Ludhiana, April 2
Upset over a dispute with his wife over his alleged illicit relationship with another woman, a homoeopathic doctor allegedly poisoned his three children and later consumed the same substance at Aman Nagar behind Greenland Public School this morning.

The doctor allegedly mixed poison in the milk served to the children and drank it himself too. His wife was not living with him for the past one month and was in her maternal house at Thrike village.

The doctor, S.S. Bains, and his three children would not have survived if his neighbours and the Salem Tabri police had not shown alacrity in shifting them to different city hospitals in the nick of time. All four were unconscious till this evening but were declared out of danger by doctors.

The children included two daughters — Amarveerta (14) and Jyoti (11) — and son Taranjot (10). While the girls and the doctor were under treatment at the Civil Hospital, the son was hospitalised at the DMCH.

The doctor’s statement will be recorded once he gains consciousness. However, his wife Rajbir Kaur told mediapersons that her husband wanted to kill the children and had himself taken a small quantity of the poison and then came out of the house.

She claimed that his motive was to clear the children from his way and marry his paramour. She said the man knew he would be saved if he came out of his house, but made sure that he bolted the doors from outside and locked the children in.

Vamninder Singh, a tenant of the homoeopathic doctor, told the Salem Tabri police that he saw him falling down the stairs in an unconscious state at about 6 am today. He called a doctor, who told them to call the police as Bains seemed to have taken some poisonous substance.

The Salem Tabri police called an ambulance and meanwhile discovered that the three children were lying unconscious inside the house. While the boy was lying on the floor, the girls were on the bed.

Besides the ambulance, a vehicle of the National Highway patrolling staff was also called, which rushed them to the Civil Hospital. The condition of the boy, Taranjot, was serious and he was referred to the DMCH.

Rajbir Kaur was called by neighbours. Giving details about the marital dispute, she said she had caught her husband with another woman and had walked out of his life with children. However, her husband became very apologetic later on. He managed to bring the children back, convincing her that their next academic session was beginning.

She said she sent the children warning him that she would return only if he ended his illicit relationship. maintained that he had tried to murder the children.

The Salem Tabri police said it was waiting for the statements of the homoeopathic doctor and the children. Sources said the police could take action on the allegations levelled by Rajbir Kaur only after she lodged a formal complaint with the police in this regard.

Ludhiana, April 2
With the approaching of the April 8 deadline given by the high court to the local municipal corporation to submit status report on a list of illegal structures, the civic body started its demolition drive and razed some encroachments on the GT Road here today.

Led by Ms Kamaljit Kaur, Assistant Town Planner, a demolition squad pulled down many makeshift structures on the MC land opposite the petrol station on the GT Road near Chand Cinema. A JCB machine was used in the entire operation and a heavy police force was accompanying the team.

There were, however, no protests by the encroachers who were seen silently picking up their goods and shifting them to another shelter nearby. The team took around an hour to demolish the encroachments. Sources said the MC would be demolishing concrete structures from Monday onwards.

Ms Kamaljit Kaur said the demolitions were being carried out under the first phase of anti-encroachment drive.

The anti-encroachment drive took the centrestage once again following the direction of the high court to the MC to submit a report on the action taken against 6,000 encroachers, whose list was submitted by the local civic body two years ago. The case comes up for hearing on April 8.

The high court directive followed an objection raised by Mr Satpal Puri, a sacked councillor from MC House, whose ‘illegal’ shops were demolished by the MC a few days ago. He had accused the MC of ‘‘acting partially’’ against him and not doing anything against other defaulters.

The MC had issued fresh notices to 6000 identified encroachers following the directive a week ago. The encroachers, were asked to pull down encroachments within seven days otherwise the MC was to launch a demolition drive against them.

Following the directive, the MC is faced with a daunting task of clearing the encroachments within a fortnight. The problem is compounded by the fact that the MC faced a lot of political interference while initiating any such drive.

The high court had in December 2003 directed the MC to clear some 9,000 encroachments on public roads, streets, parks and pavements in the residential and commercial areas in two months. The MC had submitted a list of 9154 identified encroachments on civic and government land. However, only 6,000 fell within the municipal limits. 

Ludhiana, April 2
Three persons including a woman riding on two scooters were injured in a freak accident when a dried up Euclyptus tree fell on them near Amaltas hotel on Ludhiana-Jalandhar road today afternoon.

Mr Jaswinder Singh, in charge, National Highway Patrolling staff rushed the injured to a city hospital. He said the injured were identified as Kashmir Singh and his wife Bhagwan Kaur who lived near Dholewal chowk and were riding on one scooter. The third injured was Jaswant Singh who was riding on another scooter.

The tree fell on the vehicles causing them serious injuries.

With the outward mobility of Indian fiction writers in English, especially in the last two and a half decades, the zone has expanded the most in scope and effect and the focus remains on inter-cultural friendship and social relations. This division of cultural loyalties has altered their conceptions of what constitutes their Indianness vis-a-vis the East-West encounter.

What are your views on Indian diaspora writers?

The Indian diaspora writers do not belong to a monolithic hegemonic construct, but continue to occupy a remarkable spectrum of identities and backgrounds in relation to religion and zone of marriage. They leave their individual mark in different shades of inter-racial and inter-cultural social-sexual relations.

How are Indian writers different from western writers?

