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| Friday, October 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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INLD ‘sidelining’ honest officers CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Haryana unit of the Congress today drew the Governor’s attention on the frequent administrative shake ups carried out in the state by the INLD government. In a memorandum submitted to the Governor Babu Parmanand, the Congress criticised the “mass transfers without any policy or reasons”, which, the memorandum said, had further burdened the cash-strapped state exchequer. Polio cases
decline in Haryana Rival group torches extortionist to death Quacks abound in Panipat Chautala for more
hydel projects Controversy over village panels Staff to hold rally at Rohtak |
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Visitors to deer park dwindle Krishi kendra for village in Jhajjar Paddy purchases on schedule Parmanand pays obeisance at Pehowa Police yet to find victim’s arms ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The Sonepat police today registered a case against the gunman of HPCC chief Bhupender Singh Hooda along with four relatives of the former on a charge of causing dowry death. 6 get life term for murder 2 killed, 15 hurt as bus overturns Cops foil students’
bid to stop traffic Father, three kids die in
road mishap Youth burns beloved, self “Kuttu” atta
banned Villagers hold demonstration Woman poisoned
to death
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INLD ‘sidelining’ honest officers CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Haryana unit of the Congress today drew the Governor’s attention on the frequent administrative shake ups carried out in the state by the INLD government. In a memorandum submitted to the Governor Babu Parmanand, the Congress criticised the “mass transfers without any policy or reasons”, which, the memorandum said, had further burdened the cash-strapped state exchequer. The honest and hardworking officers were being sidelined by the government, the memorandum alleged. The Congress delegation which submitted the memorandum was led by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MLA and chief of the HPCC. CLP leader and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, Mr Ajay Singh Yadav, Congress Party’s deputy leader in the house, Ms Anita Yadav, MLA and chief of the women unit of the party in Haryana and Dr Jai Prakash, MLA were among the other members of the delegation. The memorandum submitted by the Congress also alleged that candidates from Rajasthan and Punjab were being given preference over the aspirants from Haryana in the current drive related to recruitment in the police force in the state. “There have been allegations that money has changed hands with the connivance of the INLD workers and police officials”, the memorandum said. The Congress memorandum also alleged that law and order machinery in the state had completely broken down leading to a feeling of insecurity among the people in the state. The anti-encroachment drive launched in the villages was being “used” by the ruling party against the Dalits, backward classes, landless farmers and its political opponents, the memorandum alleged. The memorandum further alleged that paddy growers were being forced to resort to distress sale of their produce to certain “INLD-favoured traders” as the government agencies were not coming forward to do any purchase. Weak monsoon had created severe drought condition in the state but the government was not providing any relief, the memorandum stated. It said the village development committees, proposed to be set up by the state government, were against the principle of decentralisation. Even as the Congress dwelt upon these issues, it urged the Governor to use his office to direct the state government to make its policies transparent and public-oriented. In a separate memorandum, which was also submitted to the Governor today, the Congress expressed concern at the increase in the price of petroleum products, including diesel and kerosene. The farmers as well as people of middle class and below would be affected by this hike, which was the third increase since last October, the memorandum said. The Congress delegation requested the Governor to forward this memorandum to the President. |
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Polio cases
decline in Haryana CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Haryana Government today claimed to have achieved remarkable success in reducing the number of polio cases in the state after implementing the intensified pulse polio immunisation programme. An official spokesman said two cases of the wild
viruses had been detected during this year till September against 19 in 1999 and 39 in 1998. This was stated by the Haryana Chief Secretary, Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, while presiding over a meeting of the State Pulse Polio Steering Committee. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan said under the intensified pulse polio immunistion campaign, doses of the oral vaccine would be given to children between zero and five years of age on November 5, December 10, 2000 and January 21, 2001. He said over 35.43 lakh children would be administered oral drops on these days. This year there would be booth-based immunisation on the first day, followed by house-to-house immunisation of left-out children on the subsequent two days. |
