B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Gang committed more crime than reported
Bathinda, October 11
The busting of a gang of criminals by the Mansa police yesterday has put the police officials of many districts in a quandary as more than half the snatchings by the gangsters were never recorded as FIRs. The victims of the gang first suffered the trauma of the crime. Then, there case was not registered. And now, they need legal documents, especially an FIR, to claim the stolen property recovered by the Mansa police.

Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill addressing a press conference in Bathinda on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Cops install boxes to get info on drug traffickers Abohar, October 11 Taking notice of the heavy seizures of Punjab-made liquor by the Sriganganagar police during the last few days, Fazilka SSP Amar Singh Chahal today said the nexus between the drug and liquor mafia on both sides of the inter-state border would be smashed. SSP Amar Singh Chahal inaugurates ‘Farz’ boxes in Abohar. A Tribune photograph

Multiple illicit relations cost Beere Walla resident his life: Mansa cops
Bathinda, October 11
The Mansa police has solved the murder case of a young electrician of Beere Walla village, which was not even reported to it in the first place. The police found that multiple illicit relations of the victims and the accused and two girls led to the crime.

Bodies of women who fell in canal recovered
Abohar, October 11
The bodies of two women, who had fallen into the Gang Canal three days back, have been recovered. While the body of Gurmeet Kaur (40) was found near the Sulemanki headworks, that of her niece Charanjit Kaur was recovered under a bridge near village Chak 10 ML.

Officials inspect construction work on Abulkhurana drain Abohar, October 11 Taking notice of reports about the sub-standard construction in the Abulkhurana drain renovation project, a team of senior officials led by the Executive Engineer Gulshan Nagpal visited the site near village Dharampura today. Officials of the Drainage Department inspect the construction of water courses on the Abulkhurana drain. Photo: Raj Sadosh

Non-lifting of paddy
Seerwali farmers block road in protest
Muktsar, October 11
Though the state government has been trying its best to ensure the speedy lifting of paddy from the grain markets across the state, yet the situation in Muktsar district is far from encouraging.

Demanding regularisation of their jobs, special trainer teachers block traffic on the main chowk in Faridkot on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Right to Information
MC officials served chargesheet
Fazilka, October 11
The Local Bodies Department has reportedly issued a charge-sheet to the executive officer, section officer and a clerk of the Fazilka Municipal Council for not providing the required information to an RTI activist, Amar Nath Chetiwal.

Abohar village boy bags gold in state games
Abohar, October 11
Gaurav, a student of Government High School at village Gobindgarh near here, has clinched gold in the rope up event during the Punjab State School Games, headmistress Seema Rani informed.

Gang committed more crime than reported
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 11
The busting of a gang of criminals by the Mansa police yesterday has put the police officials of many districts in a quandary as more than half the snatchings by the gangsters were never recorded as FIRs.

The victims of the gang first suffered the trauma of the crime. Then, there case was not registered. And now, they need legal documents, especially an FIR, to claim the stolen property recovered by the Mansa police.

The police was now registering FIRs in a jiffy to prepare the legal documents for the release of stolen valuables, cash and mobiles to the victims.

Bathinda residents had suffered the brunt of the snatching incidents as the gang was most active in the city and the nearby Bhucho Mandi town. The gang has confessed to having committed 45 snatchings at those places but the record of the Bathinda police showed FIR in only 18 of those incidents.

The police registered five more cases yesterday only after the gang was busted. Sharda Devi, an elderly resident of Pratap Nagar, said two youths snatched away her ear-rings in August but no case was registered still.

"We made endless rounds of the police stations and tried to meet the senior officials. But most of them they were busy with VIP duty. Further, the cops who came to the spot chided me for wearing gold jewellery even though I am old," said Sharda Devi.

SSP, Bathinda, Sukhchain Singh Gill said, "We had registered almost all the cases. Most of the times, the victims don't file formal complaints. We have asked all the victims to register the FIRs now."

He said sometimes the complaints are suspicious and due verification is must. Meanwhile, SSP Mansa, Narinder Bhargav, whose team busted the gang yesterday, said the gangsters may confess to having committed more crime if more victims come forward to identify them.

"They have confessed to having committed about 100 snatchings and robberies but we suspect they may be involved in many more. They bought three motorcycles and a car with the looted money. That was besides the phones and clothes. They have surely made more money," said the SSP, while declining to comment on the less number of FIRs registered against the accused.

Cops install boxes to get info on drug traffickers
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 11
Taking notice of the heavy seizures of Punjab-made liquor by the Sriganganagar police during the last few days, Fazilka SSP Amar Singh Chahal today said the nexus between the drug and liquor mafia on both sides of the inter-state border would be smashed.

Speaking to the media after inaugurating the complaint and feedback boxes at the main bus stand and sadar bazaar here today, the SSP said investigation had indicated that most of the consignments of opium originated from Madhya Pradesh through Rajasthan while poppy husk is smuggled through the link roads that connect the rural areas in Abohar with the neighbouring Sriganganagar district.

About the "Farz" campaign, the SSP informed that seven boxes in Abohar town and three in rural areas will be fixed at important places to help people give feedback over drug trafficking and other crimes besides lodging complaints without visiting the police stations.

DSP Raj Kumar Jalhotra will open the boxes in urban areas daily and initiate suitable action without identifying the information providers, Chahal said.

Earlier, chairman of the Consumer Movement Satpal Khariwal said at the police-public meet that efforts to control the crime during the last three months in Abohar town have yielded encouraging results.

Later, the SSP and SP Varinder Singh Brar addressed the cops at a sub-divisional meeting. They advised the traffic police to cover all educational institutions to enlighten the students about the traffic rules.

