The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Poverty claims 2 lives Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, March 12 Extreme poverty forced a woman to poison her minor daughters before committing suicide herself at her residence at Chak Hazipur village in Garhshankar here on Friday. Shero Devi had died yesterday whereas one of her daughters, Rekha (14), breathed her last here today. Other daughters Maya (12) and Manu (10) survived. Shero Devi, who hailed from Bazigar community, was living with her three daughters and a son in a pathetic condition in the village since her husband Balbir Ram migrated to Jordon few years ago. She was finding it extremely difficult to feed her family in the absence of her husband, which compelled her to take the drastic step. All were first taken to a private hospital at Garhshankar from where they were referred to a private hospital in Nawanshahr. She had three more daughters who were married. She could not succeed in feeding the poisonous substance to her son Sahil (7), who escaped while she was feeding the substance to her daughters. According to Garhshankar DSP Harpreet Singh Mandair, a case under Section 307 of the IPC had been registered in this connection on the statement of Maya. The police has started investigation to ascertain the real cause of the suicide. Deputy Commissioner Dhram Dutt Tarnach said he had instructed the Garhshankar SDM to ascertain the real cause of the suicide. If poverty was the real cause, due financial assistance would be provided to the family, he added.
	IT raids make shopkeepers surrender Rs 3 cr Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 12 Following raids conducted by the Income Tax Department, some leading clothing shops dealing in bridal wear and ladies suits have declared a concealed income to the tune of Rs 3 crore at Jalandhar and Phagwara. That has resulted in an additional tax recovery of Rs 1 crore from such assessees. Talking here today, Commissioner of Income Tax Rakesh Suri said a team of his officials led by Shalini Kaushal, Additional Commissioner, surveyed the leading showrooms, boutiques and wedding malls in the city and Phagwara. He said prominent among these were Crazy Boutique, Lucky Wedding Mall, Simran Wedding Mall, Sunny Boutique, Chopra Collections and Narang Textiles at Phagwara. These establishments surrendered Rs 3 crore. Suri said at the time of similar surveys earlier that the department had gathered information about the huge unaccounted stocks, unrecorded sales and purchases as well as large scale suppression of income and payment of meager income tax by such assessees. He said many of the shop owners had been now purchasing the residential properties adjacent to their shops, paying huge sums and then converting the existing shops into huge showrooms. He said mostly the amounts shown for the purchase of such houses were very small whereas the actual consideration changing hands ran into several lakhs and even crores of rupees. Most of such transactions were taking place in the old bazaars and other interior markets of the city. He said the information about such deals keeps pouring in and the department takes action at an appropriate time. Another important indicator of the assessees suppressing their income was the scale of business and the taxes paid by them. Advance tax paid during the year by such assessees, about whom the department had the information about their scale of business and other investments made, was a solid basis for conducting surveys on them.
	No cases of copying in exams so far Nawanshahr, March 11 Darshan Kaur, District Education Officer, who conducted sudden inspections at a number of examination centres and procured reports from the different flying squads, said the intensive campaign launched for mobilising public opinion to curb the menace of copying had worked wonders in the district. No case of using unfair means had come to light so far. As many as 6,641 students of Class XII are appearing in the board examination for which 44 centres had been set up in the district. Besides deputy supervisory staff, an observer-cum-controller at each centre had also been deputed to check the menace. Moreover, as per the directions of the DGSE B Purushartha, as many as four flying squads had been constituted in the district for conducting sudden inspections at the annual examination centres of Classes 6th to 9th. — OC
	‘Bring victims of terrorism under central scheme’ Tribune News Service Amritsar, March 12 The All-India Terrorist Victims’ Association has sought the immediate attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for including thousands of victims of terrorism in Punjab under ‘Central Scheme for Assistance to Victims of Terrorist and Communal Violence.’ The scheme, implemented from March 2008, is meant to provide assistance for rehabilitation of victims of militancy and communal violence in the country. Under the scheme, the family of deceased person receive Rs 3.5 lakh while a migrant family is granted Rs 2 lakh for rehabilitation. Dr BR Hastir, chairman of the association, said as the UPA government implemented the scheme from March 2008 due to which thousands of victims living in Punjab could not get the benefit as the militancy hit the state between year 1982-1995. More than 10,000 persons lost their lives and about 17,000 families migrated to cities during this troubled period. It is to mention here that in year 2009, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had shot a letter to the Prime Minister for implementing the scheme from August 1982 when the trouble started in the state. The matter was still pending with the Union Government. The association urged the Prime Minister to implement the scheme from year 1982 as thousands of victim families were still struggling for their rehabilitation and were at the mercy of the state and central governments. He alleged that a number of cases of homeless, unemployed and allotment of plots and booths were still pending with the state government.
