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| Sunday,
January 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Lid lifted
off ‘guaranteed medical admission’ racket New Delhi, January 5 The prime accused, Pawan Thakur, MD of the company, was arrested from his office in Kalkaji this morning. His interrogation led to the arrest of Shrikant (32), Nikesh (26) and Mukesh (25). They were arrested from a hotel in Paharganj where they had been awaiting some of their customers who had to come from Punjab, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing), Mr Dinesh Bhatt said. The DCP said that advertisements had appeared in the leading newspapers of the Capital on December 28 and 29, assuring guaranteed admission to the candidates in MBBS, MD and MS courses. The examination for the courses was to be conducted yesterday. There was no need to pay the money in advance and the desirous candidates were advised to contact the Shiksha Consultant Private Limited. Since the examination is conducted by AIIMS on behalf of the Union Ministry of Health, the AIIMS authorities got suspicious and reported the matter to the EOW. A decoy customer was sent to the Kalkaji address of the company by the EOW who met the prime suspect, Pawan Thakur. The suspect demanded the admission ticket from the customer and refused to talk to him without the ticket. A dummy admission ticket was then prepared with the help of the AIIMS authorities in the name of Dr Virender Singh and the customer, an SI, was sent again. During the discussion, Pawan Thakur demanded Rs 10.5 lakh from the customer and asked him that post-dated cheques would have to be paid in advance. He explained to the customer that all the candidates under the agreement would assemble somewhere at a place to be specified later. All the applicants were assured of getting solved question papers of PG entrance
examination. The candidates were to be escorted to the centres by the organiser and one representative of each candidate, carrying the cash. The customer gave him five post-dated cheques, amounting to Rs 10.5 lakh and also signed an agreement. Thereafter, the decoy gave a predetermined signal through his mobile phone to the raiding police party who caught Pawan Thakur. The party searched the office of the accused and found that he had already entered into a similar agreement with 18 other candidates, seeking admission to the PG courses and MBBS and collected cheques of Rs 1.48 crore. During interrogation, Pawan Thakur disclosed that he had contacts with some people outside Delhi and at present, they were staying at Paharganj in Delhi. The question paper was to be collected today. The suspect had asked the candidates to come to Paharganj from Punjab. The solved papers were supplied by one Rajiv, whose mobile number was recovered from their possession, the DCP said. |
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Udyog Vihar traders threaten to move MRTPC Gurgaon, January 5 The copy of the letter has also been sent to the chief secretary and the principal secretary, Government of Haryana. Mr Raj Singla, General Secretary of Chamber of Industries of Udyog Vihar (CIUV) informed the NCR Tribune that the chamber would approach the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, if the government did not withdraw the EDC. The notice of the EDC, sent by the HSIDC to around 1600 entrepreneurs of Udyog Vihar and Sector 18 industrial area, said that in case the instalments were not paid on due dates, the owner of the plot would be required to pay the same with 15 per cent interest a year for the amount in default and period of default. It further warns that the default, however, will not exceed the due dates for the third instalment; May 31, 2002, and the non-payment by this date, will entail the resumption of the plot. The Chamber of Industries of Udyog Vihar (CIUV) regretted that if a government-owned corporation started disregarding the rules of law, what society would get from the private land mafias. Mr A.P. Jain, founder & general secretary of Udyog Vihar Industries Association (UVIA), said that HSIDC intended to collect around Rs 70 crore by way of EDC from the industrialists to pay to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). However, the officials of the department failed to explain why this amount would be given to HUDA. And in return, what HUDA would do for the industrialists of Udyog Vihar and Sector 18. All India Garment Exporters Common Cause Guild also handed over a memorandum to the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, in Delhi today, demanding the withdrawal of External Development Charges. They mentioned that some of the entrepreneurs would be forced to pay Rs 50 to Rs 80 lakh to HSIDC if the EDC was not withdrawn. The demand was improper as it had come at a time when the industry was facing recession and global
competition. The industrial growth is below 2 per cent and the export target has been scaled down to 3 per cent from the ambitious 20 per cent for the current financial year by the government, the industrialists said. |
