Sirsa, November 9
Tragedy struck a group of villagers, mostly women and teenaged girls, who were returning to their village, Sangarsadha, on a tractor-trailer after listening to the weekly discourse at Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan situated on the outskirts of Sirsa town on the Delhi road this afternoon.

Eight persons, including five teenaged girls and a woman, were killed while five others were injured when the tractor-trailer they were travelling in was hit by a trailer near Moriwali village.

According to reports, about 30 villagers, mostly women and children, had gone to Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan situated in Sikandarpur village on the outskirts of the town for the routine Sunday “satsang” this morning.

They were returning to their village in the afternoon when a trailer carrying a container hit the tractor-trailer from the side.

The trailer was trying to overtake a motorcycle when it sped away brushing the side of the tractor-trailer.

Des Raj, the driver of the tractor-trailer, who has also been injured in the accident, lost control over the vehicle.

Several of the victims were thrown on the road with great impact. Seven of them - Soma Devi (16), Reeta (18), Piari Devi (50), Paramjit Kaur (13), Amandeep Kaur (13), Sunita (18) and a boy, Kaka (10), - died on the spot.

An ambulance of the traffic police and a local social organisation rushed to the site to carry the bodies and the injured to the hospital.

However, by the time these could reach, a bus stopped at the site and rushed some injured persons to the town.

Yudhvir Singh Khayalia, additional deputy commissioner, SDM Harish Bhatia and DSP Dhheraj Setia reached the general hospital and oversaw the rescue operations.

Khazan Singh, who was seriously injured, was shifted the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak. He, later, died on way to Rohtak.

“We have arrested Gurjeet Singh, driver of the offending trailer, under section 304 of the IPC,” disclosed DSP Dheeraj Setia.

Tohana (Fatehabad), November 9
The police has got some vital clues in the murder of Vijay Grover, a physician, who was shot dead by some assailants on Friday when he was sitting in the OPD of his hospital.

Though the police has not yet revealed the identity of the suspected killer, police sources said it had got vital clues of involvement of a person who belonged to a nearby village and had been absconding after the incident.

Interestingly, the suspect is a kin of a senior Congress leader, who occupies a prominent elected position in the Panchayati Raj Institution in the district. It is learnt that the motive behind the murder is ransom though the police is yet to confirm the reason.

SP Saurabh Singh said the police had reached to the bottom of the case and would arrest the suspect soon. He said the police would reveal the motive behind the murder once the accused was arrested.

Meanwhile, Balbir Singh Balli, chairman of the Zila Parishad, Fatehabad, has resented to the dragging of his name in the incident by some vested interests due to political reasons.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Balli said some of his political opponents had been dragging his name out of political motive by pointing an accusing finger on one of his kin.

He said he neither defended nor confirmed the involvement of his kin, but even if he was found involved, he had nothing to do with his activities. He said the police should act in a manner it dealt with other criminals if any of his kin was found involved in the murder.

Ambala: The Haryana unit of the Indian Medical Association has condemned the murder of Dr Vijay Grover, a member of the Tohana branch of the IMA.

Dr Venod Tayal, president of the Haryana IMA, has demanded the arrest of the assassins. He said the IMA was deeply concerned regarding the security of doctors in the state. He said a month ago, a doctor was murdered in Bhiwani under similar circumstances.

Dr V.N. Sood, secretary of the Haryana IMA, has demanded that the state government should provide adequate security to all doctors failing which they would not be able to provide services to the masses. He said if action was not taken in this regard, the IMA would go on strike.

Meanwhile, the local unit of the IMA, at a meeting here, condemned the Tohana incident. Ashok Sarwal, president of the local unit, said the government should take up this issue in a serious way. 

Karnal, November 9
Cold-shouldered by both the BJP and the BSP, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) today announced to go it alone in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a rally at Valmiki Basti here, party leader Bhajan Lal said the party was pinning its hopes on the people who had supported him all alone.

