Rs 8 lakh looted from brothers at gunpoint
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 12
Five unidentified armed robbers took away Rs 8 lakh from two brothers, both commission agents, from Guru Nanak Colony in Mandi Gobindgarh this evening. The robbers also fired gunshots when some local youth chased them and blocked their path towards the GT Road.

In their complaint to the police, Deepak Thukral and Sandeep Thukral said that they collected the money from few factories in the town and also withdrew few lakh from a local bank. As soon as they parked their car in front of their house in Guru Nanak Colony five armed robbers in a white coloured Toyota Fortune Car blocked their path and demanded the bag of money. They put revolver on their heads and ordered to hand over money as passerby’s looked on.

The brothers handed over the bag containing money and raised an alarm as soon as the robbers left from the street of the colony. Some young boys standing nearby chased them and blocked their path just before the main road however the robbers fled after firing few gunshots at the young boys, who escaped unhurt.

SP (headquarter) JPS Sidhu said the robbers were chased by the cops as well and naka’s were also put up on the. GT Road, however, the accused managed to give a slip. Preliminary investigations revealed that the robbers had already committed such crimes in Ludhiana and Patiala as well on the similar vehicle. The registration number of the vehicle is also said to be fake, which has been lifted from someone in Ludhiana, he said.

Dowry Death
Parents allege delay in post-mortem report
Tribune News Service

Rajpura, May 12
Parents of a Mohali-based woman, who was allegedly killed by her in-laws, last week for not bringing enough dowry alleged delay in the post mortem report. Gagandeep Kaur, resident of Mohali, died under mysterious circumstances on Saturday and her in-laws and husband were booked by the police in this connection.

Gagandeep was married to Amandeep Singh of the Alipur area of Rajpura around two months ago.

The sister of the woman, Dr Roopinder Kaur, demanding immediate arrest of boy's father, Ajaib Singh, a Block Development Officer in Chanidgarh and his wife Devinder Kaur, alleged that the report of the post-mortem examination was being delayed under political pressure. She said that even the viscera report of her sister was not sent for lab testing.

SHO Bikramjeet Singh Brar, however, said that court had extended the police remand of the deceased’s husband for two days and permission had also been taken to open the locked house of the accused to recover dowry articles. In normal circumstances the post-mortem report is released by doctors within 24 hours however, it does get delayed sometimes, he added.

Punjab info panel settled 11,654 cases till 2009
Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 12
The State Information Commission has achieved a big success by disposing of approximately 90 per cent of the cases till December 31, 2009. As per the figures given by Information Commissioner Darbara Singh Kahlon, out of 12,955 cases from various parts of the state, 11,654 were disposed of till December-end last year.

Kahlon, who was in the city recently, said penalty was imposed in 136 cases and 250 complainants got the compensation.

“The RTI Act was enforced in Punjab in 2005 and now it has started showing encouraging results. The Act has brought transparency in the functioning of various government departments”, he asserted.

Kahlon, however, condemned those who were misusing the RTI Act for their vested interests. Interacting with the District Public Information Officer and his colleagues, Kahlon said, “Information which is sought under the RTI Act and poses no threat to the national security, should be supplied within the stipulated tenure.”

He also said all records in different government departments should be maintained properly and the department authorities must computerise all records, so that they were available online. Later, addressing a two-day convention for the PIOs, so that the RTI Act is implemented in totality in the district, Kahlon said villagers could obtain the information regarding the development works of their respective villages under the RTI Act by approaching village panchayat secretary. “However, in case the panchayat secretary fails to provide the information, the applicant is free to approach the higher authorities”, he said.

MP honours Sandeep for cracking IAS
Tribune News Service

Morinda, May 12
Sandeep Kaur’s success in cracking IAS examination is a befitting reply to those who kill daughters in Punjab. Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna said this while honouring Sandeep, a peon’s daughter from Morinda, who secured 138th rank in the All-India Civil Services examination and has brought laurels to her family. She was honoured at a function in Gurdwara Ravidass here today.

“Sandeep is now a role model for lakhs of women and girls in the state, who want to make it to the top,” the MP said.

Sandeep was presented a shawl and a clock.

Earlier, while talking to The Tribune Sandeep said TV serial “Udaan” was her inspiration to take up the exam.

The eldest of three siblings, 29-year-old Sandeep is a daughter of peon Ranjit Singh.

Sandeep also said her success should encourage other Dalit girls as well in the state.

Due to lack of adequate sources and in absence of proper guidance, Sandeep attempted for Civil Services in 2005 and 2006 without any formal coaching.

Her father had then taken up loan to fund her coaching lessons from Chandigarh, Patiala and New Delhi.

