Panipat, November 17
Days after 35-year-old Anju and her two children were found dead in their house with bullet injuries in their heads, her husband Virender Singh Sherawat, an HCS officer, has joined the police investigation.

Sherawat gave a statement to the police in which he stated that on the fateful night, he was in Chandigarh and got late while returning back home. Sources in the police said without revealing the exact time, Sherawat told the investigating officer (IO) that his wife Anju had sent him an SMS asking when he would return home. In reply to the SMS, Sherawat had told her that he would be home in another 10 to 15 minutes.

The sources said according to Sherawat, he did reach home in 10 minutes and his wife opened the door, while children Meghna (12) and Paras (7) were asleep in their room. Sherawat told the police that he and Anju went to sleep in their room. He stated that in the middle of the night Anju left the room. He did not realise that Anju had left the room till the morning nor did he hear any gunshots during the night, he told the police.

In the morning, he went to the children’s room and found that it was locked from inside and that the mobile phone of his wife was ringing. He repeatedly knocked on the door but there was no response. He then called in the domestic help and forced open the door only to find the bodies of his wife and children lying in a pool of blood. The matter was then reported to the police.

The bodies of Anju and her two children were found at their local residence in Samalkha on the morning of November 9. The police had recovered a suicide note from the crime scene supposedly written by Anju. The suicide note had stated that a woman teacher had accused the HCS officer of having sexually harassed her and this had created tension in the family and there was no other option left for them but to commit suicide.

The woman, who teaches mathematics at a local school, had recently got a case registered against Virender Singh at the Ganaur police station in which she had accused the officer of having sexually exploited her for over four years after promising that he would marry her.

Virender Singh had told the police that his wife had committed suicide after killing both their children. However, inspector-general of police Layak Ram Dabas, who is a maternal uncle of the deceased, had raised several questions on the suicide theory. He had even asked how it was possible that Sherawat did not hear the gunshots fired in the adjacent room.

The sources said till date no case had been registered in the said case. District police chief M.S. Sheoran was not available for comments.

Karnal, November 17
The newly appointed working president of the Karnal Congress, Desraj Gaba, today emphatically said he would not act as a dummy and work effectively to strengthen the party.

“I have been given a free hand and I will make honest efforts to take everyone along,” he added.

Gaba, who is the first Punjabi to become the working president of the Karnal Congress, said his elevation to the party post would definitely strengthen the Congress vote bank, but he would work for welfare of all sections of society.

Eyeing the Punjabi vote bank, Gaba said he would request Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to provide land for the construction of a Punjabi dharamshala in Karnal and assured that the construction work would start immediately after the land allotment.

Announcing the constitution of a five-member Congress grievances cell to listen to the problems of the people and seek their solution, Gaba said it was for the first time that such an initiative had been taken to reach out to the people and share their problems.

“Fighting corruption would be my first priority and any person who has paid bribe to any officer should come to me and take back the money and I will deal with the officer concerned directly,” he said.

Claiming that achievements and performance of the Congress government would be the main poll plank of the party, Gaba said the Congress was very strong in the state and the BJP-INLD alliance and the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) were no threat to the party.

Describing the HJC as the dumping ground for dejected and demoralised politicians, he dubbed the INLD-BJP alliance as opportunistic and unholy, which lacked support even of its on cadres.

The BJP workers had not accepted the alliance, which had been forced upon them, he claimed.

On being asked about the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from the Karnal constituency, Gaba said the matter had been left to the party high command and any candidate decided by the party would get full support.

When his attention was drawn to the recent visit of the party observer to assess the ground situation, Surender Narewal, president of the Karnal District (rural) Congress, who was sitting by his side, said: “We clearly told the observer that sitting Congress MP Arvind Sharma has done so much work in the constituency, which has not been done by any leader in the past 20 years.”

Jhajjar, November 17
A no-confidence motion was passed against municipal council chief Kamla Jangra at a council meeting here today.

Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Satyender Duhan chaired the meeting in which 14 councillors apart from local MLA Hari Ram Balmiki participated.

All councilors along with the MLA exercised their right to vote. Fourteen out of 15 votes polled went in favour of the no-confidence motion and one was cancelled.

