NEIGHBOURHOOD

575 cases of liquor seized, 4 held
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, July 31
Continuing its drive against liquor smuggling, the Dera Bassi police today seized 575 boxes of liquor being smuggled from Chandigarh to Rajasthan. This is the second seizure in less than a week. Earlier, the police confiscated 80 boxes of liquor on July 29.

Acting on a tip-off, the police set up a checkpoint near Bhadurgarh village and intercepted a truck containing 425 boxes of liquor. Driver Kulwinder Singh and cleaner Gurjant Singh were arrested.

Another checkpoint was set up near the Dera Bassi toll plaza where the police stopped a canter and seized 150 cases of liquor. Driver Sanjeev Kumar and cleaner Mohan Lal were arrested. Cases have been registered against the accused at the Dera Bassi police station.

According to Dera Bassi SHO Dalbir Singh Grewal, the drive against liquor smuggling would be intensified in the coming days. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 31
The Fatehgarh Sahib police yesterday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang involved in various car-lifting cases.

The accused include a BAMS doctor Dinesh Kumar who is the leader of the gang and a resident of Sirhind. He was arrested by the police from Sirhind. His accomplices include Sukhwant Singh, Harjit Singh, Om Parkash Painter, all residents of villages near Sirhind, and Jasvir Singh, a resident of Doraha.

The police is conducting raids to arrest the four.

Dinesh was running finance business and was also associated with a local hospital. He was in touch with Doraha resident Jasvir Singh who prepared fake documents with the help of his sources in various DTO offices of Punjab and adjoining states.

Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Dr Kaustabh Sharma said the gang had been active for the past some time and had stolen a large number of cars. He said the accused kept on changing their modus operandi. Sometimes they got the car financed and then stole it. Later, by lodging an FIR in this connection, they claimed the insurance. The spare parts of the stolen cars were then fixed into damaged and old cars. The old cars were then sold off at a higher price to customers at car markets of Ludhiana, Chandigarh and in Haryana.

The details of the owners of the six cars which were recovered today were yet to be verified. These cars are of various models including Zen, Alto, Indica, Ascent and Esteem.

A case in this connection has been registered.

Dera Bassi, July 31
In a ghastly turn to the events that led to the death of an eight-year-old boy here, the police is now suspecting that the child might have been killed after being sodomised.

The body of the child was found from the tubewell room in the fields near Dera Bassi on July 24.

According to sources, the deceased was sexually approached before being killed in cold blood. The killers left the body naked, which was infested with insects and flies when it was discovered after many hours by his parents, who lived in a hutment nearby.

The parents, both of whom work as migrant labourers in the fields, alleged that they knew who could be responsible for the death of their son and demanded justice.

A police officer claimed that the cause of death could be confirmed only after getting the post-mortem report. However, foul play could not be ruled out, he added.

Bassi Pathana, July 31
Senior SAD leader Rajesh Pal Singh Lalli, who was booked along with council chief Babla and 12 others, met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday at his residence and apprised him of the violent incidents that took place in the town after the election of the council chief.

He also told the chief minister about the registration of a false cross case against him, some SAD and BJP councillors and other party supporters.

Lalli told The Tribune that the chief minister assured him that no injustice would be done to anyone. The chief minister also directed the SSP to conduct a fair inquiry into the incidents and not to harass anyone unnecessarily, he added.

Meanwhile, a delegation of prominent citizens led by council chief Babla today met the SSP and submitted a representation mentioning that Amit Jhanjhi got a false FIR registered against them just to save his skin as his name figured in the FIR (No. 113) got registered by them against the Cheema group and his supporters who beat them publically during their victory procession. They said immediately after the incident, they had gone to the police station to lodge an FIR and remained there till 11 pm with the DSP, then how they could they loot and ransack the house of a councillor of the opposite party as alleged in the FIR? The delegation has even demanded an open inquiry into the allegations made in the FIR against them. 

Chandigarh, July 31
Living in pathetic conditions without a penny, veteran Punjab Ranji player and former coach Devi Chand Worrell is now counting his last days.

Lying in bed, with his amputated left leg, broken jaws and weak limbs, at his home in Sector 21, it was a pity to see the former cricketer, who once had accepted the challenge of bowling out West Indian batsman Sir Frank Worrell. He had sent the legendary cricketer packing in his first over while playing for Maharaja of Patiala Yadvindra’s team against the visitors in 1952-53.

