Jalandhar, May 21
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal has said they will demand a special package for Punjab from the new UPA government.

The Deputy CM, who was in the city here today, said he would call on the PM once the government was installed. He also congratulated PM designate Manmohan Singh on the latter’s victory.

He said they had been pressing for the package since the state was landlocked and shared a long border with Pakistan. Successive regimes had ignored this vital fact but ground realities justified such a package for the people of the state.

The economic condition of the state had also taken a beating since the neighbouring states had been given special tax exemptions, following which the Punjab industry had taken flight. A package would reverse the trend and also ensure more economic growth in the state, he pointed out.

Commenting on the results of the parliamentary polls, he said a high-powered team had been constituted to look into every aspect of the losses suffered by the SAD-BJP alliance. The team would look into the polling percentage at the booth level to identify the areas where they had lagged behind the Congress. The committee would submit its report in the coming days.

Badal said in about 15-20 assembly segments they had trailed behind their adversary by very small margins. Efforts were afoot to overcome the shortcomings and the party top brass would discuss all such aspects threadbare, he said.

On which assembly seat would he be contesting, he said it was up to the party to decide. He also chose to ignore queries on his elevation as the CM in the coming days.

The SAD chief also kept mum on the statement made by state BJP chief Rajinder Bhandari that the urban voters were not happy with the alliance and had voted against the government candidates.

However, he added that they shared a strong bond with the BJP and would continue to work for the prosperity of the state. “We will also sit and hold discussions with our alliance partner in this context,” he added.

Hoshiarpur, May 21
The district police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of dacoits with the arrest of its three members.

SP (D) Sushial Kumar said here that on a tip-off a special naka was put up near the local railway crossing T-point last evening. During checking the police arrested three occupants of a Maruti car (HP-49B-1933) who were identified as Chandan Kumar, son of Mohan Lal of Mugowal (Mahilpur), Pardeep Kumar, alias Bunty, son of Sudarshan Kumar of Manakpur Devi Labh under Pinjore police station and Tejinder Kumar, alias Sunny, son of Jagdish Chand of Rozipur (Panchkula).

The trio after assaulting Jagdish Lal, son of Dwarka Dass of local Sukhdev Nagar, had allegedly snatched Rs 2 lakh from him at Bassi Khawaju here on May 2 for which an FIR under sections 382, 482, 323 and 34 of the IPC was registered in Model Town police station on May 3.

All the accused were members of the inter-state gang. Their preliminary interrogation revealed that they had also looted Rs 2.20 lakh from a trader of Nawanshahar, Rakesh Kumar, son of Madan Lal, at Garhshankar on March 25, 2009.

The SP (D) said it was further revealed that Chandan Kumar was an employee of Mahavir Karyana Store, Mahilpur. He used to watch the activities of all those traders who generally visited the shop to collect payments of their goods and got them identified to other members of his gang who after chasing them, robbed at an isolated place.

They used to steal a car and after placing a fake number plate on it, used it in committing the crime and later abandoned it to mislead the police. Two separate cases of theft of cars had been registered against them at Mani Mazara police station in this connection and one stolen car was recovered from them.

Three other members of the gang, including its kingpin Satnam Singh, alias Satta, were still at large.

Hoshiarpur, May 21
Jot Sarup Singh, a student of the local Saint Joseph Convent School has secured the first position in the district in the Class X ICSE examination, the results of which were declared yesterday. An IIT aspirant, he has secured 95.61 per cent marks out of 700. He had got 100 per cent marks in environmental education, mathematics and computer, 88 in English, 90 in Punjabi, 95 in history, civics and geography and 96 in science.

The father and the mother of Jot Sarup Singh are in judicial services.

Hoshiarpur, May 21
Acting on a tip-off, the district police today nabbed two motorcyclists and seized 4 kg of opium from them at a special checkpost erected at the Khanura canal bridge.

According to SP (D) Sushil Kumar, a special checkpost had been erected at the Khanura canal bridge in Mehtiana police station. During checking the police signalled to stop a Hero Honda motorcycle (PB-08-BD-8039) and seized 4 kg of opium packed in a gunny bag from its occupants who were identified as Pavitar Singh, son of Onkar Singh of Semi village (Jalandhar), and Talwinder Singh, son of Gurbachan Singh of Guru Nanak Nagar, Nakodar. Both the accused were booked under sections 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

Amritsar, May 21
The police has booked a jeweller and his wife for allegedly defrauding Ranjit Singh of New Tej Nagar, Sultanwind Road, here.

Accused Musha and his wife Sujata, residents of Habibpura, Kot Baba Deep Singh Nagar, were booked under sections 406, 420 and 120-B, IPC.

Ranjit Singh in his complaint stated that he had given more than 400 gm of gold to the accused for making gold ornaments on April 25. However, they made the ornaments of only 216 gm while they embezzled the remaining quantity of gold worth Rs 1.50 lakh. According to police authorities, no arrest has been made so far as the accused have absconded.