Jalandhar, February 25
A sub inspector (SI) posted at the Nurmahal police station has landed in trouble for showing gross negligence in a kidnapping case. SI Baljit Singh allegedly failed to take an appropriate action against two persons who had abducted a girl on the intervening night of February 23 and 24. 

The ‘kidnappers’ were killed along with the abducted girl the same night in a head on collision with a tempo. The girl Seema (25) hailed from Badai Khurd village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Narrating the sequence of events, Pradeep, brother-in-law of Seema, said on the fateful day, he, along with his wife and sister had come to meet one of their relatives, who runs a roadside cane crusher near Nurmahal. However, being new to the area they got lost and had to ask for directions.

“We reached the Pherwala village bus shelter at around 9. 30 pm. There were accosted by two persons, who were heavily drunk. When I resisted, they thrashed me and my wife and dragged Seema to a motorcycle parked nearby and sped away under the cover of darkness,” he claimed.

“We took a lift to the nearest police station. I brought the incident to the notice of SI Baljit Singh, who, instead of taking any action abused us. Subsequently, were turned out of the police statiom,” he alleged.

The SI also did not inform us that the area in which the incident occurred was under the Bilga police station, he said. “It was only after our relative, who came searching for us to the police station, reached we could head to Bilga. It was almost 1a.m. by that time. On the way, we saw that an accident had taken place between a motorcycle and a tempo. When we went closer, we were shocked to see that the persons lying dead on the road were the two abductors and Seema,” he claimed. The identity of the accused was later revealed as Lakhvir Singh alias Lakhi and Hussan Lal alias Ladi, residents of Shampur village.

“Our main grouse is that the police, that is supposed to help people in distress could be so callous towards our predicament. Had the SI acted swiftly, the accused could have been arrested and Seema would have been still alive,” he rued. Phillaur DSP RS Sohal said action was being taken against the SI for showing egligence. 

Jalandhar, February 25
Even as the transfer policy of the Punjab government clearly indicates that the maximum stay of an employee at a station should not exceed more than five years, the director (colleges) in a reply to an RTI application has admitted that there are nearly 16 teachers from local colleges who have been serving in Jalandhar for the past more than 10 years.

While six of these teachers are from the Government Arts and Sports College, Kapurthala Road, the remaining 10 are from the Government College of Education, Ladowali Road, the official reply has revealed.

The transfer policy clearly stipulates, “A stay of three years and five years may be treated, respectively, as the minimum and maximum period at a particular place. Similarly, employees transferable within the state, particularly group ‘A’ and ‘B’ officers, should not be allowed to serve in one district beyond a period of seven years in his\her entire service.

“Within a particular office, seats of sensitive nature like extensive public dealings, establishments and monetary sanctions should be clearly defined and the maximum stay should be two years.”

The lecturers with a stay of more than 10 years at the Government Arts and Sports College are Surinder Kaur of political science, Paramjit Kaur of public administration, Kulwinder Kaur of geography, Ramneek Kaur of physical education and Kulbir Singh of Punjabi (with a break from August 2003 to February 2004) and Jagir Singh Kahlon (break from February 2004 to October 2004).

The lecturers, who have been serving at the Government College of Education for the past more than 10 years, are Santosh of philosophy, Parvinder Kaur Sachdeva of music, Asa Ram of mathematics, Achla Bhatia and Khushwinder Kaur of English, Harjinder Kaur of physical education, Jaswinder Kaur of biosciences, Kamlesh Sharma of geography, Mangat Ram of political science and Amrik Singh of biology (with a break from August 16, 2006 to July 31, 2007).

The reply also reveals that another teacher, Aatima Sharma, who was working at the college, was transferred to the government college at Kapurthala and shifted back within one month and that too on verbal instructions from the government. The said teacher just left her job and joined Kanya Maha Vidyalaya here as principal. The reply states that no principal in any of the government colleges of Jalandhar has had a stay longer than 10 years. The only principal to have been re-transferred to the same college is Karamjit Kaur of the Government Arts and Sports College who had joined on September 3, 2005, transferred on orders by the electoral office on January 21, 2007, to Kala Afghana and shifted back on March 10, 2007.

The DPI has reasoned that the transfers are sometimes not implemented keeping in view the interest of the students.

Jalandhar, February 25
A city police team led by CIA inspector Harinder Singh will go to Kolkata to get information about the person who had withdrawn the huge sum of Rs 28 lakh from a Bank of India branch (at Kolkata), found from the house of KMV principal Rita Bawa’s house at the time of her murder.

Superintendent of Police (SP) city I SK Kalia said the police team would leave for Kolkata within a day or two, after completing the required formalities.

As the district police failed to get any other major clue, it is considering this piece of information an important link.

The information may lead the police to solve the mystery behind the brutal murders of Bawa and three other persons, the SP added.

The district police had sought information from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) team to know the source of Rs 37 lakh found from her house. While Rs 28 lakh were found lying in a briefcase near Bawa’s body on the floor of her bed room at her residence in the college, the remaining nine lakh were recovered from some other part of her official residence.

The police had sent a total of Rs five lakh (ten wads of Rs 500 currency notes), a part of the Rs 28 lakh found in the briefcase, to the RBI team which in turn said the money had been issued to the Bank of India branch, added the SP.

Kalia said the team would get information about the persons who had withdrawn the amount from the bank and would question that person to know if he had any link with the murders.

Jalandhar, February 25
The area around Adampur Air Force Station continued to remain tense today even two days after the mysterious death of young civilian employee Sachin Bahri while he was on duty.

The family members of the deceased and residents held a massive dharna outside the main gate of the station for more than three hours demanding arrest of the two IAF officials who had been booked for murder. The agitators burnt the effigies of the accused. Shopkeepers around the area too shut their premises and joined the protest expressing their solidarity with the protesters.

Sunil Kumar, uncle of the deceased, said the police’s action was simply an eyewash as no sincere effort had been made to arrest the accused. Vijay Hans, president, Democratic Bhartiya Samaj Party, and Mohan Lal Zakhani, president, All-India Safai Mazdoor Congress, also joined the protest.

Meanwhile, defence PRO Naresh Vig today released a press note stating that station group captain PW Ambekar met the local civilian employees’ union leaders, including Bachan Singh and Kuku Raj. He said Hans and Zakhani, who also met senior IAF officials, were assured that an inquiry team at the highest level had been constituted to carry out the investigation.

SSP Arpit Shukla said the arrest would be made after the completion of investigation that involved the use of chemical examination of the viscera and a postmortem report.

Jalandhar, February 25
A middle-aged woman, Darshana, alias Baby, went missing on Sunday evening from her house in the Mohalla Gobindgarh locality falling under police division 3.

One of her relatives, Sanjiv Sharma, said 45-year-old Darshana was not mentally sound and she was insisting to go with her mother to Nimasar in Uttar Pradesh for paying obeisance there.

She was persuaded not to go with her mother but when Sanjiv, along with his other 
relatives, went to see her mother off at the railway station,

Darshana left the house on her own and did not return.

A daily diary report (DDR) has been registered.