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IAF copter makes emergency landing
BJP protest against govt policies
Bodies of kidnapped
youths found
16 hardened criminals killed
in encounters
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Developments in IT application highlighted
Cyber crime cell may be functional next month
Rajesh Pilot’s statue unveiled
Tips on vegetable production
Looting case solved, three held
Exhibition on role of freedom fighters
Held for threatening woman magistrate
Man kills wife, commits suicide
Brick-kiln licence renewal
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IAF copter makes emergency landing
Shahbad, February 10 The MI-17 helicopter of the IAF landed on the dry bed of the Markanda near Damli village, located on the Kurukshetra-Ambala border, at about 4.30 p.m. Besides two helicopter pilots, there were 24 other IAF personnel, including a Wing Commander onboard the chopper, when it was forced to make the landing. While the IAF officials claimed that nobody was injured in the incident, villagers stated that three Air Force personnel had suffered some injuries. The extent of damage to the helicopter was being assessed by the IAF. The helicopter is said to have taken off on a “routine sortie” from the Halwara airbase in Punjab and it was headed towards the Sarsawa airbase in Uttar Pradesh when the pilot landed the helicopter on the river bed. A “technical fault” was being cited as a probable behind the mishap. About half an hour after the MI-17 helicopter made the landing, another helicopter was rushed to the spot as part of the rescue mission. It picked up the IAF personnel and their baggage. It left the spot after it had taken the crew and personnel of the affected helicopter onboard. A resident of Damli village said he saw the helicopter flying away and then suddenly the helicopter turned back. It then came towards Markanda river. Thereafter, when it was just above the river bed, the engine stopped and the helicopter landed with a thud on the river bed, Mr Balwinder Singh, an eyewitness said. Another eyewitness, Mr Ajit Singh, claimed that due to the emergency landing, three IAF personnel were injured. “Two persons had injured shoulders, while the third had injury on his wrist. I offered to take them to Civil Hospital but they declined the offer,” he said. Mr Ram Nath, a resident of Damli village, said when the helicopter turned back, he saw two-three bags being dropped from the aircraft. “I immediately sensed that something was wrong. Then I saw the helicopter make an emergency landing. There was a lot of dust when the helicopter landed on the river bed,” he said. Eyewitnesses opined that the landing on the dry river bed was a wise decision. They stated that there were high-tension power lines located nearby, and if the helicopter had continued on its flight path, a major accident could have taken place. Meanwhile, the helicopter’s landing on the river bed created a small crater. The front wheels of the copter were completely embedded in the river bed. Its large rotors were barely a few feet above the river bed. The cockpit was later covered with tarpaulin sheets. The police personnel had a tough time keeping the onlookers at bay. |
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BJP protest against govt policies
Sonepat, February 10 Carrying placards and raising anti-government slogans, they marched through the main bazars of the city and reached the mini-secretariat where they held a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. A rally was also held and the speakers criticised the Central and the state governments for their failure on all fronts. They alleged that the prices of wheat and flour as well as other essential commodities had been rising sharply and this had led to widespread resentment among the people. Expressing concern over the power and water crisis, the BJP leaders blamed the state government for this as it had failed to take steps to overcome the crisis. They said the farmers were the worst-hit as their crops had started withering. Similarly the industrial production had come down considerably and the workers had been laid off in thousands. Later, the BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to the district authorities urging the government to take immediate and effective steps to check the price-rise and ensure the regular supply of power and water to the urban and agricultural sectors. |
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Bodies of kidnapped
youths found
Sonepat, February 10
The body of Mukesh bore bullet injuries whereas the body of Kuldeep was tied with a cloth. It is alleged that the two wee beaten up and taken to some unknown destination by the owners. It is further alleged that the SHO Kharkhauda police station Sahib Singh arrived on the spot but he failed to take any action against the alleged assailants and free them from their clutches. Thereafter the SHO was sent to the Police Lines by the Superintendent of Police, Mr Rajinder Singh, when he received public complaints in this regard. The sources said the residents heard the cries of the youths and the sound of firing from the closed shop but they could not do anything as the shutters were down. Thereafter the parents lodged a complaint with the Murthal police on January 31 but the police failed to achieve any breakthrough in the case. The parents received information from Sadar police station, Rohtak, on January 7 about the recovery of the bodies from the feeder and the bodies were identified by them. The parents alleged that the police did not take action against the alleged assailants on the ground that the youths had a criminal record. |
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16 hardened criminals killed
in encounters