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Plan to hardsell Delhi as a shoppers’ stop New Delhi, January 5 In an attempt to hardsell Delhi as a preferred tourist destination and forge an alliance with the corporate sector, Delhi Tourism Minister Ajay Maken today called upon the corporate world to play the role of the catalyst. Addressing a gathering of the captains of travel, tourism and hospitality industry here, Mr Maken sought to position Delhi as a shoppers’ paradise, juxtaposed with the city’s glorious past. He, however, said that a more liberal policy regime was required. On its part, the Delhi Government was ‘systematically’ working towards promoting the country’s capital. For this purpose, the Delhi Government’s action-plan on tourism “Vision 2005” would be unveiled very soon. Top travel and tourism professionals have converged in the Capital to participate in the four-day exhibition, Hotelequip India, organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Hotel Association of India (HAI) and the Hotel and Restaurant Equipment Manufacturers Association (HOTREMAI). The exhibition ends on Tuesday. The HAI President, Mr Lalit Suri, urged the policy-makers to draw important lessons from the Sri Lankan experience, where rationalisation of taxes for the tourism industry had paid rich dividends. The island nation, Mr Suri said, has become a favoured tourist destination because of low tax rates. A well-coordinated uniform tax structure is essential to make India a competitive destination in the world market. Hotel accommodation in the country needs to be stepped up to at least 1,25,000 by the year 2004-05 to cater to an estimated 3.5 million tourists, Mr Suri, the owner of a leading chain of hotels, said. Further, an additional investment of over Rs 15,000 crore is required to bridge the gap of 50,000 rooms and the challenge for the private sector lies in bridging this gap, he added. The Chairman of Jaypee Hotels and Member of the CII National Committee on Tourism, Mr S G Awasthi, said that Hotelequip 2002 provided the perfect platform for exploring the vast untapped trade potential in the tourism industry by bringing together different players in the hospitality industry. The exhibition also provides an opportunity to bring the prospective tourists into direct contact with the entire spectrum of the industry. More than 250 participants are taking part in 300 different categories of the hospitality industry in the four-day exhibition. |
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7 kg heroin
seized in the nick of time New Delhi, January 5 The gang leader, Yasin alias Pehalwan, along with his three associates was immediately taken into custody for further interrogation. Pehalwan disclosed to the NCB officials that he had brought about 10 kg of high quality
heroin from Western Uttar Pradesh to supply in Delhi. Already he had disposed three kg to a Nigerian National, Auther Frank, residing at Safdarjung Enclave. Immediately, a raid was conducted at the residence of Auther Frank and officials recovered about 100 gm of heroin. Pehalwan also told cops that two suppliers of raw opium, Asif and Azam, used to collect payments from him. A team also raided the residence of the duo but they had escaped. A search of the premises resulted in the seizure of Rs 9 lakh and a new Toyoto Qualis belonging to Pehalwan. |
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Illegal
deals in foreign notes busted Gurgaon, January 5 Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Siag informed that a team of the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) raided a house in Om Nagar, Gurgaon, and found five persons in possession of currency notes of various countries and a fake certificate of currency. The arrested persons have been identified as Rajbir Singh, Suresh Kumar and Ajay Kumar, residents of Delhi, and Narender Kumar and Hukum Singh, residents of Om Nagar, Gurgaon. Ajay Kumar was carrying a fake currency certificate bearing the no. 142239011, on which it was mentioned that the United States of America had issued it and that it had a value of $ one million (Rs. 4.6 crore in Indian currency). Some other currency notes of Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal were also recovered from His accomplices. The city police station lodged an FIR under sections 420 and 411 of the IPC and produced the culprits before the magistrate. |
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Soya unit raided New Delhi, January 5 A raid was conducted yesterday by a team of officials led by the SDM. A person identified as Ramesh Garg has been arrested. It is reported that the accused had a shop in NH-I market of the NIT here and had a godown and a factory, Respectively, at Kelly village and Indira colony here. The factory was producing soya oil under the brand name `Surya’ brand on a large scale. About 40,000 litres of oil and other material was seized from the unit. It is learnt that the sale of this brand at a diluted price made dealers suspicious and they reported the matter to the parent company and to the Drug Control Authorities. Recently, a fake henna factory was unearthed in the area. |
