CHANDIGARH

Coffee Day Xpress: Coffee Day Xpress plans to rapidly expand its presence in the city in the next few months. The group proposes to set up new kiosks in malls, corporate offices, high street locations, besides the airport and railway station. An official release said the group would also introduce a new multi-cuisine menu at its outlets in the tricity.

HARYANA

AMBALA
One killed: A youngster, Hussain Ahmed, was killed after he fell off a running train on the Ambala-Saharanpur section on Sunday night. The incident occurred on the Chuha Bridge between Ambala Cantonment and Dukheri railway stations. Ahmed, a resident of Saharanpur, was returning to his native town from Rajpura, where he is employed.

KURUKSHETRA
Punjabi dharamshala: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala inaugurated Punjabi Dharamshala constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore by the Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Samarak Samiti on the southern bank of Sannihit Sarover here on Sunday. Chautala said the Punjabi community had contributed a lot to the development of Haryana.

REWARI
One held for rape: Balbir Singh, the alleged abductor of a girl (19), was arrested by the Kosli police from the Uttam Nagar area of Delhi on Saturday. The girl, who went missing from Naya Gaon village, near Kosli, on March 26, was also recovered by the police from there. The girl was medically examined and a case of rape had now been added to the FIR. 

Arrested on murder charge: With the arrest of Ajay Singh (26), the Rampura police claimed to has solved the murder of his father Lal Singh (55), whose body was recovered with marks of strangulation on his neck from a field at Jadra village, 8 km from here, on February 7. A case of murder under Section 302, IPC, was registered in this regard. The accused was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

SIRSA
Missing child’s body found: The body of missing boy, Ravi (6), of Nattar village was found from a pit filled with water from the same village here on Monday. He went missing on April 11 from his village. The father of the deceased, Balbir Ram, stated in his police complaint that his family had gone for reaping crops, when the incident happened. Since then, the boy could not be located even after long search. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Two held with 15 kg charas: The police on Sunday said it had arrested two people and seized about 15 kg charas from their possession in the Churah area of Chamba district. It had set up a check post at the Talota area of Churah subdivision and seized the charas from a truck, which was driven by a Hemant Prakash. He was accompanied by Dharam Chand. The police said it was, however, not clear immediately where the consignment was headed to and from where it originated and added that the two are being interrogated.

HAMIRPUR
Himachal Day function: The district administration has made arrangements for holding the Himachal Day function at the Government College Tarkwari on Tuesday. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would be the chief guest. Hamirpur DC Nandita Gupta said the Chief Minister would unfurl the national flag and take salute at the march past at 11 am. She said 10 contingents from the police, home guards, NCC and school students would participate in the parade. Cultural troupes from Kinnuar, Shimla, Mandi, Sirmaur, and Hamirpur, besides folk singer Karnail Rana would present their cultural programmes on this occasion. The Himachal Police would also display a special programme dealing with the emergencies on this occasion.

Office-bearers: The B.Ed College Welfare Association elected its office-bearers in a meeting held at Hamirpur. President N.K. Sharma; vice-presidents Shiam Singh, Veena Raju, Brij Mohan Soni and Chand Saini; general-secretaries F.C. Dhiman, Lalit Pathak, Mukesh Kumar, Purshotam Sharma, and Virender Chaudhary; press-secretary Ved Sharma and finance-secretary Jai Chand.

NAHAN
Student commits suicide: Krishna Negi (20), a first-year student of the Himalayan Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta, committed suicide by hanging herself from ceiling fan on Monday. Krishna hailed from Shimla. Members of her family arrived at Paonta in the afternoon. The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination. A suicide note cited “not pursuing studies as per the expectations of the family” as the reason for taking the extreme step.

NURPUR
Phone connectivity hit: BSNL’s Internet, mobile and other services remained disrupted in Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions for over four hours on Monday. The connectivity was hit on the Nurpur-Dharamsala line via Shahpur around 1pm after OFC got damaged near Kotla during road construction work. Incidentally, the alternative Nurpur-Dharamsala line through Pathankot-Dunera also went non-functional due to a similar reason. The connectivity on this route could be restored at around 5.30 pm while efforts were on to restore the Nurpur-Dharamsala link. 

SHIMLA
Red Cross fair from May 8: The state-level Red Cross fair to be organised here from May 8 to 12 on the Ridge will give an opportunity to educate unemployed youth to appear in walk-in-interview to be conducted by the Industries Department. Deputy commissioner J.S. Rana said Governor V.S. Kokje would inaugurate the fair. Various activities, including magic show, roller skating, baby show, fancy dress, painting competition and cultural activities would be held during the fair. Efforts are being made to invite various companies to hold walk-in-interviews for degree and diploma holders. A blood donation camp will also be organised on May 8 at the Rotary Town Hall. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Couple drugged, looted: An elderly couple from Jaipur was looted by “Zahar Khurani” gang on their way to Mata Vaishno Devi at Katra on Monday, police sources said. The victims were identified as Ram Lal (65) and his wife Ganpati Devi (55), residents of Jaipur. The couple was on their way to the holy cave shrine on Trikuta hills of Katra when some unidentified youths befriended them on Saturday night and the couple was offered tea by the boys. After consuming it, both fell unconscious and the boys decamped with their belongings, including cash and gold ornaments. A case has been registered. 

8 horses electrocuted: Eight horses were electrocuted and a villager was injured this morning when a high-tension wire fell on them in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said. Gulam Hyder and Gulam Hassan were taking their horses to the fields when a high- tension wire fell on the horses at Raykeeba village. 

Sonu Nigam enthralls: The ongoing fortnight-long Jammu festival saw a high with celebrity singer Sonu Nigam giving a live performance at “first of its kind” musical concert. An unprecedented crowd of over 10,000 persons gathered at Gulshan Grounds on Sunday night to witness the concert. There was tight security around the venue. The concert was organised by the state tourism department as part of the Jammu Festival that commenced on April 1.

SRINAGAR
LeT ultra killed: A top militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Harwan area on Sunday night. Acting on a specific information about the presence of LeT militants trying to establish a base in the area, the police assisted by the Army and the CRPF launched an operation in Theed Harwan. Srinagar, SSP, S.A. Mujtaba said the militant fired on the police party and the gun fire was retaliated in which the militant was killed. The militant was identified as Abu Nasai, alias Zakira, and was functioning as the district commander of the LeT.

One injured: Ashiq Hussain, a resident of Pahloo, was seriously injured when a live fuse was blasted, which was lying near a cow shed in Achabal area of Anantnag district on Monday. This is in continuation to the fire incident in the Army depot, at Khundroo in Anantnag, which caused havoc leading to the death of at least 17 persons and damaged property in August, 2007.