The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Prisoners clash in jail, six injured Ravinder Sud Hoshiarpur, January 1 Following a clash between two groups of prisoners in the District Jail, Hoshiarpur, last evening, nine of them were shifted to other jails of the state today. The clash left more than six prisoners injured. According to Jail Superintendent Sat Pal Singh, the clash between the groups, probably a fight to gain supremacy, took place last evening in the jail premises. Sharp-edged spoons were used by both the groups. Before the situation could take an ugly turn, DSP (D) Amrik Singh Dhami along with the police force reached the spot and with the help of jail staff, forced the prisoners to return to their barracks. Later, a case under Sections 353 and 186 of the IPC was registered against undertrials Raghvir Singh, Bishan Singh, Razban, Santokh Singh and Sat Pal Singh, in the City police station. Dr Pawan Kumar, in charge of the jail dispensary, said Raman Rana, Baljit Rana, Satnam Chaudhary, Jasbir Singh, and Narinder, alias Gurdeep Kumar, were injured who were discharged after getting treatment at the dispensary. To assess the situation, DIG (Prison) Jagjit Singh today visited the jail and met the prisoners. He told them to remain peaceful and strictly follow rules and regulations of the jail. Later talking to this correspondent, Jagjit Singh said to avoid their confrontation in the future, undertrials Gurnek Singh, Satnam Chand and Baljit Rana were shifted to the District Jail, Jalandhar, whereas Harjinder Kumar, Jasbir Singh, alias Kaka, and Raman Rana, were moved to the District Jail, Ludhiana. Gurdip Kumar and Major Singh, both serving 20-year imprisonment and Jagpreet Singh, sentenced to 7 years in prison, were sent to the District Jail, Bathinda. He claimed the situation in the district jail was quite under control. Sat Pal Singh said the district jail complex was overcrowded with convicts and undertrials. Currently, 634 prisoners, including 50 women and 156 convicts, are there in the jail, which just had a capacity to keep 478 prisoners.
	ASI among three looters nabbed Interstate gang busted P.K. Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 1 Busting an interstate gang of looters, the Amritsar (Rural) police today caught three persons, including a New Delhi-based gangster, Anil Gulia, and an ASI, Rupinderpal Singh, and recovered arms and stolen luxury vehicles from them. Anil Gulia was leader of the Bhagta gang active in New Delhi and wanted in many criminal cases. He had been declared as a proclaimed offender in a a murder case by the Delhi Police, while Rupinderpal was currently posted in Commando Battalion of the Punjab Police at Patiala. The third accused has been identified as Navdeep Singh of Jawahar Nagar here. The gang members were involved in stealing luxury vehicles from various parts of New Delhi and Haryana and used to sell in Amritsar and other parts of Punjab by forging documents. The police has registered a case under Sections 379, 411, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC against them at Chatiwind police station. Gurmit Singh Chauhan, SSP, said after a tip-off the CIA staff laid a naka near Dharad Canal Bridge and noticed a Bolero coming from Khadoor Sahib. The police team signalled the vehicle to stop. “On seeing the police party, the occupants instead of stopping the vehicle, tried to flee from the spot. However, they were caught after a hot chase,” said Chauhan. The police recovered two revolvers of .38 bore and .12 bore, eight cartridges and three stolen vehicles from them. He said Gulia was active in Punjab and developing links with various gangs operating there, while Rupinder was working as a link between different gangs of Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi. Rupinder was recruited in Commando Battalion under the sports quota and had been on leave for a long time now. During investigations it came to light that the accused wanted to kill a vegetable trader in Haryana this month, for which they had already made a plan. Chauhan said more investigations were under progress to identify other members of the gang and more recoveries were likely to be made in near future.
	Blind murder case solved Daughter-in-law, two others held Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 1 Solving a blind murder case of a retired schoolteacher, the Rajasansi police today nabbed her daughter-in-law along with her two companions for committing the crime. Illicit relations between the accused were the main cause behind the murder. Amrik Kaur, the deceased, who used to live with her son Pawanpreet Singh and daughter-in-law Amanpreet Kaur at Adliwal village, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the intervening night of September 1 and 2, 2010, while gold jewellery and mobile phone was found missing from her almirah. A case under Sections 457, 380 and 302 of the IPC was registered at Rajasansi police station in this regard. Gurmit Singh Chauhan, SSP, Amritsar rural police district, said during investigations the police got suspicious that Amrik Kaur was murdered and later the chemical examination report confirmed the suspicion. The viscera report of the deceased confirmed the presence of chlorocompound, a poisonous substance in her body. During the course of investigation, it was found that Amanpreet Kaur allegedly had illicit relations with Barkha Singh of Buchenangal village, Gurdaspur, and Amrik Kaur used to object to their relationship. Barkha along with Gurvinder Singh, a resident of Chandumaja village, Gurdaspur, and Amanpreet Kaur, hatched a conspiracy and first killed Amrik Kaur by giving her poison and then ransacked the house and stole the gold jewellery and mobile phone in order to show it a case of robbery. Chauhan said all the three accused had been arrested near Maddipur village bus stand and the police had recovered the stolen material from them.