Dharampal Malik, former Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president, categorically stated that the HJC would have no truck with any party and contest all seats.

He said the Congress came to power in 2005 simply because people had voted for Bhajan Lal, adding that the Congress had cheated Bhajan Lal after winning the elections.

Dharampal also lashed out at former Ekta Shakti Party president Varinder Singh Maratha for merging his outfit with the BSP and said he has been claiming to be a champion of the interests of North Haryana, but had now bartered their interests only for one Lok Sabha seat. He alleged that the law and order situation had almost collapsed in the state and atrocities of the police were on the rise.

The meeting was to be addressed by HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi, but he could not make it due to some important engagement in Faridabad.

Karnal, November 9
The ad hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC), fighting for an autonomous set-up for the management and control of gurdwaras in the state, yesterday constituted an 11-member apex committee to hold negotiations with the SGPC.

The committee was constituted at a meeting of the state executive of the HSGPC held at Kurukshetra.

All HSGPC members who had contested the SGPC elections from Haryana in 2004 had been included in the committee, Jagdish Singh Jinda, president of the HSGPC, told The Tribune.

He said the HSGPC members were of the unanimous view that any set-up which infringed upon the autonomy of Haryana Sikhs in the management and control of gurdwaras would be unacceptable.

The talks between the HSGPC and the SGPC on the vexed issue are expected anytime after November 10, but the HSGPC members are wary of the moves of the SGPC.

There was resentment among the HSGPC members over reported moves of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the SGPC to put in place a “sub-committee” and this suggestion was rejected outright, Didar Singh Nalvi, vice-president of the HSGPC, said.

Hisar, November 9
Inspector-General of Police, Hisar range, A.K. Dhull today directed all superintendents of police of the range to introduce the single-window system in all police stations for receiving public complaints and issuing receipts to them.

He has also directed that if a complaint involves a cognisable offence, the FIR should be registered immediately and the complainant be given a copy of the same.

Dhull said the clerk (complaints) in his office would call the complainant on his mobile phone to ascertain if the investigation was going on to his or her satisfaction and if there was any delay on part of the police.

He said SPs and investigating officers had been directed to inspect complaint books in police stations in their jurisdiction while on tour and find out why a particular complaint had been pending.

The IG said the complainants could directly complain to him or to the SP concerned if the police failed to register his or her complaint or if the complaint was pending beyond a reasonable time.

The SPs had been directed to take disciplinary action against the officials concerned in case of failure to register a complaint or inordinate delay in disposing of it. 

Ambala, November 9
Arguments on framing charges against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and a few others in the Ranjit Singh murder case and Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chattarpati murder case concluded here yesterday.

Special Judge, CBI court, Haryana, A.K. Verma has reserved the order in these cases for December 12. The court has already framed charges against the dera chief in the sexual exploitation case of sadhvis.

CBI counsel H.P.S. Verma pleaded that the dera chief was also involved in the conspiracy to murder Ranjit Singh and Chattarpati. Defence counsel Suraya Prakash said the dera chief had nothing to do with those murders. He alleged that the CBI had falsely implicated the dera chief in the murder cases.

The CBI produced two witnesses in the sexual exploitation case of dera sadhvis yesterday. One of the witnesses, a clerk in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mohinder Singh, confirmed that he had received the anonymous letter written against the dera chief, which was handed over to the officer concerned of the court.

The CBI produced the envelope in the court in which the anonymous letter was delivered. Another witness, postmaster of a post office in Chandigarh C.L. Meena admitted that the seal fixed on the envelope was correlated to his post office seal.

The dera chief did not appear in the court yesterday due to security reasons. The court took serious note of it and directed the defence counsel to ensure his appearance on the next date. Tight security arrangements were made in the police complex, where a temporary court was set up.

Bhiwani, November 9
Dr Rishi Parkash Yamdagni, director of the local Technological Institute of Textiles and Sciences, has called upon old students of the institute to help shape the careers of students graduating from the institute.

