NEIGHBOURHOOD

Youth electrocuted
Tribune News Service

Dera Bassi, March 27
At least 100 members of the Mehra community, led by the Ambedkar wing of the Lok Bhalai party, gheraoed the local police station here today. The protestors were demanding action against Hari Singh and his family who had allegedly attacked the family of Charan Singh in Mehmadpur village on March 23.

The group clash had led to seven persons being injured, one of them seriously. The police had registered cross FIRs against the two families. However, no arrests had been made.

Vice-president of the Ambedkar wing of the party Harbhajan Singh alleged that Hari Singh and his family were feigning an attack when actually they had attacked Charan Singh’s son Jaswinder and beaten him almost to death. Jaswinder was still fighting for life at GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh.

Harbhajan alleged that a cabinet minister was backing Hari Singh as a result of which no arrests had been made in the case.

The clash took place over the right to cultivate ‘shamlat’ land in the village. Charan Singh had taken the land on contract from the panchayat by offering the highest bid.

However, Hari Singh had allegedly forcibly occupied half of the land and cultivated it. Charan Singh continued to cultivate the rest of the land but now Hari Singh wanted to allegedly occupy the rest of the land too.

Harbhajan Singh added that the cabinet minister was unnecessary interfering in the case and not allowing the law to take its own course. He said if the accused were not arrested, they would block the roads and even gheroa the Punjab chief minister’s residence in the coming days.

Bassi Pathana, March 27
The Patiala division of BSNL telecom circle has started providing broadband internet service to residents of Bassi Pathana, who were deprived of the same till now despite installation of the required D-Slam system in the local telephone exchange since long.

The Tribune highlighted the plight of residents here a few days back. Finally, residents here, particularly professionals, students, business community and mediapersons will be able to avail of the benefits of internet services.

R.S. Gill, JE, said the department had started broadband services in the town and had already provided four connections to the consumers.

He said there was a waiting list of around 20 consumers, which would be cleared soon. He added that the present machine had a capacity of providing 94 connections and the speed is 256 kbps.

Kharar, March 27
High drama prevailed today at Kharar rest house today over the issue of the death of septuagenarian farmer Desraj from Nawanshahr Badala village.

The BSP announced to block traffic in Kharar today demanding the arrest of the accused due to whom Desraj sustained a heart attack and died on March 12. BSP activists, under the leadership of Raja Rajinder Singh Nanheria, congregated at the rest house and raised slogans against the Punjab police and government.

As per a complaint lodged with the police, president of BJP Mohali district unit Khushwant Rai Gigga, Ashok Jain, a resident of Kharar, and one more person had tried to overtake Desraj's two beeghas of land. Jain had claimed that his forefathers had bought this land from Maharaja of Patiala, whereas Desraj had the possession of the land for the last over 40 years.

On March 12, Jain again approached Desraj for the land in question. Tensed over the issue, Desraj suffered a heart attack and died. Since then the BSP activists have been demanding the immediate arrest of the accused.

As BSP activists were about to block traffic today, activists of the BJP decided to give them a tough fight. BJP leaders, including Kharar BJP mandal president Khushi Ram Sood, OBC cell president Shyam Ved Puri, vice-president of the district unit Ravinder Singh and Nayagaon president Balbir Singh met Kharar DSP Raj Balwinder Singh. Activists from Dera Bassi, Zirakpur, Kurali, Nayagaon, Mohali and Kharar had congregated to oppose BSP's protest.

BJP leaders told DSP that if BSP activists blocked traffic, they would go to the extent of closing commercial establishments in Kharar. The DSP reached the rest house to pacify the BSP leaders. But before that, BSP leaders claimed to have met the Mohali SSP. They claimed that the SSP had assured them of arresting the accused in another three days.

Interestingly, the rest house, where BSP held congregation, is a government building. 

Chandigarh, March 27
Putting up a good show, top seeds Nishchay Rawal of Total Tennis Academy and the second seed Pragun Vinayak of the CLTA moved into the semifinal of the boys under-16 age category during the ongoing 4th Late Sh. L.D. Kapoor Memorial Total Tennis Championship at YMCA, Sector 11, here today.

Nishchay crushed Bhavya Jain while Vinayak showed the doors to Kunal Kapoor with an identical 8-1.

