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Notorious duo Raja, Neeru nabbed
Ludhiana, July 25 DGP Punjab S S Virk said 28-year-old Raja and 23-year-old Neeru had, apart from being involved in the bone-chilling murder of Rajesh, owner of Raghav Jewellers, also led the gang that killed jeweller Darshan Singh and his wife Paramjit Kaur in their house on the July 4 morning. The duo was also involved in the murder of Jaswant Rai in July 2005. Two accomplices of the accused, Sunny and Govind, both residents of Tajgung here, have also been arrested, the DGP said. The DGP said he had no hesitation in terming the couple as one of the craftiest young criminals of the state who had become expert in meticulous planning, precise operation and ruthless execution of crime. The duo had become so daring that they not only frequented the city after killing Raghav but also did recce for 15 days of the house of the deceasesd jeweller Darshan Singh before killing him and his wife. The duo kept on visiting the city. They were caught near Laddowal when Rajeev was leaving the city after attempting to murder an unnamed police informer yesterday in the Division No 3 police station area. The informer was helping the cops in tracing him down. Rajeev lived in the Tajganj area of the division no 3 police station, while Neeru lived in Haibowal. The police said Rajeev had been taking different jobs including that of a reporter for a local cable network. He was class XII pass and had an overwhelming desire to become rich. He allegedly took to crime to achieve that end. His long-time beloved Neeru with whom he had come in touch while covering an assignment for a cable tv network had allegedly exhorted him to strike big twice or thrice and then live peacefully. Rajeev, who had begun by lifting vehicles, was already indulging in snatching when he had met Neeru. Both decided to target jewellers for one big strike. They chose Rajeev of Raghav Jewellers. The DGP said Neeru took the job as a salesgirl with Rajeev and got close to him. She took him to a couple of isolated places and won his confidence. On the evening of May 12, she took him to a rented house in Jamalpur, where Raja and his four accomplices (already arrested last month) were waiting. They tortured him into submission. One of the accused even chopped off a slice of skin from his arm to terrorise him. He was forced to return to his shop in Ghumar Mandi late at night where the accused swept away all jewellery from the shop. He was later strangled and stabbed to death in his Santro car, found near Chamkaur Sahib on May 13. The post-mortem examination had found 24 blunt and sharp-edged injuries on his body. The duo pocketed several kilogram of gold but could not take much cash. They could not sell the gold also because of police vigil. The accused then snatched Rs 10,000 from a trader near Laddowal but case was not registered for some reason. Rajeev then remained in Jalandhar for a while, where he made some money in lottery business. However, they decided to commit another major robbery as they soon went out of cash. They chose Darshan Singh, owner of New Punjab Jewellers. Police sources revealed that the accused kept an eye on the house for 15 days. They took turns to sit near the shop of a tea vendor and noted each and every activity of the family of Darshan Singh. They decided to enter, disguising themselves as milk vendors. For this purpose, they started taking milk from the vendor who supplied milk to Darshan Singh. They got to know his name and address . On July 3, they posed as his relative and said they would come to supply milk tomorrow at 4 am instead of 6 am. They, however, changed the plan and entered at 3 am. They were already hiding in a vacant plot near the house and conveniently entered the house. Sources said Neeru was hiding in Ludhiana city only Rajeev and others, however, went straight to Jalandhar after the crime, as they had to run away from the house. Darshan Singh and Paramjit Kaur had put up a valiant fight despite their injuries, forcing them to run. Sources said Rajeev, alias Raja, had no fear of the police and even returned next morning to take Neeru back. The gang was now planning to strike at the hosue of the two jewellers in Jalandhar. They had already done the ground work, the police said. The police has recovered 2.5 kg of stolen gold from the Raghav Jewellers shop, apart from some gold stolen from of the house jeweller Darshan Singh. The police has also recovered a pistol purchased from Etawa , two country-made pistols, some live cartridges, a toy pistol and a dagger from their possession. The police had recovered the keys of the Honda Car of deceased Darshan Singh from the purse of Neeru.
