Ropar, November 24
Bridge over the Sutlej will re-open from November 25 midnight onwards to heavy traffic.

Central works division (CWD) XEN, Karnail Singh, said: “The repair work over bridge had been completed. Around 51 expansion joints of bridge were replaced and surface re-laid for smooth flow of heavy traffic,” he said. The bridge was closed on November 6.

During the maintenance period, light motor vehicles were allowed to ply on the bridge. Boards, indicating traffic diversions, were installed in Mohali, Morinda, Machhiwara, Neelon Bridge, Nawanshahr and other places.

The opening comes as a relief as the bridge connects Jalandhar, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur to Chandigarh.

Earlier, the buses took longer routes to reach their destination and hence, more time. The bridge was constructed in 1952 and the structure never underwent any repairs since then.

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 24
Director General of Punjab Police, Paramdeep Singh Gill today inaugurated a cyber crime investigation cell at CIA, Sirhind.

The DGP said it was first of its kind in the region and would help investigate the complicated cases of various kinds of crimes, including cyber crime and also help the investigating officers in other cases.

Police officials from other districts of the state could be helped in tracing deleted data form mobile phones, hard-disks, pen drives, laptops and other related gadgets.

He said police officials, including one NGO and three ORs from computers and telecommunication wing had undergone training from CFSL, Hyderabad, to handle and examine cyber crime and to operate the gadgets.

The police officials said the project was in pipeline for the past one year and it costs Rs 20 lakh to set up the cell.

Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Dr Kaustubh Sharma and other senior police officials were also present.

Kharar, November 24
An inmate of Universal Disabled Care Taker Social Welfare Society, Raman Puri, was handed over to his brother and sister.

He was found abandoned at Kurali in a mentally unstable state on November 19. Since then, he was undergoing treatment at a civil hospital, Kurali.

His sister, at Kurali, got information about Raman through local residents. After the treatment, Raman recognised his siblings and was handed over to them.

Chandigarh, November 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants the police to follow proper procedure while carrying out any raid at drug counselling and rehabilitation centres.

The directions follow a petition filed by the Jeewanjot Organisation of Promotion and Empowerment of Humanity; and another petitioner.

Taking up the petition, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia asserted: “The petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent Senior Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar, that no official of the police shall conduct a raid without making a prior entry to this effect in the daily diary report.”

Going into the background of the matter, Justice Ahluwalia in his detailed order observed: “The Jeewanjot Organisation of Promotion and Empowerment of Humanity is running a drug counselling and rehabilitation centre. The grievance of the petitioners made in the present petition is that the Chief Medical Officer, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the police conduct unnecessary raids at the centre run by the petitioner and there is apprehension that official of the drug centre will be falsely implicated in criminal cases.”

Justice Ahluwalia added: “In response to the writ petition, the Kharar Deputy Superintendent of Police has filed an affidavit. It has been stated that no raid was conducted by the Kharar police and apprehension of the petitioner is unfounded.”

Taking on record the statement, Justice Ahluwalia disposed of the petition.

Chandigarh, November 24
A local court today convicted an Attawa resident of murdering a woman in 2008. Inderjit Singh was arrested for rape and murder of a Palsora-based woman.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Raj Shekhar Attri convicted him under Section 302 of the IPC for murder.

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on November 26.

On August 6, 2008, a woman in her mid-40s was admitted to the PGI in a semi-naked state with severe head injuries.

She was found in an injured state by two passersby, who then informed the police.

The complainant, Satish Kumar, had claimed that he had seen the woman being brutally beaten up by Inderjit. He told the police that the accused had tried to rape her, following which the police arrested the accused.

At the time of his arrest, Inderjit had told the police that his name was Paramjit, which was later found to be false.

The woman later died on August 10 and Section 302 of the IPC was added to the charges.

The prosecution had claimed that Inderjit had raped the woman after finding her alone near a market in Palsora around 9.30 pm. He then disfigured her face by hitting her with a rock.

However, the charges of rape could not be proved against the accused in the court.

The victim could not be identified as her face was disfigured beyond recognition.

