Bhiwani, June 30
With the arrest of the mastermind and his accomplices, the police today claimed to have solved the murder mystery of Bhiwani municipal council chairman Nand Lal Chawla.

At a press conference here, superintendent of police Sanjay Kumar disclosed that those arrested included a councillor.

He said police teams had been sent to arrest the contract killers, Sunil, Rajesh and Sunder, and expressed the hope that they would be arrested soon.

He said the police had arrested Suresh of the Haluwas Gate area in Bhiwani three days ago. The SP said the three main accused - Rajiv Mittal, son of Krishan Lal Mittal of the Old Grain Market, Rohtak, Pushpender, son of Satbir Singh of Sector 13, Bhiwani, and Ravinder Soni, councillor, ward No. 12, had also been arrested in this case.

Rajiv told the police during investigation that he had a piece of land at Hansi Gate in the name of his wife and he had applied for approval of the map of this land to the municipal council. According to Rajiv, council chairman Chawla refused to pass the map. Meanwhile, he met Pushpender who assured him of getting the map sanctioned.

However, Pushpender demanded a share in the land in lieu of this service. Rajiv gave 10 per cent share to Pushpender and Suresh. Rajiv said Pushpender’s efforts to get the map sanctioned, however, proved futile and he had to sell a 220 sq yard plot from the land to Anil Bhardwaj for Rs 1.25 crore and he suffered a huge loss in the deal.

Rajiv met councillor Ravinder Soni, who told him that he had taken Rs 3 lakh for casting his vote in favour of Chawla in the election of the council chief. However, Ravinder said Chawla was demanding his money back.

Ravinder assured Rajiv that he and other councillors were bringing a no-confidence motion against Chawla and if Rajiv “extended cooperation in this work”, he would get the map sanctioned after toppling Chawla. Rajiv gave a positive assurance.

The SP said seeing his work getting delayed, Rajiv asked Pushpender to eliminate Chawla and Ravinder Soni also supported him. Pushpender demanded Rs 10 lakh to eliminate Chawla, which Rajiv accepted. For the purpose, Pushpender hired contract killers - Sunil of Sardana village under the Ganaur police station, Rajesh of Bumbay Wali Gali, Bahadurgarh Jatwada, and Sunder of Ismaila under the Sampla police station for Rs 5 lakh.

On June 23, the three killers reached Bhiwani in a car and Suresh provided them a motorcycle to commit the crime.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, several social organisations staged a dharna under the banner of the Sarvjatiya Sangharsh Samiti in protest against the “dilly-dallying” attitude of the police in arresting the killers of Chawla outside the deputy commissioner’s office today.

The dharna was presided over by former minister Ram Bhajan Agarwal. Former councillor Ishwar Maan alleged that the police was shielding the killers and “political interference” in the case could not be ruled out. 

Ambala, June 30
Vijay Bhardwaj, the accused in the ACP Rajbir Yadav murder case, was produced in the court of Special CBI Magistrate Abdul Majid here today. The court extended his judicial custody till July 14.

The court also supplied a copy of the chargesheet to Bhardwaj’s counsel. The case will be committed to the court of Special Judge of the CBI.

Earlier, Rajbir was produced in the CBI court on June 16 and was remanded in judicial custody till June 30.

The parents of Rajbir were present in the court during the hearing of the case. Later, Mam Chand Yadav, father of Rajbir, told mediapersons that he felt there was a “deep conspiracy” in the murder of his son. He said he was hopeful that he would get justice. The mother of Rajbir could not control her tears during the proceedings of the case. A cousin brother of Rajbir, who was also present on the court premises, said money was not the only cause behind the murder.

The brother of Bhardwaj and his son were also present in the court. Vijay kept himself away from the media. He was brought to the court in a police van under tight security from the jail.

Rajbir Yadav, ACP, Delhi police (crime branch), was shot dead in the office of Vijay Bhardwaj, a property dealer of Gurgaon, on March 24. The Gurgaon police had booked Bhardwaj on a charge of murder. Later, the investigation was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI had disclosed in the chargesheet that Rajbir and Bhardwaj were close friends and used to deal in property business jointly. When Vijay failed to pay a huge amount to Rajbir even after repeated commitment, their relations turned sour.

Gurgaon, June 30
The real life today has got better of the characteristic Indian parental resistance posed by a father in Bollywood flick ‘Cheeni Kum’ to his daughter’s wish to marry a person hugely older than her.

Unlike the reel life, the parents of a south Indian girl Radhika Radha Krishnan (29) were present at the registration of their only daughter’s marriage with 59-year-old Japanese man Yashuhiro Muraga.

Both decided to tie the knot after working together for seven years in the same company. Krishnan is a senior executive in a well-known private company manufacturing lighting equipments while Muraga is the director of the company.

However, none of Muraga’s family members were present although a notice of marriage was sent to his home in Japan, informed their lawyer C.K. Sharma.

Albeit a trend of interracial marriages is in the making in Gurgaon, euphemistically dubbed as global city, but this marriage has become a subject of predictably amusing curiosity due to the huge age difference by the Indian standard. “I fail to understand why you all are so amused about this alliance.