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Aggrieved parents demand
exemplary punishment
Ludhiana, July 25 The opportunity came twice today when the parents met the accused duo Neeru and her paramour, Rajeev, alias Raja, at CIA headquarters and at a press conference here. On both occasions, Veena Sachdeva desired to kill them. ‘‘I want to peel off the skin from their body in the same manner they had done on the arms of my son Rajesh in order to force him to part with keys of the shop.’’ said the
infuriarated mother. Tears continued to flow from her bloodshot eyes. The body of Rajesh bore the tell-tale signs of being tortured into submission once he was enticed by the girl Neeru to come to a house in Jamalpur with her. Not only his mother but his brother, Ravi Sachdeva and uncle Baldev Sachdeva were kept at bay by the police with difficulty. Enraged at the sight of the accused couple, they exhorted the police to put the accused before a firing squad. ‘‘They had shown no mercy to my young son. We want exemplary punishment for them.’’ they later demanded from DGP Punjab S.S Virk. The DGP later told Ludhiana Tribune that the police would leave no stone unturned in convicting the accused in the cases. He said the police understands the sentiments of the
family members who had seen the brutal death of their son but no one could be allowed to take the law into their hands. |
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Duty evasion, rebate fraud of crores unearthed
Ludhiana, July 25 Addressing a news conference here today, Mr V.K. Garg, Commissioner, Central Excise, disclosed that on the spot verification of the defaulting readymade garment units revealed that 6 lakh kilograms of unprocessed yarn, valued at around Rs 5 crore, shown in the books of accounts was not found in the factory. Further, all seven circular knitting machines lying in the factory were non-functional, which was ample proof that the units were not in a position to manufacture knitted fabrics. That the exports and the sale of garments in the domestic market shown by these units were fishy, if any thing was evident from the huge wastage of 25 per cent claimed during the process of manufacturing fabrics. The wastage thus generated had been claimed to be worth 416 MT. According to Mr Garg, it was also found that during the last financial year the party had exported garments weighing a total of 434 MT, while for the manufacture of these garments the unit had shown defective knitted fabrics so generated and sold by them weighing to the tune of 1907 MT. The manufacturer claimed to have sold the purportedly defective fabrics at “The department has launched a thorough investigation into the purchase and further use of raw material, finished products so generated, as also the bogus claims of rebate lodged by these units over a period of past several years. The genuineness of the party, in so far as the manufacture of goods was concerned, as well as the claim of getting the fabrics made on job work basis, was also being probed”. No records of sale and purchase had been maintained by these units for the months of June and July 2006, which clearly showed that the owners had been manipulating and resorting to backward calculation and preparing fudged accounts of inventory, Mr Garg added. Mr Sandeep Puri and Mr Rajan Choudhry, Joint Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Central Excise Department, respectively, were also present on the occasion.
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PAU, bureaucrats at loggerheads
Ludhiana, July 25 The state Finance Secretary has asked the university to amend the statues and obtain prior permission from the state government for creating any new post or filling the posts. The PAU authorities have sought the intervention of the Chancellor of the university, General S.F. Rodrigues (Retd) who is also the Governor of Punjab to preserve the autonomy of the university. The bureaucrats are alleged to be unhappy over the intervention of the chancellor. Enquiries show that preaudit system was adopted by Punjab Agricultural University as the university came into being. But with the expansion of the university activities of
research, teaching and extension, the preaudit system started creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the university. The audit staff allegedly not only raised unnecessary objections but also went out of its purview. The audit allegedly did not pass the decisions taken by the board of management which is the highest competent authority of decision making. The university authorities are supposed to provide grant utilisation certificates to the funding agencies for the release of grants. Even hurdles were created in the issuance of such GUCs. Enquiries further show that in view of the difficulties with the preaudit system, the board of management at its meeting on May 6, 2003 decided to replace the preaudit system with the internal audit system and the concurrent-post audit was also to be undertaken by the examination local fund accounts (ELFA). But again under this system, the audit insisted on checking 100 per cent vouchers and accounts which had already been checked and passed by the internal audit. This resulted in the delay in the final settlement of retirement benefits to the employees on their retirement. Insistence of the ELFA to check 100 per cent records again resulted in duplication of efforts and delay in the issuance of grant utilisation certificates. Again the board of management of PAU at its meeting on May 29, 2006 The
