NEIGHBOURHOOD

Dr Manjit is Pbi varsity Registrar

Rajpura, May 3
The police today arrested a robber involved in more a dozen heinous crimes of robberies in various districts of Punjab.

The accused has been identified as Anokh Singh, who injured the owner of a petrol pump, his wife and daughter on April 20 in Rajpura and looted Rs 2 lakh from the petrol pump.

Addressing a press conference, SP (d) Gurdeep Singh Pannu and SHO (city) Bikramjeet Singh Brar this evening said the accused had committed such crimes in Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

He looted Bant Singh, the owner of Baba Farid Filling Station on the Rajpura-Patiala road, and fled away after injuring him, his daughter and wife. They all received serious head injuries. The accused also fired gunshots before leaving.

The SP said the accused was arrested near Ambala Chungi in Rajpura on a tip off this afternoon. Efforts were on to nab the other co-accused in the case who had been identified as Kala, Chhabba and Sonu, all residents of Amritsar.

The police officials said a .315 bore gun and three live cartridges had also been recovered from his possession.

He is involved in robbing Rs 1.23 lakh from a goldsmith at Verka in Amritsar, Rs 40,000 from an Amritsar-based doctor and fired gunshots near Jalandhar grain market to loot someone recently.

Police officials said a case in this connection had been registered against the accused who would be produced before the magistrate and a police remand would be sought to recover looted material and to arrest the other co-accused.

Ambala, May 3
The link roads of Ambala Cantt have been in a deplorable condition for the past couple of years due to the apathetic attitude of the department.

The roads have been posing a serious threat, especially to two-wheeler drivers and pedestrians, with the danger of serious accidents looming large. Minor accidents are also being reported frequently as two wheelers often lose balance after falling in potholes.

Potholed roads and absence of drainage facilities in some of the residential colonies reflect the non-seriousness of the authorities towards providing best facilities to the residents. A visit to some of the link roads reveals that these have not been repaired for the past more than five years.

The authorities concerned have turned a blind eye to the problem and are simply waiting for a major accident to take place. The promise made before the elections to re-carpet bad roads in areas lies unfulfilled.

Sanitary conditions in the sector had worsened as roads and inner lanes have not been cleaned or repaired for a long time. Safai workers hardly visited the area. A large portion of the sewerage had been choked for years, a resident of Kardhan colony said.

The link roads approached to the national highway from Subzi Mandi, Kabari Bazar and the main Sadar Bazar, which were full of big potholes and the authorities had not taken any initiative regarding the maintenance despite repeated requests, some of the residents alleged.

However, except for some cosmetic repair work carried out, the commuters and vehicle owners continue to have a bad time on the city roads.

The caving in of roads at many places has also led to traffic jams. The Sadar Bazar-Football Chowk stretch has been witnessing massive traffic jams as the civic authorities have failed to repair the road, which was badly damaged.

“The condition in various areas is deplorable, especially with heaps of garbage along with stagnant water beginning to emanate foul smell, making the area prone to diseases,” Kishan Lal, a resident of Jogi Mandi said.

Ambala, May 3
In a major drug haul, the police today arrested seven persons, including two students and an instructor of engineering institutes, and seized 970 gm of cocaine from them. The seized drugs are estimated to have a market rate of Rs 2.50 crore.

The accused have been identified as Rishi Chauhan, a student of BTech at Asian Institutes of Management and Technology, Yamunanagar, Ajit Yadav, a resident of Jhajjar district and a student of BTech at Gurgaon, Praveen Kumar, an instructor at Global Engineering Institute, Yamunanagar, Bal Kishan, an employee at Asian Institute of Management and Technology, Kushal Chauhan, Vikas Singh and Manoj Kumar, all from Gugalkota village in Alwar district.

SP Bharti Arora told The Tribune here today that all accused were arrested near the bus stand, Ambala Cantt. The Parao police stopped these persons and on checking they found the contraband from their possession and arrested them.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against all seven accused at the Parav police station.

Efforts were on to apprehend associates of the arrested persons, the police said.

Chandigarh, May 3
A trip to Kolkata turned into a nightmare for a Panchkula resident when his flight got late and was dropped at Jaipur airport instead of Delhi or Chandigarh along with his family. Further, the airlines from which he had booked the tickets failed to make proper arrangements for their travel.

