Bathinda, July 18
In a joint operation, officials of the health department and the police today raided a medical shop in Maur Mandi and confiscated about 10 lakh tablets and over 10,000 bottles of psychotropic drugs.

The owner of the shop, Sunil Kumar, known in the area as the nephew of a senior CBI official and two judges, has been arrested, while one Priya Goyal, the licence holder, is still at large.

According to details available, following a tip-off, drug inspector, Bathinda, Vinay Jindal along with DSPs of Rampura Phul and Talwandi Sabo today raided Anand Medical Hall in Maur Mandi.

It may be mentioned that the health department had raided the same shop many times and confiscated a large number of objectionable drugs every time. The accused was already facing many cases.

During today’s operation, a health department team searched it. The team also recovered Rs 3.5 lakh in cash from a drawer, which was later handed over to a kin of the accused.

Then the team opened an unauthorised godown of the shop, from where the said drugs were recovered in shipper packing. The accused could not provide any record for the stock.

Taking possession of the stock, the drug inspector recommended the Maur police to book both the owner and the licence holder. The police register a case under section 420, 120-B of the IPC and the Indian Medical Act.

Confirming the facts, the drug inspector said, “Now the licence of the shop would surely be cancelled along with a separate case for the unlicensed godown of medicines.”

On his part, SSP Ashish Chaudhary said, “Irrespective of the links of the accused, he is being put behind the bars. We urge people to cooperate us in exposing such miscreants striking the roots of society.”

Bathinda, July 18
Officials of the irrigation department today claimed to have detected the cause behind thousands of dead fish found floating in the Sirhind canal on Friday evening. The department has accused one Buta Singh, a fish farmer of Mehraj village, for polluting the canal water by dumping the dead fish in it.

In a report submitted to the executive engineer of the Irrigation Department, Bathinda, the inquiry officers of a fact-finding committee accused Buta Singh of the crime. The accused reared fish in a pond taken on lease basis at the village.

On Friday, Buta Singh had found thousands of fish lying dead in the pond and dumped it in the canal, the report alleges.

Harlabh Singh Chahal, X-En, Irrigation Department, has directed Harikrishan Garg, SDO, Irrigation, Rampura, to lodge a criminal case against the accused for contaminating the drinking water. However, till late evening the case was not lodged.

When contacted, the SHOs of Rampura and Phul police stations denied receiving any such complaint.

On the other hand, sources in Mehraj village said the accused had taken the pond on annual lease. Suffering the loss of huge quantity of fish, he accused the administration of carelessness in checking the overflowing sewerage water, which got mixed in the pond.

However, the accused could not be contacted for his version on dumping the dead fish in the canal, which caters drinking water to a large chunk of Bathinda region.

The intake of canal water as a source of drinking water is lying suspended since last evening after a message was flashed to the Water Supply and Sanitation department in this regard.

Avneesh Kumar Khosla, SDE, Water Supply and Sanitation, Bathinda, said, “We have checked the water, which is normal. But we will open the inlets only after the irrigation department gives us a report certified by the Health Department.”

Bathinda, July 18
Recent dacoity incidents occurred in the city notwithstanding, nine banks in the city are running without a security person to man their entrances.

According to a bank security chart prepared by the police, nine of the 51 branches of different banks in Bathinda city have been dealing in money-related activities without any gunman to thwart a dacoity attempt. Of them, four are located in Bank Bazaar besides one each in Kikkar Bazaar, Paras Ram Nagar, main Bathinda-Goniana road, Civil Lines and one near the ITI.

The Paras Ram Nagar branch of the State Bank of Patiala is also on the list. On July 3, 2008, the branch had seen a dacoity in broad daylight, when armed with revolvers and knife three masked persons decamped with over Rs 20 lakh. Even as an year has passed, the police is yet to crack the case.

Further, there are 21 banks guarded by only one security person. Some of them are not even armed.

Police sources informed that during a recent survey on bank security, many banks were found to be engaging guards on clerical jobs while in some they were found doing a job of peons like shifting files from one table to another. Concerned over the rise in crime graph, the police has directed all bank authorities not to engage the security guards in any other job. Similarly, guards have also been instructed not to leave the security point.

Confirming the facts, A.S. Waraich, SP (Traffic and Security), said, “We have directed all the nine banks in question to depute security guards at their entrances. On our part, we also keep an eye on such banks through PCRs and traffic staff. The police of the area concerned also helps. Further, sub-inspector and inspector ranked officers have been deployed to check the security arrangements at the banks. They are told to make an entry in registers maintained at the banks for the purpose.”