authorities argue that the university grants pay scales to its employees according to the Punjab government scales. But keeping inview the job requirements and qualifications, the board of management can fix the pay scales to certain categories which may not be strictly prevailing in the Punjab Government. The Finance Secretary of the Punjab Government vide his letter dated June 29, 2006 has taken exception to the powers of the board of management and asked the university authorrities to amend the acts and statues of the PAU so as not to create any teaching or non-teaching post or revise the scales of the teaching and non-teaching employees without obtaining the prior permission of the state government. The university authorities maintain that this directive of the Finance Secretary amounts to eroding the autonomy of the PAU and also challenged the competence of the board of management. The PAU is governed by the Act passed by the parliament in 1970. The university authorities are perplexed why the bureaucracy has adopted such an confrontationist attitude while the chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, has been very sympathetic to the financial needs of the university. The chief minister has been quite generous and always helped the university in releasing grants which were overdue for the past many years. Captain Amarinder Singh released a sum of Rs 24.81 crore which were the arrears of the university staff pertaining to CPC and increase in the pay scales. Similarly the chief Minister has also provided a grant of Rs 20 crores to the university for undertaking research. Enquiries further reveal that the bureaucrats of the state further want the university to rout out all needs of grants including from the central agencies like the ICAR through it whereas both the institutes can deal directly with each other under the provisions of the Act. The PAU had been sanctioned a special grant of Rs 100 crore in the central budget of 2006-07 by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. The state government wanted this to be routed through it. But the ICAR has ruled out the same. The university has pressed upon the Punjab Governor and the Chancellor to help in getting enhanced financial assistance to meet its needs as there has been no increase in the annual grants for the past many years which stand at Rs 80 crores. The university needs minimum Rs 113 crores grant for the current year.
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BJP leaders honour MC chief after criticising him
Ludhiana, July 25 None other than the senior BJP leader, former MLA and former Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Satpal Gosain, honoured Mr S.K. Sharma at a function. After coming back from the function, he said that he just went for the function as he was invited. He did not know that he would be made to honour Mr Sharma. Some vernacular dailies quoted him as saying that he was so happy with the working of Mr S.K. Sharma that he wanted him to be the next Deputy Commissioner of the city. This is despite the fact that BJP leaders had been expressing their displeasure at the working of the MC during Mr S.K. Sharma’s tenure. The leaders had infact levelled many allegations against the MC officials. In June, the BJP district chief and other leaders including party councillors had demanded a CBI inquiry into the allotting of sewerage contracts in the recent years. They had alleged that funds amounting to Rs 85 lakhs were wasted by the authorities on the same project and there was no improvement on the ground in this case. Earlier also, the BJP had alleged rampant corruption in the MC. BJP leaders were seen organising press conferences one after the other telling the media about it. Mr Gurdeep Singh Neetu, a BJP councillor, had honoured Mr S.K. Sharma with a gold medal in the last general house meeting of the MC on July 8 and Dr Subhash Verma, a BJP office bearer, had said that they would issue a show cause notice to the councillor for doing so. Senior leaders of party, however, did not say anything when Mr Gosain was himself seen honouring the former city official. The senior leader said that he had not honoured the officer willingly. “I was invited to the party where he was also invited. The hosts asked me to come up to the stage and I could not refuse,” he said. Over the commendation of Mr Sharma’s work, he said that everybody in the city knew what developments works he had done. “Only when we will form the government in the state, we could see if he would be a DC or not,” he said.
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Cong mobilising cadres to highlight achievements
Ludhiana, July 25 He was addressing a meeting of workers at the Jail Road organised to mobilise people for mass contact function to be held on July 26. Referring to the achievements of the government, Mr Dawar said the government had launched welfare schemes for all sections of society and ushered in a new era of development. He said the government was focussing on the welfare of Schedule Castes and other weaker sections of society and spending Rs 1,154 crore on different welfare schemes during the current financial year. He said the government would provide sewerage and water supply facilities to 100 per cent population in all cities and towns. A special Municipal Development Fund of Rs 991 crore had been set up. Octroi was also being abolished without imposition of any alternative tax on people. He claimed that during the current financial year, funds of over Rs 5,000 crore were being spent on various development works and execution of power projects in the state. He asserted that the government was keeping all its promises made in the manifesto with the gradual improvement in the economic condition of the state. He said the government had also approved a development project worth Rs 3,995 crore for Ludhiana, which was being developed as a modern city of North India under the JNNURM. Referring to the development in Ludhiana (East) constituency, Mr Dawar claimed that funds of over Rs 40 crore had been spent on the various projects during the past four years. A special project of Rs 18 crore for covering the Sullage nullah, which passes through the constituency, was under way. Mr Dawar exhorted party workers for creating awareness about the achievements of the government. Others present were Punjab Pollution Control Board Director Ramesh Joshi, District Youth Congress president Dimple Rana, PPCC general secretary Ashok Prashar Pappi, and councillors Rakesh Prashar, Ashok Bagga, Sanjay Talwar and Saldrul Singh.
