B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Fleecing of cancer patients
Medical college docs, officials involved too
Faridkot, October 10
More skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard as the investigation is progressing into the irregularities related to the sale of cancer drugs at an exorbitant rate and issuing of fake bills to the customers to help them siphon off funds under the Chief Minister’s Cancer Relief Fund.

Abohar village school wins 29 medals in state games
Abohar, October 10
Creating a history of sorts, the students of Government High School based at village Gobindgarh near here have won 29 medals in the state school games.

Kidnapping case solved within six hours
Muktsar, October 10
Muktsar city police today claimed to have solved a kidnapping case involving a minor boy within six hours.

Bhagat Singh remembered
Abohar, October 10
Rich tributes were paid to the great martyr, Bhagat Singh, at a seminar organised by the DAV College here. Students attired in saffron composed and presented poems and displayed posters eulogising the legendary freedom fighter.

Fleecing of cancer patients
Medical college docs, officials involved too
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 10
More skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard as the investigation is progressing into the irregularities related to the sale of cancer drugs at an exorbitant rate and issuing of fake bills to the customers to help them siphon off funds under the Chief Minister’s Cancer Relief Fund.

Three days after the arrest of the main accused, his questioning by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) is believed to have revealed that besides the chemist shop owner in Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, some doctors, medical representatives (MRs) and medical college officials were also involved in fleecing the patients.

Over 600 patients in the medical college were sold the commonly available drugs at highly inflated rates in the last two years, preliminary investigation by the SIT revealed.

The court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Faridkot, today extended three days of police remand for the arrested accused, Punit Tayal, after the SIT asked for more interrogation of the culprit to uncover the scandal.

The SIT investigation is learnt to have revealed that five chemist shops in the medical college, all owned by the accused Punit Tayal, sold medicines to over 600 cancer patients since November 2012, after he was allotted three medical shops through a public tendering process.

As per the agreement between the medical college and the chemist shops, the cancer patients were to to be sold drugs on no profit, no loss basis. But to balance this, the chemist shops were selling a huge quantity of non-cancer supporting drugs to the patients at highly inflated prices.

As there was no scrutiny of these non-cancer drugs, the fleecing of the patients was going on without any check. The SIT has now summoned the medical record of these 600 patients as their medical bills were reimbursed by the Punjab Government from the CM’s Cancer Relief Fund.

The SIT probe revealed that after the allotment of three shops to Tayal in the medical college, he was allowed to open two more shops without following any process. Moreover, the accused had access to highly confidential information in the medical college before he submitted his tender, revealed a senior police official. Thus, it created doubts over irregularities in the allotment of these chemist shops to the accused, said the official.

Abohar village school wins 29 medals in state games
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 10
Creating a history of sorts, the students of Government High School based at village Gobindgarh near here have won 29 medals in the state school games.

Gold medal winners — Gagandeep, Maya, Nisha, Javita, Neelam, Gagan, Saajan, Sukhwinder and Gurmit — were honoured today at the school.

Sarpanch Hardev Singh along with the other members of the village panchayat and the local managing committee were also present on the occasion. They congratulated headmistress Seema Rani, winners and the teacher in-charge Renu Sharma over the achievement.

Notably, Abohar eves have also won the dodge ball tourney and jump rope competition in the state school games.

Kidnapping case solved within six hours

Muktsar, October 10
Muktsar city police today claimed to have solved a kidnapping case involving a minor boy within six hours.

Sources said a Bathinda-based NGO also played major role in solving the case.

The police said a local resident Sonu Sethi, who runs a canteen in a private school, lodged a complaint at about 7 pm yesterday that his son, Aarish Sethi, had not returned from tuition.

A case under Section 363 of the IPC was registered and a manhunt was launched after forming seven teams. The teams were sent to various public places including railway station, bus stand, gurdwaras and temples to find the kidnapped boy. Some cops were also sent to neighbouring towns and the boy was recovered from Bathinda. At midnight, the police informed the victim's family that the boy has been recovered and handed him over to them at about 1 am. The police is trying to nab the kidnapper after asking about his description from the rescued boy.

The boy’s family members said their son was taken to Bathinda in a train. — TNS

Bhagat Singh remembered

Abohar, October 10
Rich tributes were paid to the great martyr, Bhagat Singh, at a seminar organised by the DAV College here. Students attired in saffron composed and presented poems and displayed posters eulogising the legendary freedom fighter.

Dr Jagmohan Singh, son of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh’s sister Amar Kaur, lighted the torch to inaugurate the function. He lauded the efforts of the students and said they should develop the spirit of sacrifice, nationalism and unconditional love for the motherland. Explaining the martyr’s life, Dr Jagmohan Singh said the words "inquilab zindabad" and "imperialism murdabad" which Bhagat raised while going to the gallows had a great meaning for the country which was fighting against the British rule. PU senator Dr Sanjeev Kumar Arora, Rekha Handa, head of the department of history, and Colonel (retd) Dilbagh Singh too addressed the gathering. — OC