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| Saturday,
June 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Private
company dupes 14,000 investors Ludhiana, June 6 Two of the three partners-cum- directors of the company, Wings Webtech Pvt Ltd, are on the run after closing down the office located opposite the Bank of Punjab, Pakhowal Road. Their houses were either found locked or had been sold off. The third director, whose identity has been confirmed as Satnam Singh, was caught at the District Courts complex yesterday afternoon and was handed over to the Sarabha Nagar police. Police sources said Satnam Singh had claimed during questioning that he had already resigned from the company and the fraud was committed by the other two directors. These directors were Vivek Dhir and Harish Goel. On complaints filed by some city residents, whose number is likely to grow rapidly, the Sarabha Nagar police has launched an investigation into the case. The police station was flocked by about 50 city residents who were victims of the alleged fraud. Most of them were employees. They had invested their money in the company scheme and have lost lakhs. A teacher of Guru Nanak Public School, Ms Saini, has lost about Rs 9 lakh while another city resident, Jagir Kaur Sandhu, has lost about Rs 1.25 lakh. Mr Munish Sharma, Manager, Daksh Marketing Ltd., an associate company of Wings Webtech Pvt Ltd, said he had lost nearly Rs 20 lakh. He had build a membership of 3,000 persons downline and is now in a mess. He is also one of the complainants. He and Ms Saini were given a Maruti Zen and a Honda City by the company directors last year for being the most successful members. Ms Saini had made over 5,000 members, sources said. The function in which the cars were presented was reported widely by the media here. Mr Sharma said the company played a fraud on them as they were still paying the instalments of the cars, supposed to be presented by the company. Explaining the system, he said the company started functioning in May last year. It said one could become a member by depositing Rs 4,100. If the person made three members, he got a share of Rs 500 per member and also got an entry into the executive pool category. There were five stages in the executive pool category. One could earn up to Rs 4.38 lakh in these five stages. Then there was the magic pool category and the silver pool category, designed as incentives for getting more members. Attracted to the fast multiplying money scheme illustrated by colourful leaflets circulated by the company, more than 14,000
Mr Sharma said the company made other promises also. None of these were fulfilled. The promises were free online education, discount on offline education, literature free of cost on spoken English, general knowledge, general awareness, and medical check-up free of cost once a year with 50 to 80 per cent discount on major medical tests, besides an accidental insurance. He said only 130 persons were provided with the medical check-up facility while no other promises were fulfilled. Police sources said they were flooded by calls of duped members whose number was growing rapidly. Financial scams are quite common in the city, but this scam is being tipped as the biggest one involving a private limited company. |
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SE, XEN, 7 other sewerage board officials held Ludhiana, June 6 The Vigilance Bureau has claimed that the accused got a share of up to 15 per cent from the contractors for a work. For a project costing more than Rs 10 lakh, 5 per cent additional commission was taken to give it to senior officers in Chandigarh. The Vigilance was verifying the involvement of the senior officers. Those arrested are Superintending Engineer A.S. Mommi, Executive Engineer M.L. Bansal, subdivisional officers Gurmail Singh and Chaman Lal, and junior engineers Sukhbir Singh, Raj Kumar, Kamaljeet Singh, Mohan Singh and Avtar Singh. They, along with the eight contractors have been booked under Sections 409, 420, 463, 468, 471, 479, 120-B and 511 of the IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Announcing the arrest to mediapersons this evening, Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, SSP, Vigilance Bureau, said the contractors were at large. He said the
The accused have been charged with using substandard material in the pipe-laying work in the first phase of the project. The total project is worth Rs 150
crore. Nearly one-fourth of the Rs 20 crore spent on the work in the first phase has been siphoned off. The Vigilance had carried out digging work in the city in the first week of May to verify complaints that the work in the prestigious project was not according to the standards. The Vigilance has requisitioned the services of a Chartered Accountant to go through the entries made in the dispatch and receipt registers. The CA will also calculate the amount spent on say the laying of one pipe and the money pocketed by the officials concerned. Investigations by Vigilance sleuths reveal that the material like sewerage pipes did not bear any stamps of the testing authorities. The pipes were not of good quality. The sleuths said joints of the pipes were not up to the mark. Vigilance officials said there were allegations that only 40 per cent of the funds were being utilised in the project while the rest was allegedly being pocketed by officials. |