He was addressing a function organised here to felicitate the alumni of the 1983 batch last night.

The institute is one of the best-known textile technology institutes in the country.

Yamdagni said the alumni of the institute could offer guidance those passing out of the institute in view of their experience in the corporate world.

All members of the 1983 batch, now holding senior positions in the corporate sector, attended the function along with their families.

The institute's students staged a cultural show in their honour.

S.K. Kapur, joint president of the institute, in his address, said the institute should organise such gatherings of the alumni regularly.

This would not only help students studying at the institute but also ensure that old students remained in touch among themselves as well as their alma mater. 

Karnal, November 9
After hogging the limelight for days, the Suryavanshi family, which had alleged that some people were threatening them to leave Karnal, today said his family was safe.

The head of the family, Vijay Suryavanshi, informed the police that they were satisfied with the security provided to them by the police.

In a written statement given to the police, Suryavanshi said his family was feeling secure after the police provided adequate security to them.

Suryavanshi said the family received the threat but the subsequent action taken by the police had instilled confidence among community members.

He claimed that Maratha family members expressed solidarity with him and he got a moral boast.

There was no plan to meet the President as things had subsided, he added.

The Suryavanshis had yesterday reiterated that they had sought appointment from the President, whom they knew for the past several years.

Suryavanshi had claimed that he had worked for Prathiba Patil when she had contested elections from Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

Gurgaon, November 9
A 23-year old youth committed suicide by jumping from the eight floor of Ekta Apartment, where he was staying, here today.

The deceased identified as Aakash, who belonged to Bhind district in MP and worked as a merchandiser in Koutons here, had been staying in the apartment in Sector 10 for the past five months.

His roommate, Raghuveer Singh, said Aakash had some family problems and was in depression for the past four days. “He slept the whole day today and didn’t eat anything. I woke him up, but he refused to get up. However, he got up around 3 pm and without talking to anybody just went and jumped down,” he added.

Aakash used to tell everyone that he would leave the job and move to Mumbai soon.

“We are seven boys in a flat, two each in one room and one in servant room. We all were busy doing our work when he went out and jumped,” said Pawan, who shared the apartment with him.

SHO Dhan Singh said a broken mobile phone was found lying in the Aakash’s room and the SIM card was lying wrapped in a paper near it. The police searched his uncle’s number and informed him.

He said Rahuveer had told them that his mom stayed in Delhi and father in some village in MP. His parents used to have disputes and due to this he was in depression, but they never thought that he would take such a step.

A note was also found lying on his bed on which he had mentioned his bank ID and stated that his money should be given to his mother.

Chandigarh, November 9
In the past over a year not even a single case of domestic violence has come to the fore from Kaithal and Fatehabad while 10 cases have come to light from Rewari and 14 cases have been reported from Ambala.

Earlier, the department of women and child development had notified programme officers of the integrated child development services as protection officers (PO) under the Domestic Violence Act.

Hisar has recorded the highest of 70 cases of domestic violence and 54 cases each have been reported from Faridabad and Panipat.

In this backdrop, the department is now planning to launch an aggressive campaign to create awareness while the process of recruiting full-time 20 POs has already been completed. Essentially, contractual appointments for a period of three years, the selected POs will begin their three-week training at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration from November 17 before being allotted a district.

“It will be an all-women show. All POs will be in place by December end and their main function will be to assist Judicial Magistrates in cases pertaining to domestic violence,” explained director, women and child development, Neerja Shekhar.

With the department planning to establish cells against domestic violence in each district, NGO-supported counsellors would also be appointed to find an amicable solution to problems of complainants and to work out a compromise wherever possible.

“These counsellors or service providers will work with the complainants on resolving the problem to their satisfaction while sensitising the family to the offence of domestic violence,” Shekhar added.