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Rival group torches extortionist to death FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — Rivalry among criminal groups led to the murder of a youth from Bhadra in Rajasthan whose body was burnt by some persons on the outskirts of Dharnia village in this district on September 30. The Bhadra police said it had some clues about the killers but refused to divulge the names. The youth had been set on fire in a heap of cowdung cakes in the fields of Mange Ram on the night intervening September 29 and September 30. Villagers informed the matter to the sarpanch who in turn informed the police. The police reached the spot at about 8.30 a.m. but by then the body had burnt and only the skeleton remained. It could not be known whether the victim was burnt after murder or was burnt alive. The victim was identified as Om Prakash (25) of Lakhanwas Bhirani village, near Bhadra, in Rajasthan yesterday when the Bhadra police came here with the victim’s father who identified a ring of his son which was found in the ashes. According to the police, the victim was a criminal and an extortionist. He had developed rivalry with other criminals. On September 29, some persons kidnapped him in a jeep from Bhadra. The police had registered a case under Sections 365, 341 and 336 IPC, and Section 27 of the Arms Act. When the Bhadra police came to know that a youth had been burnt at Dharnia, it brought Om Prakash’s father Ram Kishan who identified his son. Mr Shiv Bhagwan, in charge of Bhadra police station, when contacted, said the police had got some clues about the killers who had connections in Mandi Adampur areas of Haryana but refused to divulge their names. He said the murder was a result of rivalry between two gangs of criminals. |
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Quacks abound in Panipat PANIPAT, Oct 5 — Quacks posing as bone specialists, sex specialists, gynaecologists etc. abound in this town. They mainly operate in semi-urban areas and villages and basically cater to labourers and lower middle class people. A majority of the quacks claim to be registered medical practitioners holding identity cards from some ayurvedic and unani institutes located in Panchkula. They have no certificate from government approved colleges. It is alleged that many of these ‘doctors’ use steroids during treatment and the poor patients, rather than getting cured, get addicted to drugs. A nursing home is being run on the Devi Mandir road by a mid-wife, who poses to be a doctor (gynaecologist). She charges Rs 5,000 for normal delivery and Rs 10,000 for Caesarean cases. She claims to have the DHMS degree. Similarly, a marticulate is running sex clinics in the Shivpuri locality and on the G.T. Road along with his son, who is also just class X pass. He claims to be a doctor of ayurvedic and unani medicines having identity card of a Panchkula institute. Another nursing home in HUDA claims to provide treatment at lower rates. The ‘doctor’ there said he was an assistant professor from Srinagar. Yet another clinic is being run on the Noorwala Barsat road by a quack. |
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Chautala for more
hydel projects NILOKHERI (Karnal), Oct 5 — The Haryana Chief
Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today said that he would appeal to the Centre to construct hydel projects to overcome the shortage of oil. Speaking to mediapersons after the “sarkar aap ke dwar” programme here, he said unlike the USA, India did not have sufficient oil reserves to provide relief to its citizens. Referring to the hydel project of Himachal Pradesh, he said it was providing enough power to take care of the needs of the entire northern India. Regarding paddy procurement, he assured farmers that paddy would be purchased in a proper manner and all necessary arrangements had been made, including deputation of high officials to monitor the process. Millers presently were purchasing paddy at 20 per cent more than the minimum support price, he said. Mr Chautala said a nine-member committee would be constituted for executing development works and its functioning would be supervised by gram panchayats. The Chief Minister heard the problems of 90 gram panchayats and municipal committees of Kurukshetra and
Karnal. |
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Controversy over village panels CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 —Panchayats may be elected by villagers but they are not really representative bodies for villages. At least this is what the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala's aides are arguing to ward off criticism levelled by the Congress against the proposed village development committees. The development committees, a brainchild of Mr Chautala himself, will be empowered to undertake development work in villages up to Rs 50 lakh at their own level. According to official sources, the committee members will be chosen by the gram sabhas and each panel will have a minimum strength of seven members while the maximum number will not exceed 11. The sarpanch, the former sarpanch, one woman panch, one panch from the Dalit community as well other important persons of the village community will be members of these committees. The panels will be finalised by the gram sabhas during the mandatory meetings of the sabhas between October 15 and November 15. The idea, however, has not gone down well with the Congress, which feels that the village development committees will undermine the panchayats. What is the need for having panchayats then? asked the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhajan Lal . While reacting to Mr Bhajan Lal's charge, Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister of Haryana, went on to claim that panchayats often did not represent the villages as the winning candidates might get fewer than the total votes polled by various defeated candidates. Moreover, the elected sarpanches would be accommodated on the committees, he pointed out, while adding that the village committees would not touch the funds earmarked for the panchayats. The additional funds coming to the villages would be spent through the committees which would undertake works such as the construction of boundary walls and repairs to schools, he said. Another aide of Mr Chautala said that the Congress should not worry even if the panchayats were stripped of power because an overwhelming majority of the panchayats in Haryana were being held by INLD members. The official also echoed Mr Sampat Singh's views and said that in any village an elected panchayat would also have a group opposed to it and the purpose of constituting the village development committees was to accommodate all village factions to ensure proper development. However, decrying the government move, Mr Ajay Singh Yadav, deputy leader of the Congress in the state assembly, said that the proposed committees would act as parallel bodies to the panchayats. Moreover, they would be filled by Mr Chautala with his own supporters,leading to the concentration of power in the Chief Minister's hands, he alleged. |