Chandigarh, November 24
The District Consumer and Disputes Redressal forum has directed the senior regional manager, Food Corporation of India, regional office (Punjab), Sector 31, and the assistant general manager (CPF), Food Corporation of India, regional office (North), Sector 24, Noida (UP), to pay Rs 40,000 in compensation to a complainant for causing him harassment by delaying the payment of pension.

The forum has also directed to release the arrears of pension of the complainant with effect from the date of his retirement to date.

The complainant, Prem Chand, a resident of Patiala, superannuated on September 30, 2007 from the FCI. He contributed towards EPS-1995 and was entitled to full rate monthly pension on attaining the age of 58 years i.e. effective from September 3, 2005.

He submitted form 10-D for fixation of his monthly pension at full rate much before July 10, 2008.

The FCI was required to fix monthly pension effective from September 3, 2005 by issuing the pension payment order but the same was not done despite a number of visits and enquiries made by the complainant.

In his reply, the provident fund commissioner pleaded that the form 10D was received at the office of regional provident fund commissioner, Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, Delhi, on September 17, 2009 only and was under process. It would be sent along with relevant documents to the answering party for issuing the PPO in favour of the complainant, he added.

In a separate reply, the corporation admitted the submission of form 10-D for fixation of monthly pension on July 2, 2008, which was immediately forwarded to the assistant general manager (CPF), FCI, zonal office, Noida, and further forwarded to the office of the assistant provident fund commissioner, regional office, Wazirpur, New Delhi, who was to fix family pension of the complainant.

Chandigarh, November 24
The police today arrested Gurbachan Singh, the owner of Sector 22-based hotel — Victoria Palace — for allegedly violating the prohibitory orders.

The police said the accused had not kept proper record of visitors to the hotel. In violation of the prohibitory orders, the accused had failed to keep identification proof of the lodgers who stayed in his hotel.

The district magistrate had issued instructions to hotel and guesthouse owners to keep proper record of visitors along with their identification to keep an eye on visitors to the city.

The prohibitory orders had been issued under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The police said a case of violating prohibitory orders under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code had been registered against the accused. 

Chandigarh, November 24
The police has arrested seven persons from different parts of the city for allegedly consuming liquor at public place.

According to the police, Bablu of Sector 25 was arrested near the sector for drinking at public place on Monday night.

Similarly, Deepak, Ram Singh and Tuntun Kumar, all local residents, were arrested from Sector 22 late last night.

In another case, the police arrested Ravi Kumar, Parveen Kumar and Ashish Kumar near HDFC Bank in Sector 22 in the wee hours today.

Panchkula, November 24
The police succeeded in intercepting a truck loaded with 560 cases of English liquor on its way from Chandigarh to Rajasthan and Gujrat.

After receiving information, the police laid a naka on NH-73. Seeing the police, the truck driver took a U-turn and tried to flee. However, SHO Chandimandir Inspector Jangsher Singh, intercepted the fleeing truck and also held the two occupants- driver Baljit Singh and Gurmit Singh of the truck No.-PB-11-N-9304.

The accused were found carrying forged documents. A case under Section 420, 467,468, 471 and 120B of the IPC and Excise Act was registered and both the accused were arrested.

Panchkula, November 24
Two persons were killed while two others were injured seriously when an auto-rickshaw collided head-on with another vehicle at Barwala-Dera, Bassi road, here today.

The victims were returning to Bijhalpur village at Raipur Rani after attending a marriage at Shaimt village.

The deceased were identified as Gaurav (25) and Mahender Singh (47).

Injured Suman, Guarav’s mother, and Maya, Mahender’s wife, have been admitted to General Hospital, Sector 6, and the CHC, Raipur Rani, respectively.

According to sources, all the victims were returning home after attending a marriage in the afternoon when a pick-up van, coming from the opposite side, hit the vehicle leading to mishap. The drivers of both vehicles fled the scene after the accident.

A case has been registerd in the regard..

Chandigarh, November 24
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Namdhari XI have entered final of the 46th Jindal Steel Nehru Senior Hockey Tournament being held at the Hockey Stadium, Sector 42, here today.