You should know marriage is a very private affair,” said her visibly irritated father, who by rebuking the mediapersons for showing unnecessary interest showed the unusual alliance had the parental consent.

So far, five interracial marriages have been registered here involving Indian professionals with their colleagues from diverse nationalities including Britons, Russians, Italians, Germans and Romanians. “It is an in thing in a happening place like Gurgaon.

The interracial alliances only go to show a shade of its emerging global character.

And this should not be seen as something unusual in this era of rapid globalisation,” commented Gurgaon deputy commissioner Rakesh Gupta who registered the marriage under the Special Marriage Act.

Fatehabad, June 30
Additional District and Sessions Judge N.P. Dewat today conducted an inquiry into the case of failure to release an accused by the Hisar Central Jail authorities despite having being granted bail by a local court.

The Tribune had reported the matter on June 28 in these columns.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the District and Sessions Judge, Fatehabad, to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the matter, who had entrusted the inquiry to Dewat.

Shashi Ahelawat, superintendent of the Hisar Central Jail, appeared before the court today with the jail record.

Ahelawat maintained that the jail authorities were not at fault as they had released the accused Mahavir, alias Chhotu, after receiving the bail orders from Fatehabad, but by that time they had received his production warrants from another court in Fatehabad in a case under the Gambling Act.

She said although the accused was on bail in the case under the Gambling Act registered against him, but the fact was not mentioned on the production warrants sent to the jail authorities.

The court will send its report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

Chandigarh, June 30
In view of the revision of electoral rolls as per the newly- delimited constituencies in Haryana, the state government has banned transfer of officers and staff deployed for reconstruction of electoral rolls and preparatory work of photo-electoral rolls from the commencement of work till its completion.

With this ban, the much-awaited and expected administrative reshuffle, which has been on the cards for over a month, will have to await the completion of the process. While stating this here today, a spokesman of Haryana government said the officers connected with the revision process included district election officers, electoral registration officers, assistant electoral registration officers and booth level officers.

He said their transfer has been banned as it would adversely affect the work of revision and quality of revision process. He added that the Election Commission of India has also decided to have photo-electoral rolls in all the constituencies. Although an annual revision with respect to January 1, 2008, has already been undertaken, another special revision with same qualifying date has been ordered for the purpose.

The spokesman said the schedule for revision of electoral rolls has also been released. The draft publication of photo electoral rolls would be on July 18, 2008. Claims and objections and reading of relevant part or sections of photo electoral roll in meetings of gram sabha or urban local bodies would be held from July 18 to August 1, 2008. He said July 26 and 27 would be the dates for special campaign to receive claims and objections at all designated locations.

Claims and objections would be disposed off on August 8. Manuscripts and supplements would be prepared, computerised and additional copies would be printed on September 13. The final publication of photo electoral rolls would be done on September 15.

The spokesman said all financial commissioners and principal secretaries, commissioner and secretaries, heads of departments, all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners have been directed to fill vacancies, if these existed, for the posts of district election officer, electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers.

Chandigarh, June 30
The patience of Haryana Sikhs, who are seeking a separate SGPC to manage the state gurdwaras, has run out. They have now decided to start a peaceful agitation to put pressure on the Congress government in the state, which, they say, had promised them a separate SGPC before the last assembly elections.

According to informed sources, a meeting of the ad hoc Haryana Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HGPC) was held in Kurukshetra to chalk out the agitation programme.

Members of the HGPC will start a relay dharna outside the house of Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana in Ambala from July 11. This date has been picked for starting the agitation because the last SGPC elections were held on this day four years ago. The SGPC members from Haryana felt that their agitation should start from this day.

On the first day of the agitation, 11 Sikhs of Ambala will sit in dharna. Kurukshetra Sikhs today decided that 1,100 of them would go to Ambala on that day. The next day will be the turn of Kaithal Sikhs, followed by the Kurukshetra Sikhs on July 13. The Kurukshetra batch will be led by Didar Singh Nalvi, general secretary of the HGPC. Again he would be accompanied by 1,100 Sikhs from Kurukshetra. On July 14 and 15, Sikhs of Karnal and Yamunanagar will sit in dharna outside Mullana’s house.

Nalvi told TNS here today that they had decided to stage a dharna outside Mullana’s house because they were assured a separate SGPC by the Haryana Congress.

Asserting that the Haryana Sikhs had been badly let down by the Congress government, Nalvi said they were assured by the ruling party before the assembly elections that immediately after coming to power, the party would accept their demand. However, later the government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of agriculture minister H.S. Chatha and they were told to file affidavits in support of their demand to “strengthen the hands of the government”.

Nalvi said after the committee received lakhs of affidavits supporting a separate SGPC for Haryana, it was conveyed to them by Congress leaders in private that their high command was coming in the way of creation of a separate SGPC because of the Punjab assembly elections.

After the Punjab elections, delegations of Haryana Sikhs met AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press their demand. The Prime Minister asked them some questions, which were replied to his satisfaction. They again met Manmohan Singh on April 29 last, when the Prime Minister told them that he had no objection to the creation of a separate SGPC for Haryana now.

