Rohtak, June 28
The Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) authorities have revoked the suspension of deputy registrar and former controller of examinations (CoE) Sukhbir Singh.

Sukhbir Singh, an accused in the MD/MS entrance test paper leak case, had challenged his suspension (on charge of wilful absence from duty) on the ground that he had duly sent a leave application to the registrar’s office.

Red-faced due to the revelation, the MDU authorities came in damage-control mode after the submission of leave application by the former CoE was confirmed.

“Though the said leave application has not come to our notice, Sukhbir Singh produced its copy bearing the relevant diary number and the dealing clerk’s signatures. Hence, we had to revoke the suspension orders,” said vice-chancellor R.P. Hooda while talking to The Tribune here today.

Since the onus regarding the matter was on the registrar’s office, the vice-chancellor sought a written apology from the registrar, Dr S.P. Vats, which he gave.

The vice-chancellor directed the registrar that the official responsible for the serious lapse be identified and chargesheeted.

The registrar maintained that the responsibility for the serious lapse had been fixed and as per the orders of the vice-chancellor, the dealing clerk, who received the application but failed to produce it, would be chargesheeted.

However, according to university sources, the manner in which the deputy registrar was suspended strongly indicates that there is something more than what meets the eye.

It may be pertinent to mention here that strangely enough, the registrar, at whose office deputy registrar’s leave application was submitted, recommended his suspension to the vice-chancellor on the ground of wilful absence from duty.

On being question in this regard, Vats said he was not aware of any such application as it had not be put up to him.

On being asked how did he recommend the said official’s suspension without confirming the receipt of leave application, Vats said it was not possible for him to check the record and the dealing clerk was responsible for putting up the application before him.

However, according to sources, the dealing clerk was just being made the scapegoat as certain senior functionaries of the university were trying to save their faces and skin.

Fatehabad, June 28
In an interesting case, the jail authorities at the Central Jail, Hisar, refused to release an accused though he had been granted bail by the District and Sessions Judge, Fatehabad.

When the accused was produced before a local court under police custody today, the court took a strong notice of the lapse and directed the jail authorities to release the accused immediately.

Mahabir, alias Chhotu Ram, son of Brij Lal, was under judicial custody in the Central Jail, Hisar, since April 30 in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act registered against him.

The District and Sessions Court, Fatehabad, granted him bail on June 23. Sureties on behalf of the accused were furnished before Duty Magistrate Kumud Gugnani to the satisfaction of the court on June 24.

However, the jail authorities did not release the accused despite specific orders of the court. When the accused was produced before the court of the Duty Magistrate today under police custody, the judge took a serious note of the lapse as to why the accused was not released by the jail authorities. She directed the jail authorities to release the accused immediately.

Superintendent of Central Jail, Hisar, Shashi Ahlawat said she was on leave and hence could not comment.

Deputy superintendent S.S. Godara said the accused was released in the case under the NDPS Act registered against him but was again detained in a case under the Gambling Act pending against him.

He said the accused had been released today after orders of the court.

Karnal, June 28
In an apparent damage-control bid, the state police today decided to introduce the report card system to keep an eye on “unruly” cops.

Sources said DGP Ranjiv Dalal had issued directions to maintain report cards. These would include the behavioural and professional conduct of cops at the district level. These would be monitored and filled regularly by the respective bosses.

Stung by sharp criticism from various quarters for the recent incidents pertaining to the alleged criminal involvement of police officials, the DGP has directed SPs to prepare a list of “undesirable” cops in their respective teams.

The decisions were taken at a review meeting of the SPs of Rohtak and Ambala police ranges held today at the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban. Dalal expressed concern over the recent incidents.

The DGP emphasised the need for examining the reputation and service records at various levels before assigning responsible postings to cops.

The state police chief has warned officials to wear proper uniform and maintain official decorum. He proposed to ban smoking in police stations and police posts.

At the meeting it was decided that no woman, be she the complainant or the accused in a case, should be called to police stations. “The investigation officer will be accompanied by a policewoman while investigating an accused woman or the complainant at her residence only,” an official said.

Also, minors or their parents would not be summoned to police stations for investigation.

It is learnt that the DGP has directed the SPs to conduct a surprise visits to all police stations and police posts. He has also directed IGPs to interact regularly with all levels of officials to maintain order in the force.

Bhiwani, June 28
The police claims to have arrested one of the accused in the murder case of local chairman of the municipal council Nand Lal Chawla here today.

It also impounded the motorcycle used in the crime by the three assailants. The one arrested is the owner of the motorcycle.

SP Sanjay Kumar said a case under Sections 302, 34 and 506 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered on June 23.

Three unidentified assailants had murdered Chawla on June 23 while he was coming out of a showroom.

The SP said the police succeeded in locating the motorcycle used in the crime and arrested its owner, Suresh, son of Sibbal of local Haluwas gate area.

Suresh revealed many facts before the police during interrogation. He told the police that Pushpender of Bhiwani had given him the responsibility of keeping an eye on the activities of Chawla and even to find out his locations. He said he had disclosed about Chawla’s locations to Pushpender on June 23 also.

He further disclosed that the root cause of the murder was a disputed land of Shiv temple located at Hansi gate. Chawla had refused to pass the map of the site, he added.

He also told the police that he had talked to Rajiv Mittal of Rohtak and Pushpender in connection with the murder. He said some more people might be involved in the crime and only Mittal and Pushpender could disclose their names.

The SP said the police teams had been sent to arrest Mittal and Pushpender and facts would come out after the arrest.

