Jind, December 31
Mauji Ram (70), brother-in-law of Education and Transport Minister of Haryana Mange Ram Gupta, was found murdered here this morning.

The victim is suspected to have been clubbed to death. He used to live alone in his house in Janata Bazar near the old Anaj Mandi here. The police has registered a case of murder.

According to the police, the victim, who used to run his family finance business, had been left alone after the death of his wife about four months ago. His son, who reportedly stays in Chandigarh, used to visit his father occasionally.

The house in which Mauji Ram used to live is reportedly owned by the Education Minister. Gupta and other relatives of the victim reached the spot after the incident.

The body was found lying on a cot and a wire was found hanging from the victim’s neck and there were blood marks near the mouth.

The incident came to light after a neighbour knocked at the door of the victim’s room around 10 am.

A team of forensic officials visited the spot. The police has sent the viscera for medical examination at Madhuban to ascertain the real cause of the death.

Bhiwani, December 31
Commissioner, Ambala division, Mahender Kumar, who has been appointed inquiry officer to probe the circumstances and events that led to the death of two missing youths, Shiv Kumar and Gajender Singh, will hold an inquiry at Government Senior Secondary School, Kharak, at 12 pm on January 8.

The person (s) concerned or the person (s) who were present at the time of the event or who wants to give any information in this regard can submit his views/opinions before the inquiry officer on the said date.

Information from the person (s) concerned will be obtained at the said place and the process of obtaining witnesses will continue the next day and thereafter so that each witness could be provided sufficient time to submit his views in this regard.

Witnesses can record their verdict on affidavit or orally or in form of photo/CD/film. If any person has any kind of proof regarding the event, he can submit the same while submitting his affidavit or recording his oral statement.

Chandigarh, December 31
A.N. Mathur, Chairman of the Third Haryana State Finance Commission, today presented the final report of the commission to Governor A.R. Kidwai.

Members of the commission, Som Dutt, Rajinder Singh Ballah, Pritam Singh Balhara, Mohan Singh Malik and Hardeep Kumar, IAS, member-secretary, and other officers, D.R. Kairon, Gian Singh and Raj Kumar, also accompanied the chairman.

Mathur said the commission was constituted by the state government to recommend the sharing of state revenue with the rural and urban local bodies and also to suggest measures for the augmentation of their internal resources.

He said the financial devolution of Rs 2540.44 crore recommended for a five-year period from 2006-07 to 2010-11 included Rs 1651.27 crore for panchayati raj institutions and Rs 889.17 crore for urban local bodies.

He clarified that this was over and above the funds already being transferred to these bodies through the state budget.

Mathur said the resource base of the local bodies was poor compared to the vast responsibilities cast on them.

As such these bodies needed larger funds for discharging their constitutional duties of providing minimum acceptable levels of civic amenities.

While framing its scheme of fiscal transfers, the commission kept in view the fiscal capacities of the local bodies and the financial position of the state.

He was hopeful that this financial devolution would be sufficient to meet the expenditure needs of the local bodies.

But at the same time, he also cautioned that the local bodies would need to fully utilise their enabling taxation powers and raising internal resources through their own efforts in order to be able to work as viable and effective units of local governance.

He reiterated that the approach of the commission was guided by the principles of equity and efficiency aiming at providing citizens a comparable standard of services.

However, the distribution criteria adopted by the commission took into account the main indicators of socio-economic backwardness of the local bodies.

Kidwai, while noting the basic contents of the report, observed that the basic objectives of functional and financial autonomy of these bodies had not been achieved in many of the states, including Haryana.

He appreciated efforts of the commission towards making effective recommendations in the desired directions.

Sonepat, December 31
Sandeep, a youth of Hullaheri village, was shot dead by some unidentified persons at the village tempo stand this morning.

After a postmortem in the Civil Hospital here, his body has been handed over to his family members. The police is investigating the case.

According to the victim’s family members, he was asked by someone this morning to come to the tempo stand in the village.

After some time, he was found dead at the stand. He had been shot in the head.

About 10 years ago, Sandeep’s father Ishwar Singh and his cousins Kiran Pal and Krishan were sentenced to imprisonment in a case relating to the beating up of Suresh of the village, who later died.

It is suspected to be a case of enmity between the two families. However, the police is investigating the case.

According to another report, Dhare Singh of Silana village was electrocuted when he, while sitting atop a trolley loaded with wheat husk, touched live electric wires in Bajana village late last night.

His body has been handed over to his family members after a postmortem in the local Civil Hospital.

Sonepat, December 31
With the registration of 24 cases of murder for dowry, 35 cases of rape, 31 cases of molestation and 145 cases of torture for dowry, Sonepat district witnessed an increase of around 13 per cent in cases relating to atrocities against women during 2008 in comparison to the previous year.

However, the police had solved all these cases, claimed Senior Superintendent of Police Navdeep Singh Virk.

The SSP disclosed that the police had recovered stolen or looted property worth over Rs 6.22 crore during the year, which was nearly 8 per cent more than last year. The police registered 11 cases of dacoity, 66 cases of loot and 619 cases of theft during the year.

Stating that 80 cases of murder, 48 cases of attempt to murder and 15 cases of kidnap were registered during this year, the SSP said apart from some cases where the bodies of victims remained unidentified, the police had solved almost all cases.

The major crime cases solved included the arrest of the alleged accused in a case relating to an extortion demand of Rs 12 lakh from Vijay Arora of the local Nandwani Nagar, murder cases of Randhir of Khandrai village, Ram Bhaj of Butana, Satish of Juan, Azad Singh of Gohana, Dharmesh of Bhigan, Jai Bhagwan of Palra, Sandeep of Sardhana, Anil and Joginder of Jathetri and robbery cases in Ghasoli village.

The SSP said the police seized 148 country-made pistols, three revolvers, 139 cartridges, 31 knives and registered cases against 192 persons under the Arms Act.

Besides arresting around 1,000 persons for consuming liquor at public places, the police also seized 1,721 bottles of country liquor, 19 bottles of IMFL, 12.1 kg of charas, 605 gm of opium and 5 gm of smack during the year, he added.