Locals take pot-shots at civic bodies in janata darbar Sonepat, January 5 According to an official press release, most of the complaints were related to the shortage of drinking water, grabbing of panchayat and shamlat land and inadequate and erratic power supply. Mr Ran Singh, resident of Asawarpur village, alleged that Mr Pratap Singh, a member of the gram panchayat, in collusion with the sarpanch had encroached upon a street (No. 248) causing inconvenience to the people. Even after they complained several times, the authorities had failed to take any action against the panchayat member. Meanwhile, Mr Attar Singh, resident of Rathdhanna village, wanted the SDM to intervene to do something on the shortage of drinking water. He said there had been an acute shortage of drinking water in the village for the last few years and the students of Government High School and Government Primary School had been facing severe hardships due to this. He demanded laying of pipelines up to the schools and ensuring the supply of drinking water to them. He also brought to the notice of the SDM that the students of these schools had been facing great inconvenience owing to the shortage of staff there. He also expressed his grave concern over the incidence of looting and robberies and erratic power supply in the village and demanded immediate steps to check the increasing incidence of crimes. Mr Rameshwar Dutt of Nathupur village highlighted the grievances of the people regarding shortage of drinking water, poor conditions of the roads and use of Sub-standard materials in the construction of roads. Residents of Bazidpur Saboli and Bhowapur villages as well as Mr Kanwal Singh Chauhan, sarpanch of Aterna village, also aired their grievances in the darbar. The SDM directed the authorities concerned to take steps to mend the problems faced by the public on a priority basis. He also informed that another Janata Darbar would be held on January 11 at Ganaur, a sub-divisional town in the district. |
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SEARCH WITHIN THERE is good news at the beginning of the New Year: “We are ready to talk peace,” declared Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his New Year message to the nation on December 31. “India would be willing to walk more than half the distance to resolve all the issues with Pakistan,” he had added. Peace is what the two nations need, if the ambition to provide shelter, food and clothing to the teeming millions of the subcontinent, is to be realised at all, even belatedly. Ushering in an era of peace might mean healing the scarred memories of the peoples. Mushirul Hasan, a distinguished scholar and historian, pondering over the partition debate, had recently written that the transfer of power might not have taken an ugly and violent turn had Gandhi’s Congress colleagues allowed him to wield his moral stick. Maybe true. Others have said that the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British had brought things to this sorry pass. Misguided religious leaders, the establishment and, to an extent, the media attach themselves to the culture of hatred, believing that the national interest lay in the weakening or destruction of the other. This is the vicious circle which has, in its grip, the destiny of the subcontinent with its ill-fed, ill-clothed and sickly millions. Add to it, the poor governance and corruption which deny to them all hope of a better morrow. Though the Mahatma mobilised the millions to win freedom for India and Pakistan, the two nations are not yet free to travel on the path of progress because they are shackled by the chain of mutual hatred. “Who will deliver us?”– that in fact is the spiritual anguish of the masses in both nations, who are like a sheep without a shepherd. More than million deaths at the time of Partition was symptomatic of the ailment that had afflicted the people at the time of freedom. Distortion of religion by the vested interests has only fanned the flames of hatred. There is another factor equally destructive of harmony between the two peoples: that goes by the name, patriotism or nationalism. That brings into focus the contribution of one of the eminent sons of undivided India, Rabindranath Tagore, to the concept of universal brotherhood, a corrective to the evil of nationalism. Very few people here are aware that the Open University of the United Kingdom has decided to enlist Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘nationalism’ as part of their syllabus. From now on, the Nobel Laureate’s book is being studied in several universities all over England, according to Visva Bharati Vice-Chancellor Dilip Sinha . “One of the greatest dangers to peace of the world is the rise of modern nationalism as seen in the totalitarian state. It has taken that lovely sentiment called, patriotism, and turned it into the deadliest enemy to our modern world. It causes men to sin where they otherwise would not. The common people of one nation usually have no reason to hate the common people of another nation. But nationalism takes hold of these people, subjects them to propaganda , instils fear, inspires hate, puts bayonets into their hating, frightened hands and flings them against the common people of another country. Why? Who knows? The grinning devil that inspires this mad business is nationalism,” so wrote Earl Stanley Jones, a long-time friend and associate of Mahatma Gandhi.. This nationalism is becoming preposterous beyond words, fanned by the religious fundamentalism.
