The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Security Beefed Up Threat letters seem mischief but we’re prepared: Officials P.K. Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 18 Various security and intelligence agencies have geared up to meet any eventuality in the wake of threat calls to bomb Attari railway station, Samjhauta Express and different religious places in Punjab. Railway officials have confirmed that there have been threats to damage religious places, including Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, besides Attari railway station and many other important places in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The letter written in Hindi is attributed to Lashkar-e-Toiba area commander Karim Ansari. “Though these calls do not hold any authenticity, we are fully equipped to meet any untoward situation and threats,” said an intelligence official, preferring anonymity. Meanwhile, the surveillance and security have been beefed up at Attari railway station and other parts of the city. The railway authorities at Attari said although they were already on alert, they had intensified checks and dog squads had been pressed into service. He said they had received such threats in October last year also, through letters which was posted somewhere from Punjab. “This time, the unscrupulous persons used the same method to create panic but they would not succeed in their aims,” he said. Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said the department had sounded an alert after receiving the letter, adding that it seemed to be a mischievous act but they could not take this lightly. He said all the departments concerned had been asked to remain vigilant. Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu said the district administration was fully prepared to handle any eventuality.
	Cyber Crime The city’s one-man guide to ethical hacking Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 18 Hide and seek in the present scenario might not just mean an innocent little childhood game where kids hide behind walls and their counterparts come seeking them. Thought about hacking of our e-mail accounts, websites, and mobile sims give us a shrill wave. One can encounter the same experience while taking with the city’s lad Parul Khanna who at the age of 18 years has become a hacker, but who hack the networks ethically. Tons of literature has been written about the modalities of hacking, however, its dangerous magnitude can be ascertained from the practical demonstration of techniques. “There are techniques with which I can even use someone’s switched off mobile person to make five calls simultaneously. Some techniques enable a hacker to tap the voice of mobile users. All these techniques are available on the internet. With another technique, a hacker can evade scanning through which dialed and received calls are recorded by telecom companies,” he claimed. I have also accessed the technique named Sim Cloning with which two mobile sims can be used simultaneously. While divulging the details of this technique he said, “Whenever our mobile gets lost, we usually place our request with the telecom companies to block our old sim and get a new number issued on the same. The companies then tally the lost sim’s IMSI number, which is unique to the lost and newly-issued sim. Hackers do copy this number of ours and can operate simultaneously on the lost sim also.” Parul is a ‘Certified Ethical Hacker’ who cleared the test conducted by Ankit Fadia, an international renowned cyber security expert. “I got my account hacked two years back. I approached network providing firms but got no help. Finally, I decided to crack the problem on my own and started searching literature regarding hacking. I found nearly nine books on the same subject. After reading all those books, I appeared in an online exam to become an ethical hacker”, he claimed. He also claimed that he is associated with the Andhra Police nowadays and has solved cases pertaining to frauds in online banking and credit card usage. With the help of six other ethical hackers from different parts of the country, he has formed a registered organisation, the Third Eye Ethical Society. We are keen to provide our services to the local police, free of cost. We are also trying to organise seminars and ad symposiums through which we can demonstrate these techniques to make both internet users and police aware of the fact as to how easy it is to scan any computer, he added.
	One dead in sweetshop fire Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, February 18 Young employee Om Parkash Swami (19), son of Birbal of Naukha Mandi, Bikaner (Rajasthan), was burnt alive while four other employees, Mohinder Singh, Hema Ram, Mangi Lal and Het Ram, escaped when a fire broke out at Bikaner Mishthan Bhandar, located in the main bazaar on Talwara Road, Mukerian town, 55 km from here, this morning. According to police sources, Shatan Singh, a nephew of the sweetshop owner, said the fire was noticed on the shop premises at about 1 am. SHO of Mukerian police station, on receiving information, requisitioned fire engines of the Army Depot, Uchi Bassi, BBMB, Talwara, municipal councils of Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. All the employees were sleeping on the first floor of the shop. As soon as they noticed the fire, four of them came out of the shop, while Om Parkash Swami, who did not wake up, remained inside and was burnt alive. After struggling for more than three hours, the fire engines controlled the fire. A short circuit is said to be the cause of the fire. All the goods lying in the shop were reduced to ashes. The loss is being assessed.