Nowadays the East-West boundaries have disappeared. India is all set to meet the threat of globalisation. One cannot label writers. We label them as Indian or English for our own convenience, especially in the course of teaching. We claim Jumpa Lahiri to be our own daughter (being a Bengali) but her work reflects creative merger of East-West cultures, languages, mindset, positive and negative experiences, etc.

— Shivani Bhakoo

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 2
Residents of a colony at local Gaushala Road today protested against the management of Punjab and Sindh Bank for allegedly supporting a swindler who had duped the residents by selling property worth millions that had already been mortgaged with the bank.

But the management denied the charges and said that it had forwarded the representation received from the seller of the plots to the central office of the bank for consideration. Meanwhile, the auction of the said property that was scheduled to take place today, could not be held as no bidder came forward.

Led by councillors, Mr Jatinder Bhola, Mr Sham Sunder and Mr Jagwant Singh Jaggi, the owners of over 20 plots protested against the bank’s move to reportedly save Mr Satish Kumar Arora and Satyawati Arora who had duped them by selling property that had been mortgaged with the local branch of the bank.

Most of the complainants, including owners of Kennedy Public School, Krishan Singh and Sons, Raja Mill Store, Durga Timber Store, S K Boring and Sanitary and a building housing a telephone tower, had purchased plots from the accused around 10 years ago and had spent lakhs on constructing houses.

The protestors pointed out that the bank authorities had not raised any objection at the time of execution of the sale deed of any of the properties. There was no lien marked in the records of the revenue department, hence, the deeds were registered without any hindrance. They also pointed out that the bank had made an advance to the owner of the mill on the basis of an equitable mortgage whereas the town was not notified for such mortgage.

Some of the plots were reportedly resold to the present owners and most of them had constructed buildings after getting the construction plan approved by the civic body authorities. The buildings housed shops, godowns, schools and a tower of a mobile telephone company.

Ms Raman Sharma, Principal of Kennedy Public High School claimed that she had got sale deed registered after receiving orders from a court at Malerkotla. The proceeds for the same were deposited in the form a draft issued by the same branch of the bank.

The affected residents said, “We had purchased our plots after confirming that there was no lien on the land from the revenue records.” They argued that bank should have approached the revenue authorities before seeking the help of the recovery tribunal. “How can we approach each and every financial organisation to confirm whether the land was mortgaged with them or not?” they asked.

While addressing the protesters Mr Tejinder Singh, Assistant General Manager of the bank, who accompanied the auctioneer deputed by Debit Recovery Tribunal said that Mr Satish Arora had sought some relaxation from the bank. “We have forwarded his representation to the central office for necessary action at their end,” claimed Mr Singh. He, however, declined to comment on the lapse on the part of bank officials in connection with registration of a lien in the revenue records.

Meanwhile, Mr Vijay Kaushal, court auctioneer, said that the auction could not be held as no bidder came forward today.

Though the residents had brought the matter into the notice of the police no action had been initiated against Mr Arora or the bank authorities that had allegedly supported him.

Ludhiana, April 2
Local Congress leaders have rallied behind Chief Minister Amarinder Singh defending him against estranged leader and former Member of Parliament Jagmeet Brar.

A number of party leaders led by Mayor Nahar Singh Gill have sent a letter to the Congress high command seeking action against Mr Brar.

They alleged that Mr Brar was playing into the hands of the Opposition and was harming the image of the party at a time when the Chief Minister had led the party to a commanding position.

They pointed out that the Chief Minister had led the party to three consecutive successes in byelections. Besides, he had also been instrumental in bringing people of the two parts of Punjab closer.

They claimed that Amarinder Singh had also facilitated the release of hundreds of Indians who were languishing in Pakistani prisons by seeking an audience with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Brar, they alleged, had tried to sabotage the rising graph of popularity of the Chief Minister and the party. They said Mr Brar would continue to harm the party’s interests and asked the high command to take action against him.

A delegation of Congress leaders led by Mr Gill would meet Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also in charge of Punjab affairs of the party, in Delhi on Monday to seek action against Mr Brar.

They maintained that the Chief Minister had left no issue for the Opposition to go to the people. “But Mr Brar was trying to bail out the Opposition by creating confusion within the party,” the leaders alleged.

They ridiculed the allegations of Mr Brar about the “shady” auction of liquor vends in the state. They claimed that the auctions had been held in “most transparent” manner and nobody could question the integrity of the Chief Minister on this account.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 2
The police has nabbed kingpin of a gang of burglars and recovered goods stolen from nearby towns and villages. He was also wanted in a theft case registered at local police station also.

Mr Mukand Singh Mahli, Deputy Superintendent of Police, at Malerkotla said Thulla Ram resident of local town was nabbed by a police party led by Mr Harinder Singh SHO at a naka. He was coming to local town to dispose of a new motorcycle that was stolen from district Ludhiana. The police recovered two coloured TVs, five mobiles, 2 CD players, 5 bicycles, some watches and a mixer.

Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that accused had been active in the area of Ludhiana city and surrounding towns. To avoid arrest by police he used to shift his rented residence frequently.

Referring to his modus operandi Mr Mahli called upon the residents to furnish complete addresses of their tenants so that police could verify their character. 

Ludhiana, April 2
A person was caught by a PCR team from near Vishwakarma chowk after the accused allegedly had run away from the custody in a police post today late afternoon. The police found a chain attached to the leg of the accused.

Inspector Sadhu Singh, of PCR squad said they were investigating the case.