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Gang of fake passport sellers busted, 6 held
Nawanshahr, September 24
The police busted an interstate gang involved in preparing and selling fake Indian passports by arresting six of its members. The arrested members are Rakesh Joshi, resident of Mohalla Ali, Jalandhar, Karnail Singh, alias Lakha Namberdar, resident of Hamira, Harminder Kumar, alias Lally, resident of Nawanshahr, Manmohan Singh, alias Dara, of Khati village in Phagwara, Gama and Verma of New Delhi.

Students Observe Strike On Second Day
Authorities hold threat to lock the regional campus
Gurdaspur, September 24
Even as students of the regional campus of Guru Nanak Dev University observed a strike on the second day today, the authorities concerned have held out a threat to them that if they failed to end their stir, the campus would be locked.

SAD-BJP leaders stage dharna at police station
Dhariwal, September 24
A section of municipal councillors and other leaders belonging to the ruling SAD-BJP alliance of the district today staged a dharna for hours at a local police station to lodge their protest against the alleged shielding of two accused involved in a case of fraud and forgery registered against them yesterday.

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	Gang of fake passport sellers busted, 6 held Parmod Bharti Nawanshahr, September 24 The police busted an interstate gang involved in preparing and selling fake Indian passports by arresting six of its members. The arrested members are Rakesh Joshi, resident of Mohalla Ali, Jalandhar, Karnail Singh, alias Lakha Namberdar, resident of Hamira, Harminder Kumar, alias Lally, resident of Nawanshahr, Manmohan Singh, alias Dara, of Khati village in Phagwara, Gama and Verma of New Delhi. The police has seized 10 fake Indian passports from them. The kingpin of the racket, Rakesh Kumar, alias Vicky, of Nawanshahr, presently residing at Majlis Park, New Delhi, and Ashu, resident of Raghbir Nagar, New Delhi, who have been working as travel agents at Ramesh Nagar, New Delhi, are still at large. The police has registered a case under sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC at Banga police station. Giving details, SSP Rakesh Aggarwal told mediapersons here today that the DSP, Banga, Gurkirpal Singh, and the SHO, Mukandpur, Inderjit Singh, got a tip-off that a racket of preparing and selling fake Indian passports was going on around Passport Office, Jalandhar. The Mukandpur police, on a tip-off from an informer, put up a naka and arrested Rakesh Joshi of Jalandhar, at bus stand in Ballowal and seized two fake passports from him on September 12. On the information provided by Rakesh Joshi, Karnail Singh was arrested and one fake passport was recovered from him. On September 18, the police conducted raids and arrested two more members of the gang, Harminder Kumar and Manmohan Singh, at Banga, when they called Kulwinder Singh of Dhaliwal Bet village in Kapurthala, and Jagtar Singh of Jalapur village in Jalandhar, for making the delivery of their fake passports. Both of them, informed the police, consequently enabling the police to nab them. The modus operandi of the gang members was that they used to buy old, stolen or lost passports from travel agents at the rate of Rs 2,000 to 4,000 and then they made a search for the “clients” who are desperately in need of a passport, said the SSP, adding that after finding a client, the gang members dexterously use the old passport for preparing a fake passport in the name of their client. The gang used to sell the fake passports at the rates ranging from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The accused have been presented before the court and remanded in police custody for five days.
	Students Observe Strike On Second Day Authorities hold threat to lock the regional campus Chander Parkash Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, September 24 Even as students of the regional campus of Guru Nanak Dev University observed a strike on the second day today, the authorities concerned have held out a threat to them that if they failed to end their stir, the campus would be locked. The students, who got agitated over this response of the university authorities started a rally and levelled allegations against those teachers and officials who had carried out a threat to them. They also decided that they would jam traffic in the town on the Amritsar-Pathankot national highway on Tuesday if their demands were not met. They alleged that a woman teacher had warned them of strict action if they did not stop protesting against the harassment being caused to them by the campus authorities The students belonging to different streams have been holding the protest against the harassment being done to them on various accounts by the regional campus authorities. Hundreds of students boycotted their classes yesterday also. The students alleged that though the campus authorities had taken electricity generator charges from them, the generator was never put to use for running fans when their classes were on. They added that students had been reduced to slaves as the campus authorities had not been trying to remove insanitary conditions prevailing on the campus premises. Not only this, they were being served “below-normal quality” food in the canteen and hostel mess. The students were not being allowed to take medical leave. They were made to consume that water which was unfit for human consumption. No water coolers had been installed on the campus. Pawan Kumar, Associate Dean, regional campus, when contacted, said that a handful of students of law whose attendance in the classes was not up to the mark were trying to put pressure on the authorities so that they could get themselves marked present on those days when they remained absent from their classes. He denied that the campus authorities were harassing the students. He also denied that teachers had held out a threat to the students. He said that matter had been taken up with the Vice-Chancellor and the Dean, Student Welfare in Amritsar also.
	SAD-BJP leaders stage dharna at police station Chander Parkash/TNS Dhariwal, September 24 A section of municipal councillors and other leaders belonging to the ruling SAD-BJP alliance of the district today staged a dharna for hours at a local police station to lodge their protest against the alleged shielding of two accused involved in a case of fraud and forgery registered against them yesterday. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that though the police rounded up the two accused, namely Ajay Arora and Ashok Sharma, both resident of Pathankot, for their alleged involvement in committing fraud with Raman Kumar, they were not formally arrested. Raman Kumar, on whose complaint the case was registered against Ajay Arora and Ashok Sharma, along with hundreds of leaders and workers of the SAD and BJP, including municipal council president, municipal councillors and member of the District Planning Board, went to the police station and pressed the official concerned to make a formal arrest of the accused. Jasdeep Singh, DSP, when contacted, said dharna was lifted after the accused were formally arrested.
	Stamp paper scam: 3 Tehsildars suspended Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, September 24 On the recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner, the Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Punjab, has suspended Tehsildar Vijay Sharma, presently posted at Hoshiarpur, Tehsildar Harminder Singh, presently posted at Jalandhar, and Naib-Tehsildar Manjit Singh, presently posted at Hoshiarpur, in the stamp paper scam with immediate effect. According to official sources here this evening, during suspension period the headquarters of the trio would be the Commissioner’s office, Jalandhar. The role of these officials was found quite negligent in the scam of Rs 76.60 lakh. The Deputy Commissioner had already suspended registration clerks Shaminder Singh and Jasbir Singh of the tehsil office. A case against the kingpin of the scam, Vicky Malhotra, and his employer, Vikram Mehta, a stamp paper vendor, had already been registered at the local police station in this connection. The licence of Vikram Mehta has also been cancelled.
	3 arrested in murder case Nawanshahr, September 24 The Kathgarh police has solved the murder case of teenager Sekhtaji Bul, alias Chhotu, by arresting Pardeep Eka of Talsera Sundergarh (Orissa), Makhan Singh, alias Bhaiya Lal, of Babatpur Magari, near Banaras (UP), and Ajay Prajapati, alias Vijay, of Gathegam village (Jharkhand). SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said the body of Chhotu was found in the bushes near Surapur village on September 19. The police had registered a case under sections 302 and 34, IPC, at Kathgarh police station on the basis of the statement of Shekhraj Ull, the elder brother of the deceased. During interrogation, the accused admitted that they had been residing together at Jhandi village. Ull and his younger brother Chhotu used to tease and beat up Makhan. So they decided to teach both of them a lesson. — OC