Jalandhar, April 10
The Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Committee has asked the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to request his Pakistani counterpart to send files of 10 cases related to the Lahore conspiracy case to India.

Talking to mediapersons, committee general secretary Naunihal Singh said, “The cases were tried by the then Punjab High Court at Lahore and many of the accused were either hanged, transported for life or were awarded lesser sentences.”

He said the committee learnt that the CJI had written to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to send record files of the Lahore conspiracy case in which Bhagat Singh was one of the main accused.

“We have urged the CJI to request his Pakistani counterpart to send either the original files or xerox copies of the conspiracy cases as they were important documents of the freedom struggle,” he added.

Naunihal said the committee had also requested the Chief Justice to ask for the photographs of 40 convicts taken by the jail authorities when they were being transported to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In addition to this, the committee had urged the court to initiate steps to release the details of cases related to the Ghadar Party movement.

The details sought pertaining to the cases include Lahore conspiracy case (September, 1915), Lahore supplementary conspiracy case (March, 1916), Lahore second conspiracy case (January 5, 1917), Lahore third conspiracy case (March 2, 1917), Lahore fourth conspiracy case (May 26, 1917), Lahore city conspiracy case (June 11, 1917), Anarkali murder case Lahore (February 20, 1915), First Akali conspiracy case (November 8, 1921), Babbar Akali conspiracy case first supplementary (May 18, 1922) and Babbar Akali conspiracy second (November 8, 1921-22).

Hoshiarpur, April 10
Mystery shrouds the death of an 18-year-old girl, Ravinder Kaur, alias Rozi, of Dargaheri village in Tanda block of the district. According to reports received here today, the body of Ravinder Kaur was cremated hurriedly soon after her death during last night to destroy evidence.

On receiving information about the incident, the police today reached the village and took samples of bones and ashes of the deceased for investigation. It is learnt that Ravinder Kaur had relations with a youth of the same village. Yesterday, all family members of Ravinder Kaur went to their relative’s house to attend a bhog ceremony. Her lover was also alone at his house as his family had also gone to attend the bhog ceremony.

Ravinder Kaur went to her lover’s house. Some villagers noticed her entering the house of the boy. When the village sarpanch Swarn Kaur came to know about the presence of Ravinder Kaur at her lover’s house, she went there and took the girl with her and handed her over to her parents.

The family members of Ravinder Kaur claimed that she died of severe attack of epilepsy. — OC

Nawanshahr, April 10
With a view to tackle the grave problem of fast depletion of underground water resources, the state government has chalked out a plan to boost drip and sprinkler irrigation system in the state. A subsidy to the tune of 75 per cent and priority based power connections within 15 days are being provided to the farmers adopting the drip and sprinkler irrigation system.

This was stated by agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah while addressing a gathering of farmers at a farmers’ training camp organised by the district agriculture department here on Thursday.

With the adoption of modern irrigation techniques, the farmers can not only save the precious water but also minimise the cost of production by reducing expenditure on fertilisers. Besides, these techniques also help in increasing the yield, said the minister.

While issuing a warning to the farmers not to undertake sowing of paddy before June 15, the minister said the state government would not hesitate to take penal steps, including imposition of fine to the tune of Rs 10,000, disconnecting power supply, etc, against the errant farmers.

He advised the farmers to follow the schedule given by the experts for paddy sowing to put a check on the depletion of water resources. Dr Tarsem Singh, joint director, Dr Jasbir singh Parmar, chief agriculture officer and experts Dr H.S. Dhaliwalgave tips to the farmers. — OC

Batala, April 10
A police party from Jaswant Garh, Rajasthan, arrived here in connection with the murder of Hardip Singh of Ghasitpura village.

SI Samunder Singh of the Rajasthan police said Hardip Singh had gone to Rajasthan to buy marble for his house and was murdered by his truck driver Amrik Singh on March 28, 2008, at Jaswant Garh.

The accused beheaded Hardip, threw his body at an isolated place and took away Rs 12 lakh. The truck driver was later arrested by the Rajasthan police and brought to Batala. On investigation, Amrik confessed that he and his son Sukhnandan murdered Hardip Singh. — OC