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Booth Scam
1,500 Cong, BJP workers taken into custody
* Violated prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC  * Mild lathicharge against Cong workers for marching towards BJP office 
Chandigarh, March 12
Almost 1,500 Congress and BJP leaders and workers were taken into custody from different points in the city by the Chandigarh Police for violating prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC as they tried to gherao each other’s party office on the issue of the booth allotment scam this morning.
Congress workers court arrest while protesting against the BJP in Sector 35, Chandigarh, on Saturday. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan

Commuters face parties’ apathy
Chandigarh, March 12
Hundreds of commuters travelling by different modes of transport were put to a great inconvenience, as workers of the Congress and BJP today laid a siege to some of the busiest roads in the city.
BUMPER TO BUMPER: It was a trying day for commuters with vehicles stranded in 
a traffic jam on the Madhya Marg in Chandigarh on Saturday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Scam takes a political turn
Chandigarh, March 12
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Bansal, whose name figures in the Shergill report, indicating his alleged involvement in the “booth scam”, today said that he had called UT Adviser Pradip Mehra to inquire about a row between two groups. “I told Mehra to make sure that no partiality should take place in the matter. This is how my name got dragged in the report,” said Bansal here.

Pawan Bansal

BJP threatens to intensify stir
Chandigarh, March 12
With th Municipal Corporation elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) here seems to have latched on to the “booth allotment scam” as a key political issue. “We will intensify our stir in the coming days,” said former BJP Member of Parliament Satya Pal Jain and BJP’s national secretary, Dr Kirit Somaiya after their arrest under cautionary measures during their agitation on the “booth allotment scam” here today.

Satya Pal Jain 

5-yr-old girl sexually assaulted
Was abducted from Community Centre in Sec 40 during a marriage function; later found abandoned 
Chandigarh, March 12
A five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted after being abducted from a marriage ceremony being held at a Community Centre in Sector 40 last night. The victim was later found abandoned near the gate of Government Senior Secondary School in the same sector. The police has registered a case of kidnapping at the Sector 39 police station and attempts are on to arrest the accused.

Teenager battered to death in PGI
Chandigarh, March 12
An 18-year-old boy was battered to death by over half-a-dozen assailants near his residence in the PGI today over an issue involving a girl.

Don’t turn legal profession into business: Jethmalani
Mohali, March 12
Cross-examination has become a dying art in our country and the truth will not emerge till the last question is asked in a court, said Ram Jethmalani, MP, and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, here today. Jethmalani, who was the chief guest at the National Seminar “Changing Facets of Criminal Law: An Interface” organised by the Army Institute of Law (AIL), exhorted students to nurture the courage to ask inconvenient questions in order to reach the truth once they took up the legal profession.
Ram Jethmalani delivers a lecture at the Army Institute of Law, Mohali, on Saturday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari

‘High voltage’ causes fire at house
Mohali, March 12
The house of a former panch in Lakhnour village caught fire, damaging various items here today.

Bone density check-up camp 
Panchkula, March 12
Even as people above the age of 50 years were more vulnerable to knee arthritis, the younger generation was also exhibiting its symptoms these days, said Dr Manuj Wadhwa, director and head, orthopaedic and joint replacement, Fortis Hospital, during a free bone density check-up camp organised here today.

2 cops escape unhurt in accident
Zirakpur, March 12
Two Punjab police cops had a miraculous escape when the official Reva car (PB65-F-8906), in which they were patrolling, was hit by an unidentified vehicle near the Singhpura road on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway here last night. However, the car got damaged from one side.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Rajwant grabs four gold medals
Kharar, March 12
Rajwant Kaur from Rayat-Bahra College of Education was awarded best women athlete award during the recently concluded third annual athletics meet of Rayat-Bahra Group of Institutes. Rajwant bagged four gold medals and one bronze medal with total 26 points. Nikhil Dogra from Rayat Bahra College of Pharmacy was declared best athlete in men’s category bagging six gold medals, one bronze medal and earned 30 points.

Dental education programme inaugurated
Banur, March 12
Continuing Dental Education (CDE) programme was inaugurated at the Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital here today.

Labourer killed in roof collapse
Ambala, March 12
A labourer was killed when the roof of a house collapsed late last night at Subhash Nagar in Ambala City. The deceased, Vipin Kumar (22), was a tenant in this house for the past six months. He was a resident of Batouli Malwa village at Khangria district in Bihar.

The house whose roof collapsed at Subhash Nagar in Ambala City on Friday night. A Tribune photograph

CRIME

4 of family injured in land dispute
Attacked by over 10 assailants with swords, sticks
Panchkula, March 12
Four persons were injured, one of them seriously, when more than 10 persons armed with swords and sticks attacked them over the construction of a wall near their house in Bir Ghaggar village, 5 km from here, this morning.

Rajinder and Dharmender, who were injured in a clash that took place at Bir Ghaggar, Panchkula, on Saturday. Tribune photo: Nitin Mittal

Kitchen supervisor’s murder
Old enmity said to be the reason 
Chandigarh, March 12
Investigations into the murder of 42-year-old kitchen supervisor Vijay Kumar with the Western Court in Sector 43 yesterday have revealed that professional rivalry was the motive behind the murder.

DSP booked for seeking bribe
Ropar, March 12 DSP (rural) Balbir Singh has been booked for demanding money from Ashwini Kumar, a resident of Bharatgarh.

22-year-old killed in accident
Mohali, March 12
Tarandeep Singh (22), son of a former councillor Mohandeep Singh Shergill, died in a road accident near Sector 66 here this evening.

SPORTS

Olympics stars for Chandigarh Marathon
Chandigarh, March 12
Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh and ace Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh will applaud the participants of the second Chandigarh Marathon, an event of the Chandigarh Administration, to be held tomorrow at the Rose Garden here. The marathon will be organised under the slogan of “Run for the spirit of city and to take stand against corruption.”