Bathinda, July 10
Mystery shrouds the death of a woman found brutally killed at her house in village Pakka Kalan in the wee hours today.

According to details available, Surinder Kaur was sleeping inside her house at night while her son Panth Preet Singh alias Rinku was sleeping on the terrace. In the morning, neighbours found blood flowing out of the house and informed Rinku about it.

On checking, Surinder Kaur was found lying in a pool of blood. Her body had at least 20 wounds inflicted by some sharp-edged weapons. Rinku called up his father Harcharan Singh, who was doing night duty at the Red Cross Medical Store, Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

After reaching home, Harcharan lodged a statement with the Sangat Police that some unidentified persons killed his wife for reasons unknown to him.

Rinku stated that he was sleeping on the terrace and due to the noise of the fan he could not hear the cries of his mother.

Ashish Chaudhary, SSP Bathinda, also inspected the spot and ruled out the murder for some theft or dacoity as the motive. “It is not a case of murder for theft as all things were lying intact. The culprits did not even take away the gold earrings the deceased was wearing. Considering the nature of wounds, we are investigating if personal enmity or extra-marital affair was a factor,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources in the police said the deceased was having an extra-marital affair with a PSEB lineman of Kangar village. About two years back, she had even eloped with him for four months.

SHO Sangat police station, Sandeep Singh said, “We have been investigating the case deeply. The lineman in question is also being interrogated. A case under section 302 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.”

The police had rounded up three youths, who were being interrogated at the CIA staff police station.

The SSP has confirmed the development. The body has been kept in the mortuary at the Civil Hospital. The post-mortem examination would be conducted on Saturday.

Bathinda, July 10
A stray bullet from a shooting practice of the Army jawans in the cantonment here has cost a Dalit man his eyesight recently.

According to police sources, the victim, Ramesh Kumar of Awa Basti, was working as a sweeper at the Army School inside the cantonment. On July 6, he was passing by the Raina gate of the cantonment on his bicycle along with some of his colleagues when a bullet hit him on his temple and he fell down.

Sources said the bullet was fired from the Mahar Regiment’s shooting range where some Army jawans were practising.

The colleagues of the victim rushed him to a private hospital on a rickshaw, where he was immediately operated upon. The bullet was removed but the victim lost his eyesight. After a day, he was shifted to the Army hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

Ramesh has three daughters and two sons. Observing the poor economic condition of his family, Army officials are bearing the medical expenses. Further financial aid for the family is yet to be decided.

Confirming the details, investigating officer Gurdeep Singh of Cantonment police station said, “It seems that the bullet has been fired either from a pistol or a carbine. A case against an unidentified person has been registered under sections 336 and 338 of the IPC on Thursday. Investigations are on. We even visited the shooting range to ascertain more facts. The accused has not been identified yet.”

Bathinda, July 10
The pleasant weather conditions prevailing in Bathinda and the adjoining areas since Thursday afternoon following the downpour got a boost on Friday afternoon when another spell of showers lashed the region.

Today’s precipitation, however, did not accompany dust storms like yesterday. Its duration was a bit longer in comparison to what was witnessed on Thursday.

The mercury, which dipped to a sort of record level on Thursday, today climbed but could not manage to cross the 30 degrees Celsius mark.

The highest temperature recorded on Friday was 30.5 degrees Celsius at the Agro-met advisory services, PAU regional station, Bathinda. The day’s low was 27.6 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, the news emanated from the weather room today is appearing encouraging for the farmers as well as urban residents as the region is likely to witness monsoon activities in the next three to four days.

According to the weather forecast made by the IMD, Chandigarh, for Bathinda region on Friday and received by the Agro-met advisory services here, there is possibility of partially cloudy to cloudy conditions with light to moderate rainfall in some pockets of the region in the next three to four days. The area is likely to witness dust storms during the period.

Weathermen predicted that the minimum temperature might be around 29 to 30 degrees Celsius while the maximum is likely to be ranged between 36 and 40 degrees Celsius during the period.

Ferozepur, July 10
In a suo motu order passed by the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), the commission taking cognizance of the reports, appearing in a section of the media regarding Out Patient Dispensary (OPD) of the Civil Hospital, Abohar, being run at a toilet, has asked the director of the Health Services and Family Welfare of Punjab and Civil Surgeon, Ferozepur, to submit their report.

According to the report, the OPD for female patients in the Civil Hospital at Abohar was being run from a toilet due to shortage of space. Even the western toilet seat, installed there, was being used to support the improvised bed for checking pregnant women, who at times had even fallen from the bed, which was unstable. On being contacted, Dr DP Godara, civil surgeon, admitted that the toilet was being used as OPD by Dr Kanchan Lata. He stated that an inquiry has been conducted and it has been found that due to acute shortage of space for doctors, it has been done as stopgap arrangement.

"Earlier, two lady doctors were sharing the same room, both of them had to be shifted to separate places due to the large number of patients," he said.

As there was no space for OPD, therefore, the toilet which was being used as store earlier, was temporarily converted into gynaecology OPD by a lady doctor, he mentioned, adding that he has already instructed the doctors to rectify the same and not to use the toilet as OPD.

Moga, July 10
In a bid to push the farmers towards fruit cultivation, the Punjab government after carrying out successful experiments during the past few years, has now fixed a target of 250 acres for plantation of banana plants in the state in September, this year.

Dr Bhagwant Singh Chahal, consultant of the Punjab State Farmers Commission, revealed this, while addressing a group of farmers and officials of the agriculture and horticulture departments here, on Friday. He said the state government is making all out efforts to promote cultivation of bananas in the state.

"It is an important fruit crop of the tropical regions but certain varieties can also be grown with the technologies developed by our agriculture university," he said. 
— TNS

Bathinda, July 10
With the recovery of three stolen vehicles, the Mansa police today claimed to have busted a gang of car lifters, who after preparing forged documents, used to sell the vehicles in the nearby districts. Police could arrest only one accused in this case.During probe, the district transport office, Mansa, has also come under the scanner, as the name of a clerk there, who prepared documents using official stamps, has also figured.

Sources informed that police intercepted Gurpreet Singh of Jawaharke village, when he was driving a Bolero bearing the number PB31E-9696. Police found the vehicle had a fake registration number.

It was traced that the engine and chassis number of the vehicle were the same as mentioned in a vehicle theft complaint lodged by Kalyan Singh at Bareta police station but here, the vehicle's registration number was PB31S-6504. During interrogation, Gurpreet named Balwinder Singh of Bhamme Kalan village, Raja Singh of Aklia village, Jagsir Singh of village Rajgarh Ghubba, who was posted as clerk in DTO office, as accomplice. On the basis of his statement, police picked up two Alto cars from Maur Mandi, numbers (PB31E-8474 and PB31E-9988), sold to two different persons. SSP Mansa, Manminder Singh said, "We are registering a case against all the accused. Further details would be ascertained after the arrest of Balwinder and Jagsir.”

Moga, July 10
The district and sessions court has convicted a drug peddler to 10-year imprisonment here, on Friday.

As per the details, Gurjant Singh, a resident of village Channuwala, was arrested with poppy husk on August 23, 2006 and various sections of the NDPS Act were imposed on him.The additional sessions judge of Moga, SK Aggarwal, while agreeing to the arguments of the prosecution side, sentenced him to 10-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,00000 on him. In case, the convict fails to pay the fine, imprisonment would be extended by one year. Co-accused Ajaib Singh in this case is yet to be arrested by the cops. — TNS