	Crime Zone Bride poisons man to death Phagwara: A newlywed woman allegedly poisoned her husband to death on the second night after the marriage. The police booked Sushma under Section 304A of the IPC. In her complaint, Kuldip’s mother Jasbir Kaur said Sushma and Kulpdip got married on March 9. She alleged on the second night after their marriage, the bride left the house at Kirpa Nagar along with valuables after giving some poisonous substance to Kuldip, who was found dead on March 11. SHO city Amrik Singh Chahal said the police was investigating the matter. No arrest has been made till so for. Meanwhile, the body of the deceased was handed over to his family members after the post-mortem examination in the local Civil Hospital. — OC 2 held with cocaine Pathankot: The local police arrested two drug peddlers with 600 gram of high-grade cocaine worth Rs 11 crore in the international market here today. SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said following a tip-off, the police conducted a search operation at the local bus stand where the police nabbed the peddlers, identified as Gulab Chand and Amir Chand, belonging to Jammu and Kashmir, who were staying at a room at the bus stand. The cocaine was kept in a polythene bag. During preliminary interrogation, the peddlers revealed that the consignment was given to them by Regubir Singh and Imtiaz, both constables posted at the Doda police station (J&K), to deliver it Prem Chand at Pathankot bus stand. The police has registered a case under Sections 22, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The police has started the hunt to locate the prospective buyer of the contraband. — OC Girl abducted Hoshiarpur: On the complaint of Sucha Singh of Rasoolpur, the Chabewal police booked Balwinder Kumar of Phuglana under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC for allegedly abducting his teenaged daughter yesterday. According to the police, Rajvir Kaur (15), daughter of Sucha Singh, had gone to her school at Rasoolpur when she allegedly abducted by Balwinder. He wanted to marry Rajvir. — OC Three held Phagwara: Paramjit, his father Joginder Pal and mother Harbans Kaur were arrested under Sections 498A and 406 of the IPC on charges of harassing Paramjit’s wife Santosh Kumari for dowry. — OC Snatchers at work Phagwara: Three robbers attacked and wounded NRI Jasbir Kaur and snatched her purse containing Rs 3,000 in the Satnampura locality here on Saturday. She was admitted to a local private hospital. A case has been registered. In another case, Sarup Singh, district secretary of the SAD (SC wing) was attacked and wounded by some unidentified robbers near Khalwara bypass on Friday night. The robbers sped away after snatching a gold ring and cash of Rs 5,000 from Sarup Singh. He was admitted to a hospital here last night. A case has been registered. Phillaur: Three armed robbers looted Rs 7,000 from mobile shop owner Suresh Kumar near Burj-Kalan on Friday night. The police has registered a case. — OC Mobile phones seized Pathankot: The police arrested two members of a gang of mobile phone thieves here today. Those arrested were identified as Karam Singh of Ballian of Sangrur and Krishan Kumar of local Sunder Nagar. They were arrested when they were trying to sell the stolen mobile phones to shop owners. SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said the police got the information regarding their activities and arrested the duo with 50 mobile phones after laying a trap. The accused admitted that they stole the phones after breaking into the mobile shops at nights from the town and its surrounding areas of Dinanagar and Sujanpur. A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered against them. — OC Stolen bike recovered Batala: The police arrested Shakhar of Gandhi Camp with a stolen bike during the patrolling at Adda Mamrai village here today. A case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered. — OC