Nakodar, July 10
Stray dogs mauled a three-year-old boy of a migrant family at Sangowal village, near here, last evening.

The stray dogs have been attacking not only human beings in the area, but also the livestock of farmers for the past couple of months.

Playing outside his hut located on the outskirts of the village, Dukha was alone when he was attacked by the ferocious stray dogs.

His father Balesar was away to earn his livelihood. Dukha’s mother, sister and brother were also not at home when the incident occurred, villagers revealed.

Arjun Das and Sita Ram, two farmers working in nearby fields, heard the shrieks of the boy and rushed to his help.

Noticing the men approaching, the dogs left the boy and pounced upon them. The farmers, however, managed to shoo away the dogs with sticks.

Talking to The Tribune, Balesar said the farmers rescued his son from the jaws of the dogs and took him to Kamal Hospital, a private hospital in Nakodar. He claimed that the dogs had attacked his children earlier also.

President of the Pendu Mazdoor Union, Punjab, Tarsem Peter, gave a representation to Pritam Singh, Subdivisional Magistrate, demanding free treatment of the child.

The injured Dukha was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, this afternoon after his condition deteriorated at Kamal Hospital. The boy is struggling for life in hospital.

The villagers complained that a carcass dump site adjacent to the village had been attracting stray dogs in the area and creating problem.

They demanded shifting of the dumping site from the present location to some other distant place.

Bhogpur (Jalandhar), July 10
The police claims to have nabbed a notorious woman travel-agent, allegedly involved in scores of cases of forgery and cheating.

The police has also recovered a Santro car, bearing registration number of Haryana, from her possession.

SHO, Bhogpur, Harpreet Singh, said taking note of a number of complaints against Rajvinder Kaur, a resident of Lopo village in Moga, a trap was laid to collar the lady travel agent.

She was nabbed from a house in Chakbadal village in Nakodar, owing to a tiff that took place last evening.

He said the woman was cheating people on the pretext of sending them to America and other countries.

Her modus operandi was that she used to charge lakhs of rupees to send them overseas through Thailand.

She used to accompany the aspirants to Thailand and then escape from there, leaving them in the lurch.

She had allegedly duped people of over Rs 35 lakh. She was wanted in six cases of forgery and cheating against her at the Bhogpur police station.

The SHO claimed that they had informed the Airport Authority of India and the passport authorities, seeking a ban on her flights. The woman will be produced before a court tomorrow.

When she did not fulfil her demands, she sprinkled kerosene on her dowry articles and set them on fire, she added.

Later, Kashmiro Devi also allegedly sprinkled kerosene on her and attempted to set her ablaze but she somehow managed to save herself, Sunita claimed.

Hoshiarpur, July 10
Three motorcycle-borne youths, though, managed to snatch a pair of gold earrings from Kamlesh Kaur of Bajeeran, they were caught by the public and handed over to the Hajipur police.

The trio, identified as Devinder Pal of Brahm Sharesht, Jaison and his brother Karan of Badalpur, snatched the earrings when Kamlesh Kaur was waiting for a bus at Adda Ghumiar Devi.

She immediately raised an alarm and after a brief chase people of the area and passers-by nabbed the snatchers and handed them over to the Hajipur police along with their motorcycle (number PB-07-9604).

But the authorities at the Hajipur police station instead of arresting them and registering a case against the trio, handed them over to the Mukerian police.

Infuriated over the said action of the Hajipur police, inhabitants of Bhalowal village, led by Panchayat member Gurcharan Singh staged a dharna in front of the Hajipur police station.

The agitators demanded that the trio should be brought back to the Hajipur police station as the crime took place in its jurisdiction.

Mukerian DSP Dharamvir Singh had to intervene and assured that the trio would be handed over to the Hajipur police station to pacify the agitators to lift the dharna.

The SHO Hajipur police station said the trio had been brought back and a case under section 382 of the IPC had been registered.

They said that the age-old bond between the farmers and arhtiyas was not merely professional but it was social as the arhtiyas had been standing by the farmers through their thick and thin.