Fatehabad, May 17
For the fourth consecutive day today, schoolchildren were rushed to hospitals with complaints of nausea and vomiting after they were given iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets supplied by the Health Department.

As many as 15 students from Government Middle School at Hamzapur village in Fatehabad were rushed to the local General Hospital with symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

While 13 of them were discharged after treatment, two of them, Gurjeet and Dilraj, were admitted to the hospital due to their bad condition.

Six more students were admitted to the community health centre (CHC) at Ratia in Fatehabad today.

Earlier, nearly 100 schoolchildren had come to the CHC, Ratia, in the past three days with similar problems.

A spokesperson of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) today said the complications witnessed after consuming IFA tablets was a normal phenomenon and there was nothing to worry about.

Some local doctors have questioned the very logic behind giving a weekly dose of IFA to children for management of anemia. “I have been in practice for over 40 years and I have never heard of any long acting iron tablets, which could remain active in the body for a week,” said a doctor.

Meanwhile, Dr Mukta Kumar, Medical Superintendent of the General Hospital, Fatehabad, has written to the Civil Surgeon suggesting him to ban the distribution of four different batches of IFA tablets being distributed in government schools.

Chandigarh, May 17
Even as 30 candidates filed their nomination papers for the June 2 elections to the seven Municipal Corporations, the INLD today released its list of 144 candidates.

Ashok Arora, INLD state president, released the list of 20 candidates each for Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Karnal and 24 candidates for the Panipat Municipal Corporation.

Meanwhile, Dharam Vir, State Election Commissioner, said while three candidates filed their papers from Ambala, nine each did so from Hisar and Karnal, one from Panchkula, six from Panipat and two from Yamunanagar. Three candidates filed nomination papers from Farukh Nagar and nine from the Kalanaur Municipal Councils, he added.

Karnal/Panipat: Fifteen more candidates filed nominations for the Panipat and Karnal Municipal Corporation elections slated for June 2 on the second day on Friday, raising total number of nominations to 16. Nine candidates filed nominations from 20 wards in Karnal while six candidates filed nomination for the Panipat MC.

Six candidates who filed nominations for the Panipat MC included Suresh, Ishwanti, Ranvir Saini, Sarvesh, Virendra and Dharampal. Nine candidates entered the fray for the Karnal MC, including Mohan Kumar, Naresh Sharma and Somdutt, Rajrani, Kushal Singh, Mohinder Singh, Satish Sharma, Santosh Kumari and Neeraj Mishra.

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced the list of 15 candidates from 15 wards in the Karnal MC and left five wards open for accommodating the alliance partner HJC. The BJP candidates included Ram Hander, Jasbir, Sanjeev Mehta, Sujata Arora, Kavita Vishvakarma, Paramjeet Kaur Kashyap, Yashpal Mittal, Veer Vikram Kumar, Seema Kashyap, Krishan Garg, Shiv Kumar Tavar, Aman Sharma, Jaipal Valmiki, Jaswinder Kaur and Jagdev Singh.

Gurgaon, May 17
A police constable was arrested today for raping his friend’s wife. The accused 45-year-old Mange Ram has been serving in the Police Lines for sometime.

The complainant, a 35-year-old, resident of Jal Vihar, claims that the accused was a close friend of her husband.

The accused had started a business with victim’s husband and lived with them for two years. It was only in November 2012 that he separated from them after a feud over money. The victim claimed that it was during his two-year stay at her home that he repeatedly raped her.

Gurgaon, May 17
The police today arrested a 38-year-old doctor for allegedly raping his 35-year-old patient. The victim claimed that they had even got married after the rape last month, but the doctor had now ditched her.

The accused has, however, claimed that she was suffering from a mental ailment and such illusions were a common symptom. Dr Abhay Yadav, a physiotherapist, has in the past worked with renowned private hospitals.

The victim claimed that she was undergoing treatment under Yadav and thus visited him on many occasions and he would also visit her. “On March 31, my father was very ill and I called him. It was then that he raped me, but I stayed quiet as he promised to marry me.

On April 4, we got married in a temple near Sector 54 and he stayed with me as my husband till April 12. But ever since he has been avoiding me and not taking my calls,” the victim alleged. The police has booked Dr Yadav.

Ambala, May 17
Armed robbers shot at three persons, including a 10-year-old girl, on board the Bihar-bound Jan Sewa Express after the train left Rajpura station today. The robbers managed to escape by jumping off the moving train.

A passenger said three men armed with pistols entered their compartment after the train left Rajpura station at 11:30 am and started snatching valuables, cash and mobile phones from the passengers by brandishing pistols. When some passengers resisted, the robbers opened fire at them, injuring Sanjay (35), Kajal (10) and another passenger, who got down from the train as it stopped after the shootout.

The robbers also jumped off the moving train before it came to a halt. The girl, who had been hit in her back along with injured Sanjay, got down from the train at the Ambala Cantt railway station and they were rushed to the nearby hospitals. While Kajal was taken to the Civil Hospital from where she was referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak, Sanjay was later admitted to a private hospital at Patiala.

