Amritsar, May 2
A major tragedy was averted in the wee hours today, when a mobile exploded in the Sultanwind Road area.Though not having very severe intensity, it left the area chowkidaar, who picked up the equipment, injured. The mobile was placed in a bag, which also contained two petrol-filled glass bottles and wires. 

Identified as Onkar, the chowkidaar is in his thirties and is a resident of Dabbia Wali Gali. A spot survey revealed that the bag was hanging on the handle of a cycle. According to eyewitness report, this cycle was standing near a garbage bin, located on the Sultanwind Road, outside Jodh Nagar area.

It is to mention that being a temple situated nearby and a vegetable market, this place is often overcrowed. If the statement of police officials is anything to go by, a major attack was planned by the miscreant elements.

Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar, when approached, said, “The petrol, wires and other explosive materials seized from the spot, at least, indicate that a major conspiracy to target the general crowd was planned, but it, somehow, got avoided.”. The Commissioner said that the police was investigating into the case and trying to identify the accused. It is probably for the first time that petrol filled in bottles was to be used for executing an explosion.

Onkar, while narrating the incident, said he came to know about an aboandaned cycle parked near the garbage bin through an owner of a juice bar, situated on the road.

Thereafter, Onkar took the cycle to the nearby Gobind Nagar area. “It was there that I attempted to inspect the mobile. It did not have any sim card. As soon as I switched it on, it exploded,” he said.

Amritsar, May 2
A day after the incident of extortion from a noted Punjabi folk singer Balkar Ankhila came to light, the district police arrested two persons, who were part of the gang, which threatened the singer.

The arrested have been identified as Bhupinder Singh resident of Kand wala village and Parminder Singh of Kaiyan Wali village in Muktsar.

According to police sources, one pistol .32 bore with 2 live cartridges and one magazine, one Alto car (PB-18-M-7942) and one dagger have also been recovered from their possession.

On a tip-off, the police laid a naka at the T-point on the Batala road and nabbed Bhupinder Singh along with Parminder.

The preliminary investigations revealed that both the accused happened to be notorious criminals of the Malout area who were already facing criminal charges against them.

During investigation, it was found that the accused visited Balkar's house few months back and after that they targeted the singer to grab money. Raids are being carried out to arrest the remaining accused.

It is to mention that Punjabi Folk Singer Balkar Ankhila had approached the police with a complaint claiming that persons by the name of Joginder Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Kabir and Jaspreet Singh had called him up from different phone numbers and claimed that someone had given them a ‘supari’ (killing amount) of Rs 30 lakh to kill him. He further stated that they demanded Rs 60 lakh from him to forgive his life.

After receiving this complaint, a case of extortion was registered at Sadar police station and a police team headed by Inspector Ramneesh Kumar SHO Sadar swung into action and nabbed two of them.

Pathankot, May 2
The Mamun police arrested an Army jawan for allegedly sodomising a 16-year-old mentally disabled boy here today. The boy is the son of a senior Army officer posted at Mamun Cantonment.

Lt-Col Arun Kumar, father of the victim, in his complaint to the police said he had gone out with his family leaving his son at home. On his return, he found his son sobbing after which he saw blood patches on his son’s clothes. In the meantime, Neeraj Patel,an Army jawan, deployed at his quarter tried to flee from the house. But he caught hold him and informed the police. Neeraj, booked under section 377 of the IPC, has confessed to his crime, said the SHO.

Jalandhar, May 2
As many as 29,225 candidates applied for the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the Punjab Technical University today for admission to engineering and pharmacy colleges of the state. Of the total candidates, 319 remained absent.

The test was conducted at 101 centres set up by the university across all the districts of Punjab.

An observer and an assistant observer were appointed at each centre. Sixty flying squads were put on duty to check any malpractices. In all, over 3,000 persons were deployed to take care of the whole exercise. The two-hour-examination began at 10 am at most centres.

The candidates said the paper did not throw any surprises and came on the expected pattern with 40 questions in each of the three subjects. Dr. NP Singh, chief co-ordinator, CET, said the result would be declared on May 21 and counselling would begin on June 15.