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Gas leak leaves 51 unconscious Mandi Gobindgarh, June 6 When this correspondent reached the site, people were busy taking the patients to the hospital. Mr Mohinder Singh, district vice-president, Sarb Hind Shiromani Youth Akali Dal, and Mr Kulwinder Singh, member, Block Samiti, and vice-chairman state Youth Congress Kisan Cell, said they got information about the incident after an announcement was made from the local gurdwara. They then began to carry the unconscious persons to hospital. In the meantime, a team of doctors, reached with an ambulance. Two fire engines of the Mandi Gobindgarh Municipal Council were pressed into service. Water was poured on the cylinders to check the spread of the gas. The gas was so poisonous that it affected the adjacent green fields and trees. Mr B. Chander Shekhar, SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mr Amarjit Singh Shahi, SDM, Amloh, and Mr Sukhwinder Singh Tiwana, Executive Magistrate, Mandi Gobindgarh, along with the police, reached the site. The mill owner was not available for comments. Mr Anil Sood, accountant in the mill, blamed the incident on scrap purchased from foreign countries. However, after employees could not produce the relevant record, the office was sealed by the police. Villagers said a similar incident had occurred in the mill last year and farmers were compensated for the crop loss. They were critical of the pollution control board. The SSP said action would be taken against the mill owners after investigation. |
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TRIBUNE IMPACT Ludhiana/Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 6 Gurcharan Kaur (28) has accepted the offer. Her plight was highlighted by The Tribune in these columns a week ago. She said she and her relatives were
Gurcharan Kaur was deserted by her husband, Avtar Singh, a resident of Dubai, after a year of her marriage. She had been moving from pillar to post for the past many years to get compensation and sustenance but was not being heard. Despite the fact that the Punjab State Human Rights Commission had directed the ADGP, Crime to conduct an inquiry into the case, which was marked to the SSP, Sangrur, no headway was made in the case. After her plight was highlighted, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Khanna, had transferred the inquiry to the Superintendent of Police, (HQ), Mr Ajmer Singh. The officer called both parties and listened to the girl. Then he asked her in-laws to pay her an amount of Rs 1.85 lakh and return the gifts she was given on her wedding. Her in-laws agreed. Expressing happiness at the development, Gurcharan Kaur, a mother of a four-year-old boy, said it had come as a ray of hope for her. She said she had been working in a private school for a mere Rs 500 a month. It was difficult for her to sustain herself and she had ended up being a liability on her parents. She even approached Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Chairman, Parliamentary Forum of non-Resident Indians, after failing to get justice. She claimed that Mr Ramoowalia had taken up the case with the police, but nothing much came out of it. Gurcharan had alleged that she was being summoned by the police every now and then and it seemed as if the case would never reach its logical conclusion. She added that she was sick of going to various police stations as after their complaints regarding delay, the inquiry into her case was transferred from one police station to the other. “Now I hope life will move smoothly for me. While my dreams have gone awry and my world has crashed, my hope is my son. At least I will be able to bring him up comfortable. Though I have suffered a lot on account of my passion for foreign land, I feel I have matured over the years.’’ said Gurcharan. “After the story appeared, we observed radical change in behaviour of officers. My uncle Mr Rulde Singh Chauhan, who had not been allowed to enter the DSP’s office earlier, was now
heared and with my consent the police made the family of Avtar Singh agree in writing to pay Rs 1.85 lakh as compensation, besides my “istridhan” by June 20,” she added. |
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BSP demands CBI probe into Jat-Dalit clash Ludhiana, June 6 Addressing a joint meeting of various Dalit bodies here today, former vice-president of the state unit of the party, Mr D.P. Khosla, alleged that the district authorities had failed to intervene for more than five months during which the gurdwara management had imposed a ban on entry of Dalits to the shrine of Peer Baba Fateh Shah. He claimed that the clash took place when a group of Jats attacked Dalit devotees at the shrine. He said even when the Dalit community had been discriminated against and had been the victim of a violent attack, certain vested interests were laying the entire blame on the Dalits for the clash. Mr Khosla further alleged that the party president, Mr Avtar Singh Karimpuri was also targeted and had to face misbehaviour by the miscreants. The BSP leader called upon the government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the killed persons and also to arrange for providing proper treatment to those injured in the clash. Prominent among others present at the meeting were Mr Om Parkash Chauhan, president, city unit of the BSP, Mr Hans Raj, councillor, Mr Babu Ram Nahar, president, District Valmiki Sabha, Mr Balwinder Bitta, Mr Joginder Pal, Mr Nek Kumar Gharu, Mr Raj Kumar, Mr Manoj Bagga, Mr Jai Pal, Mr Sohan Lal Nahar and Mr Jang Bahadur. |
