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Beats up undertrial Nepali
Saipuria at it again
Jalandhar, March 28
Even though he has been shifted to three jails for his notorious activities, criminal Gurmel Singh, alias Raj Kumar, alias Raja Saipuria, fails to mend his ways.

Poll Bol
Sidhu talks of development, performance
Amritsar, March 28
BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu has announced to seek re-election from the Amritsar parliamentary constituency on the “development and performance” agenda.

NRIs to support Cong
Hoshiarpur, March 28
NRIs of Punjab residing in various countries would support the Congress candidates in all the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state in the coming elections.

Picture may change soon, says expert
Jalandhar, March 28
Prominent economists and sociologists of Punjab delved on major social, political and economic issues concerning the state, owing to the influx of migrant labour, at a seminar organised by the Punjab Centre for Migration Studies, Lyallpur Khalsa College, here today.

No headway in cop murder case
Jalandhar, March 28
While the district police has failed to make any headway in the murder of head constable Bhupinder Singh posted with the 27th battalion of the PAP, a man was found murdered at Ishapur Colony, near Urban Estate Colony, here today.

One killed
Nawanshahr, March 28
Harjit Singh of Daulatpur village was killed when he fell from his scooter after colliding with a cycle on the Jadla-Rahon road here on Friday. Cyclist Avtar Singh of Thathiala village received injuries. He was admitted to a private hospital. — OC

