Nawanshahr, September 19
A middle-aged couple, Sewa Singh and Kuldip Kaur, of nearby Mehatpur village, have been running from pillar to post to know the whereabouts of their 24-year-old son Inderjit Singh, who was allegedly duped by some unauthorised travel agents on the pretext of sending him to Germany, about five years ago.

Though the travel agents took more than Rs 8 lakh from the couple, their son has neither been sent to Germany, nor are they getting any information about his wellbeing.

A few months ago, the travel agents took an affidavit from them that they would not initiate any legal action against them on the assurance that they would help them establish telephonic contact with their son, but to no avail. The hapless parents have contacted the embassies of different countries for the purpose and even submitted a complaint with the local SSP about two months ago, but they are still to get a clue of their son.

Narrating their tale of woes, the couple told The Tribune that a few unauthorised travel agents of their village incited their then teenaged son, Inderjit Singh by telling him that they could send him to Germany.

They demanded Rs 5.60 lakh and assured that he would be sent to Germany within 72 hours. In November, 2004, they took Rs 35,000 in advance and took Inderjit with them to New Delhi.

But instead of sending him to Germany, the agents sent him to Sri Lanka and in December, 2004, the agents took Rs 2.25 lakh again on the pretext that their son would be sent to Germany from Sri Lanka. But after keeping their son at Sri Lanka for four months, the travel agents brought him back to New Delhi.

Even then, instead of sending him back to the village, they kept him in New Delhi and continued giving him assurances that he would soon be flown to Germany. Then, they again demanded Rs 30,000 from them, said Sewa Singh, adding that his son still wasn’t sent to the promised destination.

After a few months, they received a phone call from their son, who told them that the travel agents had committed a fraud with him and were planning to illegally send him to Spain via a forest route instead of Germany.

Then two other New Delhi-based travel agents came to them and established telephonic contact with their son, Inderjit Singh. On the basis of their conversation with Inderjit, they gave Rs 5.25 lakh to them. But since then, they have neither received any call from their son, nor have they got any clue about his whereabouts, rued the desperate parents.

A complaint has been lodged with the SSP in July this year. The SSP has marked it to the Economic Offence Wing, which is investigating into the matter.

Amritsar, September 19
A team of drug inspectors, led by Assistant Drug Controller Ajay Singla, today raided four medical stores in the city and seized intoxicant and habit-forming drugs and syrups worth Rs 10 lakh.

According to sources the raids were conducted on the directions of Dr S.P.S. Sohal, Director, Health Services, Chandigarh.

The team raided Pacific Pharmaceuticals, Pankaj Medical Agency, RM Medical Agency and Bharat Medical Hall in the wholesale medicine market at Katra Sher Singh.

The sources revealed that the raiding party recovered 8.38 lakh tablets, 1.54 lakh capsules, 230 cough syrups and 350 injections from the godown of Pacific Pharmaceutical, while 9,400 capsules and 200 syrups were seized from shops and godowns of Pankaj Medical Agency.

They could not produce any sale/purchase record regarding the medicines seized. However, nothing illegal was found from the remaining two agencies, the sources added.

Besides Singla, the raiding team included Gurwinder Singh (Barnala), Dinesh Gupta (Gurdaspur), Rajesh Suri (Ludhiana), Amandeep Verma (Tarn Taran), Karm Sachdeva (Kapurthala), Kulwinder Singh (Jalandhar) and Sanjiv Garg (Amritsar), all drug inspectors.

Jalandhar, September 19
SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar yesterday gave a call for building harmony among Sikhs and Ramdasias and said an attempt to create differences could not be accepted.

Makkar was here at the Samastpur village to take part in a conclave of Sikh organisations at Gurdwara Babe Shaheedan. He said the post-Vienna incidents such as removal of “birs” of Guru Granth Sahib from gurdwaras, as had been reported from Bhogpur, would not be tolerated.

Makkar was accompanied by Jathedar, Akal Takht, Giani Gurbhachan Singh, Jathedar, Damdama Sahib, Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Jathedar, Kesgarh Sahib, Tirlochan Singh, and chief of the Damdami Taksal Harnam Singh Dhumma.

Hoshiarpur, September 19
The Sadar police arrested Tarlok Chand of the local Mohalla Bahadurpur last evening under sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and seized 50 kg poppy husk from him. 

The police also seized 122 litre illicit liquor from Dyal Chand of the same mohalla and booked him under sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act.