Woman, paramour held for murder
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 8
The Jagraon police today claimed to have solved, in record time, a murder case in which an unidentified body of a man was found from the Jassowal drain, near Kular village, on June 2.

In a press note, Mr Mukhwinder Singh Chhinna, SSP, Jagraon, said the body was identified as that of Jaswant Singh, a resident of Barmi village.

Later investigations led the police to conclude that Gurmit Kaur, wife of the murdered man, had developed illicit relations with Narinder Singh, alias Ninder, who lived in the same village. On seeing the pictures of the victim in newspapers, the alleged murders ran away in panic. Raids were conducted at several places and they were nabbed from near Akhara village.

During interrogation, the accused said Narinder Singh came in contact with Jaswant Singh about one year ago and started visiting his house. He developed illicit relations with his wife and later started living with them in the same house.

The accused started giving sleeping pills mixed in milk to Jaswant Singh at night. But Jaswant Singh got suspicious about their move and, with the help of a relative, brought the matter to the notice of the village sarpanch, Mr Manjit Singh. The sarpanch asked them to end the affair, but the duo did not heed to his advice.

Mr Ajaib Singh, an unmarried uncle of the deceased, had transferred 14 kanals of land in the name of Harvinder Singh, son of the deceased. The greed for land and illicit relations led the accused to hatch a conspiracy and Narinder Singh telephoned Jaswant Singh on May 30 and called him to the bus stand at Sudhar. Later, he gave some drug-laced liquor to Jaswant Singh, beat him up and drowned him in the Jassowal drain.

PAU ex-Prof serves notice on CM
Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 8
A former Professor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Dr Balwant Singh, has served a legal notice on Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, asking him to initiate action on the inquiry report submitted by the Vigilance Bureau against the Vice-Chancellor of the university and to make the report public.

Dr Balwant Singh has stated that he had come to know from various media reports that the Ludhiana chief of the Vigilance Bureau had completed investigations into the paddy seed scam at the Nabha seed farm of the university, but no action had been taken on the basis of the report.

Alleging that the inquiry report is being kept under the wraps as PAU authorities are directly involved in the scam, involving the clandestine sale of paddy seed worth lakhs, Dr Balwant Singh has asked the Chief Minister to take immediate action on the basis of the report of the Vigilance Bureau.

He has also sent notices to Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chief Secretary, Mr S.K. Sinha, Principal Secretary, and Mr A.P. Pandey, Director, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, for initiation of action against the authorities concerned.

He has said he had complained against the Vice-Chancellor some time ago, which was marked to Mr Pandey, who had directed the Vigilance Bureau chief of Jalandhar district to investigate into the allegations against Dr Aulakh. The investigations were eventually entrusted to an officer of the rank of DSP posted at Jalandhar.

Adding that he had been summoned by the Jalandhar-based Vigilance officer several times during the course of the investigation, Dr Balwant Singh has said he had produced evidence to establish how Dr Aulakh had misused his position.

He had shown documentary proof of some appointments made by the Vice-Chancellor, including that of his daughter-in-law, to important positions in violation of recruitment rules of the university. He had pointed out that Dr Aulakh’s appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, a post that he held for 17 months, was in contravention of the act of the PAU, which had no provision for the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

He had brought other irregularities, financial and administrative, to the notice of the investigating officer, along with documentary evidence. He had come to know that the investigating officer had submitted his report to Mr Pandey through his immediate boss more than six months ago.

Mr Pandey had said in a press note published in a national daily, that the inquiry report against Dr Aulakh was with him and that he would take action on the report within a fortnight. It was intriguing that no action had been initiated.

Dr Balwant Singh, in his legal notice, has further said in reponse to the letter of veteran CPI leader Satya Pal Dang, the Chief Minister went on record to say that he would punish all public men found guilty of corruption.

Foolproof fraud was planned: firm director 
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 8
Wings Webtech Private Limited, which has been accused of duping thousands of investors across Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, did not vanish overnight. The company’s proprietors had been working on a “foolproof fraud” for the past six months. This has been revealed by the documents submitted before a local court by one of the three directors of the company, Mr Harish Goel.

With news of the alleged fraud committed by the company spreading like wild fire, more skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard. It is being alleged that the company jacked up the list of investors by adding fake names and addresses in order to lend credibility to the company. It is learnt that of the 14,000 investors in the company’s registers, about 1000 names were fake.