	Twin gang of car-lifters busted l Luxury cars were targeted l While one of the gangs lifted parked cars by breaking open locks, the other forcibly looted them at gunpoint l Cars were hurriedly sold even for a pittance l Were deft at managing papers and RCs Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 28 The Jalandhar police today claimed to have arrested five persons of a twin gang of luxury and other car lifters. Eleven cars, three toy guns, two .32-bore pistols, car lock-breaking devices and red and blue beacons were recovered from them. Though the two gangs had different modus operandi and worked separately, they had a common middleman - Ranjit Singh from Sirhali (now in police custody) - who used to sell off the cars in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Punjab. While one of the gangs lifted parked cars by breaking open the locks, the other was engaged in forcibly looting cars at gunpoint by stopping them at isolated stretches of highways, asking for lift. Making these revelations, SSP R.K. Jaiswal said the robbery-prone stretches included Phagwara to Behram, Bidhipur crossing and Chugitti areas. The recovered cars include one Skoda Octavia that was looted across Phagwara, four Innovas, three Tata Indigos and two Tata Indicas. He said since it had become a bit difficult to break locks of luxury cars, the gangsters found it easier to loot them at gunpoint. The SSP said the number plates of all cars had been changed. He added that they were also deft at managing the paper work of cars and preparing fake RCs. He said one of the gangsters, Raju, who is still at large, has a huge network for selling off stolen cars. “In just five minutes’ time, these men were able to find a good number of buyers and they would hurriedly sell these off even for a pittance. An Innova car was being sold by them for barely Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh,” he disclosed, adding that he expected recovery of at least 10 more cars soon. The SSP said the gangsters were apprehended from near Kala Bakra village on Pathankot Road. “While five of them were arrested, the rest fled,” he said, adding that these men had no connection with the recent car recovery case in Kartarpur, for that was regarding a bank fraud case. The five men arrested are Manjit Singh of Ram Dass village, Amritsar, Satwinder Singh of Gopal Nagar, Amritsar, Ranjit Singh of Sarhali, Aftab Ahmed of Srinagar and Rakesh Kumar of Maqsudan, Jalandhar. Those still at large are Gurpreet Singh of Jandiala Guru, Amritsar, Amandeep of Bhikhiwind, Ashu of Faridkot, Balwinder Singh of Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar, and Gurmit Singh of Jandiala Guru.
	Beats up undertrial Nepali Saipuria at it again Dharmendra Joshi/TNS Jalandhar, March 28 Even though he has been shifted to three jails for his notorious activities, criminal Gurmel Singh, alias Raj Kumar, alias Raja Saipuria, fails to mend his ways. When he was brought to Jalandhar courts from Ferozepore jail for his appearance in a criminal case on Saturday, he started beating up undertrial a Nepali, who was also brought here from Ludhiana jail for his appearance in a case. Both the gangsters reportedly had some old enmity. On seeing each other, they started beating up each other. The police parties accompanying them intervened and separated them. When contacted, police station No 4 SHO Nirmal Singh said an FIR had been registered against them under sections 224, 511, 323 and 160 of the IPC in this regard. A resident of Dada Colony in Jalandhar, Saipuria was nabbed by the Jalandhar police on December 9, 2007, from Chintpurni. He is facing trial in at least five criminal cases, three of them related with attempt to murder. Earlier, he was lodged in Jalandhar Central Jail but was later shifted to Kapurthala District Jail to avoid any violence in Jalandhar jail. Even in Kapurthala, he did not stop fighting with other prisoners. Two groups, led by Raja Saipuria and Gurmel Singh clashed on September 20 last year. As a result, he was shifted to Ferozepore jail on September 25, 2008.
	Poll Bol Sidhu talks of development, performance Sanjay Bumbroo/TNS Amritsar, March 28 BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu has announced to seek re-election from the Amritsar parliamentary constituency on the “development and performance” agenda. Congress nominee for the seat O.P. Soni has never raised his voice for the development of the holy city during his three consecutive terms as MLA. Stating this to mediapersons here today, Sidhu said only Rs 13 crore was sanctioned by the Congress to the Amritsar Municipal Corporation during the Capt Amarinder Singh rule, whereas he had been instrumental in bringing about Rs 300 crore for development after the formation of the SAD-BJP government two years ago. Expressing his surprise over Soni’s statement that there was need for raising the issues of the people in the Assembly or Parliament, Sidhu said raising the voice of the electorate was the primary role of the elected representatives. He said the Congress leader never raised his voice for the extension of freight corridor to Amritsar from Ludhiana. He said whatever projects, including four-laning of the Amritsar-Jalandhar GT Road, opening of the Indo-Pak trade and getting the Amritsar-Hardwar train started, were sanctioned after he raised voice in Parliament. Besides, he had been instrumental in getting Rs 316 crore sanctioned under the National Urban Renewal Mission during the past two years. He said another Rs 120 crore was in the pipeline for the construction of roads in the region. Appreciating the announcement of Soni to work for major industries in the border region, Sidhu said Soni had done nothing to save the textile industry.
	NRIs to support Cong Hoshiarpur, March 28 NRIs of Punjab residing in various countries would support the Congress candidates in all the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state in the coming elections. It was claimed by Indian Overseas Congress President Bhagwan Dass Badhan, who hailed from Nangal Maroof village in the district. Presently doing business in the UK, he was campaigning here in favour of Congress candidate Santosh Chaudhary. He along with NRIs Rajinder Singh of Maksudhan village, Jagtar Singh Panesar of Phagwara and Sohal Lal of Hoshiarpur, was intensively touring all the parliamentary constituencies of the state to persuade the friends and relatives to ensure the victory of the Congress candidate. — OC
	Picture may change soon, says expert Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 28 Prominent economists and sociologists of Punjab delved on major social, political and economic issues concerning the state, owing to the influx of migrant labour, at a seminar organised by the Punjab Centre for Migration Studies, Lyallpur Khalsa College, here today. In the opening lecture, former Registrar of Guru Nanak Dev University R.S. Bawa quoted a 2001 research saying that Punjab was being inhabited by nearly 17.5 lakh migrant labourers. Popular novelist Jaswant Singh Kanwal read out a poem highlighting the changes in the cultural set-up coming due to immigrants. Prof Sucha Singh Gill of Punjabi University talked about emerging issues such as role of migrants as voters in elections and Punjab’s fragile balance of Hindu-Sikh cultural and religious identities. Dr Gurmeet Singh Sidhu from the same university raised questions about the political weight that they might soon start asserting in city and state politics. “Though at present, there is a little influence, the picture may soon change. We may see a lobby of migrants ultimately taking power in their hands,” he said. Prof Manjit Singh of the Sociology Department of Panjab University discussed issues concerning migrants such as non-payment of wages, exploitation of contract labour, unsocial hours of work, unsafe working conditions, ramshackle dwellings, little assistance from officials in cases of dispute, general exclusion from Punjabi social life and cases of physical or social exploitation of women and children. Dr Ram Singh of the Department of Farm Management, Jalandhar, put the total annual income of migrants at Rs 2,780.74 crore. He said of these earnings they were remitting around Rs 1,499 crore to their families in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
	No headway in cop murder case Jalandhar, March 28 While the district police has failed to make any headway in the murder of head constable Bhupinder Singh posted with the 27th battalion of the PAP, a man was found murdered at Ishapur Colony, near Urban Estate Colony, here today. The man was identified as Parkash of Nepal. He worked as a labourer at a house in Housing Board Colony. His mobile phone and cycle were missing. An FIR against unidentified person has been registered. SSP R.K. Jaiswal himself investigated into the Bhupinder Singh murder case today. While he could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, Jalandhar cantonment SHO Dharmapal said no headway could be made in the case. — TNS