Kaithal, October 27
Some armed miscreants firing shots made an attempt to loot cash amounting to Rs 25 lakh which had been unloaded from a van outside State Bank of India at old subji mandi branch today.

But the stiff resistance put up by the bank staff and the nearby shopkeepers forced the criminals to leave behind the cash box and flee from the spot on their motorcycles.

According to available information, cashier MP Harrit along with a staff member and a police head constable brought cash from the main SBI branch in a Maruti van. Hardly had they put the cash box on the ground after unloading it from the van, some miscreants firing shots in the air pounced upon the cash box and all of them started rushing towards the place where they had probably parked their vehicles.

However, the bank cashier and the constable chased them and they were soon joined by shopkeepers. Shocked and panicked by the bravado and hot pursuit of people, the criminals left behind the cash box.

The staff brought back the cash box in the bank and heaved a sigh of relief. The police all over the district was alerted to nab the culprits. DSPs Jagat Singh and Kuldip Singh and SHO Ravinder Tomar rushed to the spot on getting the information about this incident.

Later, SSP Sandeep Khirwar inspected the SBI branch.

Baldev Singh, owner of the van, said it looked as if the criminals were chasing the van from the main branch.

SSP Sandeep Khirwar said the police had got some vital clues and teams had been constituted to nab the culprits.

Gurgaon, October 27
The Health Department has written to the Centre over the swine flu reports of one of the private laboratories which it considers contradictory to the reports of the government labs. This has put people in a spot of bother, who are now not able to decide whom to trust - the health department or the private laboratory.

In its letter to the Centre, the Director of Health Department has termed the reports of city-based SRL lab as irrelevant. This has not only brought the laboratory under the scanner but the people who got themselves tested from the lab are in doubt. The ball is now in the court of the Central government.

The government has given a recognition certificate to city-based SRL lab for testing the swine flu samples. One has to shall out Rs 4,500 for the check up.

After getting the certificate, more than 7,000 tests had already been done by the laboratory. It has also received samples not only from local residents but from oversees as well. Out of the received samples, as many as 1,800 cases have been tested positive.

On the other hand, SK Chaudhry, CEO of SRL lab said they had not received any notice by the health department. “Our lab is internationally recognised and we are still receiving samples from oversees and have received almost 50 cases till now just today,” he said.

Chandigarh, October 27
To commemorate Infantry Day, floral tributes were paid to martyrs who laid down their lives on the call of duty. Lieut-Gen TK Sapru, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, laid a wreath at the Veer Smriti War Memorial at Chandimandir today. This was followed by a special sainik sammelan, where General Sapru addressed infantry troops based at the station.

The day has a unique significance for the Infantry as it was on this day in 1947 that the first batch of infantrymen (1 Sikh) air-landed at Srinagar and reversed the tide of a fierce battle in the valley and saved the state of Jammu and Kashmir from falling into the hands of Pakistani mercenaries.

All Infantrymen pledged and rededicated themselves to work towards sustaining and building up the indomitable team and traditions of valour that are the hallmark of the Infantry, according to a statement issued here today.

A social evening was also organised at the Shivalik Officers Institute, where serving infantry officers got an opportunity to interact with infantry veterans settled in and around Chandigarh. All infantry battalions also held a barakhana for troops in their respective locations.

Known as the “Queen of the Battle”, the infantry is the largest component and the premier fighting arm of the Army. Valiant and intrepid, the “Foot Soldiers” have kept alive the rich traditions inherited by them over generations.

The infantry is undertaking a series of modernisation programmes to train and equip the soldiers for futuristic battlefield scenario.

Sirsa, October 27
When all eyes are fixed at the possible stance to be taken by Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress in tomorrow’s vote of confidence, his father Bhajan Lal remained totally non-committal today, when he was confronted by mediapersons here.

“Let’s see what happens,” said Haryana Janhit Congress patron and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal to most of the questions posed to him on his party’s role in tomorrow’s vote of confidence motion by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.

Bhajan Lal was here today at the residence of his party’s district chief, Veer Bhan Mehta, to mourn the death of the latter’s mother.

“We are yet to take any decision. Let’s see what happens. We will reach to some conclusion by tomorrow morning,” Bhajan Lal said on frequent questions of reporters regarding the possible role of the HJC in tomorrow’s trust motion.

He said everyone will come to know tomorrow as to what role his party plays in the vote of confidence.

Asked whether he considers Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government as stable, Bhajan Lal said till now the government could not be considered a stable government. 

Panipat, October 27
Sikh leaders, who have been struggling to get a separate committee to run the religious affairs of gurdwaras in the state, seem to be in no mood to give up on their demand for a separate SGPC.

Once the new government settles down in office, the Sikh leaders are planning to step up their campaign and mount pressure on the government to fulfil the promise that had been made in the election manifesto prior to the 2005 assembly poll and the recently concluded elections.

Speaking to The Tribune, general secretary of the Haryana SGPC (ad hoc) Didar Singh Nalvi said they would meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda soon.

He said the act through which the state of Haryana was craved out of Punjab provided the right to the Sikhs to form a separate committee and take control of their own religious places. “No government can deny us this right”, claimed Nalvi.

