Phagwara, November 17
A postgraduate student of the Lovely School of Science and Technology was found dead in a private hostel here today.

The deceased, Vishaldeep, was an MSc (mathematics) student and was putting up in a private hostel in Phagwara. The police reported the matter to be of natural death due to brain haemorrhage.

The girl was putting up at the newly-constructed Handa Complex, opposite the bus stand, where the Lovely authorities have taken some flats on lease for accommodating students. Vishaldeep reportedly got up this morning and went to toilet at 7 am.

Her three friends in room 307 of the hostel were waiting for her to return but she took too long. They kept knocking at the door but she did not respond. The girls said they sounded an alert to the warden who then called up the security guard. The guard is said to have broken the door only to find Vishaldeep lying down with her nose bleeding.

The hostel warden said Vishaldeep was a very cheerful and talkative girl. “I had never ever seen her upset, not even recently. Her roommates told me that she kept on studying till 4 am today and had asked her friends to wake her up at 6 am again,” she said.

The warden said the police had taken away Vishaldeep’s mobile phone for investigation. “The parents of the girl had come from Faridkot and have taken away her belongings,” she said pointing towards her vacant bed.

Visibly upset and tired after repeatedly giving statements to the police and the local media, the hostellers said the incident came as a big shock to them. “She was happy and talking till the last moment though a bit stressed out because of the pressure of examination. We do not think she had any other problem at all or else she could have at least given us some hint,” the girls said.

Ashok Mittal of the Lovely Institutes said he too was shocked at the event. DSP H.P.S. Khakh said the case seemed to be that of a natural death. When asked if it could be a suicide case, he said, “This can only be known after the post-mortem report. I am waiting for it,” he said.

Jalandhar, November 17
A government school teacher allegedly thrashed a student of another government school during an inter-school sports tournament on Friday evening.

The 17-year-old boy, Navjot Singh, a class XI student of Government Senior Secondary School, Lambran, has been admitted to the civil hospital. The incident left the boy injured on his ear.

While the incident is said to have occurred during the sports event last evening at Mithapur village, near here, it came to light today only after the parents of the boy brought him to the civil hospital for treatment.

Navjot’s father, Satnam Singh, has alleged that his son was beaten up by a physical education teacher of another government school merely because the boy went in for an athletics event before his turn.

“The teacher could have simply reprimanded Navjot but he hit my son on his ear. When my son came home, he was crying with pain in the ear. We took him to a private hospital yesterday where the doctor said his ear drum could have suffered damage and he be taken to the civil hospital,” Satnam Singh said.

The father said he had submitted his complaint to the police.

Kulwinder Singh, SHO of police station division 7, confirmed that a complaint as well as a medico-legal report had been received from the hospital.

Jalandhar, November 17
A five-year-old boy held a press conference here on Friday to tell about his father’s murder and alleged that his mother was part of the conspiracy.

The boy, Gagandeep, was assisted at the press conference by his uncle Balbir Singh as he narrated the sequence of his father’s alleged murder in their house at Jhandi village in Hoshiarpur district on October 25.

The boy’s father, Kuldeep Singh, had returned from Malaysia, where he was working, a couple of months back. The boy alleged that his mother, Kamaljit Kaur, was part of the conspiracy to kill his father and two persons from their village had hanged him.

He said that his mother stood witness to the entire crime. Balbir Singh said the police, despite registering a case against the three accused, had failed to arrest the culprits.

The boy said that his mother, in his father’s absence, developed relations with another person, Bunty, of the same village. When his father returned from Malaysia, the activities of both got restricted. Balbir Singh said the police had failed to arrest the culprits.

He stressed that Kamaljit told the police that her husband had died of a heart attack whereas the post-mortem examination report clearly indicated that he died of strangulation. — IANS

Jalandhar, November 17
Thieves struck at the house of Sq Ldr Surinderpal Singh (retd) in the Hardayal Nagar locality last night. The former IAF officer and his wife Surinder Kaur had gone to the house of their daughter in Chandigarh.

When the aged couple returned to their house, they were surprised to know that the thieves had decamped with 13 tolas of gold jewellery and other valuables after breaking in the house. When contacted, station house officer (SHO) Kulwinder Singh of police station number seven said a first information report (FIR) was lodged under sections 454 and 380, IPC, on Surinder Kaur’s statement.

Sub-inspector Sukhwinder Singh is investigating officer in this case. — TNS

Jalandhar, November 17
Student organisations All-India Students Federation and the Sarb Bharat Naujawan Sabha burnt effigies signifying the system of capitalism to protest against lack of development, rampant unemployment and concentration of resources in the hands of capitalists, on the occasion of Sarabha Day on Saturday. The student unions alleged that an oppressive system had led to chaos in society, shattering the dreams of martyrs like Kartar Singh Sarabha.