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Staff to hold rally at Rohtak FARIDABAD, Oct 5 — After a gap of over a year, various employees’ organisations in Haryana seem to have stepped up their campaign once again to get their pending demands fulfilled. The leading confederations—the Sarva Karamchari Sangh (SKS) and the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh (HKM) — have already become media savvy in the past few months. The SKS has announced its decision to hold a rally on November 26 at Rohtak to “build on” the pressure. The SKS and the HKM, which boast of representing over 4 lakh government employees in Haryana, and nearly become “dormant” after the change in state government in July last year. These organisations had felt quite “relieved” and had expressed happiness over the early exit of the Bansi Lal government. Various announcements made by the Chautala government, including the withdrawal of all cases against government employees (in connection with the agitation) and the decision of reinstating the suspended staff, had left the employees quite happy. Some associations had announced their support to the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the BJP candidates in the elections held in February. Employees had decided to “suspend” their ongoing stir, hoping that the new government would soon meet their long-standing demands. While the state government claims to have taken several decisions in the interests of the staff, including the implementation of the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, some employees’ organisations are feeling “cheated” as they allege that the present government has put their demands into “cold storage”. The SKS is holding the rally at Rohtak to show its strength. A spokesman of the sangh claimed that the “indifferent attitude” of the government had forced them to step up their agitation. He said some demands accepted by the Chief Minister and “promises” made by him had not been fulfilled. He said over 2,000 employees whose services had been terminated during the Bansi Lal regime had not been reinstated. These included 1700 employees of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN), 298 employees of the Tourism Department and 34 multi-purpose health workers. The district president of the SKS, Mr Subhash Lamba, expressed the hope that the rally would be a success and would be able to pressurise the government to start a dialogue with them. However, the “silence” of the HKM about the rally is being seen as a “stumbling block” in the way of making the agitation a success. Although the HKM has been raising the issue of pending demands from time to time, yet the “lack of unity” between the two organisations may provide “relief” to the government. |
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Visitors to deer park dwindle HISAR: The number of visitors to the deer park has been declining. The factors responsible for this include its inconvenient location, the nuisance of wild monkeys and harassment by those who graze cattle illegally in the area. The park was developed by the Wildlife Department on the Dhansu road, about 10 km from the town, in 1970. Spread over 32 acres, the park now has 53 deer as compared to 28 when it was set up. Of these, 42 are cheetal and seven black buck. These shy animals, which generally run away on seeing human beings, have now turned virtually into pets. Over the years they have become so used to human presence that whenever a visitor approaches their enclosures, many of them come to the fence hoping to get something to eat. The black buck, however, prefer to maintain a distance. The park is fenced on all sides. It was part of an area called the “Beer” which was spread over 90,000 acres long ago. Later, following the development of Hisar town, it got reduced to 2,000 acres. At that time, the jungle was known for its “ lakhi daars” ( herds of over one lakh deer each). The department has six acres earmarked for growing fodder for the animals. Five employees look after the deer. The department has constructed three shelters and two waterholes for the animals. The park is situated on the bank of a reservoir and is surrounded by old trees. However, the park is not likely to become an attraction because of its inconvenient distance from the town as well as the lack of facilities for visitors. It has no toilets and almost all benches are damaged. The once-green lawns have turned into dry, brown patches. The park does not even have a tea-stall. Mostly students from the two local universities and schoolchildren go there on holidays. Some families used to frequent the park on weekends,but now they avoid it. The main reason for this is that some persons who graze their cattle illegally in the area have been harassing visitors. There have also been cases of visitors being robbed by them. The presence of hundreds of wild monkeys is a nuisance to visitors. The monkeys often snatch eatables from visitors exposing them to the risk of serious injury. Keeping other animals in the park could have made it more attractive, particularly to children. Residents want the park to be developed into a mini zoo. They also want the department to provide basic facilities for visitors, end the monkey menace and stop unauthorised grazing in the park. |