Countering the statements issued by Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal regarding the outcome of the assembly elections, Nalvi said by winning a lone seat in the state, the SAD chief should not jump to conclusions that the Sikhs did not want a separate committee and it was an issue created by the Congress. The SAD did not contest the election on the issue of a separate SGPC and thus Badal should restrain from issuing any such statements.

He said Sikhs of Haryana had fought for a separate committee for the past many years and would continue to do so till the target was achieved. 

Hisar, October 27
For once, the land of Aya Rams and Gaya Rams has totally disapproved of the leaders deserting their original parties before the assembly poll and seeking greener pastures in other parties.

The results show that while the induction of INLD and BJP leaders before the poll benefited the Congress only marginally, conversely it helped the beleaguered INLD leadership to generate a sympathy wave which resulted in the party putting up an unexpected performance.

All the defecting leaders, with the exception of former Finance Minister Sampat Singh, were defeated. They included Sushil Indora and Kailasho Saini of the INLD and Ram Kumar Gautam of the BJP.

However, in the case of Sampat Singh, he not only won the Nalwa seat defeating former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s wife Jasma Devi by a handsome margin, but his presence in the Congress helped the party gain votes in other assembly segments of the district also.

But, by and large, the Congress did not gain from its effort to weaken the INLD. Instead, the desertions by top INLD leaders touched a sympathy chord in the minds of the Jat community with the exception of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonipat districts where Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda retained his hold over the community. In Sirsa, Jind and Bhiwani districts, the INLD fared well.

The Congress defeat in assembly segments of Jind and Bhiwani was accentuated also by the infighting in the party. In Bhiwani, Kiran Chadhary managed a good victory for herself, but other party nominees were not that lucky. In Jind, the Congress leadership was obliterated with the defeat of Birender Singh and Mange Ram Gupta, two senior ministers.

Psephologists are of the view that the issue of lopsided development of the state under the Hooda government raised by senior party leaders also did considerable damage to the party prospects even though these charges were debatable.

They also say though the anti-incumbency factor did not come into play much against the Hooda government, the popular sentiment was against several Congress legislators in their own constituencies. That explains why totally unknown faces put up by the party made the grade while those seeking re-election were defeated.

Although Bhajan Lal’s HJC managed to bag six seats, the election proved that the former Chief Minister’s claims of being the tallest non-Jat leader of the state were rubbished by the voters. In fact, in Adampur, Kuldeep Bishnoi won by over 6,000 votes while his father had won this seat in 2005 by a margin of 71,000 votes.

Jind, October 27
A 19-year-old girl died under mysterious circumstances at a village in the district last night. While the father of the girl has alleged that she was beaten to death by her mother over the issue of her ‘character’, the police has booked a case of murder in this connection. No arrest has been made so far. The viscera of the deceased has been sent to the forensic laboratory at Madhuban for further examination.

The incident took place at Bibipur village when the victim, identified as Manisha daughter of one Rajbir, was brought to the civil hospital in a critical condition around 10.30 pm, where she succumbed to her injuries after about two hours.

The body of the victim, who was a student of BA (correspondence) of the Kurukshetra University, bore injury marks but the police is doubtful about the cause of her death. However, Rajbir, father of the girl, has alleged that she died after she was hit by a hard object on her head by her mother, identified as Bala.

The complainant is reported to be living separately and had not been present at the time of incident, said the police.

We had collected the viscera and dispatched it for test at Karnal to ascertain the main cause of the death, said SSP Satish Balan. He said though the complainant had alleged that she was ‘killed’ by her mother after she had a quarrel with her last night, the viscera test report and further investigations would prove whether it was an honour killing or not.

The arrest would be made after it was established that the girl had been murdered, he added.

Sonepat, October 27
Around a dozen shops at Shubhash Chawk were today razed by a demolition squad led by SDM Jag Niwas, DSP Vikas Dhankhar and Tehsildar Rajinder Singh.

The shops were reportedly constructed in 1979. In protest against the demolition, shopkeepers, led by state media in charge of the BJP Rajiv Jain, raised slogans against the government and administration.

They even threatened to resort to violence. Jain alleged that the shopkeepers were not given time to remove their articles from the shops and they had been paying house tax, electricity bills and rent.

However, the SDM said the shops had been constructed illegally and the administration had served notices to the shopkeepers for vacating the shops and removing their articles; but no one took it seriously.

Accompanied by the police, the demolition squad with two JCB machines reached the spot around 1 pm. Seeing the squad, the shopkeepers started removing the articles from their shops. The demolition continued till 3 pm. 

Rewari, October 27
Three village youths forcibly picked up a teenaged girl (15), who was mentally challenged, from Tumbaheri village, 12 km from Kosli, and took her to a field where she was allegedly gangraped by them inside a tubewell cell last evening.

After getting an inkling from some slumdwellers, when the girl’s father, along with his younger brother and a nephew, reached the spot, they were assaulted by the miscreants who inflicted a grievous injury on the victim’s uncle, Krishan Kumar. However, when they raised the alarm, the miscreants fled.

The Salhawas police of Jhajjar district (Tumbaheri falls in Jhajjar district) has registered a case against the accused — Sonu, Monu and Khairati — all residents of Tumbaheri village.

The police also got the girl medically examined.