For his feat, Sir Worrell not only presented him with his autographed bat but also gave his surname ‘Worrell’ to this young fast bowler. Though he is unable to speak now due to his poor health but his eyes express his pain and grief.

However, the eyes shine a little on hearing the word “cricket” and his hands move, as if he’s trying to recall his days of glory - the days he had spent on the field with his ‘guru’ Lala Amarnath and Maharaja Yadvindra.

The government and the BCCI have been mute to his plight and have not come forward to help the star yesteryear cricketer. “Despite repeated pleadings to all, including the BCCI, PCA, Chandigarh adminstration, and even the Government of India, for aid, we got nothing but false promises”, Worrells’ wife Ramo rues. “My father has suffered three heart attacks and is diabetic. As we have sold everything for his treatment, now we have been left with nothing. Even for his treatment, we are depending on the aid from good Samaritans”, said his son Munish Worrell, who is working in a private firm.

Worrell’s old disciple, advocate Puneet Jain, has filed a case against the BCCI and PCA in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for not considering Worrell’s case under their pension scheme for veteran cricketers.

“Only Jain and Nirmal Milkha Singh have been helping us in every way in our difficult days,” Munish said.

Worrell, who was awarded with ‘Khiladi Ratna’ award by India’s vice-president in 1998, has produced a number of top players in the city. 

Chandigarh, July 31
Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, stormed into the final of basketball competition in the ongoing Inter School Sports Meet (U-14 girls), beating Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, by 30-10 in the semi-final match here today.

Shivalik team was never in the match against its strong rival. The score at the half time was 16-2.

For the winners, Sukhmani emerged top scorer with 18 points while Rasika scored 6 points for losing team.

In the second semi-final, Chandigarh Baptist School, Sector 45, beat St Anne’s Convent School, Sector 32, by 21-10.

Gayatri was the top scorer for the winning team with 12 points while Kensiya reduced the margin by scoring six points for the 
losing team.

Chandigarh, July 31
When girls of her age are playing with Barbies, she is busy dancing, painting or solving tedious mathematics puzzles.

Meet eight-year-old Bhoomika Bansal, a bubbly, charming girl, who has the privilege to be the ‘Brain-o-Brain’ champion once again.

She just loves to talk about her hobbies, friends, parents, ambitions and everything! A Class III student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bhoomika is second time champion of Brain-o-Brain regional competition held at Ludhiana where more than 500 kids between 5-14 years of age from all over Punjab, Chandigarh and Panchkula participated to show mental arithmetic ability faster than the calculator.

Bhoomika has completed her 4th levels and did 73 sums out of 80 in three minutes. She also won the level 1 at the national-level competition held in Delhi last year.

“I was very excited when I received this award. I love doing maths and Brain-o-Brain has really improved my speed,” says confident Bhoomika.

An all rounder, she has been dancing since the age of three and has performed in more than 200 shows and won many accolades. She is learning kathak, western, folk, and many other dance forms. She has also won many awards in various extra curricular activities like arts and theatre where she has won the best actor award for her performance.

“What I love the most is dancing on stage. I want to become a choreographer like Shaimak Davar or an astronaut,” said the brainy little girl.

Meanwhile, in Brain-o-Brain regional competition, a total of 21 city kids bagged eight champions’ trophies and 13 gold medals in different categories. Aarzo, Sarthak, Tarun, Lavnya, Rtunjay, Varun, Taranpreet, Natasha, Kshitij, Adabpreet, Kanav, Navrozh and Navjit won golds.

Chandigarh, July 31
International grade I hockey umpire Satinder Sharma will be officiating in the Beijing Olympics.

Talking to The Tribune, Sharma, who is on the elite panel of the Federation of International Hockey, said he 
would reach Beijing on August 4 to attend a pre-Olympics training camp before the start of the games.

Sharma, an officer in State 
Bank of India, has umpired several international hockey meets, including Junior World Cups at Hobart, Australia, Rotterdam, Netherlands, senior men’s World Cups at Kuala Lumpur, and Monchenglabach, Germany, Busan Asian Games, Korea, Olympics at Athens (2004) and five Champions 
Trophy tournaments.