The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Bank robbery: Three held after a year
Tribune News Service

Arms and ammunitions that were recovered from the accused in Fatehgarh Sahib. A Tribune photograph

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 25
The Fatehgarh Sahib police today claimed to have arrested the three accused involved in a year-old robbery of Rs 46 lakh in State Bank of India branch of Khamano.

The accused have been identified as Gurpal Singh alias Bobby, a resident of Bhagwantpura, Ropar, Harpreet Singh alias Haria and Anurag Sandal, both residents of Samrala.

Addressing the press conference, Patiala range DIG Paramjit Singh Gill and Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Kaustubh Sharma said these accused were planning to commit another robbery somewhere near Nanowal village in Khamano on Sunday evening.

The DIG said the accused were wanted in the robbery case of Khamano wherein they took away Rs 46 lakh on October 24 last year from State Bank of India branch of Khamano in Fatehgarh Sahib. They had tied the bank’s peon and staff at gunpoint.

The Maruti van (PB-54-B-3540), in which the accused were sitting, was also seized by the police. Two unidentified men sitting along with them managed to give a slip to the police. The police recovered a 9 mm pistol and five live cartridges from Gurpal Singh, .32 bore pistol and five cartridges from Harpreet Singh and seven cartridges with .32 bore pistol from Anurag Sandal.

They were arrested under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC. They were produced in the court at Fatehgarh Sahib and remanded in police custody till November 27. One of their accomplices, Kulwinder Singh, is still at large.

Anurag, who was also running an academy, has been arrested on the charges of harbouring and providing information to robbers. The police has also seized the white Maruti Zen used for looting the bank.

The police officials said the accused have spent the entire money during the past few months. They had been to Goa and other places where they had spent the money, the cops said.

Nishant first in pharma quiz
Tribune News Service

Banur, November 25
Swami Vivekanand College of Pharmacy organised National Pharmacy Week, where in, a personality development programme was also held.

Consultant and personality development trainer Akash M Gautam addressed the students and gave numerous tips to improve memory and communication skills.

Hitesh Thakur was given the first prize for poster making and slogan writing. Priyanka bagged first prize for paper reading contest. Team of Nishant, Hitesh Thakur, Anant Sharma and Harkirat won first prize for group discussion, while Nishant Salwan stood first in pharma quiz.

Baljit chief of sarpanch panel
Our Correspondent

Bassi Pathana, November 25
Sarpanches of Bassi Pathana and the adjoining villages hold a meeting under the presidentship of Randhir Singh Cheema, former minister at the Block Development Panchyat Office, here today,

to redress the grievances and to avail the benefits of the government schemes for their respective areas.

Sarpanches discussed in detail the problems being faced by them and the harassment at the hands of the government officials. And hence, they unanimously decided to form their panel.

They elected Lakhwinder Singh Sarpanch Mehmoodpur as their patron, Baljit Singh Cheema Guniamajri as the president, Jasbir Kaur Bhateri as the vice-president, Bhupinder Singh Hajipur as the secretary, Baldev Singh Wazidpur as the cashier, Bhagvinder Singh as the press secretary.

Karamjit Kaur, Babla, Sumitra Devi, Amarjit Kaur and Karamjit Kaur were elected as the executive members.

R.S. Cheema said the SAD(B) would extend a helping hand to the newly-formed body and get their grievances redressed.

Placement drive at Rayat

Kharar, November 25
Bank of America did talent scouting on the Rayat and Bahra Institute campus for its openings across India.

At least half a dozen top notch MNCs and firms from banking, insurance and pharmaceutical sectors like ICICI Prudential, IDBI Bank, Barclays Bank, ELI — LILLY, Wipro Technologies etc have thronged Rayat and Bahra campus in the last one week. Today’s massive placement exercise witnessed MBA students thronging the campus for interviews. The interviews are being taken for the position of management trainees with Bank of America, said Gurvinder Singh Bahra, vice chairman, Rayat and Bahra group. — TNS

COURTS

Purchases by Intelligence wing
HC seeks details of security equipment
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
The issue of judges’ phone tapping once again figured in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. After the State of Punjab in a reply to security equipment case simply said the “nature of equipment relates to security/ intelligence gathering”, Justice Ranjit Singh observed in an open court that the possibility of the apparatus being misused could not be ruled out.

