Hoshiarpur, October 28
The ‘suicide’ case of Kuldip Singh of Jandi village has taken a new turn. Balbir Singh, brother of the deceased, has lodged a complaint with the police in which, he has accused Kuldip’s wife and her paramour of killing his brother.

Earlier, it was assumed that Kuldip (36), who had returned from Malaysia few days back, committed suicide. Though, no suicide note was recovered from his house or clothes.

Meanwhile, the police has booked all the accused under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC.

During preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the deceased’s wife had illicit relations with Jasvir Singh of the same village.

It is suspected that she and her paramour along with some accomplices of Jasvir allegedly killed Kuldip Singh and later hanged his body with a tree. All the accused were absconding.

According to the police, body of Kuldip Singh was found hanging with a tree in his house in the morning of October 26. He had gone to Malaysia about three months back and returned to Hoshiarpur on October 24.

Jalandhar, October 28
Innocent women are now the victims of unscrupulous travel agents, who are sending them abroad with the promise of lucrative jobs, which inevitably turn out to be those in the prostitution industry.

Lok Bhalai Party chief Balwant Singh Ramoowalia presented four girls cheated by the agents before the media persons today. He said this is an alarming development and the government needs to take this malaise seriously.

“I have been impressing upon the government to enact legislation in this context but to no avail. Every day we receive scores of such complaints, but in view of our limited setup we are not able to do much,” he pointed out.

Narrating her tale of woes, Dhurkot resident Veerpal Kaur, rescued by the party from Singapore, said an agent sent her to the island on the payment of Rs 51, 000. “I was promised a decent job that would augment the financial position of my family,” she added.

She said, “Initially, everything went on well, but an accomplice of the agent in Singapore, Sunita, started pressuring me to join a prostitution ring. When I refused to do so, I was booked under a false theft case and was sent to jail from where I was rescued by the LBP.”

Veerpal said during her stay she came across many unfortunate girls pushed into the flesh trade. Many were being blackmailed or threatened with time in jail on trumped up charges, she revealed.

Ramoowalia said as soon he came to know about the matter he talked to the Singapore High Commissioner.

Similarly, Patiala resident Manpreet Kaur and Kanchan from Chamkaur Sahib said they had been promised jobs in the merchant navy by a Chandigarh based firm. They paid Rs 1.95 lakh and Rs 1. 60 lakh, respectively, to the agent, who said he would arrange for the necessary documents. He neither returned the money nor sent them abroad even after several months, they added.

“We want to highlight this in the media so that other girls are not duped,” they said. Another victim, Mandeep Kaur of Jeonwala village (Faridkot), said she paid Rs 5 lakh to a Delhi based agent for sending her abroad. The agent pocketed the money without doing anything. Thanks to the efforts of the LBP, the agent has been arrested and was in jail, she said.

Ramoowalia said, “We have tracked down several agents and have forced them to return Rs 17.68 lakh to the victims.”

Nawanshahr, October 28
The Dasehra Utsav Committee here has come under a cloud with a large number of social and religious organisations accusing it of not spending the public money in a proper manner.

In a press statement, Varinder Ummat of Sri Ram Setu Raksha Manch said the residents were not happy over the way the committee organised the Dasehra festival and have demanded the details of the expenditure incurred on the function in black and white.

“Though the panel claimed to have spent a sum of Rs 20,000 on cleaning the Dasehra ground, there were hardly any signs of cleanliness.,” alleged Ummat. The panel is also accused of organising the festival without staging the Ramlila, which is indispensable to any Dashera celebrations. “There were also no arrangements of drinking water and medical facilities , Ummat further alleged, adding that the panel spent a handsome sum on mementos, but conveniently forgot to remember the eminent personalities who were instrumental in starting of Dasehra celebrations in the town. “Even their pictures did not figure on the hoardings put up by the organisers,” he claimed.

Now, the representatives of different bodies have decided to organise Dasehera on their own so that the public money is utilised as per the wishes of the residents, said Ummat. General secretary of Dasehra Utsav Committee Bahadur Chand Arora, refused to comment on the issue. — OC