Meanwhile, the police is waiting for the report of the lie detector test that had been performed on three persons, including two municipal councillors, Ravinder Soni and Satender Mor. Sube Singh Dhillon, husband of municipal councillor Sewa Devi, had also undergone the lie detector test.

Kurukshetra, June 28
Members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee today sought immediate arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for his alleged role in the Mumbai firing incident, in which a Sikh was killed.

They urged upon Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Governor Dr A.R. Kidwai to take a stern action against the dera chief.

The protesters, who also threatened to intensify their agitation if the dera chief was not arrested, proceeded in a procession to the mini-secretariat to submit a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

Bhiwani, June 28
Thanks to the damaged sewer system, half of the area was inundated after the rain lashed the district today. Residents of the Old Housing Board, Jain Chowk, old bus stand road, Loharu road, Shiv Nagar Colony and the Dinod gate area experienced a horrible time today.

Raj Kumar, a junior engineer with the electricity board, said the board could not be blamed for waterlogging as the only disposal station of the city was being supplied uninterrupted electricity and now it had two options for power supply. Earlier, breakdowns in power supply would suffer the drainage system.

However, residents of the above said colonies sharply reacted against the administration and said the sewer system of their respective areas had collapsed and repeated complaints to the authorities concerned yielded no results.

Roshan Lal of the Dinod gate area said illegal encroachments over the Mool Chand pond had resulted in waterlogging on roads and streets.

In the Old Housing Board Colony, the water had entered houses and residents were forced to throw away the water by using buckets.

Ajay Gautam, a chemist at the Loharu road, said: “Every monsoon, business on this road comes to a halt as the entire road gets inundated.”

The PWD (B&R) department lifted the half stretch of this road a few months ago but left the remaining part. Traders on the Loharu road said the waterlogging problem could be solved, if the department raised the other patch also.

Hisar, June 28
Congress MP and noted industrialist Naveen Jindal said here today that he was hopeful of India pulling off the nuclear deal with the US.

Addressing a press conference here, he said both Pakistan and China were feeling left out because the US preferred to offer the deal to India. “The deal is in national interests. It will help solve the global warming problem and there will be no shortage of power in the country,” he added.

Jindal said he did not foresee an early Lok Sabha poll. The government would complete its term. Asked whether he planned to shift to Hisar, he said he would contest the Kurukshetra seat next time also.

Referring to Kuldeep Bishnoi’s failure to quit the Lok Sabha even after forming a new party, Jindal said political propriety demanded that he should have quit the House himself.

Jindal said the results of the recent assembly byelections suggested that the Congress government was doing a great job in Haryana. The party had won two of the three seats and in Adampur the party succeeded in reducing Bhajan Lal’s victory margin considerably.

Expressing shock over the involvement of some Haryana policemen in criminal activities, he said a few bad elements had dented the image of the government.

He said he had not yet been able to identify a suitable plot for setting up a hockey academy. Besides, he said, he was keen on setting up a school in the Mill Gate area here.

Jind, June 28
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government had been working hard to make Haryana self-sufficient in power supply.

He was addressing a public meeting at Pillukhera village of Safidon subdivision in the district today. Earlier, Hooda inaugurated several development works, including a bypass road and a modern sports stadium at Silakhera village in the district.

The government had set up several new power generation units in the past three years, which would enable the state to have an additional 5,000 MW units of power in the next two years, thus making the state free of power shortage.

Taking a dig at the opposition parties and their leaders, the Chief Minister claimed that his government took the problem of power supply seriously and took measures to solve it.

He said the work on increasing the power generation capacity in the state had been on full swing and it might not take more than two years to make the state self-sufficient in this sector.

Blaming his predecessors for the problem, he suggested that the people should compare the work done in the sector in the past three years and the previous 38 years in the state.

He said it was ridiculous that those who had exploited and misused power for such a long period was now criticising the government.

Claiming that funds had been allocated for all 90 assembly segments without any discrimination, he said Rs 100 crore had been spent on the development works in the Safidon constituency in the past three years.

Besides, the state had got funds worth Rs 338 crore for the repair and construction work of roads under the pradhan mantri gramin sadak yojna in the period.

Hooda announced a special grant of Rs 50 lakh each for Muana, Singhana and Pillukhera villages in the district.

Jind, June 28
The police has not found any clue in the dual murder case of a 54-year-old woman and her teenaged daughter, who were found dead in their house in Narwana town of the district on Friday. Though a case has been registered, the cause behind the murders is still a mystery.

The deceased identified as Kamla, wife of Ram Kumar, and her daughter Reena (15), residents of Hari Nagar locality of Narwana town, were found dead in their house on Friday. The victims were found lying on cots with some injury marks around their neck. It is suspected that they had been strangled to death by some persons. The woman, a widow, had been living with her youngest daughter in the house after the death of her husband. The police suspected that the girl might have been raped, as there was no cloth on her body when the police reached the spot.

Jhajjar, June 28
A woman and four-year-old child were killed and 12 others, including four children and three women, were injured when the three-wheeler they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck near Noonamajra village on the Bhadurgarh-Jhajjar road today.

The deceased have been identified as Rajni and Vicky, residents of Daabhoda village of the district. The injured were admitted to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where condition of some was stated to be critical.

The three-wheeler carrying over 12 passengers was on its way from Daabhoda village to Bhadurgarh. The three-wheeler collided with the truck when its driver was trying to overtake another vehicle.

The truck driver fled from the spot leaving his vehicle behind. The police has registered a case in this regard.