The state was at the receiving end as Justice Ranjit Singh termed the information provided to the court by the intelligence wing as vague. Referring to the portion which said there was no record available with the intelligence about the equipment purchased by the other wings, Justice Ranjit Singh said the court wanted to know the details.

The Judge added the names of the officers making the payment for the purchases had been left out. The investigating officer had referred to the names of senior police functionaries M.P.S. Aulakh and S.S. Bhullar, both related to the present state DGP.

The Judge further added the investigating officer, as per the written statement, was a member of the technical committee. As such, the state should specify if he could still continue with the investigations.

The state counsel, meanwhile, said the details were mentioned in a reply. She added the investigating officer was a member of the technical committee, but for one year and had no power to purchase. The case will now come up on December 19, when the state will file a detailed reply.

Justice Ranjit Singh had on September 16 made it clear that the court wanted to know how much was the total equipment purchased by the state for intelligence or other wings, the total value of the apparatus purchased, the nature of equipment and also the officers responsible for making payments for the purchase.

The issue had cropped up during the hearing of a petition filed by Anurag Saxena. He runs a security equipment supply agency and is co-accused in a case registered against Punjab’s former police chief S.S. Virk.

Justice Ranjit Singh had also observed: There are allegations made in the petition that the present investigating officer is facing prosecution. State counsel would also have instructions in case it is possible to change this investigating officer to give a fair look to the investigation that is being conducted.

Saxena is seeking the quashing of the FIR against him. The case against Virk and Saxena has been registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

Bansal allowed to appear in court
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
Main accused in cash-at-judge’s door case Sanjeev Bansal was today allowed to appear before the court by the Bar Council of India. The matter has been adjourned till December 7.

The council had taken back the orders of suspension of his licence on November 17 and has asked him not to appear before any court till November 25.

Acting on Bansal’s plea, the council has stayed further proceedings before a disciplinary committee of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council on November 7.

Bansal was booked after his clerk had erroneously delivered Rs 15 lakh at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur.

Culpable Homicide Case
Doctors summoned, SI’s salary attached
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
Additional District and Sessions Judge S.K. Aggarwal today summoned the PGI’s medical superintendent and the medical superintendent of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, for producing documents in an attempt to commit culpable homicide case. The court has also attached the salary of a sub-inspector as he failed to depose before the court today.

The case was registered on a complaint lodged by Subash Sahni, who alleged that accused Bhupinder Singh had beaten him up in Sector-19 Sadar Bazar in n 2004. A case under Section 308 of the IPC was registered against the accused.

The doctors who had treated the victim were summoned. But, they also failed to appear before the court. Rahul, a neurosurgeon in PGI, who sought adjournment, was not found to be practicing in the hospital on the next date of hearing. He was also not available on the alternate address provided to them. The court also summoned Sukhraj Singh, who was the emergency medical officer at GMCH-32 when the victim was admitted to the hospital. He also didn’t appear before the court, as he was not practicing in the hospital.

The court has summoned the medical superintendent so that they can produce medical records of the victim. While the court had asked SI to service the summons but he did not depose before the court thus his salary was attached.

CRIME

Threatening Letter
Convicts brought to city
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
Rinku Swami and Ravi Tomar, accused in the case of posting a threatening letter to the managing director of the Chandigarh Clinical Laboratories, Sector 16, for Rs 5-lakh random, were brought here today on production warrant.

During interrogation, the duo, currently serving life imprisonment in a Saharanput jail, had confessed to posting the letter to Ravi Khanna.

This was done by them to remain in Saharanpur jail as the life imprisonment convicts were sent to the Agra jail in UP. While Rinku belongs to Saharanpur, Ravi hails from Muzaffarnagar, the police said.

With a view to avoiding going to the Agra jail, they thought of sending a letter to Khanna at whose diagnostic centre Rinku worked several years ago.

