Jalandhar, May 17
A 12-year-old girl died after she, along with three of her siblings, tried to allegedly end their lives on the railway tracks near Kang Kalan village here on Monday.

While three siblings were saved by the villagers, Simranjit Kaur was crushed under the Dhanbad Express. The traumatised siblings were barely able to speak.

Ironically, the GRP has registered the case as that of accidental death under Section 174.

The family, living in abject poverty, belongs to Danewal village in the Shahkot tehsil.

It had lost all means of livelihood due to two natural calamities.

President of the Pendu Mazdoor Union Tarsem Peter has asked the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to punish all those who did not reach out to help the family.

The father of the children, Gulzar Singh, a Dalit farmer, said floods in the Satluj had washed away his seven acres of land.

Then on May 9, the room in which the family was staying near a brick kiln lost its roof in a storm.

The family now has five children— Nirmaljit Kaur (24), Vikram (22), Sarbjit Kaur (20), Kamaljit Kaur (15) and Karamjit (9).

After the family’s land was washed away, the state government, as rehabilitation, gave vocational training in a tannery to two of the children, Nirmaljit Kaur and Sarbjit Kaur.

But the father said his children were unable to get a bank loan in the absence of a guarantor. Gulzar Singh said he started working as a labourer, going from place to another in search of work, while his wife came to the city to work as a domestic help.

Vikram left his plus one studies to work with his siblings. Sarbjit, Kamaljit Kaur, Simran and Karamjit left school to work at brick klin on the outskirts of the village. The eldest daughter worked as a technician.

Nirmal and Vikram tried to ensure that his younger siblings went back to school. Then the storm ripped their courage apart.

The three siblings, in their statement to the police, have denied any fear of being booked by the police for attempting suicide.

Tarsem Peter said that his union would seek rehabilitation of the family.

He added that he has also sent an appeal to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission and the district administration for necessary action.

He blamed the government for driving the family to the point of suicide.

Jalandhar, May 17
The police today claimed to have arrested from Bihar the main accused in the murder of two migrant labourers here on May 3.

The accused, Gangeshwar alias Ganga Manjhi, is a resident of Ragoli in Madhubani district.

He was brought to Jalandhar on May 13 on a transit remand.

The murder came to light after bodies of two farmhands Bindeshwar Ram and Raj Kishore Paswan were discovered from the fields of one Mangat Singh in Dhaleta village. The victims were residents of Massa village in Darbhanga district. The face of one of the victims was found disfigured, and the killer had also left behind two voter identity cards in order to mislead the police, SSP Ishwar Singh said. The victims had also consumed too much alcohol, he added.

The SSP said the roots of the crime go back to Bihar. Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused, Gangeshwar, was living with his in-laws in village Massa to which both the victims also belonged.

Gangeshwar allegedly developed illicit relations with Bindeshwar’s daughter for which he was thrashed. Later the matter was patched up, but Gangeshwar nursed a grudge against Bindeshwar.

Raj Kishore Paswan, a contractor labourer working in Dhaleta, brought Gangeshwar and Bindeshwar to work with him. Gangeshwar also used to cook meals for Raj Kishore and Bindeshwar.

Gangeshwar knew that Raj Kishore carried large amounts of cash with him and arranged a drinking bout on the night of the incident.

After the two were stone-drunk, Gangeshwar allegedly killed them with a farm equipment.

Kapurthala, May 17
Sixtythree persons including a baba were arrested but later bailed out after tension resurfaced over the dispute regarding the properties of Sri Sidh Yodhanath Dera.

Baba Balbir Nath, who claimed to be the successor of Mahant Brahaspati Nath, the former head of the dera, ploughed the agricultural land of dera with the help of his followers, here today.

According to information, Baba Balbir Nath with his followers reached the spot with five tractors and sharp edged weapons and ploughed the 117 kanal land. The dera possesses 350 kanals of land.

A police team led by City Police Station SHO Gurmej Singh reached the spot and arrested Baba Balbir Nath and his 62 followers on the complaint of Mahant Kailash Nath, the other claimant of the dera’s property.

Mahant Kailash Nath and Baba Balbir Nath were at loggerheads after the demise of Mahant Brahaspati Nath on November 3 last year.

During the “kirya” ceremony of Mahant Brahaspati Nath on November 16, 2005, heated exchanges were witnessed between the two mahants and their followers.

Baba Balbir Nath was claiming that Mahant Brahaspati Nath had nominated him as the mahant of the dera at the time of his demise, while Mahant Kailash Nath claimed that Mahant Brahaspati Nath nominated him as successor of the dera through a will.

Jakhopur (Lohian), May 17
Dr Amaanullah Khan, a renowned US physician, returned to his ancestral village of Jakhopur after a gap of 56 years. It was an emotional homecoming.

In 1945, his family had shifted to Kasoor, now in Pakistan, after his father was transferred to the Health Department there. All the residents of this tiny hamlet of 700 people welcomed the 66-year-old doctor.

Dr Khan said he grew hearing stories of the village from his father. “I sent an email to a Punjabi daily in Jalandhar seek its help in locating the village.” Soon a journalist from Kapurthala went there and informed him about the village, he added.

The residents first took him to the village gurdwara. He also shared memories with Chaudhary Sewa Ram, an octogenarian, whom his father, Ahmad Ali Khan, and uncles, Sultan and Abdul Karim, knew.

Dr Khan is a leading private practice physician in the field of hematology, oncology, and clinical immunology at Dallas, Texas. Dr Khan was nominated a member of US President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He has edited four books and holds a patent in Momoclonal Antibodies to Novel Melanoma-Associated Antigens.