Finding deficiency in services, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the Gurgaon-based MDLR Airlines to pay Rs 5,000 in compensation for the journey from Jaipur to Chandigarh to the complainant.

It has also been asked to pay Rs 15,000 for mental and physical harassment and Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses.

Aggrieved by the order passed by the district forum on September 29, 2009, that had directed the company to pay him Rs 4,500 along with litigation cost of just Rs 500, Pankaj Mahajan had filed an appeal to the redressal commission urging it for re-consideration.

He had submitted to the court that he had booked four tickets worth Rs 11,750 from the company’s city-based office and paid Rs 47,000 for his journey from Chandigarh to Kolkata and back.

During return journey, the flight was scheduled to take off from Kolkata in the afternoon but it took off at night and, that too, with boarding passes from Kolkata to New Delhi.

The flight landed at Jaipur instead of Delhi at midnight, which caused inconvenience to him and his family members.

He requested the airlines to arrange a comfortable journey from Jaipur to Chandigarh by air or at least make arrangements for an AC bus journey.

Pankaj alleged that they were forced to travel in an ordinary bus in chilly conditions from Jaipur to Delhi.

The company failed to make any alternative arrangement from Delhi to Chandigarh, due to which they had to hire a taxi and pay a sum of Rs 2,400. Pankaj said he also served a legal notice on the company but to no avail.

The company in its reply pleaded that due to fog/poor visibility the flight took off late and when the flight reached the Delhi Airport, the air traffic control did not grant permission for landing and the flight had to be diverted to Jaipur.

Pankaj contended that the question of fog arose if it was to take off or land in the evening but the flight was to take off in the afternoon from Kolkata and at that time there was no fog either at Kolkata or Delhi.

Chandigarh, May 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants to know from the Chandigarh administration whether it proposes “to take remedial measures” in case the paid parking system has led to the creation of traffic bottlenecks on the main roads.

The administration has also been asked to inform the court whether it has issued an order directing government employees to leave behind their vehicles at underground parking lots.

As a petition filed by eight BJP-Akali councillors for abolishing the paid parking system in the city came up for hearing this afternoon, Justice Rajan Gupta asked UT senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal to seek instructions “whether due to the introduction of the system of paid parking, any bottlenecks have been created on the main roads of the city. If so, whether the administration proposes to take any remedial measures”.

The directions are significant as the time taken by motorists to pass through narrow paths between barricades at the entrance of the parking lots often results in the creation of queues.

As the barricades are almost always installed at the entrance, abutting the main road, the queues extend up well beyond the parking lots, leading to traffic bottlenecks.

As a result, motorists negotiating their way through traffic on main roads, more often than not, find themselves alternating the pressure on the brake and accelerator pedals due to the spillover. The problem is particularly bad at Sector 35 and other such areas.

Referring to the orders passed by the high court in the matter on August 2001, Justice Gupta also asked Kaushal to specify whether the directions have been complied with “in letter and spirit”.

Justice Gupta, in his two-page order, has quoted these four directions: “The Chandigarh administration shall issue an order, making it obligatory for the parking of all vehicles belonging to officers of government and public sector undertakings in the underground parkings.

“The employees working in the offices of government and public sector undertakings should also be told in clear terms that they will have to park their vehicles in the underground parking unless they choose to take advantage of the system of pass parking.

“The shopkeepers and those running other establishments in Sectors 8, 9 and 17 should be told to avail the facility of underground parking and they should not be allowed to park their vehicle at any other place.

“The Chandigarh administration/ municipal corporation shall issue necessary public notice for introducing the system of paid parking and the utilisation of underground parkings in Sector 8 and 17 and the open spaces in Sector 8, 9 and 17.

“Those found guilty of parking the vehicles in violation of the scheme introduced by the municipal corporation should be dealt with in accordance with the law. For this purpose, the municipal corporation may frame appropriate bylaws under Section 399 (J) (6) of the Act.” The case will now come up on May 14.

Chandigarh, May 3
The sensational murder of two security guards, whose bodies were found dumped under a bridge at Daria village on Saturday, took a curious turn today when around 50 kg scrap of stolen water pipes was recovered from the factory where Gurdial Singh was a security guard.

Sources in the police said the recovery of such a huge quantity of stolen water pipes from the factory had not only given a fresh direction to the investigation but also further baffled the investigators, who are struggling to ascertain the motive behind the killing.