Three cars stolen from city
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
Three cars have been stolen from various parts of the city during the past four days. Iqbal Nath of Sector 8-C reported that his Maruti car (CH-01-U-2683) was stolen from his residence on November 21. Similarly, Revecca Joseph of Sector 38-West reported that his Maruti car (CH-03-2942) was stolen form Shashtri Market, Sector-22, on November 22.

In another incident, Jaysan Kharbanda of Sector 27-C reported that his Maruti car (CH-01-K-0751) was stolen from Mani Majra on Monday. Three cases of thefts have been registered in this connection.

House burgled

Budh Ram of Phase-II, Ram Darbar, reported that a gold pandal, a silver pajaib, a gas cylinder, suits and utensils were stolen from his residence on November 21 after breaking open locks. He was out of station, when the incident took place.

A case has been registered.

SPORTS

Rohana’s squad romp home in Pro-Am event
Our Golf Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 25
Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka led his team to victory logging 55.3 points in the Pro-Am event of the HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open on the par 72 greens of the Panchkula Golf Club today.

Ranked 43rd in the PGTI’s Order of Merit, Rohana’s team comprised amateurs Manpal Singh, Col Harpreet and Zubin Nijhawan.

Randhir Singh Ghotra of Chandigarh and his amateur brigade of R.S. Varma, Col Karnail Singh and Bhupinder Cheema finished a close second scoring 55.6 points.

The Pro-Am gave event gave the amateur golfers from Panchkula and Chandigarh an opportunity to play alongside some of the top professional golfers in the country.

The event was played in the team scramble format in which the team’s best ball was chosen on every shot, including the putting green.

After the best ball was chosen, all other players were to place their ball within one score card length before continuing play. This rule was applicable on the putting green as well. A minimum of three drives of every player were taken into account for the team prize.

The prize for the closest shot to the pin on hole No. 13 was won by local lad Zubin Nijhawan (5 feet 3 inches). The prize for the closest shot to the pin on hole no. 17 was bagged by Maj-Gen. B S Rathee (5 feet 10 inches).

Zubin Nijhawan produced a drive of 268 yards on hole No. 8 to win the longest drive contest.

Dr K.P. Singh emerged victorious in the straightest drive contest on hole No. 5. His shot was one feet and 2.5 inches away from the centre of the fairway.

Basketball
Pbi varsity sneak past MDU
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25
In a nail biting match, Punjabi University, Patiala, prevailed over mighty rivals MD University, Rohtak, 78-75 in a quarterfinal match on the third day of the North Zone Inter-University Basketball (Men) Championship held at Panjab University grounds here today.

Though Sandeep (29 points) of MDU was the highest scorer of the match, he couldn’t change the fate of his team.

His teammates, Narinder (17 points) and Vishal (8 points), were the other key scorers for the team. However, it was Ramanpreet (25 points) of Punjabi University who scored at regular intervals to take his team to victory. Rupinder 19 (points) and Jagwinder (6 points) were the other cagers to contribute for their team.

In another quarterfinal, Kurukshetra University beat Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 77-56. Jatin (15 points), Mohit (12) and Pawan (8) were the star performers for KU.

Hosts Panjab University, Chandigarh, had a good day today as they eased past Dr BR Ambedkar University, Agra, 57-23. Wasim (13 points), Gurbaz Singh (10) and Abhit (9) were the key scorers for PU.

While spirited Delhi University, Delhi, had no problem beating GND University, Amritsar, 89-69.

Raul and Gurvinder with 24 and 20 points, respectively, fashioned DU win. Pravin too contribution with 17 points.

Pre-quarterfinal results: Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, b Kumaun University, Nainital, 48-29; Delhi University, Delhi, b PTU, Jalandhar, 74-45; MD University, Rohtak, b Lovely University, Phagwara, 61-31; Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Agra, b M.J.P. Rohilkhand, Bareilly, 48-22.

Punjabi University, Patiala, Delhi University, Delhi, Kurukshetra University and Panjab University, Chandigarh, registered their berth for league matches, which will be played on tomorrow.

At 11, city golfer comes of age
Donald Banerjee

Chandigarh, November 25
Feroz Singh Garewal is barely 11 but has already made a mark for himself in the national subjunior golf circuit. A class-VI student of Chandigarh’s St Kabir School, Feroz is just back after clinching the under-12 title in the Western India Junior/Subjunior Golf Championship that concluded in Pune on Friday.