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Awareness drive on govt programmes
Ludhiana, July 25 The DFP units of Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hisar and Ferozepur have joined hands to launch mass mobilisation programmes in Ludhiana to make common people aware about the public information campaigns on major programmes of the UPA government. During their field trips, the Field publicity teams under the supervision of Mr Hemant Kumar Chauhan, Regional Head, DFP, Chandigarh, conducted extensive tours of parts of Ludhiana district and sensitised the common people about various government programmes. The teams apprised people about Central Government’s major programmes like Bharat Nirman, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, NRHM, JNNURM, NREGS etc. and urged people to participate in the ongoing campaign. During the pre-publicity phase, the Field publicity units visited around 100 villages of the district, including Mangat I & II, Doraha, Dehion, Khanna, Sahnewal and Samrala blocks etc. Special awareness programmes on major programmes, besides burning issues like drug addiction, AIDS, female foeticide, Iodine deficiency disorders etc. were arranged for the benefit of the common people.
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Labour union for hike in minimum wage
Ludhiana, July 25 Attacking the Left front, the BMS leader charged it with being hand in glove with the government in the exploitation of
workers. He said a majority of industrial units were not maintaining proper record of workers, their attendance was not marked and even the mandatory benefits were denied to them, while the
government stood as a mute spectator to the sorry state of affairs. As the day coincided with the foundation day of the BMS, the leader exhorted the activists to continue their fight in order to safeguard
the rights of the workers. Other speakers at the meeting alleged harassment of industrial workers, especially migrant workers who were being fleeced in the name of identity proof, by the police. They alleged that workers were being detained by the police on their pay days and those not carrying identity proof were being forced to hand over the money lest they should be arrested for interrogation. Prominent among those who spoke were former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly Sat Pal Gosain, Lovely Pal Disawar, K.C. Gupta, Pritpal Singh, Uttam Chand Sharma, Nageshwar Singh, Darshan Kaur and Rita Chopra.
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Mayor visits various wards
Ludhiana, July 25 The residents of these areas stated their foremost problem was inadequate water supply and potholed roads. Responding to these complaints, he promised to give impetus to the development works. Residents of Sector 32 complained of inefficiency of PUDA to develop the area in an organised way. They also told him that they were facing the problem of registration of their property. The Mayor pacified the residents and said he would organise a meeting between the PUDA officials and residents of the area at his residence in the next couple of days to sort out the matter. Earlier, while addressing the people, Mr Nahar Singh Gill said the Municipal Corporation was committed to making Ludhiana an ideal city with all the modern facilities. “We would appreciate the efforts of people to bring any shortcomings to our notice. This will help us take remedial measures so that people are not put to any inconvenience. We also set a target to supply drinking water to all wards within a span of six months,” he added. He also stated that the CM Capt Amarinder Singh, and PPCC chief Shamsher Singh Dullo had instructed all party workers to pay special attention to the problems of the residents and to solve them without delay. Mr Gill was accompanied by the XEN and SDO’s of related departments. He also appealed to the residents to help them to make the city clean and green. The Mayor also appealed the public to join hands with the government to make Ludhiana clean and green.
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Bank staff stage dharna
Ludhiana, July25 The call for dharna was given by All India Bank Employees Association and the All India Bank Officers Association. Addressing the employees, Mr Naresh Gaur, secretary, Punjab Bank Employees Federation, said, “The RBI had issued instructions to all banks permitting them to outsource most of the normal banking jobs and services to private agencies on contract and commission basis. The apex bank has also decided to withdraw itself from clearing operations and the entire process is being outsourced to the National Payment Corporation, a private limited company”, he added. The federation demanded that the RBI circular on the outsourcing of banning services and on clearing operations be withdrawn and the amendment to Section 12(2) of the Banking Regulation Act on the removal of ceiling on voting rights in banks too be withdrawn. Leaders of the federation also said there were thousands of vacancies in banks, both subsequent to voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and on account of retirements. “These vacancies should be filled,” they demanded. They said bank employees under the banner of AIBEA, AIBOA and BEFI would observe strike on July 28.