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Work of MC branches reallocated Ludhiana, June 6 In addition, Mr Prem Chand would look after various other branches of the MC like octroi, building and drawing, tehbazari, removal of temporary and permanent encroachments, police challans and liaison with traffic police, health and sanitation, water supply and sewerage, beautification and landscaping, purchase cell and stores, monitoring of major projects and maintenance of quality, public grievances, planning for development works in wards and supervision of all works executed at zone levels. Mr Gupta, besides being zonal commissioner of zone A, would supervise the work relating to general computerisation, MIS, e-governance, courier, establishment, fire brigade, workshops and MC vehicles. Similarly, Mr Subhash Dua, zonal commissioner of zone B would also be overall in charge of quality control of O and M cell. Mr Ashok Kumar, who is the new zonal commissioner of zone C, has been assigned the responsibility of special projects, light branch and traffic cell while Mr Sondhi would oversee the work of accounts branch, cash branch, audit, budgeting and licences under Pure Food Act. Mr Ashok Bazaz, legal adviser, in addition to his normal work, would also act as certifying and copying officer of the MC and his other duties would include preparation of guidelines for various cadres, checking legality of all resolutions put up before the Finance and Contracts Committee and preparation of drafts of notices issued and agreements executed by the MC. The secretary of the civic body, Mr Vinod Sharda, would monitor the time bound implementation of all decisions and resolutions of F&CC and the general house and would also supervise the work of municipal library.
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Private
bus operators seek permit Ludhiana, June 6 Mr Libra said as per the agreement between the Punjab Government and the UT Administration, the
Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) had only eight permits for Ludhiana-Chandigarh while it was plying at least 50 buses daily on this route. He said there should be a check on the operations of CTU buses and buses from other states. Similarly, he said the Haryana Roadways, under a separate agreement between the Punjab and Haryana Governments, could operate only 10 buses between Katra and Delhi. However, there were over 50 Haryana Roadways buses that were plying on this route. He said the CTU and the Haryana Roadways were not supposed to pay any tax, except for what was admissible under the agreement. It meant they were paying the tax for eight or 10 buses only, while the number of buses operated in both cases was above 50. The private operators in Punjab, however, were liable to pay taxes to the state from time to time. The government had also increased special road tax at the rate of 30 paise per km. He said if the government checked the illegal plying of buses from other states, there would be no need to increase tax on local transporters. He said the Punjab Roadways was not in a position to invest in de luxe buses and was phasing out its fleet as it was running into losses. The only option was to provide permit to the private operators for plying air-conditioned buses between various district headquarters and Chandigarh. He said under the current arrangement, the private bus operators would not be too keen to get permit for plying the buses between district headquarters and Chandigarh. |
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Woman alleges favouritism in allotment of kiosks
Ludhiana, June 6 Ms Amarjit Kaur, a block president of Congress, alleged that despite the fact that she had made the highest bid of Rs 1.25 lakh, the officials allotted the kiosks to another party, who had not even paid the earnest money. She alleged that the SDO, JE and Draftsman of the department, wanted to harass her and her husband by allotting the kiosks in contravention of the rules. Stating that her husband, Natha Singh, a physically-challenged man, had been legally occupying a kiosk for the last 10 years and had been paying a few hundred rupees per month, the officials of Irrigation Department were hell bent on favouring some other party. She said that the officials had said that they would auction the entire area to one person, who would be then allowed to sub-let the place. Ms Amarjit Kaur a person the auction was done on April 24 and the bidding had started at Rs 8,000. The officials asked the bidders pay an earnest money of Rs 50,000 when the bidding reached at Rs 85,000. She further alleged that while she paid the money on the spot, other party could shell out only Rs 35,000. She said that the officials did not disqualify the other party flouting the rules. Even after that when she made the final and successful bid at Rs 1.25 lakh, she was returned the deposited money and was asked to bring it back the next day. ‘‘My only fault was that I asked them for entering the money into record. They cancelled the auction and now it rests with the other party.’’ she alleged. Ms Amarjit said that a person Raju of other party was allotted the kiosks, who was flouting the rules by constructing the pucca kiosks. She added that as per the rules, concrete kiosks cannot be constructed along side the river and these can be constructed with wooden planks. She further alleged that after the auction she had complained to various officials of the department but to no avail. Now she will write to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to look into the matter and do justice.
