to his house at 2 pm yesterday and raped her there. When the parents of the girl came to know about the incident, they reported the matter to the police. The police has booked Sonu.

In another incident, Ravi and his brother Sonu of Mirzapur Khadiala went to the house of their neighbour at 1.30 on January 11 and tried to rape a 14-year-old girl there. — OC

Tractor-trailer snatched
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, January 15
The police has registered a case under sections 160 and 379, IPC, on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kashmir Singh, a farmer of Bhangal Kalan village. In his complaint, he stated that he had sent his servant Naresh Kumar, resident of Slempur village (Hoshiarpur), to supply sugarcane at the local sugar mill on his tractor-trailer. But the servant told him that the vehicle was snatched from him when he was returning to the village after supplying the sugarcane.