Jalandhar, April 8
The SAD councillor from ward number 55, Aruna Arora, and her husband Manoj Arora rejoined the Congress in the presence of PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee, party’s candidate for Jalandhar (SC reserved) parliamentary seat, here today.

Giving reasons for his decision of leaving SAD, Manoj said they had thought they would develop the areas falling under ward number 55 but no one cared for them in the SAD. Welcoming his comeback, Kaypee said his electioneering would get a boost with these people coming back to the Congress fold.

Bhikhiwind (Tarn Taran), April 8
With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the workers of the ruling SAD of this border area are up in arms against the SAD MLA of the neighbouring constituency Prof. Virsa Singh Valtoha over a minor issue of damage done to a street drain. A criminal case registered by the Valtoha police against one Naunihal Singh and about more than thirty other persons of Algon Kothi village has become a bone of contention between the two parties.

The case was registered on the complaint of Suresh Kumar, the village sarpanch, who alleged that the accused had damaged the village drain made by the panchayat. Naunihal, an eminent SAD leader, is the real younger brother of a slain SAD leader Gurdial Singh who was gunned down in 2002 soon after the then Capt. Amarinder Singh government came into power.

The SAD workers, holding a meeting at this township today, were addressed to, by Khushwinder Singh Bhatia and Hardayal Singh Sursing, both members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and other known workers of the ruling SAD. The speakers alleged that the criminal case was registered at the behest of the SAD MLA of the neighbouring constituency.

The speakers said they have brought the matter to the party high command and have demanded the cancellation of the case.However, Prof. Valtoha, when contacted, refuted all the allegations and said he has nothing to do in registering this case. He said it is the Election Commission who rules in the state and no officer is ready to take a risk at this critical period.

Jalandhar, April 8
With the shifting of loyalties of two Akali councillors to the Congress, the Opposition is slowly becoming a strong force in the MC House.

The Congress has managed to raise its initial score from 19 to 22 in the recent past. While the first victory came to it in the bypoll of ward number 41 after the demise of Harbhajan Takhar when the BJP seat went to Congress candidate Iqbal Gill.

Councillors Aruna Arora from ward 55 and Paramjit Jassal from ward 1 joining the Congress have brought down the SAD scale to 15 while the BJP is now represented by 18 members. Ward number 6 lies with the BSP while there are five Independent candidates as well.

There is a further threat to the ruling alliance, especially the SAD, as there have been reports of SAD councilors Narinder Kaur of ward no 54, Jaswinder Billa of ward no 56 and Nirmal Singh of ward no 8 joining with the Congress.

Narinder Kaur had joined Congress days before the MC polls. Aruna Arora’s husband Manoj Arora too and Jaswinder Billa were said to be staunch Kaypee’s loyalists before they took the SAD cover. The incidents have set a commotion within the SAD circle in the MC House. The blame game too has begun with the Akalis pointing fingers on the senior party leaders of the House.

Gurdaspur, April 8
The police has claimed to solve a blind murder case of taxi driver Gurmukh Singh by arresting two persons in this connection.

Giving details to the media here today, SP (Headquarters) Charanjit Singh said two accused, identified as Baldev Singh of Talwandi Bakhta and Parveen Kumar of R.S. Pura in Jammu and presently residing at Shimla Mohalla Batala, had admitted to the crime.

According to the SP, Gurmukh, resident of Sohal village, left his house on March 15 to take two passengers to Delhi. However, when he did not return, his father Gurdial Singh lodged a complaint about the missing son on March 22.

The body of Gurmukh was recovered on March 23 from an area near Beas falling under the Dilwan police station while his vehicle Scorpio was recovered from the parking of Sangam Cinema in Amritsar. Subsequently, a case under section 364/34 and 302 of the IPC was registered.

Charanjit said during investigation the accused confessed that they had consumed liquor along with Gurmukh at Batala and when they came to know that the deceased was carrying Rs 18,000 with him, the two decided to kill him.

The SP said the accused mixed some intoxicant in the juice before serving it to Gurmukh, after which he was unable to drive the SUV. Then they asked him to shift to the rear seat following which Sonu strangulated him with his undershirt while on the way to Sri Hargobindpur and took away the money, the officer added.

The SP said after executing the plan, they threw the body into Beas and parked the vehicle in the parking area of the cinema theatre the next day. During investigation it was also revealed that the three had also visited Gurmukh’s relatives before moving on to Sri Hargobindpur, he added.

He said Praveen had a dubious past as he molested gullible woman on the pretext of black magic and was involved in a criminal case over some property dispute.

Hoshiarpur, April 8
The untimely rains have been giving sleepless nights to not only farmers in the district but also to the Agriculture Department.

After a dry weather yesterday, the district today again experienced intermittent rainfall.

Farmer Mehnga Singh of Bohan village told this correspondent here today that sunshine was required before reaping the standing rabi crops, including wheat, oil seeds, etc. But the uncertain weather and untimely rains these days would delay the harvesting of wheat and oil seeds.

These conditions have been causing worry to the farmers, annual income of whom had been lying in the fields. They are helpless and praying to the God to clear the weather to avoid any loss to them.

The Chief Agriculture Officer, Sutantar Kumar Airi, claimed that though the untimely rains were posing serious threat to the farmers, but no damage to the standing crops had been reported from any corner of the district so far.

Airi apprehended that in case the present state of affairs were continued, there was every likelihood of breaking out of karnal blunt disease in the standing wheat crop. The disease would not only change the colour of wheat grain but would also reduce its food and market value which is a direct loss to the farmers.

Moreover the affected grain would not be re-sown again.

Meanwhile, the District Magistrate, N.K. Wadhawan, has imposed ban on the harvesting of wheat through combines from 6 pm to 8 am throughout the district. He has also banned the burning of wheat stubble in the fields. Jalandhar: The city also witnessed heavy spells of rain since morning.

Amritsar, April 8
The Income Tax Department in order to collect income tax arrears from the Amritsar Improvement Trust has instructed the banks to freeze its accounts and block the amount as payment of taxes.

The Chief Commissioner, IT, Amritsar region, Sunil Chopra, talking to mediapersons here today said that they were keeping a close watch on the profits made by the trust during the course of developing residential colonies and commercial areas.

He said the arrears amounted to several crores and the department had issued notices to the trust to clear the payment at the earliest.

A source in the trust told The Tribune that the trust was a part of the Local Bodies Department of the state government and were exempted from the payment of taxes under section 12 A and were providing infrastructure without the motive of profits. He said they were in correspondence with the department to give them the required approvals and exemptions to carry on the work as a department of the government.

Chopra said in view of the several complaints against charitable organisations, registered societies and trusts of siphoning of funds, the department was keeping a close vigil to review their functioning. He said strict action would be taken against such organisations in case of gross violation under the Income Tax Act and exemptions would be withdrawn.

Jalandhar, April 8
The Jalandhar wing of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has caught a Food and Supplies Inspector for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2,500.

Vigilance SSP S.S. Mand said Arun Kapoor, an inspector posted in Begowal, was caught while accepting bribe from Jasbir Singh, a resident of Begowal, in his office.

In his complaint to the VB, Jasbir alleged that Kapoor was demanding a bribe of Rs 3,000 for the issuance of a duplicate ration card which the complainant had been seeking from the office of the Food and Supplies Department after he lost his original card.

After filing a complaint with the VB, the complainant approached the Inspector along with a VB team, led by DSP Tarsem Singh. As the deal struck at Rs 2,500, the VB men caught Kapoor while he was accepting the gratification money.