Despite the prevalence of domestic violence, Shekhar maintained that not many cases were reported for lack of awareness about the provisions in law. “Now, we are preparing to launch a campaign to educate women about the safeguards provided in law,” she added. While the department was proceeding to distribute material about the provisions in law, the Legal Services Authority in Haryana had also independently prepared material to tackle the issue. “Once we have regular POs, we will be able to effectively check domestic violence and disseminate information about it,” she held.

Kaithal, November 9
The district police has arrested Balkar Singh of Kakrala Anayat village in Guhla subdivision here on the charge of raping a girl on the pretext of marrying her and later forcing her to commit suicide by consuming poison.

The accused was produced in a local court and later sent in 14-day judicial custody.

A police spokesman, Roshan Lal Khatkar, here yesterday said the victim had lodged a complaint with the police on October 3 that Balkar Singh had allegedly raped her in January. He told the girl that he loved her and would marry her soon.

The accused repeatedly raped her and when she got pregnant in July, the accused gave her some medicines to facilitate her abortion. The accused allegedly got her aborted in September again. She was allegedly again raped in a hotel in Patiala and at another place in the village.

However, the accused got engaged to some other girl and refused to marry the victim. The victim told Balkar that if he was not interested in marrying her, he should fetch poison for her. Balkar brought poison for the girl and assured the girl that after her he too would consume poison.

The girl reportedly consumed some poisonous substance and her family members rushed her to the Civil Hospital here.

On the directions of SP Sultan Singh, Hari Ram, in charge of the Siwan police station, investigated the case and arrested Balkar Singh.

Sirsa, November 9
Renewed efforts have been initiated to facilitate the flow of the Saraswati river on its ancient path.

A three-day conference was recently held in Delhi to bring together scholars of various scientific disciplines and of ancient history of the Indian subcontinent and to provide a multi-disciplinary forum for scholars to collectively review the results of their studies relating to the river.

The Haryana government has also been showing interest in the project, as the state will get plenty of irrigation and drinking water if it succeeds.

Saraswati is one of the main Rig Vedic rivers mentioned in the Hindu texts that originated from the Himalayas and flowed through Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat prior to joining the Arabian Sea.

Important towns, including Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Shatrana, Sirsa, Kalibangan, Pilibangan, Suratgarh and Beriwal, flourished on its banks.

Sirsa town, in fact, has derived its name from the Saraswati river.

Recently, when subsurface water started oozing out from a pond of Kapil Muni Ashram in Kalayat, a multi-disciplinary scientific team studied the oozing water and the sand that accompanied it. Dr A.R. Chaudhri of Kurukshetra University found a suite of angular heavy minerals having their source in higher Himalayan rocks.

Dr A.K. Gupta and Dr B.K. Bhadra of the ISRO identified fossil valleys of Vedic Saraswati in the area from the study of space imageries and concluded that this water was of the aforesaid river.

Rajesh Purohit conducted geomorphologic studies and concluded that this water belonged to Vedic Saraswati that had been described in the Rig Veda and other scriptures. Later, he along with his team discovered the actual riverbed near Jyotisar in Kurukshetra.

During the course of scientific studies carried out from space imageries, scientists from ISRO discovered a number of fossil valleys restricted to areas around Kurukshetra and Pehowa in upper central Haryana. They interpreted it as remnants of the meandering Saraswati. Based on satellite imagery, they drew out a map of the Saraswati river from Glacier to Rann of Kachch.

Dr M.R. Rao, GGM, ONGC, along with his team undertook drilling near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and got a discharge of 76,000 litres/hr of water from one of the wells.

Scientific tests on this subterranean water revealed that this water belonged to an old river that once existed here. This old river was none other than the Saraswati river.

The ONGC has now been approached by the Haryana government to undertake drilling in Kalayat and Kapal Mochan in Haryana under their phase-II programme.

Besides the above scientific evidences, village-wise revenue records has been collected and compiled proving the flow of the river in continuity. Based on these revenue records, about 50 km of Saraswati channel has already been cleared by digging by the Haryana irrigation department.