“Who shall deliver us?” South Asia is looking for the day when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:4) M P K Kutty |
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Ghaziabad: Summer is bad enough, winter is worse Ghaziabad, January 05 Locals are extremely peeved over the power cuts, both during day and at night time. Aggravating their woes is the erratic water supply in the city. The president of Small Scale Industries and Traders Association, Thakur Vikram Singh, has alleged in his missive to Dy. General Manager, UP Power Corporation, that mobile teams of power corporation are fleecing and exploiting the small scale industries and traders in the name of inspection. Prolonged power cuts are now the norm in most parts of the city. Nehru Nagar, Rakesh Marg, Anand Vihar, Kavi Nagar, Govindpuram, Lohia Nagar, Raj Nagar are among the localities bearing the burnt of the power shortage. Lack of power affects water supply in the morning hours when it is most needed. During summer, the Power Department blames increased load for the load-shedding, but power cuts in winter debunk their claims, says Vikram Singh. Not only there is total load-shedding from 4 am to 8 am in the entire city, but these days power is often switched off without notice or warning. In the morning it disrupts the household chores and, in the evening, dense fog and cold weather makes driving in the dark, fogy streets a nightmare. All important colonies and streets are enveloped in a thick blanket of fog and darkness after 7 pm. And many times, there is no light till morning. Vikram Singh further alleges that inspecting teams insult and threaten the small scale entrepreneurs and traders to line their pockets. Over-loading and other reasons are cited to harass and exploit them. He has warned that the Association will strongly oppose such inspection teams, unless a representative of the Association is a part of the team. |
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Mukhi slams govt stand on power crisis New Delhi, January 5 According to DVB sources, the decision was taken in the wake of low voltage and voltage fluctuation in the Northern Grid. Such an order has been issued in the past also but only during peak summers. This is however the first time the power utility has had to resort to this order during winters. Slamming the government for allowing things to come to such a pass, Mr Mukhi said small commercial areas and residential areas were also having power cuts for four hours each every morning and evening. “The government should have anticipated as much and procured additional power from other sources much earlier,” he said referring to the Power
Minister’s convening an emergent meeting and giving instructions to have a liaison with other states for more power. He said the peak load on Wednesday was 2,561 MW and not 3,100 MW as was claimed by the DVB. Even if the DVB arranged for more power, the shortage would persist, he claimed, as the power utility was capable of handling only 2,500 MW. |
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Out of jail, MLA begins public contact Faridabad, January 5 The MLA, who had to remain in jail for over a month in connection with a case of dacoity booked against him and some other persons, had been released on bail by the CBI court at Ambala recently. The CBI had booked him and three of his brothers under Sections 395, 364, 448, 506 and 452 of the IPC on October 7, 1997, after a probe into the charges that several persons including Mr Bhatia had stormed into the office of a local newspaper and allegedly took away items and valuables worth several lakhs of rupees. A petition was filed by Mrs Mamta Arora, wife of the editor of
`Rastriya Janadesh Bureau’ in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Mr Bhatia and others in this regard. Mr Bhatia, who could not be arrested for many months, finally surrendered before the CBI court on October 5 last year. Now the MLA has again started his mass contact programme. He visited several villages, including
Jajru, Kailgaon, Khandhawali, Seekri, Shahpur Khurd, Pyala, Harfala and
Mohala, recently and announced that development schemes worth Rs 14.66 lakh had been launched in his constituency. |
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NCR BRIEFS Faridabad, January 5 Addressed to the state government, the memorandum has criticised the dual stand of authorities in the matter of house tax. It has warned of an agitation, if the government fails to remove the `flaws’ in the house tax structure. Mr Gurjar is among those leaders who has come out in the open against keeping Faridabad out of the purview of the new house tax structure.