Chandigarh, February 10 The cases against these criminals were mostly of murder, dacoity, robbery and kidnapping. The elimination of these criminals has had a deterrent effect on ransom seekers. That is not to say that the rich in the interior of the state have altogether stopped receiving ransom calls. But the number has gone down. The force not only eliminated known criminals but also tried to sharpen its investigating skills, resulting in the solving of several blind murder cases. The Ambala police led the tally by solving seven blind murder cases, followed by six in Faridabad district. The police of Hisar, Gurgaon and Jhajjar, too, succeeded in unveiling the mystery behind three blind murders in each district. During its campaign against illegal weapons, the police succeeded in recovering 1,000 pistols, 33 revolvers and 2,199 cartridges. Among serious fraud cases solved by the Haryana police was the unearthing of an illegal ISD telephone exchange operating in Hisar and the arrest of a gang which sold large quantities of a yellow metal passing it off as gold in Mewat. The six-member gang operating the illegal telephone exchange had caused a loss of about Rs 45 lakh to Bharat Sanchar Nigam. In its drive against corruption, 49 cases were registered under the Prevention of Corruption
Act(PCA). Of these 10 cases were against policemen, including five SHOs. The drive was not against junior officials alone. Even a senior officer of the rank of Inspector-General was put in the dock when his name appeared in an FIR registered under the PCA. Now the state Vigilance Bureau is conducting further investigations. The state police is being prepared for facing emerging challenges due to technological advances. A Crime Intelligence Unit has been set up to build up a sharable database of criminal gangs. It will prepare a database of vehicle thefts, prostitution rackets, trafficking in women and children, contract killings, counterfeit currency, trade in human organs, extortion, kidnapping and cricket betting. The process of setting up two battalions of the State Disaster Management Force is already on. |
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Developments in IT application highlighted
Yamunanagar, February 10 This was stated by Prof K.K. Aggarwal, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, while inaugurating an AICTE-sponsored seminar on “Information and communication technology — recent advances and applications” at the JMIT, Radaur, near here, yesterday. Prof Aggarwal pointed out that the success in areas like tele-education and tele-health were perceptible across the globe. Whereas tele-education helped students in far-flung areas, tele-health could be of great help for the people who did not have access to specialists. For all this to happen, he said a creative mind was a pre-requisite and constant efforts had to be made as to what better applications could be thought of and how the ICT could translate its ideas into meaningful packages. Dr Pawan Kapur, Director, CSIO, Chandigarh, in his keynote address highlighted the phenomenal advancement in the area of the IT and entrepreneurship development. He said the next round of development would be more intense in the wake of integration of other faculties like medicine, bio-technology, agriculture, irrigation and other engineering branches. In his presidential remarks Dr K.L. Johar, former Vice-Chancellor, GJU, Hisar, made a plea for the development of the ICT in order that the country could be spared of huge costs it had to bear on the transfer of technology from developed countries. Prof H.P. Sinha, Mullana, Prof Shakti Kumar, HEC, Jagadhri, Dr Arun Mehta of the host institute, Ms Sudesh Rani and Mr Chander Kant, both of Kurukshetra University, presented their papers. Earlier, Dr S.C. Gupta, Principal of the institute, welcomed the guests. |
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Cyber crime cell may be functional next month
Chandigarh, February 10 The state government got the first wake-up call to the necessity of setting up such a cell when a foreign journalist bribed an Indian employee of a Gurgaon-based call centre and obtained the account details of a client of an international bank. Not many instances of cyber crime have come to light since the sting operation by the journalist. But the reality may be different. The representative of the IT Department disclosed at the meeting yesterday that many a time reports of cyber crimes were not being lodged because the victims were not sure whether the police had a system in place to tackle this new breed of criminals. It was decided at the meeting that the cyber crime cell would be based in Gurgaon. The IT industry, including international call centres, has a huge presence in the city and it is considered the ideal location for the cell. A case can be registered by the affected person at the local police station. The police station will then forward the case to the cell in Gurgaon. The cell will be manned by two DSPs, four sub-inspectors, eight constables and 16 constables. Inspectors were not made part of the cell. It was feared that in the case of inclusion of inspectors, the DSPs would depute them instead of taking up the investigations themselves. The Haryana IT Act lays down that police officers of the rank of DSP or above will be the investigating officers for cyber crimes. The state government wants to ensure that this part of the Act is properly implemented. The ADGP (Crime) will be in charge of the cell and choose the two DSPs for it. The ADGP will select such officers for the job who are familiar with computers and have studied engineering or computers or physics or a related subject. The other members of the team will also be at least science graduates. The state government also intends arranging training for its cyber crime cell personnel to make it a crack force. The training may be given in Maharashtra where the state government runs a training course for its own personnel. NASSCOM, an outfit of the Ministry of Communications and IT, also runs a training course for tackling cyber crimes. Haryana will explore the possibilities of getting its personnel trained at NASSCOM as well. It was also decided at the meeting to make a provision for outsourcing experts for specific investigations. NASSCOM will be asked to provide a panel of experts for this purpose. The state government will pay a maximum of Rs 25,000 per case to an expert thus hired. The cell will also be provided with sophisticated equipment necessary for investigating cyber crimes. The list of equipment, costing about Rs 90 lakh, was approved at the meeting and forwarded to the National Informatics Centre for vetting. |
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Rajesh Pilot’s statue unveiled
