Chandigarh, September 20
“Come September” by Karen Carpenter acquires a new meaning, when you see what the playful Peter Pans and the Little Bo Peeps have put together as part of their bi-annual music week celebrations at the Strawberry Fields Kindergarten, which began today.

The intimacy of the library seems perfect as students of Lower Kindergarten put forward their versions of traditional poems, improvised songs and prayers, blending Victorian English with contemporary Indianness to an audience comprising emotional, misty-eyed parents.

Visitors are greeted with the sights and sounds of nature as they enter the gate, letting the sounds of music guide them to the venue of the singing fiesta. The backdrop done by the teachers helps them to associate the concepts introduced in the songs.

Every year new songs are introduced and class activities are altered to enable students use music, dance, rhythm and movement as an aid to the learning process. Curtains are unveiled at the musical morning with the “Pussy Cat”. “Apne Chote haath” helps them learn about the different parts of the body and the functions they perform in a language which they identify with. “In and out of the window”,” Fuzzy fuzzy caterpillar”,” Ate a peanut”,” Don’t bother me”,” I am a clown” and “Everybody says” are simple poems with uncomplicated lyrics touching upon routine matters of daily existence.

Mrs Aditi Dua, wife of Mr HK Dua, presided over the informal function. She congratulated parents for sending their children to “an oasis, a place where joyful learning was quietly taking place.”

According to the Director of the school, Mr Atul Khanna, “our musical weeks have a freshness and novelty, because every year, the children are different. On our part we try to ensure that music be the catalyst via which the students learn new things, increase their vocabulary, better their pronunciation and most importantly, weave in moral science messages in a playful interactive way.”

Panchkula, September 20
The kidnapping and murder of industrialist Rajan Bhuchar would have remained untraced had it not been for the prompt action by the police. Within two hours of being informed of the kidnapping, and engaging the accused in conversation for over 15 minutes while he made a call demanding ransom of Rs 25 lakh, a police team traced and prime accused Mohinder Singh to the PCO from where he was making the call.

The police was informed of the kidnapping only around 9.30 am yesterday. Rajan Bhuchar had reportedly gone to a factory in Industrial Area on September 18 and had later gone missing. The victim’s father, Mr Joginder Pal Bhuchar, received three calls from the kidnappers on the evening of September 18 at his residence. Since a caller’s ID was installed at the phone, they continued to trace the accused on their own. They found that the calls were made from different PCO’s in Baltana and Zirakpur. The Bhuchars negotiated the ransom amount with the kidnappers and agreed to pay them Rs 10 lakh.

The next day the Bhuchars approached the police for help as they suspected the hand of a former domestic help in the kidnapping. This servant had murdered the mother of Rajan Bhuchar 14 years ago at their residence and decamped with cash and jewellery. The servant was later arrested and sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. SP Mamta Singh swung into action and four special teams were formed. While one team each was sent to the Bhuchars house and telephone exchange, two teams were despatched to the PCOs in Zirakpur from where the calls were made.

Accused Mohinder Singh, a factory employee, made a fourth call for ransom at around 11 am yesterday, which was attended by Sub-Inspector Gulab Singh who pretended to be a member of the victim’s family. He engaged the accused in a conversation for about 15 minutes, which helped another police team at the telephone exchange to trace the call to a PCO near the Zirakpur naka. A third team led by DSP Deshbandhu and Sub-Inspector Varinder, which was stationed at Zirakpur, rushed to the PCO and nabbed Mohinder, while he was paying the bill for the call.

“He confessed to abducting Rajan with the help of Bhoj Bahadur and Tej Bahadur. Initially, he alleged that the owners of the factory were involved in the crime, and he was to get only Rs 1 lakh while Rs 50,000 each was to be given to the two watchmen. Later, he told the police that he was the mastermind and the owners had no role. We are still investigating this aspect,” says SP Mamta Singh.

The police says that Mohinder Singh had entered into a business partnership with Rajan recently and had been planning to kidnap him for ransom. They were aware that Bhuchars had sold off their factory at Chandigarh for Rs 1.65 crore. “The three accused have confessed that when Rajan reached the factory, Bhoj Bahadur and Tej Bahadur pounced on him from behind and threw him on the floor. Mohinder strangulated him with a rope. They then bundled him in his Esteem, and drove towards Nahan. They dumped his body at a secluded spot,” says the SP.

Meanwhile, the victim’s body was brought from Nahan after a post-mortem and was cremated in the evening. He is survived by his father, four-year-old son and wife who is expecting their second child.