Mr Goel claims to have resigned from the company four months ago after he found a lot of irregularities and discrepancies in the accounts and financial deals of the company. He even filed a case against the two directors in a district court, accusing them of not informing him about the financial transactions of the company.

Documents pertaining to the case confirmed the findings of The Tribune that the company had duped the investors, several of whom had invested their hard-earned money in the scheme, lured by the prospect of making a quick buck.

Mr Goel accused the other directors of misusing the funds of the company for personal gains and not giving details to him despite several reminders.

Mr Munish Sharma, Manager, Daksh Direct Marketing Limited, a company formed by associate members of Wings Webtech, found that several fake investors were shown to spruce up the profits. Mr Sharma is himself one of the victims and has no share or partnership with Wings Webtech. He said the number of fake investors on the list could touch 4,000, while 1,000 fake entries had been confirmed.

One of the two directors, Satwant Singh, was rounded up by the Sarabha Nagar police on Friday but let off yesterday when the complaining investors agreed to give him time till tomorrow to return the money.

Police sources said the complaints regarding the fraud played by the company had not only been filed in Sarabha Nagar police station but also in Division No. 5 police station.

The Tribune office was also flooded with calls of investors from different parts of the state after the news of the alleged fraud played by the company appeared in these columns.

One such victim, Parveen Choudhry, proprietor of Tarun Printers, said he had lost more than Rs 7 lakh which he had invested in the company. He said he did printing work for the company also but only a few bills were paid to him.

PHRC order on butcheries
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 8
After the failure of Chief Sanitary Officer, Ludhiana, to comply with the orders of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PHRC) regarding butcheries, the PHRC has directed the MC Commissioner and Health Officer to conduct a survey of butcheries that were slaughtering animals in the open, thereby hurting the feelings of public.

The orders were issued recently after the complainant, People for Animals, stated that the previous orders of the PHRC were not complied with. In its previous orders, the commission had directed Mr Charanjit Sachdeva, Chief Sanitary Officer (CSO), to fix a date with members of the PFA and conduct a survey of the butcheries. The orders were issued on May 7 and the CSO was supposed to submit its report by June 6.

But Mr Sachdeva failed to do so and admitted this fact before the commission. The PHRC has now directed Mr S.K. Sharma, MC Commissioner, and Health Officer, Mr G.S. Grewal, to carry out the previous orders in letter and in spirit. The commission has further said that if both the officials fail to submit the report within the stipulated period, they will have to appear before the commission personally on the next hearing.

The PHRC has appointed Mr Sachdeva as the nodal officer in Continued from page 1 col 1

getting its orders complied with. The PFA had, in its reply to the commission, stated that they had approached the CSO at the office of Municipal Commissioner immediately after receiving the copy of the orders. But it could not evoke any response from him or any other official of the MC for compliance of the order.

The commission had directed the CSO to conduct a survey, taking members of the PFA along, after the local police department submitted an inquiry report denying the allegations of the PFA that animal slaughter was going on in the open in the city. The PFA had refused to accept the inquiry report stating that it was biased. It had further alleged that the inquiry was not conducted in a fair manner.

In its order, the PHRC had asked the PFA to fix a date with Mr Charanjit Sachdeva, who was asked to conduct raids and provide requisite staff to check animal slaughter in the open and take action as per law. The commission had also directed the SSP, Ludhiana, to provide police help.

The commission had stated that animal slaughter amounted to violation of human rights and if after the raid such instances were found, the Municipal Corporation would take strict action in accordance with the law.

The commission had further directed that in case of apprehension of breach of peace and violence, the Chief Sanitary Inspector should approach the SSP, Ludhiana, or any other officer nominated by him for getting the police help.

2-year wait for Class X result

Khanna, June 8
Sukhdeep Kaur, who had appeared in the Class X examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board in 2001, still does not know exactly how many marks she had scored in the examination.

She served a legal notice on the board in November, 2001. After receiving the legal notice, the board sent three separate letters. The first letter said she had got additional 24 marks, the second letter mentioned that she had got 70 marks and the third letter said she had got 30 more marks in the paper. Mr Gurdeep Singh alleged that till date the board had not released the changed marks sheet of her daughter. The board official concerned was not available for comments. OC

Satta operators in jitters
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 8
Satta business in the city, particularly in the old city areas around the CMC Hospital, has come to a virtual standstill. The arrest of two satta and lottery sharks and some of their cronies on Friday, who ran their business from their lottery shops near Shingar cinema and the Division No. 3 police station has sent shivers down the spine of many satta operators and they have decided to lie low.