The police had yesterday ruled out revenge as the motive behind the killing. The victims’ families had previously claimed that both Gurdial and Sucha Singh were instrumental in the arrest of three thieves.

The police now suspected that the distribution of the booty could be one of the possible reasons for the brutal killing of the two security guards — 60-year-old Gurdial Singh and 45-year-old Sucha Singh.

Besides, a police officer said they had learnt that Gurdial was also involved in sale and purchase of property and charged 2 per cent commission on the deals.

Industrial Area police station SHO Dilsher Singh Chandel said the police was working on several theories and had so far not arrived at any substantial conclusion on the motive behind the killing.

He said they had rounded up and interrogated over 50 persons so far in the case but to no avail.

A police officer said even the theory of distribution of booty was not clear at this stage, as the stolen material was found from the factory where Gurdial was working.

It could be possible that both Sucha and Gurdial were united in keeping the stolen material and someone else was denied his share, leading to their killing.

“We cannot say anything for sure at this stage and are working on many leads. We don’t know which theory will click and at what stage,” said another police officer.

The police said the post-mortem report suggested that the victims had struggled to save their lives and a violent scuffle had taken place before they were ultimately killed.

Chandigarh, May 3
The police today arrested five family members of a girl from Abohar, who had married against the wishes of her parents, on charges of kidnapping her along with her husband.

Sources said the incident occurred around 10.15 am near the Rock Garden where the couple had alighted from a bus to go to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek protection against the girl’s family.

The family members of the girl travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio swooped down on the couple and bundled them into their vehicle before speeding away.

An eyewitness informed the PCR (police control room) about the matter, which flashed the information.

Sector-3 police station SHO Mahavir Singh said a PCR team deployed at a rotary in Sector 26 spotted the vehicle and intercepted it.

The couple were recovered from the vehicle and the information was passed to his police station.

Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Muktsar, lodged a complaint with the police against Manda Singh, Resham Singh, Raj Singh, Hardeep Singh along with the driver of the vehicle, Sushil Kumar.

The police arrested the accused, all residents of Abohar, after registering a case of kidnapping and criminal intimidation against them under Sections 365 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

Zirakpur, May 3
The Sher-e-Punjab Sports Club honoured the Indian kabaddi team, which had won the World Cup Kabaddi Tournament at a function organised in the Kalgidhar market here today.

Senior Youth Congress leader Gurkirat Singh Kotli and former vice-chairman PSIDC, Dipinder Singh Dhillon, were the chief guests.

The club honoured members of the Indian kabaddi team and kabaddi federation coach Surjan Singh Chatha with gold rings.

While talking to mediapersons, Dipinder Singh Dhillon claimed that after the Congress government in the state, the first preference of the government was to organise the kabaddi tournaments at the village level.

Other prominent leaders, sarpanch Jaspal Singh, club president Daljit Singh Dimple and many others were present on the occasion.

Mohali, May 3
With his six-wicket haul, spinner Bipul Sharma enabled Chandigarh to move ahead in the on going Punjab Senior Inter-District Cricket Tournament for Katoch Shield after registering win over Ludhiana on the basis of first innings lead of 87 runs in Ludhiana today.

The other teams that carved out wins in their respective matches included Mohali, Patiala and Jalandhar.

In reply to Chandigarh’s first innings, total of 379 in 78.4 overs, Ludhiana batsmen were all out on 292 in 84.5 overs. Bipul Sharma showed top class variation in his line and length to hunt six for 69 in 22.5 overs.

Resuming from their overnight score of 21 for one, Bharat Malhotra and Tarun Passi played defiant innings of 76 and 74 not out, respectively, and stitched 101-run partnership for the sixth wicket. At one stage the team was tottering at 132 for five. After the departure of Bharat Malhotra, regular fall wickets of Ludhiana batsmen continued and the team mustered a total of 292.

Gitansh Khera hit 36 runs, while Deepak Bansal and Ankur Kakkar made 30 and 23 runs, respectively.

With the win, Chandigarh raised their tally of points to four, while Ludhiana remained at two points.

Score:

Chandigarh (Ist innings): 379 all out in 78.4 overs.