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RSS dividing Sikhs, says Sehajdhari body chief Ludhiana, June 6 He said it was unfortunate that the present Sikh leadership had not spared any opportunity to fiddle with a serious issue of the Sehajdhari Sikhs. Of the total population of the community in the world, more than 80 per cent are not Amritdhari (baptised) Sikhs. It is all about control over huge funds of cash-rich gurdwaras, which allegedly are siphoned off for political battles, he alleged. Sehajdharis — he reasoned — were the nursery of Sikhism as the declining social and moral values today underlined the fact that Sehajdharis should be encouraged to come into the Khalsa fold and not pushed out into the cold, as was being done. The move aimed at creating a minority within a minority, he added. The federation feels that the definition of a Sehajdhari as provided in the Sikh Gurdwara Act does not leave any ambiguity and has stood the test of times for almost half a century. That the Sehajdharis posed no problem for the august body of the Sikhs is also borne out from the fact that even a senior leader like Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who remained SGPC chief for record 21 years and is now a opponent — did not feel the necessity to initiate a move to divest the Sehajdharis of voting rights during his long tenure. Even Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi was returned to the committee in 1996 from Raikot on the strength of votes cast by the
Sehajdharis,” he pointed out. Dr Ranu said “Parliament too in its wisdom in 1959 deemed it appropriate to include us within the definition of the voters enabling us to elect true representatives of the Sikhs when the gurdwaras under PEPSU were brought under the control of the SGPC. This was done since Parliament appreciated that the bulk of the Sikh community - including the Sehajdharis — were good believers in Sikh tenets,” he opined. He said the term Sehajdhari finds mention in Mahan Kosh of noted Sikh historian Bhai Kahan Singh of Nabha, who defines Sehajdharis as” a part of the Sikhs — who are followers of the 10 Sikh gurus and do not recognise any other binding authority in religion, are non baptised and do not undergo initiation by Khande Ka Pahul and do not stick to the five Ks.” He added that it was a matter of concern that a venerated personality like the Jathedar of Akal Tahkt recently chose to meet the PM and impress upon him that “the voting rights of the Sehajdharis is a major cause for concern for all Sikhs as per Sikh tenets and there is no room for allowing them to manage any Sikh shrines. Owing to some political compulsions, they were given the rights in 1959 though there was no such provision in the original Gurdwara Act of 1925 and that this anomaly continues till today, “ he revealed. “All this is contrary to facts since the issue of management of shrines has been addressed and stands protected in terms of the provision of Section 45 (clause 6) of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 as amended in 1959, whereunder the qualification for the right to contest for a post has been confined only to Amritdhari Sikhs and all other categories excluded to maintain purity of management, he said. |
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Complaints
about PUDA, MC working Ludhiana, June 6 Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, SSP, Vigilance said the bureau had received several complaints, which were being investigated into. |
Wife, paramour suspected of murder Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 6 The youth, Balbir Singh, had been missing since May 25. While the police was looking for him, a close relative of the youth told the police that a relative had seen victim’s wife and her paramour throwing a body in a canal. Sources said that Balbir Singh had married a girl of Jammu Colony of Ludhiana some 15 years ago. But five years back his wife reportedly developed illicit relations with Gurmeet Singh of nearby Dhaler village. Balbir was working as a munim with a commission agent. So he used to be away from home for most of the day. His wife’s paramour reportedly used to visit her. The routine continued for around five years when his wife and Gurmeet reportedly decided to eliminate Balbir. Sources at Kanganwal village said Balbir singh had been upset after the death of his son six months ago. He had attended duty on May 24 but, no body saw him after that day. When his wife was asked about his whereabouts, she said that he had left home on May 25 morning in response to a telephone call. After searching for the missing youth, his friends and relatives started suspecting his wife and traced her links with Gurmeet Singh by tracing back the telephone calls. Further inquiries by family sources revealed that his wife along with Gurmeet and another migrant labourer had allegedly eliminated Balbir Singh . The two had reportedly given him heavy dose of sleeping pills in milk. When he fell asleep Gurmeet and migrant labourer strangulated him and threw his body into the nearby canal. Though local police has registered a case on the complaint of Mr Hari Singh, an uncle of the missing youth, but no arrest has yet been made. Mr Hari Singh while contacted apprehended that Balbir’s wife Raman and her paramour have killed his nephew.