The fast Pune greens brought out the best in the junior golfer, as he improved upon his performance every day to finish five strokes ahead of his nearest rival to clinch the under-12 title in style.

He started with an eight over card of 79 on the first day. But once he had a feel of the fast greens, he came back with three birdies on the second day for a three over par 74 card.

He repeated the three over card on the penultimate day, sinking five birdies in the process to move to the top of the leader board.

There was no looking back for Feroz, as he gave yet another fine performance on the final day, a four over par 75, to clinch the title by a comfortable margin of five strokes.

His performance this year reflects the coaching he has received from national coach Jessie Grewal, who has honed his skills ever since he took to the game around three years ago.

He was fourth in the national ranking in the under-10 category last year. This year, he has gone into the under-12 category and is all set to improve upon his ranking in this age group.

He is already leading in the Albatrosss Junior Golf and is expected to seal the order of merit for 2008 in the last tournament of the year to be held at the Golden Greens in Gurgaon on December 4 and 5.

The final battle for the under-12 title will take him to Kolkata where the Eastern Indian and All-India Juniors will be held in the last week of December.

Feroz also participated in the US Kids World Golf Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA, in July, 2008, where he played rounds of six over, four over and one over finishing 40th in the world championship for juniors.

Stage set for National School Games
Gagan K. Teja
Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 25
The town is all set to host the National School Games, starting tomorrow, in which around 3,000 players from all over the country will take part. The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) is organising the games, which will continue till December 1.

The event, with a budget of around Rs 28 lakh, will see competitions in four disciplines i.e. basketball (under-17), judo (under-14, 17 and 19), weightlifting (under-17 and 19) and hockey (under-19) for both boys and girls.

The event will be inaugurated at Yadavindra Stadium at 11 am.

Students drawn from various city schools will take part in a cultural programme to mark the beginning of the games. Participants from 21 states had already reached the city by this evening.

DPI (schools), Punjab, Harcharan Kaur Brar said 15 teams consisting of 300 organisers had been set up to look into the various arrangements.

She said: “We have tried to provide all necessary facilities to the students. Students have been accommodated in different schools. Adequate lavatories and drinking water facilities are being provided.”

The schools housing the players have been directed to provide them with all necessary facilities. Blankets and quilts have also been provided, she added.

The organisers have given cylinders and raw material to teams willing to cook their own food. For others, a common mess has been constituted.

The DPI said the deputy commissioner and other officials had ensured full support to the event organisers. Transparency in results would be ensured, she added.

Deputy director (sports) Kulraj Kaur Randhawa, who is looking after the arrangements, said the event was expected to draw huge crowds.

Warm welcome for gymnast
Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 25
Students of MM Modi College, Patiala, continue to bring laurels in the field of sports. The college has already created a name for itself by winning titles in various inter-college tournaments held recently.

Many players from this college have done wonders for the state and the country in the past. Meenakshi, a gymnast, is one such name.

Meenakshi was accorded a warm welcome here today on her return from Doha (Qatar) where she represented India in the 4th Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championship from November 15 to 18.

Nishant Singh, lecturer of physical education, said though she could not win a medal, participation in itself was a big achievement. She stood 16th out of 52 players. Meenakshi was happy with her performance.

She said: “Though I could not win a medal, I would ensure that there is no missing the medal the next time. I will give it my best shot the next time and do the country proud.”

Meenakshi had won two gold, two silvers and two bronze medals at the 48th Senior National Artistic Gymnastics held at Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) from January 22 to 26.

She got six gold medals at the Women National Artistic Gymnastics Championship held at Jalandhar (Punjab) on February 14 to 18.

She got her training from Dr Kalpana Debnath of the NIS, Patiala, an Arjuna awardee.

College principal Dr Satish Kumar Bhardwaj appreciated the achievements of Meenakshi and congratulated her.

He also praised Prof Nishan Singh and Swarnjit Kaur, both teachers, for their commitment.

The college has won nine Punjabi University Inter-College Championships and got second positions in nine Games.