Ludhiana (Ist innings): 292 all out in 84.5 overs (Bharat Malhotra 76, Tarun Passi 74 n.o., Gitansh Khera 36, Deepak Bansal 30, Ankur Kakkar 23 and Bipul Sharma six for 69.

In the second match at the PCA Stadium, an attempt by Mohali team to register an outright win was denied by the Ropar team.

Showing good batting, the Ropar team was at 254 for nine when the umpire blew the final whistle today. Earlier, Mohali had declared their first innings on the overnight total of 205 for one with a first innings lead of 53 runs.

Contrary to expectations, the Mohali bowlers could not do much damage to the batting line-up of the Ropar team. Opener Devinder Singh was run out when the team’s total was 31.

Arjun Kumar chipped in 57 off 97. He was ably supported by Amrinder Brar, who hit 37 runs. Prince (46) and Mayank Sharma (34) stitched a partnership of 67 runs for seventh wicket. Chintan remained unbeaten on 26 when umpires called off the play at the end of the 80th over. Varun Khanna returned figures of three for 86 in 31 overs, while Jaskaran Singh scalped two for 51 in 18 overs.

Score:

Ropar (Ist innings): 152 all out in 50 overs.

Mohali (Ist innings): 205 for five (declared the innings)

Ropar (2nd innings): 254 for nine in 80 overs (Arjun Kumar 57, Amrinder Brar 37, Prince 46, Mayank Sharma 34, Chintan 26 n.o., Varun Khanna three for 86 and Jaskaran Singh two for 51.

In their match against Mansa, Jalandhar carved out a win on the basis of first innings lead.

Today, Mansa were 84 for two in their second innings when the final whistle was blown. In their first innings, Mansa team was bowled out for 222 in 65.5 overs at Burlton Park in Jalandhar.

Earlier, Jalandhar posted 510 for seven in 95 overs in their first innings.

While in the fourth match, Patiala defeated Amritsar on a first innings lead of 203 runs and logged two points. Chasing Patiala’s total of 405, Amritsar were bundled out for 302 in 84.3 overs.

Panchkula, May 3
Holy Child School won the Six-a-side Inter-school Cricket Under-14 Tournament defeating Ryan International School by four wickets.

St Xavier’s School, Vivek High School, The Gurukul School, Chaman Lal DAV School, Ryan International and Holy Child School participated in the inter-school tournament, which concluded on May 1.

After winning the toss, Ryan International elected to bat first and scored a huge total of 66 runs in six overs. Rohan scored 32 not out and was the top scorer for his team.

Chasing the victory target, Holy Child achieved the target with Nikhil Yadav scoring 33 runs not out and Shubham Chandran 20 runs. Nikhil was declared the man of the match.

However, in the U-12 category, Ryan International School, Chandigarh, beat Holy Child School by four runs.

After winning the toss, Ryan International batted first and scored a total of 56 runs in six overs. Kartik 32 not out was the highest scorer. Holy Child scored 51 runs with Abhishek Raja and Hrithik Vashisht scoring 11 and 10 runs, respectively.

Kartik of Ryan International School was declared the man of the match.

Chandigarh, May 3
Akshita Singh got the better of Hansika 4-0, 4-2 in the straight sets in the under-12 category’s first round match at the AITA Tennis Tournament held at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts here today.

While in the boys’ under-12 section, Param Pun and Rishabh Sharda were among others, who have made it to the second round with ease.

Both Param Pun and Sharda beat Manav Bhrany and Rahul Verma, respectively, with identical score 4-0, 4-0.

Results:

Boys U-16: (Ist round): Kamal Kishore bt Rahul Seth 6-0, 6-0, Dhruv Puniani bt Sabrang Sandal 6-3, 6-1, Param Pun bt Rohit Kumar 6-1, 6-2, Nishat Eqbal bt Abhijeet Singh 6-4, 6-1, Pranav Suri bt Parmeet Singh Deol 6-0, 6-0, Vikas Berwal bt Srijan Uppal 6-2, 6-2, Rupesh Khokhar bt Rishabh Sharda 2-6, 6-0, 6-2, Ishaque Eqbal bt Raghav Talwar 6-2, 6-4, Uday Singh Mann bt Ajay Singh Thakur 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, Sultan Singh Atwal bt Santbir Singh 7-5, 6-1, Dheeranush Singh Bhatti bt Nihit Rawal 6-3, 6-2, Sean Yip bt Andrew Pradeep 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 , Kunwar Singh bt Addhayan 6-0, 6-0, Sumitpal Singh bt Barun Gill 6-3, 6-2, Anish Goel bt Saahil Rawat 6-2, 6-1, Ranjeet Singh bt Jatinder Singh 3-1 (conceded).

