Gurdaspur, June 20
In a significant development, which has snowballed into a major controversy, two persons were elected as Managing Director (MD) of the Gurdaspur Central Cooperative Bank Limited, in two different elections held here today.

While Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon, son of speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, was elected the MD by a section of directors in a meeting held in the premises of the bank, located in the Sadar Bazaar area of the town, the other section of directors elected Mohinder Pal Singh Kaunta, nephew of Pritam Singh Kaunta, chairman, Sugarfed, Punjab, by holding a meeting outside the gate of the bank.

Mohinder Pal Singh Kaunta, while talking to The Tribune, alleged that six directors, out of the total nine directors of the bank, were not allowed to go inside the bank premises to participate in the election process.

The doors of the bank were locked on the inside by vested interests and hence they were left with no other option, they decided to hold a meeting outside the bank to elect him (Kaunta) as the MD of the bank.

He claimed that the six directors who had elected him as MD were Vijay Partap Puri, Shingara Singh, Thakur Rajinder Singh, Jasbir Singh, Inderjit Singh and himself.

He added that the proceedings of the meeting were recorded in a register and other procedures had also been followed in the proper manner.

On the other hand, Sarbjit Singh, district manager of the bank, said only those directors could participate in the meeting who came into the bank premises at the right time fixed for the same.

He added that Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon was elected MD of the bank by directors namely Balwinder Singh Nabha, Gurdeep Singh Kahlon, Devinder Singh, assistant registrar and Ravi Karan Kahlon himself.

Sarabjit Singh also named Shingara Singh among the directors who selected Kahlon, though sources said Sarabjit was making false claims.

He claimed that as Vijay Partap Puri had been suspended from the directorship by joint registrar of cooperative societies, Mohinder Pal Singh Kaunta and Inderjit Singh had already resigned from the post of director and the fourth director Thakur Rajinder Singh had ceased to be a director of the bank as he was a defaulter, so they could not participate in the meeting to elect the MD. Hence, the election of Mohinder Pal Singh Kaunta as MD was invalid, he added.

However, the six directors, who held a meeting outside the gate of the bank and raised slogans against Sarbjit Singh for his ‘role’ in the election process, asked him that when they were not directors of the bank why had they been issued notice of the meeting and given agenda for the same.

Sarbjit Singh, when asked why these persons were issued notices to participate in the meeting, could not give any answer to it.

Meanwhile, Kaunta said a complaint had been moved against Sarbjit Singh to the police authorities for misbehaving with the directors and causing harassment to the public, which had come to the bank for routine transactions.

Amritsar, June 20
A baby through soft in-vetro fertilisation (IVF) was born at a private hospital here. “This is probably the first baby born through the technique in the northern region as earlier no other institute had ever claimed about the successful use of the soft IVF technique,” said Dr S.S. Chawla of Satjot Human Reproduction and Research Centre.

Dr Chawla said the new technique is cost effective and less stressful way to conceive. He said standard procedure being very costly, negligibly small percentage of infertile couples have its access. But the new method will reduce cost of procedure and hence benefit more couples.

Explaining the technique, Dr Chawla said the soft IVF differs from the standard technique only at the first step as the women have to come to the hospital only for four to five days as compare to 25 days in the standard technique.

He said the limited use of drugs almost eliminates serious complications of ovarian hyper stimulation. The lesser use of drugs is beneficial for both mother and child. Older women are particularly benefited because their ovaries do not respond well to high drug stimulation.

Amritsar, June 20
A murder case was finally registered after the death of Deepak Mangla two and half years ago in the hostel of Government Medical College here in February, 2007.

Based on the enquiry, the police found that Mangla, a resident of Mansa district, was poisoned to death.

However, many eyebrows are being raised over the delay in the registration of case even as the chemical viscera report was received within three months of the death.

But the police took more than two years to finally come to the conclusion to file a murder case against unidentified persons.

It is pertinent to mention here that the police authorities at that juncture had suspected that the deceased was a drug addict and might have taken an overdose.

However, the family members of the victim had insisted that it was allegedly a case of poisoning. But the police failed to follow the lead.

The family suspected foul play and felt that it was an insider job, which led to his poisoning because he had knowledge about the wrong doings in the college.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report had confirmed that swallowing of pesticides was the reason behind his death.

However, the chemical viscera reported that he was given pesticide, which had resulted in his death.

A senior police official said it was working on several leads and expected a major breakthrough in solving the case of the mysterious death of Mangla.

The medical college here had been in the news for all wrong reasons earlier too as just before the death of Mangla, another final-year student Dr Shashi Bhushan met with similar fate as his body was found in a gutter outside the hostel.

However, the enquiry in his case changed many hands and yet to come out with any conclusion and surprising no arrest has been made so far. Interestingly, the FIR in his case was also registered after a gap of one and half year.

Nawanshahr, June 20
A scuffle between two groups over a flimsy issue after the completion of election to the Agriculture Cooperative Society at nearby Gujjarpur village late in the evening on Friday, has not only turned into a bloody chapter but it has also started taking political colour.

As many as eight persons including three women were injured in the clash, which occurred when the supporters of the victorious candidate belonging to the ruling SAD-BJP alliance were taking out a victory procession in the village.

Bhupinder Singh, his wife Kulwinder Kaur, Shingara Singh, Harnek Singh, Baljit Kaur, Ranjit Kaur, Lehmber Ram and Pardeep Kumar have been admitted to civil hospital.

Talking to mediapersons at the hospital, Kulwinder Kaur said the supporters of the SAD candidate started creating nuisance by raising slogans near her residence.

When she objected, they attacked her with sharp-edged weapons and lathis. Shingara Singh and Harnek Singh said they along with Baljit Kaur and Ranjit Kaur received injuries when they tried to save Kulwinder.

The miscreants also attacked Bhupinder Singh, when he rushed to his house from the fields after receiving the information.

On the other hand, other injured --- Lehmber Dass and his grandson Pardeep Kumar --- who have also been admitted to the hospital, said though they were not present there when the scuffle started, they have come to know that Kulwinder had allegedly thrown a piece of brick at the supporters of the SAD candidate. Lehmber Dass said that he, too, received injuries when he was trying to defuse the situation.

Former Parliamentary Secretary Parkash Singh accompanied by Chaman Singh Bhanmazara, former chairman Market Committee, and local Municipal Council chief Rajinder Chopra, former municipal councilor Sartaj Singh Mangewalia, today visited the local civil hospital and inquired about the wellbeing of Bhupinder Singh and his group. He assured them all support in the fight against the injustice done to them.

Parkash Singh accused the SAD leaders and workers of on assault under the influence of intoxicants. He added he would meet the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP for seeking justice.

Local SAD MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha said he had been in Chandigarh for the past few days. He criticised the Congress leaders for trying to politicise the issue. A case under sections 307/324/ 323/506/148/149 of the IPC has been registered.