Fund to
improve slums New Delhi Car stolen at gunpoint Jhajjar, January 5 According to the police, Mr Jaswant and Mr Joginder, residents of Delhi, were going home when five youths forced them to stop their vehicle on the Badli bypass around 12 pm today. The youths asked them to come out of their car by showing pistols and decamped with the vehicle towards Ladian
village. In another incident, Mahipal, a 12-year-old student of local Gurukul died when he fell head on to the ground while exercising in the morning today.
Man robbed of Rs 12,000 Sonepat According to a report, the cashier was on his way to Ladpur village on his bicycle. He was allegedly pushed into a car. Two of them were carrying country-made pistols. Thereafter, the miscreants moved in the car throughout the night and snatched the cash, draft and a mobile phone from him. At the daybreak, they stopped the car and he managed to escape from the scene. He lodged a complaint with the police who immediately swung into action. However, they failed to apprehend the culprits. A case of looting has been registered.
DGP visits
jail The Haryana Director General of Prisons, Mr Ravi Kant Sharma, inspected the district jail here Thursday evening and expressed anguish over the overcrowding of the jail. Mr Sharma directed the jail authorities to take immediate steps for the construction of more barracks in it. He also listened to the complaints of the prisoners about the insufficient medical aid and sleeping place. He assured that steps would be taken to remove their grievances. The Jail Superintendent, Mr Raj Singh Yadav, told Mr Sharma that there were 952 prisoners in the jail and most of them had been convicted and sentenced by the courts in various criminal cases. Earlier, addressing a group of prisoners, Mr Sharma listed the facilities to be given to them by the state government, so that they could get self-employment after their release from the jail.
Surplus teachers The District Primary Education Officer, Mrs Kanta Sharma, has released the first list of the teachers who have been transferred from one school to another in the district. According to official sources, these teachers were found surplus. Another list of such teachers would be released shortly.
Shops burgled
Thieves are reported to have broken open the shutters of two shops near Sandal Kalan bus stand, 16 km from here, last night and escaped with a variety of goods worth several thousands of rupees. According to a report, the spate of thefts reported of late here has caused panic among residents as they alleged that the police had so far failed to solve any one of them.
Cheques
distributed
Mr Padam Singh Dahiya, an INLD MLA, distributed cheques amounting to Rs 29,18,500 among the sarpanches of seven villages of the Rohat assembly constituency yesterday for the execution of development works announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala under the Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar Programme. According to another report, Dr Ram Kumar Saini, an INLD MLA, also distributed cheques amounting to Rs 25,29,800 among the sarpanches of the villages in the Gohana assembly constituency yesterday.
One killed in mishap One person was killed on the spot when a tractor hit a three-wheeler on the Murthal-Tajpur road, about 10 km from here, last evening. According to a report, the victim has been identified as Mr Gopi Chand. He was travelling on the foot-board of a three-wheeler when the tractor hit the vehicle. The police have registered a case. However, no arrest has been made in this connection. According to another report, Mr Dharam Singh, a conductor of the Haryana Roadways, sustained serious injuries when he was hit by a truck on the
Sonepat-Bahalgarh road. |
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Stray animals dog Faridabad Faridabad, January 5 |
Four of dacoit gang nabbed New Delhi, January 5 Acting on a tip off, the police team nabbed Moin Khan (20), Tahir Khan (22), Parvez Ahmed (21) and Arif Hussain (20), all residents of Seelampur, while they were planning to loot a truck passing through Samaipur Badli. However, one accomplice, who was identified as Irfan, alias Kolu, managed to escape from the police under the darkness. Based on the disclosures made by them, the police also claimed to have solved more than 14 cases of thefts in different police stations of Samaipur Badli, Shalimar Bagh, Adarsh Nagar, Kashmiri Gate, Kamla Market and Badarpur. Meanwhile, a search is on to nab the absconding person.