Hisar, May 17
A septuagenarian woman was killed when her grandson's gun went off accidentally in Dhana Khurd village in Hisar district.

Manoj, a realtor, was cleaning his gun which accidentally went off, killing his grandmother on the spot.

Family members tried to secretly cremate the body, but the police arrived on the scene, after receiving information about the incident. The police had sent the body for a post-mortem examination.

Rewari, May 17
The police has arrested Dharam Pal for allegedly killing his wife, Sunita Devi ( 33), at Nangal-Ateli village, about 40 km from Rewari, on Wednesday (May 15).

Earlier on a complaint filed by Lila Ram, Sunita's father, a case of murder was registered against the victim's husband Dharam Pal , father-in-law Bansi Dhar and mother-in-law Shanti Devi, all residents of Nangal-Ateli village.

He alleged that his daughter Sunita, who got married to Dharam Pal in 1999, was persistently treated cruelly by her husband who was a liquor addict.

Following an altercation on May 15, Sunita was set on fire by in-laws after sprinkling kerosene on her.

She was then admitted to the civil hospital, Narnaul, where she succumbed to her burn injuries later.

Sunita is survived by a son (10) and a daughter (13).

Rohtak, May 17
Though the traffic movement on the Rohtak-Jhajjar highway was restored after five days, the standoff over Satlok Ashram at Karontha village appears not fully resolved with Arya Sabha activists deciding to pitch a tent near the ashram to keep a vigil and mount pressure on the authorities to ensure a complete closure of the ashram.

The authorities have announced that Section 144 will remain imposed at the spot till further orders. The Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, which was spearheading the agitation on the issue, has been allowed to pitch a tent near the ashram. It is a part of the understanding between the district administration and the protesters who agreed to lift the blockade on the Rohtak-Jhajjar highway last evening, sources said.

The Arya Sabha’s tent would be in addition to a police post which would be manned by the CRPF personnel and would ensure that there was no violation of Section 144.

The Arya Sabha and villagers were still adamant on their demand of shifting or demolition of the ashram. The authorities will have to resolve the issue so that there was no repeat of violence the area had witnessed in the past few days, said a district official. He said the presence of a team of Arya Samaj activists at the spot was a clear signal that the problem was still to be fully resolved as the possession of the ashram was still with dera followers. A violent clash was witnessed on Sunday between protesters and the police.

The Arya Sabha tent would come up 500 metres away from the ashram and would not have more than four persons at any given time. The Arya Sabha, which held a meeting last evening, has demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh and a government job to the next of the kin of the deceased who were killed in the firing during the clash.

The police also appears to be in a dilemma over action to be taken against the accused involved in the mob violence. The protesters had set ablaze and damaged 12 vehicles, including Haryana Roadways buses. The dera head and his supporters have been booked for the murder of a woman resident of Karontha. Though the protesters had alleged that they were victims of police firing, the police denied the allegation and claimed that they did not open fire during the clash.

Chandigarh, May 17
Haryana bureaucrats seem to be a contented lot as there are hardly any takers for central deputation.

Even though 2013 is midway through, no IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has applied for central deputation for appointment as deputy secretary, director and equivalent posts under the central staffing scheme.

A recent communication from the Department of Personnel and Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension stated that a perusal of the Central Staffing Scheme Software showed that no IAS officer had applied online for deputation to the Central Government.

Though appointments at the level of deputy secretary/director are comparatively junior appointments at the Centre, these go a long way in exposing the officers to the working of union ministries. The experience gained at central ministries stand the officers in good stead in their future careers both at the state and central levels.

A middle-level officer, however, maintained that with elections to the Lok Sabha and Haryana Vidhan Sabha due next year, a state of uncertainty prevailed both at the central and state levels. The officers are probably waiting for new governments to take over at the Centre and in Haryana while applying for deputation.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Chief Secretary’s Office has asked the officers willing to be considered for central deputation to apply to the state government within a fortnight.

Fatehabad, May 17
In a dispute over family business of liquor, two men allegedly gunned down their brother, Rohtash, at Pili Mandori village in Fatehabad last night.

Three others have been critically injured in the clash.

The police has booked Jaibir and Jagdish and some others for rioting, assault and murder .

The victim's youngest brother, Chhotu Ram, alleged in his complaint to the police that his brothers, Jaibir and Jagdish, came along with some others and opened fire on Rohtash and others who were sitting in their shop. Rohtash died on the spot.

Chhotu Ram said his brothers had a dispute with Rohtash over their liquor business.

Gurgaon, May 17
A Japanese national working as a senior executive at Maruti Suzuki's ancillary company jumped to death from a multi-storeyed building in Sushant Lok.

Y. Fujii (54) jumped from the 15th floor of Summit Apartments where he had been living for the past few years.

He was working as General Manager (sales) in a company in Sector 14 that manufactures spare parts for Maruti Suzuki.

"We have recovered a suicide note from the deceased's apartment. The two-line note in Japanese says: 'I am dying, no one is responsible'," said a police officer.

"living alone in the flat, he was depressed. His family has been informed and the body kept in the mortuary ," the police said.