Kapurthala, February 23
A widow was allegedly gang-raped in broad daylight by several persons after being abducted from her house in Moti Nagar of Kala Sanghia village under Sadar police station of this district.

The accused also forcibly cut her hair when she resisted the sexual assault. The victim was also allegedly forced to drink urine by the accused.

According to the police, as many as 10 persons identified as Sarwan Singh, his three sons Billa, Bachna, Bagga, Mohinder Singh and his two sons Kala and Manjeet and their associates Manu, Shera and Deputy of Alamgir locality forcibly tried to enter the victim’s house today at about 10 am.

The victim reportedly closed the door from inside but the accused entered her house after breaking it. She ran to the terrace in an attempt to save herself but the accused chased her and threw her down from the terrace.

Subsequently, they took her forcibly with them to Sarwan Singh’s house where she was gang-raped. The accused also cut her hair when she objected the sexual assault.

Meanwhile the younger son of the victim rushed to Kala Sanghia police post and informed the police. The police reached the spot and arrested three of the accused, including Sarwan, Mohinder and Bagga while the others managed to flee. The victim was also taken to Civil Hospital, Kapurthala.

Both the victim and the accused belong to Valmiki community and reportedly had an old enmity. The accused reportedly raped the victim and cut her hair in an attempt to ‘teach her a lesson.’

An FIR under sections 376, 307, 450, 323, 295-A, 509, 354, 148 and 149 was lodged against the accused at Sadar police station after recording the statement of the victim.

When contacted, DSP, Kapurthala, Mr. Amrik Singh Powar, said that the police was raiding the possible hideouts of the absconders. He expressed hope that they would soon be put behind the bars.

Jalandhar, February 23
Sham Bharadwaj, a city -based property dealer, who was lodged in the local central jail in a fraud case, has been remanded to five days’ police remand by the court of Ravinder Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate, here today.

The property dealer and his son had allegedly defrauded Gautam Kapur, the owner of Radisson Windsor Hotel, earlier also, for which, they were booked. Subsequently Sham Bharadwaj had landed in jail.

Later, the father -son duo allegedly again deceived the hotelier for the second time and they were again booked on February 19 by the local police on a complaint of Sabina, alias Minty, the wife of Kapur.

Since Sham Bharadwaj was lodged in the local central jail, he was taken out of the jail on the basis of production warrants by the local police and presented in the court of Ravinder Singh, CJM, who, in turn remanded them to police custody for five days on Thursday.

In her complaint, Sabina alleged that the duo was instrumental in striking a land deal between her and one Amarjit Singh, said to be the resident of Chaheru village. The 7.5 acre piece of land, said to be owned by Amarjit, was based in Chaheru village near here. But the post-deal enquiries by her and her husband revealed that the ‘seller’ was nowhere in the picture and was not the owner of the land and hence they were deceived by the father and son. Gautam Kapoor alleged that two deals were struck through accused property dealers.

While they were booked after detection of the first fraud, the second deal implemented around almost same time, too, proved to be a fraud. He said the second fraud was worth about Rs. 1.5 crore.

Batala, February 23
District Food and Supply Officer (DFSO), Gurdaspur, Nirmal Singh along with his staff and Inspector Sawinder Singh conducted raids at the local Zail Ghar Market, City Road, Batala today. They found 16 LPG cylinders from Shiv Kumar and eight cylinders from M.S. Gas Agency.

Fifty Indane regulators were found from Rakesh Kumar, owner of M/S Krishna gift house, City Road, Batala.

The accused reportedly would siphon off LPG from the branded cylinders. The small cylinders of gas were being sold at the rate of Rs. 30 to Rs. 35 per cylinder.

The Batala city police has registered a case under Section 7 of the Essentials Commodity Act. 

Jalandhar, February 23
A member of interim-Parliament of Nepal and a leader of Maoist Central Committee, Suresh Alemgar, today said that Nepal was heading towards a peaceful revolution and in case there would be any resistance, the Maoists would meet it with arms.

A former law professor and a Maoist leader, he was here at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall today to address a seminar on “Defend the Nepal Revolution” organised by the CPI ML (New Democracy). He said that the end to the 238 -year -old monarchy and setting up an 83-member interim-parliament were no achievements.

The Nepali legislator said that the struggle was on to bring in complete democracy for which he believed in adopting strategic tactics. He said the people were still not enjoying their democratic rights. He added that jan-yudh would continue till the final goal was achieved.

Alemgar said that he was currently on a tour to various cities of India to spread his message and gain support for his movement. Scores of young Nepalese and local communists had gathered in the hall to listen to him. 

Jalandhar, February 23
The members of Lok Janshakti Party burnt the posters of Amitabh Bachchan released to promote his movie “Nishabd” at Shastri Market here today.

Burning his posters, Mr Parminder Singh Kala, general secretary of the party, said that the Big B had portrayed the role of a photo-journalist who seduces a 16-year -old. He alleged that there were some lewd scenes in the picture.

Mr Kala pointed out the viewers across the country had made him Shahanshah and his name was also being proposed for the post of President.

A case has been registered against him and party president Ajay Kumar at police Station Division No-4.