Terming the meeting as illegal, Jangra, who was absent at the meeting, told The Tribune that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted a stay on the meeting and a copy of this order was also furnished to the district administration this morning. Despite all this, the meeting was held deliberately just to remove her from the post.

Meanwhile, SDM Satyender Duhan said the copy was sent to the deputy commissioner’s (DC) office in the evening and till than the meeting was over.

“Videography of the meeting has been carried out and all legal formalities have been fulfilled for initiating the proceedings of the no-confidence motion,” Duhan said, adding that the date of no-confidence motion had been fixed earlier and ballot papers were also duly sealed after counting.

The position of MC chief Kamla Jangra had virtually come under threat when 13 of the 19 councillors gave a written undertaking to the district administration on August 27 seeking permission for moving a non-confidence motion. The councillors alleged that the MC chief did not pay any heed to the councillors and residents’ complaints related to the ongoing development works in the city.

Taking action on the demand of the councillors, the district administration had fixed a special meeting on October 15 for the no-confidence motion, but Jangra had succeeded in obtaining a stay on the proceedings of no-confidence motion from the local court.

Thereafter, the district administration had called a special meeting of the council on November 17 for the no-confidence motion.

Chandigarh, November 17
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced the highest ever sugarcane price of Rs 170 per quintal for early maturing varieties, Rs 165 per quintal for mid-maturing varieties and Rs 160 per quintal for late-maturing varieties, giving a bonanza of incentives to more than three lakh sugarcane growers in the state.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided over by the Chief Minister here today to the fix sugarcane prices for the cane crushing season 2008-09.

He said these were the highest prices for sugarcane in the country. Also, the rate was higher by Rs 5 per quintal in respect of early maturing varieties as announced by Punjab a few days ago.

In Uttar Pradesh, the price announced for the early maturing varieties was Rs 145 per quintal and for the late varieties Rs 140 per quintal.

The Chief Minister said it was expected that the prices announced today would give a boost to sugarcane cultivation. The area under sugarcane had reduced from 1.40 lakh hectares in 2007-08 to 94,000 hectares in 2008-09.

During the past two years, the minimum support price of the main alternative crops, paddy and wheat, has been substantially increased by the government from Rs 750 per quintal to Rs 1,000 per quintal in the case of wheat and from Rs 620 per quintal to Rs 775 per quintal in the case of paddy.

Owing to better returns from the paddy-wheat combination as compared to sugarcane, farmers preferred to switch over to these crops resulting in a 33 per cent fall in sugarcane plantation during 2008-09 as compared to 2007-08.

Also, the cost of cultivation of sugarcane has gone up due to the abrupt increase in labour wages, the rental value of agricultural land and the prices of inputs. 

Fatehabad, November 17
The Shakespeare Association is making a film on Hamlet, a classic play of William Shakespeare.

The salient features of the film are that it is being made in the language of Shakespeare and not a translated version of the original play.

The other striking feature of the film is that it will be totally in Indian settings and even the attires of the characters will be Indian.

Prof R.W. Desai, a former head of the English department in the University of Delhi and former president of the Shakespeare Society of India, is producing and directing the film under the aegis of the Shakespeare Association, Kurukshetra, headed by Bhim Singh Dahiya, a former vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University.

Professor Desai’s wife Jyoti Desai, a reader in the English department at Khalsa College, Delhi, is assisting the former don in the production of the film.

The couple was here today in connection with an extension lecture on Shakespeare in the local Manohar Memorial College, Fatehabad.

“The basic aim of the film is to help students of English literature understand the play better and also relate the play with the present-day milieu,” said Desai, while talking to The Tribune.

“The Hamletian moments are faced by everyone of us at some point of time. Nehru faced such moments at the Chinese invasion, Indira Gandhi at the time of imposition of Emergency, Margaret Thatcher at the time of dispute over Falkland Islands and Arjuna at the time of the war of Mahabharata. So the relevance of Hamlet is for all times,” he said.

“We have already completed the first scene of the film and will release it in Delhi in January. The scene is of 15-minute duration while the whole film will be of three-hour duration,” Desai added.

Jyoti Desai disclosed that besides the settings being Indian, the attires would also be local and not of the Elizabethan age.