	Gold jewellery robbery case takes political colour Police in dock for ‘action’ Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 1 Within six days of making claims of solving a sensational robbery of 2.3 kg gold jewellery and Rs 54,000, the Jalandhar (Rural) police has come in dock for its “action”. While BJP MLA from Jalandhar (North) K.D. Bhandari levelled serious allegations of keeping two goldsmiths of Lal Bazar in Jalandhar in illegal custody for three days on the police, the victim, Parmod Sekhri, accompanied by a former Congress MLA Gurwinder Singh Atwal, accused the police of releasing one of the two persons rounded up in suspicion of purchasing a part of the looted jewellery at the behest of the ruling alliance MLA. Talking to The Tribune, Sekhri and Atwal said the police had released one of the suspects Dhananjay due to Bhandari’s pressure. The main conspirator in the robbery case had told the police that they had sold a part of the looted gold jewellery to him and his associates, they added. On the other hand, Bhandari told The Tribune that goldsmiths of Lal Bazaar, falling under his Jalandhar (North) constituency, contacted him the previous day stating that the police had illegally picked up two persons Dhananjay and Pradeep Kumar, alias Aaloo, on the suspicion that they had purchased a part of the looted gold jewellery. At this, he along with several goldsmiths went to the CIA staff office, where they had been kept. When he brought the matter to the notice of SP (D) Puskar Sandal and DSP (D) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, they released Dhananjay and promised to release Pradeep the next morning. However, when they did not release Pradeep on Saturday, he also joined the dharna of the goldsmiths staged outside the CIA staff office. Denying shielding the accused, he said if anyone was guilty, the court would definitely punish him. At the same time, he said if the goldsmiths had purchased any gold jewellery unknowingly that it had been stolen, how could they be held guilty. While SSP Ashish Chaudhary and SP (D) Puskar Sandal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, DSP (D) Khakh denied that the police had released Dhananjay due to political pressure. He claimed Dhananjay was allowed to go as the police had found that he had no role in the case. At the same time, he said Aaloo was formally arrested on Saturday. His associate Parmod Kumar was still absconding. They had purchased 350 gram gold jewellery from the robbers. The SSP had stated in a press conference on December 27 that about 1 kg gold jewellery, sharp-edged weapons and one of the two motorcycles used in the robbery had been recovered after the arrest of several robbers, who committed the crime on February 6, last year.
	Lethal fog: 2 killed, 25 hurt in accidents Our Correspondent Phagwara, January 1 Two persons were killed in two different road mishaps near Phagwara today. In the first mishap, a truck driver, identified as Gurdial Singh of Kotkapura, was killed on the spot when he lost control on his truck, which dashed against a tree near Bhularai on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road, here today. Poor visibility, caused by thick fog, was said to be the cause of the accident, the police said. In the second incident, a motorcyclist, identified as Kuldip Singh of nearby Khurampur village, was killed in a road mishap on the Atholi-Khurampur road during the thick fog today. Both the dead bodies were sent to the local civil hospital for post-mortem examination. Rail, road traffic hit Thick fog hit road and rail traffic across the region on the first day of 2011. Most of the mail and express trains, including Shatabdi Express, Sachkhand Express, Superfast Express, Dadar Express, Frontier Mail, Jhelam Express, Howrah Mail, Tata Mail and Jammu Mail were running late by half-an-hour to five hours. Meanwhile, drivers had a harried time on roads. Dozens of vehicles were damaged due to collisions during fog and more than 25 persons, including women and children, sustained injuries in different mishaps occurred on Phagwara-Ludhiana, Phagwara-Jalandhar, Phagwara-Hoshiarpur, Phagwara-Zandiala and Phagwara-Banga routes today. As many as 13 vehicles, including two private buses, were damaged in these mishaps.
	Minority Scholarship Students demand extension in date of form submission Kusum Arora Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 1 The decision of the state Social Welfare Department for the submission of minority scholarship forms on December 30 drew flak from various bodies, as students could not submit their forms owing to the winter vacations. The last date to submit forms was December 30. However, students who recently received scholarships under this centre-sponsored-scheme were ecstatic and completed all formalities to apply further. Students and teachers have demanded an extension in the last date for the submission of forms. “I received an amount of Rs 5,600 under the pre-matric scholarship and got my forms filled, but could not submit it as schools were closed. This scholarship will help my parents arrange mandatory funds for my education,” said Vishal Khan, a student of St. Anthony Convent High School, Dheena, on the outskirts of Jalandhar Cantonment. President of Pendu Mazdoor Union, Tarsem Peter, said, “Many schools got the forms filled but could not submit them, as the last date for submission was December 30.” “The last date should be extended to January 15, so that maximum minority students in the district can avail its benefit. Nearly all the students who got scholarships this year, had volunteered to apply again, while many other new students also came ahead,” he added. In the past, many students and their parents had stopped applying under this scheme as the state government had failed to disburse grants, he maintained. Sister Amla from the Navjeevan Charitable Society, who had been working for this cause in the district, also said it would be in the interest of the students if the social welfare department extended the last date of the submission of forms. “Otherwise, scores of minority students would be deprived of their right,” she added. The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs recently released an amount to the tune of Rs 39,23,690 for 1,650 students, under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, for the year 2009-10 to the District Welfare Department. While an amount of Rs 39,07,050 was given to 649 students under the Post Matric Scholarship scheme. None of the senior officials from the State Social Welfare Department were available for comments, despite repeated efforts.