NEIGHBOURHOOD

Notorious criminal in police net
Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 25
Seventeen days after he escaped from the police custody, Patiala cops today managed to nab notorious criminal Praveen Kumar Pandit.

Praveen, who is facing 17 criminal cases, including murder, dacoity and robbery, was arrested from Tangri bridge at Ojhan village near Patiala. The police also recovered .315-bore country-made pistol and five live cartridges from him.

Giving details, Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khattra said acting on a tip-off, the police set up a naka at Tangri bridge at Ojhan village near Patiala. “As Praveen got down from a truck, he was asked to surrender, but he jumped into the Tangri river. However, the police managed to arrest him.

A case under Section 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against Praveen at the Julkan police station.

Praveen, prime accused in the abduction of a couple from Meerut, Shekhar and Shelja, at gunpoint near Zirakpur on May 21, 2009, was arrested in Kauli, but he managed to escape from the police custody while he was being taken to a court for hearing on January 8. The Patiala police had even suspended the two cops - constable Balraj Singh and Navtej Singh - on charges of negligence of duty.

Patiala, January 25
The National Book Trust of India, along with the department of youth  welfare, Punjabi University, Patiala, organised  a literary programme on the university campus today.

While inaugurating the function, Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said individual and organisational efforts would be  helpful in developing the cult of reading books  and other quality literature among the Punjabi  youth.

He said books should be gifted instead of money during various functions.

Parents should encourage their kids to read good books, he added.

Noted litterateur Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana emphasised upon the idea of translating world classic literature into Punjabi and Punjabi literature into other languages.

About 16 books were released at the function.

He also highlighted the role of the NBT in promoting book culture in India. Additional Director of the NBT Baldev Baddan and noted playwright Dr Ajmer Aulakh deliberated on various issues. A kavi darbar and a symposium were also organised on the occasion.

Patiala, January 25
Presiding over the valedictory session of the national conference on “Recent advances in chemical and environment sciences (RACES-2010)”, Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, Dr Gurjeet Singh on Saturday stressed on the role of judiciary in the preservation of environment.

He said there was an urgent need to take up cudgels against excessive environmental degradation. He said global warming had become a stark reality and an impending danger, which needed to be nipped in the bud.

Kharar, January 25
Two persons got killed in an accident when a car rammed into a stationary truck near Saneta village on the Banur-Landran road.

The accident took place at around 8.30 am. Family members of Satpal Singh Rathore from Chanalon area in Kurali were on their way towards Chanalon. They were returning after attending some religious sermons near Shahbad, Haryana, in a Ceilo car.

Satpal was driving the car and others, including his wife Saraswati Devi, son Bhupinder Singh Soni, daughter-in-law Anshu, daughters Pinki, Dimple and Mamta, granddaughter Khushi and grandson Arnav, were in the vehicle.

When they reached near Saneta village, the car rammed into the stationary truck. Pinki died on the spot, while five-year-old Arvnav was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The injured were rushed to a private hospital with the help of nearby villagers and some commuters. The villagers also informed about the incidence to police officials, who later visited the spot.

The police officials said a case would be registered after recording the statements of the injured.

Chandigarh, January 25
Following the guidelines issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the litigants in the district courts can now expect speedy disposal of their cases.

According to the available information, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set goals for the district courts for the ongoing year.

The courts have been directed to bring down the number of cases registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act where the police reports have been filed up to December 31, 2007, to nil by the end of 2010. The judicial officers have also been asked to target all 10-year-old civil cases.

For the magistrates, all cases of undertrials who have been in custody for more than six months as on December 31, 2009, are also to be brought down to nil by June 30. Further, the cases of undertrials in the sessions courts who have been in custody for more than two years as on December 31, 2009, are also to be brought down to nil by the end of the current year.

October 31 has also been set as the deadline for bringing down pendency of oldest 100 civil cases, oldest 100 criminal cases and 25 oldest execution petitions in the court of every civil judge and judicial magistrate.

Furthermore, 25 oldest execution petitions pending in the courts of district judges and additional district and sessions judges are also to be brought down by October 31.

Meanwhile, the district courts significantly increased the disposal rate during the last year. As per official sources, 77,960 summary cases were disposed of out of a total of 80,494. The disposal in terms of units has been 32,980 as against the prescribed norm of 24,480.

In 250 working days, around 125 cases were disposed of on an average in 2009. However, the district courts are still awaiting a nod from the Centre in terms of notification to start evening courts so as to bring down the number of pending cases even further. 

Chandigarh, January 25
The case involving Israeli national Lior Avi Ben Moyal under the NDPS Act has taken a new turn, with the defence today moving an application under Section 311 of the CrPC for summoning Paramjit Singh, former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sepoy, as witness.

The court fixed February 2 as the next date for the NCB to file its reply. The case came up for hearing in the court of additional district and sessions judge RS Attri, where the defence moved the application.

In its application, the defence stated that Paramjit was working as sepoy with the NCB at the time of the arrest of Jiri Andreev and Lior.

Paramjit was also secretly recorded during a sting operation conducted by Lada Svobodova and Ashok Malik.

Paramjit was later caught red-handed by the CBI for demanding and accepting Rs 50,000 as bribe from Lada, Lior’s fiancee.