The cast, too, would be Indian, mostly comprising students and teachers of English literature from Delhi and around.

“All these years Hamlet has been presented before the world in western connotations. It is for the first time that we are presenting the classic with an Indian perspective. No Indian producer has produced the play in Shakespearian language so far. A lot of translations are there. There was a big gap that we have tried to fill,” Professor Desai said.

Professor Desai has been publishing a periodical journal of international acclaim on Hamlet studies for the past 25 years.

Karnal, November 17
Japan will welcome any initiative from the Indian government to air programmes on India on its national media to promote cultural exchange between the two countries,” said Teriyuki Hoshina, director (art and cultural exchange) of the Japan Foundation, today.

Promoting cultural exchange by giving wider exposure to the art and culture of India and Japan would go a long way in further strengthening the Indo-Japan ties, but the Indian government and the ICCR would have to take a lead to give concrete shape to the proposal, Hoshina said, adding that the Japan Foundation had already taken up the matter with the government of India to air Japanese programmes on Doordarshan.

Hoshina, who was here along with Mizuho Hayakwa, first secretary in Embassy of Japan, in connection with a two-day Japanese film festival, said Buddhism originated in India and the two countries had deep religious and cultural ties.

“We have been organising cultural events in Delhi and other metros on regular basis, but this time we decided to reach out to people in other parts of India and hence we chose Karnal as the venue for screening of Japanese films in association with a local NGO, NIFFA,” Hoshina said.

Mizuho disclosed that a quiz competition on Japan would be held in India shortly and the winner of the competition would be given a 10-day free of cost hospitality in Japan.

Sports and cultural activities were the best media for interaction between countries, therefore more transnational platforms like SAARC and Asian Games Federation should be encouraged, she added.

Appreciating the idea of translating Indian Epics and other philosophical books in Japanese and Japanese books in Indian language, she said it would help people of the two countries to understand each other better.

Several popular Japanese films, including “Doraemon and the Little Dinosaurs”, “Record of Youth”, “Carmen’s Pure Love” and “Woman Sanjuro”, were screened during the festival and a joint Indo-Japan exhibition was also organised.

NIFFA president Preet Pal Singh Pannu said organising cultural events across the border was a part of its activities to promote culture. He said the NIFFA had already organised many programmes in association with cultural outfits in the UK, the USA, Mauritius, Japan and Pakistan.

Chandigarh, November 17
If allegations in a writ petition are to be believed, a minister’s relative and the tutor of the municipal commissioner’s child were appointed in the Faridabad Municipal Corporation after an advertisement for filling posts was issued in just one newspaper.

At least two others appointed to the posts of assistant were related to other municipal corporation functionaries. In all, the appointment of five assistants in the corporation are a subject matter of the writ petition, and under the scanner of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Taking up the petition filed by Krishan Kumar of Sonepat district, the high court division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice K. Kannan today issued a notice of motion to the Faridabad Municipal Commission, commissioner R.K. Khullar and the appointees. Khullar is an IAS officer.

Seeking directions for the quashing of their appointments to the posts, petitioner Kumar said the same were not only illegal and void, but also contrary to the spirit of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of the nation.

Giving details, the petitioner contended the corporation issued an advertisement in a newspaper on March 19 for filling the posts. The entire process was not given wide publicity in accordance with the mandate of the settled Supreme Court law.

Kumar’s counsel asserted the petitioner could not apply for the post as the newspaper “was not in circulation in the area where he was putting up”. As he could not apply for the post, he was deprived of the opportunity.

Challenging the appointments, he added respondent assistant Vinod Gulati was a close relative of Haryana minister of urban local bodies A.C. Chaudhary.

Another assistant, Sharisti, was teaching the child of the municipal commissioner at his residence, the petitioner alleged. He added respondent Deepa was the daughter-in-law of Khullar’s personal assistant Ashok Kumar, while Suman was a close relative of administrative officer S.S. Arora.

The petition will now come up for further hearing on March 5 next year, when the respondents will inform the court on their objections to the allegations contained in the petition.