The two, Jagjit Singh Chawla and Subash Katty, who were in the news for the CD expose that lead to the arrest of 12 police officers on corruption charges, have been booked under the Gambling Act and Section 420 of the IPC for allegedly selling duplicate tickets of government lotteries. A large quantity of duplicate tickets of various government lotteries were seized from the shops of the operators.

Another case under Sections 452, 323, 324, 506 and 34 of the IPC and Section 3 of the Scheduled Caste Act has been registered against them at the Haibowal police station on the complaint of Deepak, who lives in Partap Singh Wala.

Sources in the business told Ludhiana Tribune that following the arrests, satta business was suffering losses in several other parts of the city such as Daresi grounds, Ghanta Ghar chowk area, Sabzi Mandi, Salem Tabri and some areas of the Civil Lines, including Kailash Cinema chowk, Kundan Puri and its adjoining areas.

They said even though the police action was limited to the operations of the arrested lottery and satta sharks, it might be extended to other satta sharks in the days to come. However, certain quarters felt that other satta sharks would not be touched by the police, fearing another expose of other police officers who might be in league with them.

Sources further claimed that ever since the CD expose, the police had been trying to figure out the brains behind the episode. Since the needle of suspicion pointed at Mr Sat Pal Gosain, former Deputy Speaker of Vidhan Sabha, the arrest of a history-sheeter, Lalla, thought to be close to Mr Gosain, was stage-managed to discredit him. 

COMMUNITY

Jathedars flayed for exonerating Badal
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 8
The Sikh League, while hailing the declaration of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as a martyr by the Akal Takht, has taken serious note of the recent denigration of the Takht by the Jathedars, who exonerated SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal on June 5 for serious anti-Panthic activities.

The league chief co-ordinator, Mr Mohinder Singh Grewal, and activists Bhai Kalyan Singh Patna Sahib, Mr Jatinder Singh Sandhu and Mr Manjit Singh Buttar, in a statement issued here today, demanded the resignation of Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti and other jathedars. They had committed a grave blunder and had violated the maryada of the Takht while exonerating Mr Badal, they added.

They accused Mr Badal of performing and promoting Brahminical rites in Sikhism, besides and betraying the Panth on the political front. He had clandestinely connived with the Haryana Government on Punjab river waters, they said. 

Of summer holidays, camps
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 8
Eversince the summer vacation has started, various institutions have organised summer camps from theatre performance workshops to personality grooming, from martial arts to sculpture, painting, and dances, you name the activity and these institutions.

Both young and old are learning foot loose fitness and dance steps-specially devised by Amit and Vinay. Their institute — the Indo British of Arts and Fitness — has scores of students attending yoga, aerobics, meditation, martial arts, various types of dances, and learning of non-verbal movements.

On the other hand, a local college resounds with sonorous beats of tabla, and laughter and delight of students at creating new paintings, pieces of pottery, and making new handicrafts.

Dr S.K Kushwaha, a sculptor, who has made a highly remarkable place for himself in the world of art is conducting a workshop in sculpture. Dr Kushwaha, a painter and sculptor has received many accolades and conducted several workshops and seminars.

He says sculpture records the important events of the history. He said:” Sculpture in India was centred on the worship of Buddha and the three Gods who form the trinty of Hinduism- Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh”

Radhika, a student attending the workshop said, “First, Dr Kushwaha asked us to make figures with newspaper and thread. Then we graduated to making sketches of animals in clay. Next we made blocks with PoP (plaster of paris) and engraved figures with knife. The rapid progress we have made under his expert tutelage has really thrilled us. We never thought that we will actually be making sculptures.”

Dr Kushwaha said earlier he had been painting but painting was only to create effect. On the other hand sculptures were three dimensional and gave more satisfaction.

His daughter and disciple, Dr Anunita Rangra, is holding a painting workshop for more 50 students. She said: “Painting is in my blood. I did not take any formal training.”

Dr Anunita is the pioneer in making paintings with spray guns. This technique is generally used for commercial purposes. She has exhibited her paintings using this technique along with sculptures made by her father.

‘Play with Colour’ is the theme selected by the daughter father duo. Students have great time putting all colours on paper, and out of abstract use of colours, they give a form by converting them into greeting cards.

“We are excited when we play with colours. We make collages using different coloured fish that are overlapping. Each day we are becoming more aware of colours, matching different hues and shades. It is really fun with colours. Earlier our holidays used to be boring and drab, but this year, playing with colours, has filled our life with colours,” echoed Fatima, Shewta, and Lily excitedly.