It was stated that in the secretly recorded conversation on video, the sepoy had revealed the truth regarding the kidnapping of Lior from Panipat, the picking up of Jiri from a hotel in Chandigarh and later implicating them.

It was also stated that the sepoy had disclosed who the culprit was, to whom the contraband belonged and how the culprit was let off by a senior NCB officer.

It was further stated that the sepoy had corroborated facts and admission of the prosecution witness, Ravi Kant Pawar.

Zirakpur, January 25
Two women were injured after a car driver got fits and rammed the car into a divider on the Chandigarh-Ambala National Highway here this evening.

A car tumbled down on the road after colliding with the divider. The injured were identified as Manpreet Kaur and Sarabjeet Kaur, both residents of Ambala.

The police stated that the incident took place when an Indigo car was moving towards Ambala from Sirhind, while reaching near the Singhpura point, driver Harpreet Singh suddenly got an epilepsy attack due to which he lost control of the car and hit.

Mohali, January 25
With the arrest of three members of a gang of vehicle thieves, officials of the CIA wing and the Kharar sadar police station have claimed to have solved several cases of vehicle theft in the district. Several stolen vehicles and spare parts of vehicles, valued at Rs 8 lakh, were recovered.

Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar said two members of the gang, Satbir Singh and Ranjeet Singh, were arrested on January 22 while removing spare parts from a stolen car near Daun village in Kharar.

Other members of the gang, Lal Chand, Vikas and Sukhdeep Singh, escaped from the spot. Sukhdeep was arrested with a stolen motorcycle from Nawanshahr on January 23. Some stolen cars and motorcycles were recovered from them.

Chandigarh, January 25
All-round performance by Parvesh Sharma helped the Pace Riders beat Punjabi Tigers by seven wickets to enter the semifinals of the first U-13 Tricity Premier League (TPL) Cricket Tournament being held at Banyan Tree School ground, Sector 48, here today.

After winning the toss, the Pace Riders elected to ball first.

The Punjabi Tigers scored 144 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. Yuvraj Gill 63 runs of 57 balls, which included 12 fours, and Shourya 25 of 18 balls with five fours were the main architect of the Punjabi Tigers innings.

For the Pace Riders, Parvesh took two wickets for 20 runs, while Gangesh scalped four wickets for 32 runs.

In reply, the Pace Riders achieved the target and scored 146 runs for the loss of three wickets in 17 overs. Pavesh’s unbeaten 35 of 37 balls, including two fours, Ujwal’s unbeaten 27 of 16 balls and Vaibhav 20, including three fours, were the top scorers.

For the Punjabi Tigers, Shourya was the only bowler, who impressed with his bowling figures of two for 14 runs.

Parvesh Sharma was declared the man of the match for his unbeaten 35 and two wickets for 20 runs.

Brief scores:

Punjabi Tigers: 144 for 8 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Gill 63, Shourya 25, Parvesh 2/20, Gangesh 4/32).

Pace Riders: 146 for 3 in 17 overs (Parvesh 35 not out, Ujwal 27 not out, Vaibhav 20, Shourya 2/14).

Tomorrow fixtures:

First semifinal match between Rihalz Worriers and Punjabi Tigers at 9.30 am.

Second semifinal match between Modgill Challengers and Pace Riders at 12.30 pm.

Chandigarh, January 25
Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, and Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, trounced Swami Ram Tirtha Public High School, Mohali, and Sri Aurobindo School, Sector 27, respectively, in the Times Cremica Inter-School Tournament held here today.

In the first match, GMSSS, Sector 19, won the toss and decided to field first. Swami Ram Tirtha school batsmen failed to face the tight bowling of GMSSS bowlers and were bundled out for just 41 runs in 10.5 overs. For GMSSS, Pawan was the pick of the bowlers, who took five wickets.

In reply, GMSSS-19 achieved the target in just 3.2 overs losing only one wicket. In the second match of the day, Sri Aurobindo School, Sector 27, won the toss and elected to bat first. They failed to put up a big score on the scoreboard and were bundled out for 42 runs in 8.1 overs.

In reply, Mount Carmel team achieved the target and scored 46 runs in just 2.5 overs.

Siddharth Gupta, who scored 20 runs in 13 balls, including four fours and four wickets, was declared man of the match.

Matches to be played on January 28:

First match: Ryan International School, Sector 49, Chandigarh, V/S Gem Public School, Phase 3-b2, Mohali, at 9 am.

Second match: Government Model Sanskriti School, Sector 20, Panchkula, V/S Sri Sukhmani International School, Derabassi, at 1 pm.

Venue: Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, January 25
SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, won the Panjab University Football (men) A-Division Championship, while GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, SGGS College, Chandigarh, and BAM Khalsa College, Garshankar, bagged the second, third and fourth positions, respectively.

In the first match of the day, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, defeated BAM Khalsa College, Garshankar, 2-1.Gurvinder of Sadhar College scored the first goal in the ninth minute.

In the second half, Azam Ali scored the second goal for the Sadhar team.

The second match played between SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, and SGGS College, Chandigarh, ended in a draw match with 1-1 goal each.

Puneet Singh scored for Mahilpur in 12th minute of the game, but soon after Pawandeep from SGGS, Chandigarh, scored an equalizer in the 25th minute.