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Income tax staff hold demonstration
Ludhiana, July 25 Speakers, including Mr Dharam Chand, secretary, Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association, and Mr R.K. Walia, secretary, Income Tax Employees Class III Association, urged the union government to set up the Sixth Central Pay Commission and grant an interim relief of Rs 1000 to income tax employees in view of steep rise in prices of essential commodities. The functionaries of income tax unions further demanded that the recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission, as and when made, should be given retrospective effect from January 2006.
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Another probe into Dikshit drowning case
Ludhiana, July 25 Dikshit, a student of Class XII of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir School, had drowned under mysterious circumstances in the Sutlej where he had gone His father Ashok Dhanda and other relatives were maintaining there was some hanky panky in his death where as the school authorities termed it an unfortunate accident only. Today, a team reportedly led by Mr S.Z.H. Zaidi, SP, recorded the statement of the school authorities as well as of those students who had gone with Dikshit. School Vice-Principal Daljit Singh, who met mediapersons at the school gate, said the team did not want to talk to
them. TNS
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Finally, bouquets for cops
Ludhiana, July 25 DGP Punjab S S Virk who was visibly happy over the solution to three major robbery and murder incidents, announced Rs 1 lakh cash award to be distributed among all the non-gazetted cops and the other ranks who had laboured day and night in pursuit of the criminals. Besides, the DGP also gave letters of appreciation to IG Hardeep Dhillon, DIG Parag Jain, SSP AS Rai, SP-Detective Harish Kumar and other SPs and DSPs who had supervised the investigation work. The DGP revealed that the double murder case of Darshan Singh and his wife, Paramjit Kaur, was the most challenging as the police did not get any lead from the crime scene about the motive of the crime. There was no lead of personal enmity also. He disclosed that the hard work of the cops could be judged from the fact that nearly 6000 milk vendors were questioned by different teams. Many others kept raiding one place or the another in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu, Haryana and Himachal and several other states in pursuit of the accused.
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Dharna organised
Khamano, July 25 Later, a memorandum was presented to the SDM, Mr Ravinder Kumar, to forward it to the Chief Secretary. According to the memorandum, Khamano had completed 14 years as a sub-division but there was no administrative complex. So, the people faced great difficulty in locating various offices. In another demand, they demanded that the civil hospital here should be given its proper status. At present, the building is there but its status is that of a dispensary. Others demands included the repair and widening of Khanna-Khamano road. This dharna was also addressed among others by circle President, Akali Dal, Mr Prem Singh Maneli and BJP district General Secretary Kuldeep Madaan.
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Relief for Prince
Ludhiana, July 25 Mr Bhushan Jain, Managing Director of the company, said: “We are happy that the five-year-old child was saved after an ordeal of 50 hours. Our company wants to convey its best wishes to the family. It is no less than a miracle that the child survived. The Indian Army’s role is laudable.” Mr Jain said media played a major role by highlighting the incident and motivated timely and appropriate action to save the child.
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2 thefts reported, 1 held
Jagraon, July 25 In an another incident, Satpal Singh of Agwar Lopo complained to the police that Mani Singh had stolen Rs 500, a watch and a cell phone. The police has arrested the accused and recovered all articles from him. One held with liquor: 1 held for NSC fraud: Three booked for assault: Cyclist hurt: 10 colonies unauthorised: The council has ordered all applicants who had applied for the approval of the plans to deposit development fund along with fees. This has been decided after the Senior Town Planner carried out a survey after the information of unauthorised colonies came to light.
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KFC campaign
Ludhiana, July 25 In a three-week promotion campaign, the company will present to those whose name begins with letter ‘K’ a free food coupon worth the same value of his/her order. This coupon can be redeemed on the next visit at the KFC. To avail this offer, all that the lucky person has to do is carry his photo identity card for validation, Mr Unnat Verma, senior marketing manager, Yum Restaurants International, said at a press conference today. For those whose name does not start with alphabet K, Mr Verma said there were games and quiz contests.
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