Hoshiarpur, July 30
The Hoshiarpur police has registered a case under section 406 and 420 of the IPC against retired IAS officer and three others for allegedly taking Rs 50 lakh from about a hundred persons for the proposed allotment of shops to them in a shopping mall to be constructed at Mugalpura on the Hoshiarpur-Dasuya Road.

In their complaint to SSP Hoshiarpur, Sudhir Kumar of local Bains Colony, Balram Singh Jaswal, Kamaljit Kaur, Anjuwala of Ajowal, Jasbir Singh Arora of Chandigarh and Devinder of local mohalla Tagore Nagar stated that retired IAS officer Kanwal Satpal Singh, his sister-in-law Savita Jaswal and Col MS Jaswal, under the banner of Shivcan Infrastructure Company, proposed to construct a shopping mall project, with a cost of Rs 127 crore, at Mugalpura.

In the proposed mall, a cost of Rs 400 crore had been estimated for the total shops to be constructed in the project.

The said company also performed the pooja ceremony to start the construction work. They alleged that the directors of the said concern collected about Rs 50 lakh in advance for the shops.

After receiving the complaint, SSP Parmod Ban deputed SP (detective) Sushil Kumar to probe into the matter and after receiving his report he ordered the registration of a case at the Sadar Police Station, Hoshiarpur.

The complainants were assured by the directors that the construction of shops would be started before November 2007.

The company had issued the allotment orders for the shops along with the receipts of the received money. But till date the construction work has not been started.

SSP Parmod Ban said here today that orders had been issued to arrest all the accused of the case.

Nawanshahr, July 30
The Vigilance Department has arrested Amarjit Singh (55), son of Nirmal Singh and resident of Kariha village of the district, who had been living under the fake identity of Charanjit Singh, son of Harbhajan Singh and resident of Nazarpur village in Hoshiarpur district, for the past more than three decades.

Giving details, DSP, Vigilance, Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu told mediapersons here today that in 1977 Amarjit Singh had passed matric examination in the name of Charanjit Singh, son of Harbhajan Singh, from a local school and in 1989 he got the job of a helper at Milk Plant, Jalandhar.

Though in the voters’ list of Kariha village he had been registered as Amarjit Singh, son of Nirmal Singh, but he managed to get a ration card prepared in the name of Charanjit Singh, son of Harbhajan Singh, at Kariha village allegedly with the help of former sarpanch Nirmal Singh, Food and Civil Supplies Inspector Sheetal Singh and depot holder Amrit Lal.

A case has also been registered against the former sarpanch, Food and Civil Supplies Inspector and depot holder in this connection.

The Vigilance Department had started investigations into the case to find the real motive behind maintaining fake identity by Amarjit Singh as well as what benefits he had enjoyed on the basis of the fake identity, the DSP said.

Amritsar, July 30
Agitated drivers and conductors of minibuses stopped vehicular traffic at Bhandari Bridge, which links various parts of the city, resulting in traffic chaos, after a driver and a conductor were allegedly beaten up by auto drivers.

The irate members of the Minibus Operator Union blocked the bridge for nearly two hours in noon by halting their minibuses on all entry and exit points of the bridge.

They alleged that conductor Partap Singh and driver Bikramjit Singh of a minibus, which plied between Amritsar railway station and Lopoke, were waylaid by about 15 auto drivers in the morning at the railway station.

They alleged that both of them were beaten up severely. Secretary of the union Baldev Singh alleged that the attack had been planned since the minibus operators had objected to plying of autos on the Amritsar-Lopoke route.

He demanded that the autos must not be allowed to ply out of the limits of the Municipal Corporation.

He opined that the minibus operators plied buses after procuring permits and paying annual taxes to the district transport office, while auto drivers did not need to pay such taxes.

However, the commuters had to face hardships as all roads connected with the bridge were clogged with hundreds of vehicles.

The people were at loss since the traffic police did not deploy its constables to direct the traffic to alternate routes.

The enraged minibus operators lifted the blockade after the police assured them of action against the persons who had carried out the attack.

Batala, July 30
A farmer Balbir Singh of Karnama village, falling under police station Rangar Nangal, was murdered by two of his labourers Mehanga Singh and Malkiat Singh, who worked on his fields.

SHO Gurinder Singh said two employees, Mehanga Singh and Malkiat Singh took away a bag of zinc fertilizer. Balbir was informed that a bag of zinc fertiliser had been stolen from his field.

His enquiry about the bag from Malkiat and Mehanga caused a scuffle between both the parties. During fight, Malkiat attacked Balbir with sharp-edged weapons which resulted in the farmer’s death.

A case under section 302 of the IPC has been registered against the culprits. Both the culprits ran away from the spot, asserted SHO Gurinder Singh.

Tarn Taran, July 30
Kashmir Singh (50), a resident of Chabal Khurd village, 18 km from here, has been booked for sodomising a 15-year-old mentally challenged boy of the same village.

The police said here today that Kashmir Singh was arrested and a case under section 370 of the IPC was registered against him.

The father of the victim in his statement to the police alleged that Kashmir Singh took his son to the village fields on some pretext where he sodomised him.

On hearing the cries of the boy, people residing nearby came to the rescue of the boy. He was admitted to Primary Health Centre where he was medically examined.

Tarn Taran, July 30
The Education Department has reinstated the four leaders of the teachers who were suspended three weeks back for allegedly maltreating District Education Officer (Elementary) Sunita Kiran.

The teachers of the district had been on agitation since the past about two months against the DEO.

The controversy between the teachers and the DEO started when the latter allegedly pressurised the teachers of Government Elementary School, Goindwal, in a departmental inquiry and a woman teacher of the school fell unconscious.

The DEO later had lodged a criminal case with the city police against the teacher leaders for interfering in her official duty and on this ground the department suspended the services of four teacher leaders three weeks back.

Teachers under the banner of the Adhyapak Sangharsh Committee (ASC) threatened to intensify their agitation in case the services of the teachers were not reinstated.

Jalandhar, July 30
A Nakodar Chowk resident has a miraculous escape when a Model Town-based property dealer allegedly opened fire at him near PPR Mall this evening.

The incident occurred in densely populated area when the property dealer, Jassa, shot two rounds from his revolver at Sahil at about 8 pm.

Sakatar Singh, Station House Officer of police station division 6, said the incident was the outcome of an old rivalry. Jassa was accompanying at least five accomplices at the time of shooting.

On seeing Sahil in the market, he chased him and fired two shots from his weapon. He, however, missed the target.

The police has registered a case against the property dealer and five accomplices on the complaint of Sahil. The police has impounded vehicles involved in the crime.

Jalandhar, July 30
In an attempt to curb adulteration in spices, the district health authorities conducted a raid on a spice manufacturing unit in Aman Nagar and seized adulterated and raw spices in bulk this evening.

The police has also arrested owner of the unit. Acting on a complaint, a police party and staff of the Health Department, led by District Health Officer Dr Roop Lal raided the premises of Roshan Agro and recovered adulterated turmeric and red chilly powder in quintals.

Dr Lal said that Sushil Kumar, the owner, was arrested. He had been in the trade for the past some time and had been producing the adulterated spices by mixing substandard ingredients.

After arresting Sushil Kumar, the police sealed the unit, besides impounding the
machinery and certain other goods. The Health Department initiated legal action
against him.