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Bheora’s accomplice arrested from city
SAD (B) woos Dalits in Doaba
The woman who took on JIT
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Bitta accuses police officer of
Anurag Verma new Jalandhar DC
Search on for missing child
Villagers catch sambar
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Bheora’s accomplice arrested from city
Jalandhar, April 6 The accused, Hardeep Singh, was arrested from the Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Nagar by a police team led by division number 8 Sub-Inspector Sukha Singh. The SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, said the accused had been sent to a six-day police remand. He added that the police also recovered two pistols from the possession of the accused. Hardeep Singh has been booked under the Arms Act and for harbouring terrorists. According to sources in the Police Department, the accused had confessed that the Babbar Khalsa terrorists, who had escaped from the Burail Jail in Chandigarh, used to stay with him, sometimes for months at a stretch. Sub-Inspector Sukha Singh claimed Hardeep Singh, a father of a boy and a girl, snubbed protests coming from his wife, Balwinder Kaur, in this regard. Meanwhile, the police is on the look out for Hardeep Singh’s accomplice, a granthi, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, belonging to Lamma Pind and presently a resident of New Santokhpura. Bhinda is the granthi of a Gurdwara in Lamma Pind and reportedly also used to give shelter to the terrorists. Hardeep Singh was arrested after Bheora confessed to the police that the he used to get Hawala funds through the accused in Jalandhar. Hardeep Singh also used to supply money to the terrorists that came from their sympathisers abroad. The police is also investigating the role of a money exchange through which funds were sent to the terrorists. Sources said the role of Bhinda was to find out sympathisers for the terrorists through the speeches he delivered at various places.
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SAD (B) woos Dalits in Doaba
Jalandhar, April 6 It is perhaps for the first time during the past about one decade that both Mr Parkash Singh Badal and his son, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, have been making it a point to constantly remain in touch with the people of Doaba region. This is much unlike in the past when the SAD was widely known as a “Malwa-centric” party and when hush-hush talks used to do rounds within party’s Doaba-based leadership that the region (Doaba) was being “ignored” by the top SAD leadership. The growing interest of the Badals in Doaba region is crystal clear from the fact that the SAD organised three major rallies at Kartarpur, Nadala and Jalandhar within a short span of about one month. Its top leaders, including the Badals, have been visiting Doaba region off and on. Of course, the purpose of their visits was to apparently keep their flock together and, simultaneously, to strengthen the party’s base among the Dalits and employees. On the other hand, the Congress organised two rallies at Jalandhar and Nakodar during this time and it was the Nakodar event, designed by senior Congress leader Amarjit Samra, which was dubbed as a “grand success”. One of the two ways adopted by the SAD to garner the “support” of the Dalits was to establish a direct rapport with them on its own. The other was to do the same through the BSP, led by Ms Mayawati, by envisaging a poll alliance with the BSP. For having a direct communication channel with the Dalits, and at the same time to test the waters, the SAD had already held a “Dalit Chetna” rally at Kartarpur on March 3 with the help of a former BSP leader Avinash Chander. The success of the rally, particularly in an area which was a traditional stronghold of the Congress, has not only brightened the spirits of the SAD leadership, particularly Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, but also it has equipped the party to hold any sort of future political bargain with the BSP. That the SAD was slowly drifting away from its earlier approach of banking only on the farmer class and that it was focusing more of its attention on the vast chunk of the employees in Doaba region was clear when it held an employee rally at Jalandhar on April 4 with the help of the Punjab Mulazam Front. “Our future strategy for Doaba region would revolve around the Dalits and employees since these two classes dominate the area. They can tilt the balance in our favour. We cannot do without them anymore,” observed a senior functionary of the SAD. The senior Akali leader and former Punjab Minister, Captain Kanwaljit Singh, has termed the employees as a “key” to any government, and Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal has already raised the issue of the RCF employees in a vigorous manner. During its “Dalit Chetna” rally, the SAD unfolded its multi-point agenda aimed at the “all-round welfare” of the Dalits, in case the party came to power. The newfound love of the SAD leadership for Doaba region of Punjab can be assessed from the fact that Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal has done two rounds of Mahilpur, a small township in Hoshiarpur district, within a short span of 45 days. While over 45 per cent population of Doaba region, comprising about 25 Assembly seats, belongs to the Dalit category, the number of employees in all four Doaba districts of Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala, is also huge. It was Doaba region (barring Jalandhar) of Punjab, where the Akalis had hardly suffered any anti-incumbency wave during the year 2002 Assembly elections. |