In the first semifinal match, IOC thrashed Army XI 5-1. In the first half, both the teams played an attacking game and IOC’s Printender Singh scored the first goal in the 18th minute by converting the penalty corner. However, Army team’s Eliazer Lakra scored the equaliser through a field goal and the score remained at one goal each at the end of the first half.

In the second half, Army team again played an attacking game by making various moves but could not score any goal, whereas IOC’s Didar Singh sounded the board through field goal in the 53rd minute to give 2-1 lead to his team. In the 64th minute, Arjun Antil scored the field goal, which baffled the opponent, who thereafter continued to make mistakes. In the 65th minute, Didar Singh scored his individual second goal to give 4-1 lead to his team, while in the 69th minute, Preetinder Singh scored the fifth goal for his team to seal the fate of Army XI.

IOC team got two penalty corners and were able to convert them, while Army XI got three penalty corners but failed to convert any of them.

In the second semifinal, Namdhari drubbed Punjab National Bank (PNB) 2-1. PNB’s Yudhvir Singh sounded the board through a field goal to give one goal lead in the seventh minute of the game. In the 23rd minute Namdhari’s Harpreet Singh scored the equaliser in the first half by converting the penalty corner.

In the second half, Namdhari’s Harpeet Singh scored his individual second goal in the 63rd minute to give 2-1 lead to his team in the match. Namdhari’s got three penalty corners and were able to convert two of them, while PNB also got three but failed to convert any of them.

Kuku Walia, organising secretary, Nehru Hockey Tournament Society, said the first match to be played for the third position would be held between PNB and Army XI at 11 am, while the final between Namdhari XI and IOC would be held at 1.30 pm. 

Chandigarh, November 24
Government College, Hoshiarpur, and PU Campus, Chandigarh, won the Panjab University Inter-College (men) A Division Tournament being held on the PU grounds here today.

In the first match, Government College, Hoshiarpur, defeated Government College, Sector 46, by eight runs. GC, Hoshiarpur, were all out for 173 runs in 39 overs.

In reply, Government College, Sector 46, were all out for 165 runs in 36.4 overs. Top scorers for the team were Charan Amrit (42) and Kuldeep (29), while Harvinder (4 for 24) and Kuldeep (3 for 37) were the main wicket takers for GC, Hoshiarpur.

Brief scores: GC, Hoshiarpur: All out at 173 in 39 overs. (Satwinder 47 and Amarjeet 43 and Harpreet 6 for 20). GC, Sector 46: All out at 165 runs in 36.4 overs. (Charan 42, Kuldeep 29, Harvinder 4/24 and Kuldeep 3/37)

In the second match of the day, Panjab University defeated Government College, Muktsar, by seven wickets. GC, Muktsar, were all out at 117 runs in 28.5 overs. Jagsir (33) and Sudesh (25) were their top scorers, while Harpreet (2 for 30) was the main wicket taker for the PU Campus.

In reply, PU Campus achieved the target easily and scored 120 runs in just 16.1 overs by losing only three wickets. Top scorers for the team were Raghav (28), Harsh (28), Sahil (27 not out), while Anupam (4 for 35), Sahil (3 for 7) and Munish (3 for 24) were the main wicket takers for GC, Muktsar.

Brief scores: GC, Muktsar: All out for 117 in 28.5 overs. PU Campus: 120 for 3 in 16.1 overs . — TNS

Chandigarh, November 24
Ryan International School-49 defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School-26 by five wickets in the T20 match held here today.

After winning the toss, GMSSS-26 elected to bat first and scored 89 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Gulzar was the main scorer, as he scored 31 runs. Nitish (4 for 25) and Anmol (2 for 26) were the main wicket takers for Ryan school.

In reply, Ryan lads achieved the target easily, as they scored 93 in just 17.2 overs by losing only five wickets. Nitish 30 (not out) and Rohan 20 (not out) were the main scorers for the winning team, while Jasbeer
(2 for 20) was the main wicket taker for the GMSSS-26.

Brief scores:

GMSSS-26: 89 for 8 in 20 overs (Gulzar 31, Nitish 4 for 25, Anmol 2 for 26 and Manak 2 for 10)

Ryan International School-49: 93 for 5 in 17.2 overs (Nitish 30 not out, Rohan 20 not out and Jasbeer 2 for 20)