Girls U-12: Akshita Singh bt Hansika 4-0, 4-2. Girls U-16: Rubani Ahluwalia bt Neelanchal Gupta 6-3, 6-2, Aashana Aggarwal bt Nimrat Walia 6-1, 7-6 (5), Prinkle Singh bt Ishmeet Kaur 6-1, 6-0, Ayna Arora bt Abhilasha Mudgil 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, Harsimran Kaur (HR) bt Karishma Mehta 6-0, 6-1, Gayatri K bt Simran Kapur 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2.

Boys U-12: (Ist round): Aditya Sharma bt Kemp O’ Brien 4-1, 4-0, Ankrish Khanna bt Gulshan Singh 4-0, 4-0, Parmeet Deol bt Daksh Marwaha 4-0, 4-1, Nihit Rawal bt Anmol Kamboj 4-0, 5-3, Siddharth Basnet bt Saurabh Prashar 3-5, 4-0, 4-1, Sagar Bains bt Ravsehaj Puri 4-1, 4-0, Rishabh Sharda bt Rahul Verma 4-0, 4-0, Sabrang Sandal bt Angrej Singh 4-0, 5-3, Leonardo Pamei bt Neeraj Yashpaul 4-1, 4-2, Rohit Kumar bt Calvin Golmei 4-1, 4-2, Param Pun bt Manav Bhrany 4-0, 4-0, Paramvir Bajwa bt Gaurav Seth 4-0, 4-0, Jagdeep Singh bt Sarvesh Maria 4-0, 4-0, Himanshu Bansal bt Ritik Mahapatra 5-4 (5), 4-2.

Chandigarh, May 3
It was Sumit Talwar’s day, as he won top honours in both senior snooker and billiards events in the 26th Chandigarh State Billiards and Snooker Championship 2010 at Sector 22 here today.

In the senior snooker category, top seeded and eight-ball national champion, Sumit Talwar put up a brilliant show and defeated Amit Verma 4-1 (83-34, 59-45, 65-29, 35-59, 68-18) in the best of seven contest.

In the first frame, Sumit made breaks of 26, 28 to win it with ease, while the second was close with the score 59-45. After losing the third frame in a row, Amit made a comeback in the fourth frame with a break of 38. But Sumit did not give him any chance in the fifth frame and lifted the snooker trophy.

In the senior billiards event, Sumit again displayed his skills and command against last year’s winner Arif Akhtar of Indian Oil in the title clash. Sumit drubbed Arif 3-1 to win the championship.

Captialising on some classy shots in the first frame, Sumit made a break of 50 and 37 to win the frame 100-16. There was no different story in the second frame, in which Sumit got off with a break of 38. He clinched the frame 100-85. The third set brought some cheers for Arif, who got a break of 64 to win it 100-74. The scores were levelled at 40 in the fourth when Sumit got a lucky shot and made a break of 35 followed by unfinished break of 25 to bag the title.

Chandigarh, May 3
Jeev Milkha Singh will do the ceremonial tee off at 7.30 am for the Samarvir Sahi Punjab Open Amateur Golf Championship, which gets under way on the par-72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club tomorrow.

The tournament is played in memory of Samarvir Sahi, a golf icon of the city.

Recognised by the Indian Golf Union, the Samarvir Sahi Punjab Open is a major event of the Indian golf circuit.

Amateur golfers from all over the country will rub shoulders with the amateurs of the city and region.

Chandigarh, May 3
Gaurav Gulati emerged winner in the opening snooker match of the 9th Saurabh Khattar Memorial Billiards and Snooker Tournament at the Chandigarh Club here today.

Gulati beat Vikramjeet Singh by 2-1 in the best of three frames. Gulati clinched the first frame with the score 43-36, but Vikram equalised the score by winning the second frame 60-40.

In the decider, which proved a close contest, Gulati won the frame 50-43.

In the billiard game of 150, Pankaj Gulati got the better of Amrit Sidhu by 150-105. Gulati made a break of 41 points, which proved crucial in the win.