Others, who made it to the semifinal stage, are Andrew Pradeep and Taranpreet Singh. Andrew beat Arshbuland Aulakh while Taranpreet got the better of Kanwaljot Bajwa at an identical score at 8-4.

Rawal also secured berth in under-14 quarterfinals by beating Yogesh Dahiya 8-0.

In the girls’ under 16 age group, Ayna Arora and Nikita of Lake Sports Club emerged winners in their first round matches. Ayna beat Aikya 5-1, whereas, Nikita outclassed Vanshika Sawhney 5-4(6) in a well-fought match.

The other results are as under: Girls (under 10) quarterfinal: Nandinee Sharma beat Aashta Malhotra 5-1; Prinkle beat Neihal 5-0; Rubani beat Shreya Bali 5-0; Vanshika Sawhney beat Aikya 5-0.

(Under 12) first round: Hasan Abdal beat Nimrat Walia 5-2; Ayna Arora beat Aikya 5-1; Nikita beat Vanshika Sawhney 5-4 (6); Nandinee Sharma beat Neha Sharma 5-0; Nehmat Aulakh beat Ravnoor 5-2; Mankya w/o Aastha Malhotra; Sabrina Gill beat Pallavi Hooda 5-0.

(Under 16) first round: Madhu Sheni Rajendra beat Nandinee Sharma 6-3; Ayna Arora beat Suvarna Singh 6-1; Nikita Sharma beat Hassan Abdal 6-4; Nehmat Aulakh beat Raida 6-5(5); Ashima Garg beat Aiynaaj Sidhu 6-3; Navjot Kaur beat Jannat 6-1; Ramneek Kaur beat Arshe Khosla 6-3.

Boys: (Under 12) quarterfinal: Dheeranush Bhatti beat Santbir Singh 8-2; Rohin Vinayak beat Sanchit Malhotra 8-5; Abhijit Singh beat Birgurman Singh 8-4; Sachin Kumar beat Yogesh Dahiya 8-3.

(Under 14) second round: Nishchay Rawal beat Yogesh Dahiya 8-0; Utkarsh Khosla beat Santbir Singh 8-0; Sanjog Singh beat Puneet Singh 8-5; Kanwaljot Bajwa beat Shubham Vij 8-5; Sachin Kumar beat Vikas Goel 8-2; Andrew Pradeep beat Anvit Gupta 8-3; Rohin Vinayak beat Birgurman Singh 8-4; Bhavya Jain beat Dheeranush Bhatti 8-5;

(Under 16) quarterfinal: Nishchay Rawal beat Bhavya Jain 8-1; Andrew Pradeep beat Arshbuland Aulakh 8-4; Taranbir Singh beat Kanwaljot Bajwa 8-4; Pragun Vinayak beat Kunal Kapoor 8-1. 

Chandigarh, March 27
Chandigarh Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) has all reasons to cheer as the local pugilists bagged 32 medals in various national, zonal national and All-India boxing championships during 2007-08.

Claiming that the number of winning medal is the highest in comparison of any other olympic sport, honorary secretary of CABA Dr C.K. Jerath, said the pugilists delivered in the big competitions in spite of having meagre resources and prevailing facilities in the city.

“In all, our boxers won four gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze medals during the year,” said Jerath.

The list of medal winners is as follow: All-India Open Women's Boxing

Championship at Nanital (May 26, 2007, to May 30, 2007): Gurpreet (gold), Arpana, Sapna, and Balbir Kaur (bronze). Federation's Cup National at Chennai (July 9, 2007, to July 13, 2007): Dalbir Singh and Hardev Singh (bronze). National Senior Men's Boxing Championship at New Delhi (August 25, 2007, to August 31, 2007): Mukesh Kumar (silver) National Senior Women's Boxing Championship at Rudrapur (October 8, 2007, to October 12, 2007): 1 Sudesh (bronze) National Junior Men's Boxing Championship at Warangal (October 25, 2007, to October 30, 2007): Ashok Sura (silver), Parneet (bronze) 15th All-India A.K. Misra Men's Boxing Championship at Chandigarh (December 26, 2007, to December 30, 2007): Paramjeet and Mukesh (silver), Dalbir (bronze) National Sub-Junior and Junior Women's Boxing Championship at Kakinada (January 8, 2008, to January 12, 2008): Sunita (silver), Taslima and Ankasha (bronze) Northern India Senior Men's Boxing Championship at Samrala (February 1, 2008, to February 3, 2008): Manoj and Baljit (gold), Mukesh, S. Saurabh, Sanjay and Vikas (silver), Dalbir, Vikas Dhaiya and B.Kumar (bronze).
Inter-Zonal National Men's Boxing Championship at Akola (February 10, 2008, to February 14, 2008): Mukesh Kumar (bronze).