Regretting that the state government was dilly-dallying on the issue, Nalvi said despite their best efforts to chart out a course independent of the Punjab Akalis, the Congress was compelling them to recognise Parkash Singh Badal as their leader. 

Rohtak, June 30
Two police personnel and an executive engineer (XEN) of the state power corporation were injured in stone-pelting by villagers blocking the Beri road at Sunarian village in the district today.

Hundreds of villagers, including women and children, had earlier blocked the Beri road passing through Sunarian village in protest against the acute shortage of electricity and water. On getting information, Rohtak SDM Mukul Kumar, power corporation officials and police personnel rushed to the spot.

The officials tried to persuade the protesters to lift the blockade, but they did not budge. Eventually, the policemen resorted to mild use of force to disperse the villagers. Angered by this, the protesters started pelting stones at the officials injuring an executive engineer and two policemen. The injured were rushed to the hospital. Following the clash, more police personnel were rushed to the village, but by then, the protesters had dispersed.

Meanwhile, a man was shot at and injured by two youths near the district jail here today. The victim, Nirmal Singh of Tanda Heri village in Jhajjar district, has been admitted to the local PGIMS. The police has registered a case in this regard. 
According to information, Nirmal Singh was returning from the jail after meeting his son, who is an accused in a case of murder. He was about to enter his car parked near the jail gate when two youths opened fire on him. The assailants fled the scene.

Sirsa, June 30
With a view to avoid any unsavoury situation in the light of revival of Sikh-Dera row, the state government is attempting to convince the authorities concerned to facilitate shifting the special CBI court from Ambala to Sirsa for the impending appearance of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

According to sources, the CBI is conducting a probe against the dera head on charges of rape and murder for which he has to appear in the designated court on the scheduled date. Although neither officials nor senior government functionaries are ready to quote themselves for confirming the move, they accept that the process was going on keeping in mind the fraying of tempers between the two communities recently. The government does not want the situation to deteriorate further.

Sources said although there was no precedent for such a measure, they pointed out that the case was unique. After receiving the threatening mail against the Dera head, the state government is vigorously lobbying for shifting the CBI designate court here.

To make this possible, High Court and ministry of law would have to concur with the request of state government and issue requisite directions, added sources.

Notably, Fatehabad-based Sikh organisations have already issued a statement for not allowing the Dera head and his cavalcade to pass through the city enroute to Ambala for appearing in the special CBI court there.

Sonepat, June 30
Seven gangsters, armed with two pistols and knives, broke into the house of a Delhi police constable, Dalbir, in HUDA’s Sector 23 during the wee hours here today and looted gold ornaments, five silver coins and Rs 12,000 cash at gunpoint.

Dalbir was on night duty in Delhi and his wife Mukesh along with her children and nephew Rinku were in the house at the time of incident. The gangsters remained in the house for nearly three hours and escaped at around 4-30 am.

After receiving information, the SSP Navdeep Singh Virk, DSP Badri Prasad and a police party rushed to the spot. A FSL team from Rohtak as well as a dog squad were also pressed into service for investigations and a case has been registered on the complaint of Mukesh.

She informed that the gangsters scaled the outer wall of the house and after removing the grill of a window, entered the house at around 1-30 am. The gangsters not only tied the family members with the rope, but also allegedly beat Mukesh and Rinku when they resisted the attempt to loot.

Earlier, unidentified miscreants had struck at the house of Manjeet Singh Kapoor in Adarsh Nagar on June 28 night and decamped with Rs two lakh cash and gold ornaments. Manjeet Singh, along with his family members, had gone to attend a marriage at Delhi at the time of the incident. 

Jind, June 30
Even as petrol station owners in the district went on a 24-hour strike this morning to highlight their safety and security concerns, an employee of a petrol station near Narwana town in the district was allegedly abducted and beaten up by some youths in the wee hours today. The victim, working as guard, expressed his inability to help them when they demanded a refill at about 3 am, when the station was closed. The police has registered a case in this connection.

According to a complaint lodged with the police, four youths travelling in a jeep came to the station located on the outskirts of the town and demanded a refill. The guard, Manphool Singh, told them that the petrol station would open around 6 am and there was no salesman to attend to them.

However, the accused got agitated and started abusing him. They forced the guard to accompany them in their vehicle. He said he was severely beaten up by them and dumped at a secluded spot near the Bhakra canal.

Meanwhile, almost all petrol stations remained closed today in protest against the increasing incidents of crime against them.

The Petrol Pump Owners Association in the district has demanded measures to check such incidents and provision for adequate security. 

Fatehabad, June 30
A man was found hanging from the ceiling of his house under mysterious circumstances in Bhattu Kakan village in this district today.

The police has registered a case and sent the body for a post-mortem. According to family members of the victim, Sanjay Kumar, he was found hanging from the ceiling of his room this morning.

The victim’s wife, Santosh, has alleged that Sanjay was having liquor with his friends Pangi, Sampat, Hem Raj and Ravi last night and an altercation took place between them.

She said she was sleeping in another room and when she woke up in the morning, she found Sanjay hanging.