Sirsa, November 17
Changes in the structure, role and jurisdiction of the Press Council of India (PCI) were emphasised in a seminar on challenges and issues being faced by media professionals, media educators as well as students of mass communication held in Chaudhary Devi Lal University here today.

The seminar was organised on the occasion of National Press Day, which was yesterday.

Delivering presidential address on the occasion, Virender Singh Chauhan, chairperson of the mass communication department, said academics as well as working journalists were almost unanimous on the point that the PCI had failed to deliver on several fronts over the years.

Chauhan said as new careers had emerged in the electronic media as well as Internet media, which had flourished after the birth of the PCI, it was high time that leaders of the nation sit together to carve out an alternative or a successor of the PCI.

Interacting with future mediapersons, senior journalist Jaganath Gautam said a reporter or a sub-editor had to work under tremendous stress within the policy framework of their respective organisations.

Countering allegations of diminishing quality of news content in newspapers as well as channels, senior journalist Surender Bhatia said the news media was quite alert and sensitive to the choice and preferences of its readers.

Journalists Gulab Singh, G.S. Mann, Baljit Singh and Amit Tiwari were others who spoke on the occasion.

Rohtak, November 17
A reference library-cum-browsing area was inaugurated at the media centre situated on the premises of the Shriram Sharma Rangshala here yesterday.

It was inaugurated by the chairman of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board and Rohtak MLA, Shadi Lal Batra, on the occasion of Press Day.

Inaugurating the project jointly started by the Rohtak Press Club and the Haryana Union of Journalists (HUJ), Batra lauded the initiative of setting up a reference library and newspaper and magazine reading section at the media centre and described it as a constructive and positive contribution of journalists towards  society.

Batra said the initiative was much needed and it would prove to be a milestone in enriching the general awareness of common people as well as in updating the knowledge of journalists.

Dwelling upon the significance of information, he asserted: “Information and development are interconnected as social as well as economic growth is not possible without information.”

Working president of the HUJ Satvir Singh Sarwari said though it would be a service dedicated to the journalists, the newspaper and magazine reading section would remain open for public also for two hours in the morning.

He said facilities like Internet, computer, telephone and fax were already available and books and other printed material related to journalism would be available in the media centre soon.

Chairman of the Press Club Gian Singh presided over the function attended by the representatives of the electronic and print media.

Kurukshetra, November 17
Following the arrest of four persons, the police claims to have busted a gang of ransom seekers. Two motorcycles, a country-made revolver, two live cartridges, a sword and an iron rod have been recovered from their possession.

Stating this at a press conference here today, district police chief K.V. Ramana said the police had received a tip-off that Sanjeev Kumar, alias Sanju, a dacoit and resident of Marchedi village, along with his three accomplices, riding on two motorcycles, had left for the Indri road near Ladwa.

The police conducted a raid at an under-construction petrol station building on the Indri road near Ladwa where the four were planning another crime and rounded them up.

During interrogation, they were identified as Sanjeev Kumar, alias Sanju, a resident of Marchedi, Ved Pal, alias Vedu, a resident of Bhaini Amirpur in Hisar district, Shiv Kumar, a resident of Neerpura in Uttar Pradesh, and Joginder Singh, alias Kala, a resident of Serdha village in Kaithal district.

They confessed to their crimes during interrogation.

Sanju had been undergoing life imprisonment and was granted parole for seven days on September 22 when his father died, but instead of returning to the jail, he absconded and joined his accomplices.

They were produced in a local court here today. While Sanju, Vedu and Shiv Kumar were remanded in police custody for two days, Joginder Singh was sent to judicial lock-up for 14 days.

Gurgaon, November 17
The local commissioner appointed by the consumer court gave a clean chit to the facilities provided by the builder of the Central Mall here today.

Taking a round of the mall, he said the mall had all facilities according to the Indian standard of living.

The Central Plaza Mall Occupants’ Welfare Association had filed a complaint against the builder that he had taken a huge amount from all owners/occupants as maintenance charges, but has not provided facilities to them.

All members of the association and Prabhudutt Trivedi were present on the spot and kept their views in front of the commissioner.

Members of the association felt that this was not a conclusive finding as senior builders had tried to give a better shape to the facilities of the mall as he knew in advance that the commissioner was coming to inspect the mall today.