Rewari, February 10 The gathering for the rally had been mobilised by Ms Rama Pilot, wife of late Rajesh Pilot as well as by members of the Rajesh Pilot Memorial Committee
(RPMC), headed by Mr Hanuman Singh Chhavari. A life-size statue of Rajesh Pilot, installed by the RPMC at the chowk, was unveiled by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was the chief guest of the function. The Chief Minister asserted that Pilot, who was born in a poor farmer’s family, had risen to spectacular heights in politics and popularity during a brief span of just two decades by dint of sheer diligence and devotion. Recalling how successfully he had thwarted the
then state government’s designs to set up a Disneyland over the land of hapless farmers in the Sohna, Mr Hooda claimed that he had special affection for Haryana. The rally was also addressed among others by Ms Rama Pilot, Sachin Pilot, Union Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, two Haryana ministers Randeep Singh Surjewala and Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav, the Himachal Pradesh Excise and Taxation Minister Rangeela Ram Rao, two Congress MPs, Madhur Gaur (Andhra Pradesh) and Dr Karan Singh (Rajasthan). |
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Tips on vegetable production
Hisar, February 10 The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Dr Amit Aggarwal, said the monthly agricultural seminar had been organised to get some feedback from the progressive farmers and provide them the latest information on the scientific production of vegetables. The Hisar Divisional Commissioner, Mr R.R. Fuliya, was the chief guest. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Kumar Gupta, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Arshinder Singh Chawla, and the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Pankaj Aggarwal, were also present. The seminar was jointly organised by the local market committee and the Departments of Agriculture and Horticulture. After a series of lectures on the proper cultivation and post-sowing care of cucurbit vegetables and carrot, a question-answer session was organised in which agricultural experts replied to the queries put forward by farmers. Copies of a booklet on the latest advances in cucurbit vegetable production published by the state Agricultural Marketing Board were distributed among the farmers attending the seminar. A number of farmers were made members of the centre at a nominal fee. Cheques of amounts ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000 were also given to 25 victims of agriculture-related mishaps. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, who is also the acting chairman of the market committee, disclosed that a proposal to develop a “kisan mandi” where the farmers could directly sell vegetables and fruits had been sent to the higher authorities. |
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Looting case solved, three held
Hisar, February 10 They were today produced in a local court, which remanded them in police custody for five days. A looting case involving Rs 1.28 lakh had been registered under Section 392 at the Adampur police station on the complaint of Prem Kumar Bansal of Model Town in Mandi Adampur. The complainant had alleged that he, along with his servant Baasu, was returning home from factory on January 4, 2005. Near their home, three motor cycle-borne youths attacked them and fled after snatching the bag containing the cash. The case had remained untraced for quite some time. On a tip-off, the CIA staff of the district police yesterday arrested the youths from near Dhaani Sadalpur yesterday. The police is hopeful of recovering the cash. |
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Exhibition on role of freedom fighters
Ambala, February 10 Dr U.V. Singh, Head, Department of History, said freedom
fighters from Ambala played a major role in efforts to break free from the shackles of the British rule. “We have highlighted the role played by different freedom fighters in various freedom movements,” he said. He said the exhibition had been put up by students of history after research. “This exhibition throws fresh light on different activities during the freedom struggle in Ambala,” he said. He said besides the freedom fighters from Ambala, the exhibition marked the 75th anniversary of the Dandi Yatra. Documents on the yatra were provided by the Haryana Archives Department who in turn had got the same from the National Archives of India, New Delhi. The freedom fighters from Ambala, on whom information was provided at the exhibition, were Lala Murlidhar, Lala Duni Chand Ambalvi, Behan Vidyawati, Baba Prithvi Singh, Thakur Ratan Singh and Sadhu Ram Saini. |
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Held for threatening woman magistrate
Sonepat, February 10 A police party carried out a surprise raid at Sampla town and arrested the youth last night. The action followed the lodging of a complaint by the woman magistrate alleging that she was asked on the mobile phone to give Rs 5 lakh and threatened with dire consequences if she failed to give the money. Naveen reportedly belonged to Mahajan mohalla of Sampla town. On receiving the complaint, the police swung into action and arrested the suspect in the case. Efforts were on to arrest another suspect who had also been inadvertently given the same phone number by the mobile company concerned. |
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Man kills wife, commits suicide
Fatehabad, February 10 After perpetrating the crime, he fled and then reportedly jumped before a running train early yesterday. The neighbours came to know of the incident in the morning yesterday and rushed the boy to hospital, where he was still in serious condition.
— UNI |
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Brick-kiln licence renewal
Chandigarh, February 10 This was decided at a meeting between representatives of the Association of State Brick-kiln Owners and the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Chander Mohan, here today. It was decided that the association members would hold a separate meeting with officers of the department concerned to review the royalty being paid by brick-kiln owners. |
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H.S. Anand
Chandigarh, February 10 |
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