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The woman who took on JIT
Jalandhar, April 6 Ms Bhandari, a retired Block Primary Education Officer, said that she had never expected such a stern action against the JIT Chairman, Mr Tejinder Singh Bittu, for non-compliance of the orders of the forum. “I was harassed time and again. I pleaded before the authorities to do the needful, but they refused to budge. I had to lodge a complaint with the forum contending that I be issued an NOC since I had paid all installments as per the schedule”, she said.The case lingered on and on, as the JIT kept pleading for adjournments despite an order in the complainant’s favour. During the course of the proceedings, the JIT Chairman faced orders for personal summon on December 16 last year. He, however, did not turn up. But the retired lady officer did not receive the NOC till April 4 this year when Mr Bittu was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. “I’m happy. I have finally got the long-awaited certificate”, she said, taking the NOC out from her drawer and showing it. (The certificate mentions April 3 as the date of issuance.) But it was not a smooth ride for the retired government officer and her husband, Mr Vinod Vohra, who had served in the Indian Air Force as a navigator in Assam. “Perhaps, the booth is jinxed. We had to lodge the complaint thrice. We first lodged a complaint with the district forum on September 4, 2001, after we were asked to pay certain interests over initial installments for an alleged delay in payments. We refuted the claim. But unfortunately, we faced a dismissal on May 3, 2002,” the couple said showing a copy of the orders. The elderly couple, however, resolved not to end their fight. “We then lodged the same complaint in the state forum on June 20, 2002, and it’s still pending”, they said. A hearing in the case is scheduled for tomorrow, as the lawyers had yesterday filed an appeal in favour of Mr Bittu saying that the orders passed on April 4 be recalled, as the JIT Chairman had issued an NOC and was ready to tender an unconditional apology to the complainant.
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Bitta accuses police officer of
Kapurthala, April 6 Without disclosing the name of the officer, Mr Bitta alleged that the officer had been posted at Chandigarh since 1993 when he was SP (Intelligence). While talking to media persons here today, he alleged that the officer was hand in gloves with the militants. Releasing the copies of a correspondence with the Union Minister, Mr Shiv Raj Patil, in January, Mr Bitta claimed that he feared threat to the his life and that of his family members. |
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Anurag Verma new Jalandhar DC
Jalandhar, April 6 From the effective handling of over six issues with hues of casteism and communalism, such as the vexed Talhan problem and introducing transparency in the workings of the administration, Mr Ashok Gupta, the outgoing Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar, will not only be remembered for his diplomatic and yet a no-nonsense approach, but also for his reputation as an able administrator, who hardly buckled under political pressures. There have been a number of firsts to credit of Mr Gupta. His biggest one was the handling of communal and castetist turmoil, ranging from the ones that emanated from Talhan, Padhiana, Mahema and Noormehal. Then came the long-pending issue of shifting fire-cracker vends from the narrow Attari Bazaar to Burlton Park. He also transferred the control of the famed Sodal Temple to the district administration. Mr Gupta would also be remembered for his administrative and revenue reforms, which he introduced to the age-old system, by opening of a Suwidha Centre within the District Administrative Complex in 2005 and by giving a practical shape to the E-Patwari scheme. His firm administrative hand and an expertise in dealing with intricate issues related with public concern, resulted in the shifting of dairies out of the city limits to the Jamsher village-based dairy complex. “I am sad to leave this beautiful city. My only grudge is that we were planning to open our Virsa Vihar Culture Complex within a month, but I will not be able to attend the opening. My association with this city was emotional and it will remain that way in the future,” Mr Gupta said.
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Search on for missing child
Jalandhar, April 6 The police has registered a case of kidnapping against unidentified accused in this connection. The father of the child had received a call on his mobile phone on Wednesday evening, demanding Rs 30 lakh as ransom. The police traced that the call had been made from a grocery store on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh Highway. The SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, when contacted, said more than 12 suspects, all labourers from the area, had been rounded up for questioning. |
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Villagers catch sambar
Kapurthala, April 6 All the family members and the neighbours caught the animal after much efforts.“It was yesterday afternoon when I saw this gentle animal in my fields” Sukhdev Singh said, while putting fodder before the frightened animal. “I have sent information to the Wildlife Department as well as the police officials.” When contacted, the Wildlife officials said a vehicle to carry the sambar had been dispatched from Phillaur and the animal would be transported back to the forests of Takhani near Balachaur. |
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