	Bodies of youths killed in Vienna to reach India on Feb 21 Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Dhilwan (Kapurthala), February 18 The bodies of the two Punjabi youths, Navjeet Singh (26) and Ravinder Singh Dhillon (25), killed a few days back in Vienna, Austria, will reach India on Sunday. Navjeet’s father Jasbir Singh and uncles Balbir Singh and Jagjit Singh told The Tribune that the bodies of both the youths would reach New Delhi on Sunday and then brought to Dhilwan for cremation. The president of the Management Committee of Gurdwara Nanaksar in Vienna, Gurbhej Singh, and chief of Sikh Human Rights Sukhdev Dev played a vital role in making arrangements for sending their bodies to their native places, they added. Both the youths were found dead under mysterious circumstances in their rented accommodation in Vienna on February 8. Navjeet’s father told The Tribune he had got a call from one of his son’s friends settled in Vienna about their deaths at 4 am (IST) on February 9. However, their autopsy reports stated that they died due to suffocation by gas from geysers, he added. Both Navjeet and Ravinder were residing in the same room and were working as pizza delivery men in a restaurant in Vienna. While Navjeet went to Vienna about two years back, Ravinder had gone there over four years ago. Both were unmarried. Navjeet’s younger brother Parvesh had already gone to Australia over a year back.
	Class XII student gang-raped by schoolmates; 5 booked Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, February 18 A class XII student of Government Senior Secondary School, Jalowal, was gang-raped by five students of the same school in the school canteen on January 7. The Sadar police booked Ranbir Singh, son of Surinder Singh of Khanoor, Bhupinder Singh, son of Sarwan Singh, Rakesh Kumar, son of Prem Chand of Chiton, Maninder Pal, son of Jarnail Singh, and Kishan Lal, son of Sohan Lal of Jalowal, under sections 376, 120-B and 506 of the IPC in this connection last night. According to police sources, a 17-year-old girl of Saidpur village alleged that on January 7 when she was going to leave school after the school hours on her bicycle, Ranbir Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Maninder Pal and Kishan Lal stopped her and at dagger point took her to a room of the canteen where they gang-raped her. They had threatened her not to tell anyone about the incident, failing which she would face dire consequences.
	Widening of road: Another bypass is better idea, shopkeepers to MC Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, February 18 Shopkeepers of the local Chandigarh Road, Old Court Road, Banga Road, Rahon, etc., held a meeting to chalk out a strategy to tackle the problem arising out of the issuance of notices by the Municipal Council under the PUDA Act, 1995, for widening of the roads. Addressing the meeting, former MC president Lalit Mohan Pathak, Gurdwara Singh Sabha president Joginder Singh, Balbir Singh Jadla of the CPM, state vice-president of the All-India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU) Kulwinder Singh Warraich, among others, stressed on the need to constitute a joint action committee to launch a stir against the notices by the Municipal Council as well as to press the state government for the construction of a bypass to solve the problem of traffic in the town, without dislocating the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers also presented a memorandum to local MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha for onward submission to the Chief Minister, urging him to allocate funds for the construction of the proposed bypass from Langroya to Mahalon and from Langroya to Rahon. “With the construction of the Rahon-Machhiwara bridge across the Sutlej, the volume of heavy traffic passing through the town has increased manifold, consequently creating a traffic chaos on the main roads in the town. The problem of traffic could be solved by constructing a bypass from Langroya to Mahalon and Langroya to Rahon. Though the foundation stone for the construction of the Nawanshahr bypass had been laid twice by former CMs H.S. Brar and Capt Amarinder Singh in 1996 and 2006, respectively, the projects were virtually abandoned after laying the foundation stones,” lamented the shopkeepers, while urging the MLA to press the CM for allocation of funds in the coming budget for the construction of the bypass. Kariha assured the shopkeepers to take up the matter with the CM for solving their problem.