Sub-Junior National Men's Boxing Championship at Golaghat (Assam) (February 17, 2008, to February 22, 2008): Ajay (gold), Balwinder and Kamal (silver), Sumit, Navin and Surinder (bronze).

Mohali, March 27
The local police today arrested two persons involved in looting and snatchings in the city, allegedly belonging to ‘scorpion’ gang. Accused Anuj Kumar alias Anu and Mukesh Kumar are residents of Sector 56, Chandigarh.

One country-made 315 bore revolver, two live cartridges and a motorcycle used in the crimes have been recovered from the two.

SAS Nagar SSP R.S. Khatra said three others - Sonu, Pawan Kumar and Janu - were also members of the gang and were absconding.

The police said Jaspal Singh, a resident of Phase 3A, had told the police that he was on way from Chandigarh to Mohali last evening when five youths on motorcycles accosted him. They were brandishing swords and asked him to hand over the cash he was carrying. He gave them Rs 1,250 that he had in his pocket.

The police added that the two had admitted that they committed the crime and also said they were involved in a similar looting case in Phase VI.

Chandigarh, March 27
Two incidents kept the local police on their toes today. A PCR van received a message this afternoon regarding kidnapping of a boy from SD School, Sector 32. Tarun, a student of KV, Sector 31, who had come to give an exam at SD school was thrashed by a group of students outside the gate. They forcibly dragged him into a Maruti car (CH-01 -Z- 9127). Tarun was later thrown out of the car at the light point of Sector 27.

Later, Tarun along with his father reported the matter to the police. The accused were brought to the police station, Sector 34, where both parties compromised.

Meanwhile, high tension prevailed throughout the day in parts of Sector 38 and Sector 25 following a shuffle between two communities that took place yesterday night. Police officers from sectors 39 and 11 police stations are still deployed in these sectors to ward off any untoward incident. 

Panchkula, March 27
Acting on a tip-off, the Panchkula excise and taxation department seized Indian-made foreign liquor worth more than Rs 10 lakh here today.

Excise and taxation officials with cases of liquor seized in Panchkula on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

The contraband was being smuggled to somewhere in Rajasthan or Gujarat in a truck, said Panchkula district excise and taxation commissioner J.S. Chahal.

A total of 756 cases of high priced brands, including Royal Challenge, Antiquity, Royal Stag and Peter Scot, were concealed in the truck under the sacks filled with waste paper. “We got a tip-off that a truck from Chandigarh will pass through Panchkula carrying liquor meant for smuggling,” said Chahal.

To intercept the consignment, a team led by excise and taxation inspector Swtantar Kumar was posted on Chandi Mandir road while another team was put on alert on Zirakpur road, he said. However, the truck was caught by Swatntar Kumar near Suraj Theatre around 8 am.

The driver of the truck, hailing from Yamunanagar, said he was handed over the loaded truck by an unidentified person with the instructions that the final destination of the consignment would be told to him after he crossed Panchkula.

Chandigarh, March 27
World renowned Sarod Maestro Pandit Bishwajit Rai Choudhary, enthralled the audience, comprising mostly school students at the Navodhya Vidyalaya, here today. The recipient of prestigious national and international awards, including the Legion De Honor of France, the highest decoration in art, Bishwajit Rai Choudhary, learnt music from his father Guru Pandit Ranjit Choudhary before falling in the tutelage of Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan and Malika Arjun Mansoor.

Credited with 25 albums the maestro is a proponent of Guru Shishya Prampra. Pandit Bishwajit commenced the Sarod recital with the delineation of raga Khamaz through a reposeful alaap before presenting a composition in Vilambat Teen Taal, which melted into faster tempo of Drut Lya in Teen Taal.

Accompanied by Tabla exponent Durjay Bhoumik, he presented a Dhun in Raga Basant. The best part of the recital was an interative session with the prodigious school children. Earlier, the chief guest M.L. Sharma regional deputy commissioner Navodhya Samiti honoured the artists. Young student Aritra Hazra anchored the programme while Jasmit Singh and Ankita introduced the artists.