Dr Anunita said the students were taught to paint directly with tubes and after the tube dried up, dramatic effects are created by using blades.

Dr Alag nominated for US award
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 8
A humanist, writer and scholar of international repute, Dr Sarup Singh Alag, Chairman of the local Alag Shabad Yug Trust, has been nominated by ABI Inc of North Carolina, USA, for the “Award for Praise” 2003.

The nomination of this prestigious title was done after close scrutiny of biographical documents of over one million individuals. The distinguished persons nominated are those who truly make a difference to global society through their benevolent acts, concepts and their desire for a better humanity.

According to Mr J.M. Evans, president of the award-giving institute, the individuals nominated are those unique persons who pave the way for others to strive for normalcy in an uncertain world and who are seeking enlightening results among many arenas.

Dr Alag has been nominated for this rare accolade as he is an important activist for the Welfare Unto All and has rendered selfless service to society through his noble programmes and humanitarian efforts. 

Good news for Canadian visa seekers
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 8
There is good news for those people who filed their applications for immigration to Canada before December 31, 2001, as the Canadian Federal Court has dismissed an appeal of the Immigration Department on a prior ruling that 102 cases filed before the cut-off date should be heard as per the old law.

Mr Tej Parkash Singh, a representative of the Indo-Canadian Lawyers Association, said as per the decision of the court, the immigration authorities would decide the cases filed before December 31, 2001, as per the old system.

He said the persons who had applied for immigration before the cut-off date could approach him or their representatives for filing their writ petition in the court.

He said in all likelihood the department would not call for an interview the new applicants, who would be selected under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2003. The law came into force from April 1 this year. 

Cable users stage protest

Ludhiana, June 8
Members of the Cable Upbhokta Sangharsh Committee here today staged a protest against the alleged fleecing by cable operators. The members of the committee said the cable charges were not uniform in the city.

Mr Rajiv Tandon, spokesperson for the committee, said the cable charges varied from Rs 100 to Rs 350. He demanded that there should be uniformity in the charges. TNS

‘Shade pets from scorching heat’

Ludhiana, June 8
The local chapter of the People for Animals (PFA) has advised owners to keep their pets indoors in view of the scorching heat. Dr Rajiv Bhandari, office secretary, said the pets should be given plenty of water and other liquids and occasionally salt and minerals. It has appealed to residents to provide drinking water to stray animals and birds. Water can be placed in the shade in front of houses and in shady corner on the rooftops. TNS

CRIME

School student duped
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 8
Two persons, posing as astrologers, accosted a school-children child on Saturday and tricked him into bringing gold ornaments from his house and hand over the same to them before disappearing.

The police has registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC against the two unidentified miscreants on the statement of Mr Sudhir Kumar, father of the child, who lives in Ekta Nagar. According to the complainant, while his son was on way to his school, the miscreants met him and told him that if he could give them Re 1, they would tell him something important. They told the boy that his parents were about to die in the near future but if he could bring some gold ornaments from the house, they would save the lives of his parents. The anxious boy rushed home and brought some gold ornaments and handed over the same to the miscreants who vanished.

FRAUD ALLEGED: The police on Saturday registered a case of alleged fraud on the statement of Mr Madan Lal, a resident of Iqbal Ganj, against Vinod, one of his employee who hails from Rajasthan. The complainant has alleged that the accused, who worked in his transport company, had collected Rs 1 lakh from Nova traders in Field Ganj and fled away.

BEATEN UP: On the statement of Mr Madan Lal, a resident of the Jail Road, the police on Saturday registered a case against Amar Singh and Sanjiv Kumar, residents of Kot Alamgir. The complainant had alleged that the accused intercepted him on the road and beat him up.

The Jodhewal police on Saturday registered a case on the statement of Mr. Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Kuldeep Nagar, against Happy, Hardial Singh and Billu, residents of Lohara. The complainant had stated that the accused stopped him on the road on Friday and beat him up.

THREE BOOKED: The police arrested Ravinderpal Singh, a resident of MIG flats in Jamalpur and Joginder Singh, a resident of Salem Tabri, Satwant Singh, a resident of Janak Puri for parking cars on the road.

ONE INJURED: The police has registered a hit-and-run case on the statement of Mr Chand Malik, a resident of Sarabha Nagar, against Surjit Singh. The complainant had alleged that the accused, who was driving a Santro car, hit his scooter and fled leaving him injured.