Multiple illicit relations cost Beere Walla resident his life: Mansa cops
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Bathinda, October 11
The Mansa police has solved the murder case of a young electrician of Beere Walla village, which was not even reported to it in the first place. The police found that multiple illicit relations of the victims and the accused and two girls led to the crime.

SSP Mansa Narinder Bhargav said the victim Gurdayal Singh was found dead in a tank of water works in the village on July 20. His family and villagers cremated the body without a post-mortem thinking he may have died by accident.

However, later the police learnt that the youth could have been murdered at which investigation was launched. The police found that the victims had illicit relations with number of women including two in the village, who had similar relations with other men also.

He said a team led by SI Gurbir Singh questioned many suspects during which it was learnt that two persons, Jagtar and Sukhwinder, were angry at Gurdayal for establishing illicit relations with two women. The women allegedly had relations with them also but were ignoring them now.

The accused complained about Gurdayal to the family of the two women and hatched a plan to murder him. The SSP said three other persons, namely, Purshotam Singh, Binder Singh, Sewak Singh (both brothers) joined the two. They kidnapped Gurdayal, tied him to a tree, where they beat him up saying he was being punished for his relations.

Later, they strangulated him and dumped the body in the water tank.

All the accused were arrested for murder.

Bodies of women who fell in canal recovered
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 11
The bodies of two women, who had fallen into the Gang Canal three days back, have been recovered. While the body of Gurmeet Kaur (40) was found near the Sulemanki headworks, that of her niece Charanjit Kaur was recovered under a bridge near village Chak 10 ML.

The police accepted their kin's plea to not go for autopsy.

Notably, four members of the family had fallen into the canal near the 10 ML village bridge in the evening of October 8 and two of them were rescued.

Chunavadh (Sriganganagar) SHO Salawat Khan said Jaskaran Singh (17) of village 22ML was ferrying his mother Gurmeet Kaur (40), her maternal sister Charanjit Kaur (30) and grandmother Gian Kaur (70) on a motorcycle to meet their relatives in village Dhinganwali.

The boy lost control over the bike and all of them slipped into the canal but Jaskaran Singh and his grandmother were rescued as scores of villagers rushed to their help. Gian Kaur was hospitalised.

Six expert divers along with rescue teams had been carrying out a search for the two women.

Officials inspect construction work on Abulkhurana drain
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 11
Taking notice of reports about the sub-standard construction in the Abulkhurana drain renovation project, a team of senior officials led by the Executive Engineer Gulshan Nagpal visited the site near village Dharampura today.

While interacting with the farmers, the team said the width of the drain on 27 out of 40 km length is being increased from 28 feet to 51 feet.

As many as 110 water courses will be constructed to facilitate the flow of canal water across the new bridges to irrigate part of the fields located on the other side of the drain.

Leakage in the water courses around RD 62897 would be checked by taking up repairs on a priority basis, they assured the affected farmers.

The officials made it clear that payments to the contractors concerned would be made only after checking the quality of construction work as per the specifications laid in the manual.

Non-lifting of paddy
Seerwali farmers block road in protest

Muktsar, October 11
Though the state government has been trying its best to ensure the speedy lifting of paddy from the grain markets across the state, yet the situation in Muktsar district is far from encouraging.

A large number of farmers from Seerwali village today blocked the Muktsar-Sadiq-Ferozepur road for almost four hours demanding the lifting of paddy.

The farmers alleged that the district administration had failed to start lifting from the purchase centre at their village.

Kulwant Singh, ex-sarpanch, Seerwali village, said, "The officials have neither procured nor lifted a single bag of paddy from the village purchase centre in the last 11 days. It forced us to protest against the district administration."

Meanwhile, Bikramjit Singh, SHO, Muktsar Sadar police station, arrived to pacify the protesters. However, the agitating farmers stuck to their demand.

Later, SDM Varinder Pal Bajwa and the local Tehsildar reached the spot and started the purchase of paddy after which the farmers lifted their dharna.

It may be mentioned that yesterday, the farmers of Kabarwala village had blocked the Malout-Abohar NH-10 for the same reason. — TNS

Right to Information
MC officials served chargesheet
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, October 11
The Local Bodies Department has reportedly issued a charge-sheet to the executive officer, section officer and a clerk of the Fazilka Municipal Council for not providing the required information to an RTI activist, Amar Nath Chetiwal.

The Director, Local Bodies Department, issued a charge-sheet to Sukhdev Singh, Executive Officer, Karnail Singh, section officer and a clerk Satish Kumar vide its letter number 11202 dated October 5.

"The information provided was incomplete and misleading," alleged Chetiwal.

Bhupinder Singh, Deputy Director, Local Self-Government, Ferozepur, confirmed the chargesheet had been issued.

Notably, Chetiwal had sought information in 2008 regarding the development work carried out by the council including the construction of dividers in Salemshah Bazaar, installation of streetlight poles and maintenance of Partap Bagh etc.

After failing to get the information, Chetiwal knocked at the doors of the RTI Commission, which in turn asked the department to initiate action against the officials.

Abohar village boy bags gold in state games
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 11
Gaurav, a student of Government High School at village Gobindgarh near here, has clinched gold in the rope up event during the Punjab State School Games, headmistress Seema Rani informed.

Three other students, Sanjay Verma, Nisha and Neelam have won bronze in the same competition. The winners were honoured at a function held here on Thursday.

Sarpanch Hardev Singh, panches Malkiat Singh, Krishan Kumar and Jalaur Singh felicitated the students for bringing laurels to the school. PU senator and District Education Officer Sandeep Dhuria also congratulated them.