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Krishi kendra for village in Jhajjar CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar, will set up a krishi vigyan kendra in Birsunarwala village in Jhajjar district to provide the facility of a laboratory to test soil and water. The Haryana Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, gave its approval to transfer land measuring 26 acres and 3 marlas of the Government Seed Farm in Birsunarwala village to CCSHAU for setting up the centre. The Cabinet also granted exemption from the levy of stamp duty on the private placement of bonds in favour of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) amounting to Rs 2.50 crore. Similarly, remission of stamp duty, amounting to Rs 30.75 lakh, was also granted in favour of the Sirsa Cooperative Sugar Mills for the registration of land. The Cabinet also approved the annual administrative reports of the Hospitality Department for the year 1998-99 and the Registration Department for the years 1994-95, 1995-96 and
1996-97. |
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Paddy purchases on schedule FATEHABAD, Oct 5 — Government procurement agencies are way ahead of private agencies in the procurement of paddy crop in this district. Of the total arrival of 29,624 metric tonnes of paddy in various grain markets of this district till today, over 78 per cent has been purchased by government procurement agencies. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik told mediapersons here today that private millers and dealers of this district had purchased only 6489 metric tonnes of paddy in the grain market so far. This, he said constituted only 22 per cent of the total purchase. By contrast government procurement agencies had procured 23,136 tonnes. In all six grain markets and 25 purchase centres of the district where paddy procurement was in progress the government agencies namely the Food and Supplies Department, the Hafed, the FCI, Haryana Agro, Haryana Warehousing Corporation and Confed were purchasing the crops in full swing. Hafed led the table with purchases of 7586 MT followed by the FCI with 6601 MT. |
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Parmanand
pays obeisance at Pehowa KURUKSHETRA, Oct 5 — The Governor of Haryana, Babu Parmanand, along with his wife Sudesh Kumari visited the historical and religious Saraswati Tirth Pehowa today. He offered prayers and inspected the renovation work done at the cost of Rs 95 lakh. Babu Parmanand and his wife also planted the trees of ‘kadamb’ and ‘pipal’ at this religious place. Earlier, they visited Rasila Ashram near Pehowa where he listened to the problems of the
public. |
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Police yet to find victim’s arms REWARI, Oct 5 — The police has failed to recover the arms of Harpal Yadav (24) whose decomposed body was recovered from a field near Balawas Ahir village, 7 km from here, on September 29. It is stated that Harpal Yadav, son of Mr Ram Kumar Yadav, was hacked to death with a sharp-edged weapon at his poultry farm on September 26, allegedly by his servant Ram Bharose from Bihar. He had reportedly turned inimical after he had been reprimanded by Harpal. Both arms of the victim had been chopped off by the suspect before throwing the body in a millet field. The police has registered a case under Sections 302 and 201, IPC. |
Samiti
calls
off stir ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The Pichhra Varg Sudhar Samiti today called off its four day-old agitation launched against an acute shortage of water in several localities in the town after an assurance from the authorities in this connection. Mr Satyawan
Satya, president of the samiti, had warned that the Chief Minister would be greeted with black flags during his visit to the town tomorrow. |
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Governor visits
Kaithal KAITHAL, Oct 5 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Permanand, asked the employees of the state government to shed the tendency of showing the figures of development on papers only and asked them to work for the poor needy and deserving. He was addressing the officers of the district administration on his first visit to the town here today. |
Dowry death case
against cop ROHTAK, Oct 5 — The Sonepat police today registered a case against the gunman of HPCC chief Bhupender Singh Hooda along with four relatives of the former on a charge of causing dowry death. Gunman Mahender Singh is a constable in the Haryana police. His wife Mukesh of Rohat village in Sonepat, was admitted to the PGI here last evening. She succumbed to her burn injuries today. She had a one-year old son. The police has registered a case against
Mahender, his two brothers Suresh and Satish and their wives Geeta and Saroj under Sections 304-B and 498-A of IPC. Shakuntla, mother of the deceased, charged Mahender with harassing her daughter for bringing more dowry. She alleged in the FIR that her daughter was set afire by her in-laws in the greed for dowry. |
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6 get life
