Nawanshahr, March 14
The Rahon police has arrested Jarnail Singh and his wife Jaswinder Kaur of Kahlon village for allegedly beating Manjit Singh (20) of the same village to death at their residence on Saturday morning. Their accomplice Paramjit Singh, brother-in-law of Jaswinder Kaur, has absconded. A case under sections 302 and 34, IPC, has been registered against them.

As per the available information, Jarnail Singh and Jaswinder Kaur woke up at about 5 am for milking the buffaloes. But when they saw Manjit Singh in the house, they became furious. Jarnail caught Manjit and tied him with a rope.

They called Paramjit Singh on the phone and attacked him with sticks, screw drivers and sharp-edged weapons. Later, Jarnail Singh reported the matter to the police that they had caught a youth who had trespassed into their house for committing a theft.

SHO Gurvinder Singh, when contacted on the phone, said during preliminary investigations, it came to the light that it was not a case of burglary but of a love affair. Manjit Singh had developed relations with Jarnail Singh’s daughter, who is a class X student.

He had come there to meet her at that time, but her parents saw him there. The police has also taken their mobile phones in custody, said the SHO.

SSP Rakesh Aggarwal also visited the site. 

Jalandhar, March 14
Even two days after an incident in which the Punjab Roadways checking staff had alleged that the conductor of a Ludhiana depot bus had charged just Rs 696 from 43 passengers on travelling from Ludhiana to Shahkot without issuing them proper tickets, action is yet to come.

Punjab Roadways (Jalandhar depot) Inspector Tarlochan Singh is said to have yesterday moved his complaint before the Director, Transport, Chandigarh, regarding the incident. He alleged that bus conductor Mukhtiar Singh did not cooperate with him for conducting the inspection, refused to hand over his waybill and even indulged in a squabble with him.

The inspector said he was coming from Talwan side after a checking and had alighted at the Noormahal grain market chowk. He said he demanded tickets from some passengers alighting the Shahkot-bound bus (PB-10-7249) at the chowk. 

He said that none of the passengers could produce their tickets as they said that although they had paid the due amounts, they were not issued tickets by the conductor.

Tarlochan Singh said he boarded the bus and asked the passengers to show tickets. “Most of them were without tickets despite the fact that they had paid the money. At this, I asked the conductor to show the waybill but he refused to do so. 

I then talked to my seniors and shifted all the passengers to another bus. I took the conductor with me in the same bus to Noormahal police station to get a complaint registered against him,” he narrated the incident.

Noormahal SHO Sukhpal Singh, however, said that he had not lodged any complaint since the matter needed to be handled at the departmental level.

Mukhtiar Singh, on the other hand, is said to have apprised Punjab Roadways General Manager of Ludhiana depot Farooqui of his side of story. Farooqui said the conductor had alleged that the checking staff were deliberately trying to bully him for no fault on his part.

Jalandhar, March 14
The Indian Music Academy (IMA), which has been arranging a string of concerts in Hindustani classical, Carnatic and ghazal, bhajan and Sufi styles of Indian music since 2006, works for the promotion of Indian music and musicians, through the efforts of the musicians themselves.

This was stated by IMA spokesperson Durga Jasraj at a press conference arranged today by the IMA and Shree Baba Harballabh Sangeet Mahasabha to herald the Idea Jalsa Concert at the Devi Talab Mandir here tomorrow. The concert would see performances by flautist Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia and singer Lakhwinder Wadali.

Jasraj said the IMA initiative was inaugurated on February 17, 2006, by then President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Daughter of Pt Jasraj, founder president of the IMA, Durga said the IMA had Lata Mangeshakar and Pt Ravi Shankar as its founder patrons and its key patrons were Javed Akhtar, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt Shivkumar Sharma, Dr Balamurali Krishna, Dr Lagudi Jayram, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Asha Bhonsle, Pyarelalji and Lois Banks.

“This year the IMA launched its television series wherein concerts are aired on DD in the form of an episode every Sunday,” Jasraj said. Taking a pick at the TV reality shows, she said, “You can’t win the Jalsa concerts with an SMS.”

Pt Chaurasia, when questions on reality shows, said, “It’s all drama, a business. ‘Bacchon ko becha ja raha hai’. After the show will someone give them jobs, get them married?”

Talking about the government’s role in the promotion of Indian classical music, Pt Chaurasia said, “It is doing its bit. But I would be really satisfied the day we have at least one minister who could tune the taanpura.” — TNS

Amritsar, March 14
The Gurdaspur District Election Officer today suspended booth officer Baldev Raj Patwari in the Dinanagar assembly segment for negligence and having remained absent from duty, said Deputy Commissioner Neelkanth Avhad, while addressing a meeting of the assistant returning officers, assistant election registration officers and other senior officers of the district.

The meeting was held to review the claims and objections regarding the voters’ identity cards, preparation of the zonal maps, informing the voters about the voting machines, setting up of the additional polling stations and addition of names of those voters who were found missing in the voters’ lists.

Avhad said all the officers concerned would sit in their respective polling stations on March 15 and take steps to include the missing names in the voters’ lists. Besides, supervisors and the police would inspect all the polling stations. 

He said in order to create awareness among the voters, all the assistant returning officers would be allotted 10 voting machines and the officers would ensure that these machines were taken to all the villages and towns in the district.

The DC instructed them that information regarding the poll violations should be submitted to the Additional Deputy Commissioner concerned daily by 4 pm.