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Car thefts on the rise in city Ludhiana, June 6 Mr Sampuran Singh, a city resident, lost his Miami gold colour Zen diesel
(PB 10 AW 9795) car from outside a park near Krishna Mandir in Model Town on June 3. He had gone there for a walk. “I had gone to the park for a walk with my son Bhupinder Singh at 5.45 pm on Tuesday. When we came back about half an hour later, the car was gone”. He alleged that the police personnel at Model Town police station did not cooperate and insisted on seeing the place from where the car was stolen before alerting the patrol parties. He further complained that the police control room No. 100 was not accessible from mobile phone. An FIR has been registered at Model Town police station. |
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Girl alleges rape by friend’s brother Ludhiana, June 6 Ms Jaspreet Kaur, a resident of Kakowal village had alleged that on February 23, 2003, when she accompanied her friend to her house in Model Town her friend asked her to marry her brother but she refused to do so. Later, the girl alleged further, the accused gave her some drinks laced with some intoxicating substance as a result of which she became unconscious after which Shamsher Singh raped her in the house. Then her friend’s father threatened her and called up her parents on telephone that she had got married with his son in a court. No arrest has been made so far. Tenant alleges theft:
Stolen:
Fraud alleged:
Undertrial escapes:
Mobile phone snatched:
Beaten up:
A case under Sections 452, 323, 427 and 34of the IPC was registered at the same police station on the statement of Mr Rajinder Kumar, a resident of Rishi Nagar, against Balwant Rai, Ram Piari, wife of Chuni Lal, and Bimla Devi, wife of Balwant Rai, all residents of the same locality. The complainant had alleged that the accused came to his shop in the locality on Thursday evening and beat him up. The accused also damaged goods in his shop, he added. No arrest has been made so far. Another case of beating was registered at the Haibowal police station under Sections 323, 341, 506 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of Mr Vijay Kumar, a resident of Kundan Puri, Civil Lines, against Sonu, a resident of the same locality, and another unknown person accompanying him. The complainant had alleged that the accused had intercepted him on the road and beat him up on Thursday evening. The accused also threatened him before going away, he added. The Division No 7 police on Thursday registered a case under Sections 323, 341 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of Mr Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Sanjay Gandhi Colony, against Vicky, Happy, Teeku, Bunty and Sukhdev, residents of the same locality. The complainant had alleged that the accused had stopped him on the road and beat him up. No arrest has been made so far. The Jodhewal police registered a case under Sections 451, 506 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of Mr Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Shivaji Nagar, against Baldev Singh and other persons. The complainant had alleged that the accused came to his spinning mill on the Tibba road and after threatening him, tried to lift away the machines of his mill. When he called up the police control room, a PCR team came on the spot but the accused managed to flee. No arrest has been made so far. The Sadar police has registered a case under Sections 341, 323, 324, 506 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of Mr Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Daad village, against Lakhvir Singh, a resident of the same village. The complainant had alleged that the accused stopped him on the road and beat him up. The accused also threatened him before going away, he added. Liquor seized:
Rape alleged:
KHANNA They were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Khanna. Jasbir Kaur was sent to a Ludhiana Hospital due to her serious condition. Jagdeep Singh is being treated at Khanna Civil Hospital. Beaten up:
Two brothers were beaten up by two rival groups at Roshni Mela organised at Rahaun village on Thursday night. According to information, two brothers, Rahul (28) and Sohan (19), residents of Chack Mafi village, were covering the mela for a Magazine Master News at night. When they clicked some photographs of a clash between two groups, the members of both groups started beating them up. Both brothers have been admitted at Civil Hospital, Khanna. |
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BSNL drive for address verification Ludhiana, June 6 While many addresses could not be verified, some subscribers had mentioned addresses which did not belong to them. An address on the Rani Jhansi road was mentioned at least on five application forms. To the surprise of the owner of the house he received five verification notes. Although the address was correct, the names of the subscribers furnished were wrong. Sources revealed that BSNL had already deactivated about 200 mobile connections, the addresses of which could not be verified. A senior BSNL official said sim cards were provided to customers instantly after the requisite security was received from them. The verification of addresses was conducted subsequently. The subscribers were allowed airtime only worth the security amount. The officials found much to their surprise that of over 5,000 mobile connections issued, at least 500 addresses were found to be non-existent. Numerous other discrepancies were also found in these application forms. In some cases, while the addresses were correct, subscribers’ names were fictitious. The officials said the services to such connections had been deactivated and the subscribers had been asked to furnish correct details. They said it was essential to deactivate services of such subscribers since a lot of revenue loss was involved. |
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