term for murder KURUKSHETRA, Oct 5 — The District and Sessions Judge, Mr C.R. Goel, today sentenced six persons to rigorous life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on them. The district police chief, Mr Desraj Singh, said on August 22, 1998, nine persons, including Ranbir Singh, an advocate of Kurukshetra, and his father Gurdev Singh, the then naib tehsildar, Mullana, killed Narinder Singh of Mehra village. He was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, on the same night, however, he succumbed to his injuries. Dilawar Singh and eight others, members of the same family of Kharkali village, were challaned by the police for the murder and six of them — Dilawar Singh, Yash Pal, Balkar Singh, Ranbir Singh, Shamsher Singh and Charan Singh — had been found quilty of the crime. However, the plea of alibi put up by Gurdev Singh had been held up and he along with two others Ashok Kumar and Dalbir Singh — had been acquitted of the charge. It may be recalled that in 1993, Narinder Singh, along with Parmal Singh and others, had made a murderous assault on Dilawar Singh for which they had been challaned. This was the primary reason for the murder. |
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2 killed, 15 hurt as bus overturns JIND, Oct 5 — Two passengers were killed and about 15 others injured when a Haryana Roadways bus overturned on the Jind-Karnal road near Hasanpur village, about 20 km from here, yesterday. According to a report, eight passengers received serious injuries and were admitted to the local general hospital. Later, two of the injured were referred to the Medical College and Hospital at Rohtak. The deceased have been identified as Rameshwar of Jind and Brij Mohan of Assandh in Karnal district. The bus was going from Jind to Karnal and it
overturned reportedly due to some technical defect. |
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Cops foil students’
bid to stop traffic KAITHAL, Oct 5 — A group of students of the local RKSD Postgraduate College tried to block the Kaithal-Ambala road this morning but the police foiled their attempt and chased them away. The students threw stones at the college building and damaged some lights. Trouble started when the college announced the suspension of teaching work in the college, anticipating trouble from the boy students, who wanted to attend the talent show of girls. Mr R.S. Chahal, City Magistrate, visited the college following one incident and police force was deployed there. |
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Father, three
kids die in
road mishap GURGAON, Oct 5 — A man and his three children were killed and four others seriously injured when their Maruti car collided with a dumper. The accident occurred this yesterday on the Gurgaon-Farrukhnagar road near Dhankot village. The car was going to Gurgaon from Chandu village. Mr Ranveer Singh of Islampur village was travelling in the car along with his family members. Mr Ranveer Singh, his two sons Dheeraj and Neeraj and daughter Bhawna. died on the spot. Manish, Andna, Santosh, Chandrakalan and Rittu who were injured seriously were sent to Delhi. The driver of the dumper has absconded. The police has registered a case. |
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Youth burns beloved, self HISAR, Oct 5 — A jilted lover burnt his beloved and was consumed by the flames here yesterday. It is alleged that Neeraj Kumar, a resident of Vivek Nagar, went to Komal’s house, situated in the same colony, in the afternoon. He reportedly stabbed Komal and burnt her. Alarmed by the girl’s shrieks and the smoke coming out of the house, the residents of the colony informed the fire brigade about the incident. Firemen broke open the door and rushed the boy and the girl to the Civil Hospital where the boy succumbed to his burns. Magistrate Ritu Tagor reached the hospital and recorded Komal’s statement in which she blamed Neeraj for the incident. The police has registered a case under Sections 307, 452 and 436 of the IPC. |
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“Kuttu” atta
banned CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Haryana Government today banned the manufacture, sale, storage or distribution of “kuttu” atta in the state with immediate effect “in the interest of public health”. The Minister of State for Health, Dr M.L. Ranga, said a notification in this regard had been issued by the Health Department. He said some persons had made complaints to the government of giddiness and vomiting after having adulterated “kuttu” flour in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Sonepat, Rohtak and Ambala districts. He claimed that most of the persons affected by this adulterated flour had been discharged after the necessary medical treatment. He said instructions had been given to all Deputy Commissioners and Civil Surgeons to seize and seal stocks of “kuttu” atta with immediate effect. They had also been directed to take samples of “kutu” atta from all sources, including retailers, wholesalers and distributors, and send these to food laboratories for analysis. The stocks should not be released till the receipt of the test reports. |
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Villagers hold demonstration SONEPAT, Oct 5 — Hundreds of residents of Chitana village held a demonstration in front of the office of the Superintendent of Police here yesterday in protest against the arrest of three persons, including a former sarpanch, in connection with the alleged murder of Umed Singh, another sarpanch of the village. According to the report, villagers shouted slogans against the police and the government. They also complained that the police had implicated these persons in this murder case. Assuring the demonstrators, the SP told them that he would hold an inquiry in this regard. |
Woman poisoned
to death KAITHAL, Oct 5 — A woman was allegedly poisoned to death by her in-laws here yesterday. According to information
Sunita, married to a local resident in 1993, had been harassed by her in-laws to bring more money from her family. On the complaint lodged by her brother, a case has registered against her husband Anil Kumar, brother-in-law Naresh Kumar, sisters-in-law Lajo and Sheela Devi, and mother-in-law,
Leelawati. Her in-laws are stated to be absconding after the incident. |
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