Pirated VCDs seized The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police Crime Branch with the arrest of two persons has claimed to have smashed a racket in pirating VCDs of popular Hindi, English and pornographic films. The accused, Praveen Bhatia, a computer hardware engineer, and his partner, Amit Kumar, were nabbed after the police team conducted raids at the residence-cum-business centre of Bhatia in Old Rajendra Nagar and seized around 5,137 pirated VCDs. Of these, 1,011 were of songs of popular Hindi films like K3G, Ashoka, Indian,
Hum Ho Gaye Apke and Yeh Raste Hain Pyar Ke, 3,462 were of popular and latest English films, 31 of pornographic films. Other printing and copying materials were also seized. A case under the Copyright Act was registered against the accused and some more arrests of marketing persons were likely, the police said.
Chain snatchers nabbed The Shakarpur police have arrested three persons involved in chain snatching. Sonu (24), Naseem (21) and Balram (24), all residents of Khoda Colony, Ghaziabad, were arrested for reportedly snatching a gold chain of a woman, Ms Usha Rani, resident of Laxmi Nagar, when she was returning home from the vegetable market. The gold chain was broken into two pieces, when Ms Usha tried to save her chain. One part stayed with her while the other was taken away by the snatchers. The police have also arrested a goldsmith, Chander (32), resident of Ghaziabad who had reportedly bought the broken chain from the robbers.
Three killed in mishaps Three persons were reportedly killed in separate road accidents which happened due to poor visibility in the last 24 hours. In the first incident, an accountant of a private company, Mr Pritam Chand, was hit by a truck of his own company in the Alipur area of North-West district. In the second incident, a scooterist was killed while his scooter hit the ITO bridge early today morning. The victim, Mr B. K. Rastogi, resident of Shakarpur, was coming from his office when his scooter rammed into a railing of ITO Yamuna bridge. Meanwhile, a 30-year-old unidentified man was knocked down by an unknown vehicle on the Bawana-Narela road.
Robbed of Rs 50,000 Four unidentified youths robbed Rs 50,000 and some valuables from a 22-year-old salesman working with a private firm while he was going to his house in Kishan Ganj in a private bus Thursday night. The incident occurred when the victim, Upender Singh, who worked with a plastic trading company in Sadar Bazar, was on the way to his house after collecting money from business parties. The victim boarded the bus route number 247 from Sadar Bazar. The robbers waylaid him in the bus and tried to snatch the bag in which he was carrying the cash. He resisted and cried for help but no passenger came forward to save him, the police said. The robbers dragged him out of the bus and beat him mercilessly. When he fell down, they decamped with the money and some valuables. The police have registered a case of robbery.
Heroin confiscated The Delhi Police yesterday seized 1 kg heroin of fine quality worth Rs 1 crore and arrested two persons. The suspects were identified as Mohammad Javed and Sonu Kumar, residents of Bareilly. They have been booked under the NDPS Act, the police said. |
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ROHTAK Rohtak, January 5 With the arrest of three youths on Thursday, the police had claimed that almost all such cases pertaining to last year were solved. Those arrested had also `admitted’ their involvement in 18 such crimes out of a total 27 such cases registered during last year. However, miscreants struck again yesterday when Ms Kamla Rani, a resident of Jagdish colony here, was going to her house. Three youths on a motorcycle snatched her purse and sped away. The purse contained nearly Rs 3,800, according to the complainant. The police have registered a case.
Milkman shot A milk vendor was shot dead by four unidentified youths at Kharawar railway station near here today. According to information, Silakram of Karor village used to go to Delhi for selling milk and milk products. He was shot by four youths and he died on the spot. The assailants fled after committing the crime.
Rs 1.3 lakh robbed Four unidentified persons robbed a house owner of Rs 1.30 lakh at gunpoint at Chandi village in Meham sub-division today. According to information, the burglars broke open the house of Jagannath at around 11.30 last night. They terrorised the occupants and fled with the cash. |
NSC wants VC suspended New Delhi,
January 5 |
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