Bathinda
3-year-old boy kidnapped: The three-year-old son of a Chandigarh-based businessman was allegedly kidnapped by two unidentified persons in a white car from outside their house in the Model Town area here on Thursday. Eyewitnesses said Garry, four-year-old cousin of the kidnapped boy, told the police that Gappu was riding a bicycle outside his house when he was kidnapped. Father of the boy Raghwinder Singh deals in property from his office in Sector 40, Chandigarh.

HOSHIARPUR
Financier booked in fraud case: On the complaint of Surjit Singh, a resident of Lohgarh village, Mukerian police has registered a case against Shiv Kumar, owner of Shiv Finance Company in Mukerian. The complainant had alleged that he had deposited Rs 1, 43, 367 as down payment with the Shiv Finance Company to get his new car financed but the company neither financed the car nor returned his money.

Drinking death: An unidentified person died due to excessive drinking at Civil Dispensary Shamchaurasi on Tuesday night. According to the police, the deceased had consumed excessive liquor last evening and collapsed on the road at Bulhowal as a result. He was admitted to the civil dispensary Shamchaurasi where he breathed his last.

Govt flayed: Former minister Naresh Thakur has condemned state government’s proposed step to sell off 13,413 vacant land sites to bail itself out of financial crisis faced by it. State government has also hired two private companies to prepare a project report to guide it in effectively disposing off vacant government sites, he added.

Text trouble: Members of BVC Club under the presidentship of their chairman Hitesh Bansal strongly condemned the use of alleged derogatory remarks against Hindu deities in the text books of BA (Hons.) history course of the Delhi University. Bansal stated that the derogatory remarks against Lord Rama, Goddess Sita, Laxman and Hanuman, made in a chapter written by A. K. Ramanuj in the book of BA part II, titled "Culture in Ancient India", had badly hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu society. The organisation demanded a CBI inquiry.

Jalandhar
Drugs seized: The Border Security Force (BSF), deployed under Gurdaspur sector, claims to have seized illicit synthetic drugs from a chemist. It seized 11,076 capsules worth Rs 6,086 and tablets amounting to Rs 4,990.

R-Day parade: Deputy commissioner Ajit Singh Pannu said Punjab revenue minister Ajit Singh Kohar would hoist the Tricolour at Guru Gobind Stadium in Jalandhar on Republic Day on Saturday. Meanwhile, defence PRO Naresh Vig said some roads in cantonment would be restricted from January 22 to 26 in view of security.

Nawanshahr
2 robbers held: The police has arrested two youths, Balwinder Singh and Amarinder Singh, for their alleged involvement in robberies on the Garhshankar road here. The accused were wanted in two cases registered at city police station.

Phagwara
Help assured: A delegation of the Aanganwari Mahila Te Sahayak Sangh, Punjab, submitted a memorandum of their demands to Punjab social security minister Chaudhary Swarna Ram at his residence in Phagwara. The minister assured them to take up their demands with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The delegation was led by the sangh’s state president, Darshan Kaur, and included senior vice-president Gurpal Kaur and vice-president Gurdev Kaur.

SANGRUR
Bank employees observe strike: On a call of the United Forum of Bank Unions, a complete strike was observed in the banks of Sangrur and nearby areas on Friday. Besides this, bank employees held a rally and demonstration in front of the main branch of the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) here in support of their demands. A member of the central committee of the SBoP Employees Union (Punjab state) Sunil Jain and a CITU leader Ram Singh addressed the rally. Their main demands included stoppage of merger of public sector banks, one more option to join pension scheme, restoration of appointments on compassionate ground and early settlement of wage revision.

Kanoongos suspend stir: Following an assurance by the deputy commissioner (DC) at a meeting here on Friday, kanoongos suspended their agitation for sometime by way of withdrawing their earned leave applications which they had proceeded from January 21 to 31. District convener of the Revenue Kanoongo/Patwari Talmel Committee Nirmal Singh Masson said the DC had assured them that he would appoint the DRA from among them soon.

TARN TARAN
Body of infant found: The Sarhali police found the body of a male infant from the fields of Chaudhrywala village, 15 km from here, on Thursday night. A case under Sections 318, 201 and 419, IPC, has been registered in this regard. The police said the body was handed over to Municipal Council for the last rites.

Six injured@@Bathinda: Six persons sustained injuries when a car carrying them fell in to a distributary near Bhagi Bandar village on Friday. According to sources, the driver of the car (DL 2CM-1261) lost balance which led to the mishap. Passerby took out the injured from the distributory and the volunteers of Sahara Jan Seva rushed them to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, from where three were later referred to a private hospital at Bhucho. The injured have been identified as Rud Singh, Amrik singh, Jagdev singh, Madhav Singh, Kulvir Singh and Harpreet Singh.— TNS@@@@Fire@@Barnala: A sweet shop in Sadar Bazar area was almost gutted on Thursday as fire broke out at the shop in the evening. Fire tenders that were pressed into the service took three hours to control the fire. The owner of the shop, Banrsi Das, informed that the cause of fire could not be known and that the loss has not been assessed yet. One person was injured in the 
accident. — OC