School comes to rescue of jail inmates
Gagan K. Teja
Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 12
In order to help jail inmates of Central jail, Patiala, who are keen on achieving higher education, city-based KK International School has decided to provide free education to these jail inmates.

Giving information in this regard, school director Harjeet Kaur said they had earlier expressed their wish to former Jail Superintendent Jeewan Garg and he had already completed all formalities to facilitate this cause. But since he was transferred, we met the new Jail Superintendent captain SP Singh today to discuss this proposal.

Harjeet Kaur said that few members of the school administration, including school principal Ramnik Ghuman, met the new superintendent and briefed the plan. He readily accepted the proposal, she added. The principal said the superintendent had also ensured help to the school administration for this noble cause.

Talking about the whole project, the director said that the school would provide for free education and other facilities, including filling of the examination form, of the candidates who were eligible for higher education irrespective of what crime they had committed.

In fact, the examination forms of 12 eligible candidates, including five women and seven men, for class X and class XII had already been filled.

“We had read an article few weeks back about who would teach these jail inmates? and that article acted as a motivating factor for us. We decided that every human being had the right to education and if they want o study further, we will sponsor their studies and facilitate them. I am glad that our wish has finally been granted. We are hoping to attract more and more inmates towards studies with the passage of time,” she added.

Summer camp trials on May 18
Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 12
The Sports Department, Punjabi University, Patiala, is going to conduct trials for sports wing and summer coaching camps for various disciplines. Dr Raj Kumar Sharma, director, sports, informed that the university was going to conduct these trials on May 18, beginning at 7 am at the university’s sports complex.

He further said the players belonging to various games seeking admissions to various colleges affiliated to Punjabi University or the university campus in any course/class for the session 2010-11 should reach for trials with their original sports and educational certificates along with two passport size photographs.

Athletics, archery , badminton, basketball, baseball, boxing, chess, cricket, cross country races, cycling, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi (national style), kayaking & canoeing, kho-kho, korfball, netball, pistol shooting and air rifle shooting, weight lifting, power lifting, best physique-only men, rowing, swimming, squash racket, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, wrestling and yachting are the games for which trials are being held. Players of any state of India can participate in the trials.

2 killed, 1 injured in accident
Our Correspondent

Bassi Pathana, May 12
Two persons were killed on the spot and one was seriously injured when their car had a head-on collision with a speeding tanker bearing No. PB-10 BX-7951 near Ucha Jattan on the Ludhiana Morinda road last night. The driver of the canter fled.

According to the police, two persons, along with their driver in Swift car, were going towards Ludhiana from Chandigarh and a speeding canter hit their car and the driver identified as Sunder and owner identified as Hari Krishan, residents of Shri Ganga Nagar died on the spot, where as the third occupant identified as Mahavir Singh resident of Kotkapura was seriously injured.

The police said injured was immediately taken to civil hospital and bodies were handed over to the relatives after post-mortem.

The police has registered a case under Sections 279, 337 and 304 of the IPC.

Engineer killed in road mishap
Tribune News Service

Zirakpur, May 12
A 22-year-old engineer died after his motorcycle rammed into a divider near Singhpura village on Tuesday night. The deceased was identified as Tushar Mahajan, a resident of Phase X, Mohali.

The investigating officer stated that the incident took place around 1 am when Tushar was going to Ambala from Mohali. When he reached near Singhpura village, his motorcycle hit the divider. He fell off from his motorcycle and died on the spot. The deceased was working as an engineer with a private bank, the investigating officer added.

The body of the deceased has been handed over to his family after conducting the post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi. The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Sections 174 of the CrPC.

Child crushed to death under tractor
Tribune News Service

Ropar, May 12
Two-and-a-half year old Rashi, a resident of Hussainpur village was crushed under a tractor trolley today. As per the police, Rashi’s grandmother Prem had gone to fetch her back from aanganwari. The road leading to aanganwari is very narrow. When Prem and Rashi came out of the aanganwari centre, a tractor trolley was going ahead of them.

Suddenly, two trucks came from the opposite direction and tractor trolley had to revert back. The driver of the tractor trolley, Naiba from Behrampur Ladal village started reverting back his tractor trolley. He did not notice the girl child coming and ran the tractor over the child. She died on the spot. The police impounded the vehicle, while the driver is missing.

10 hurt as auto overturns

Ambala, May 12
As many as 10 persons were injured on the Ambala -Naraingarh road near village Handesra village when a three-wheeler overturned today noon. Three of the injured have been sent to the PGI, Chandigarh.

According to information, the three- wheeler's driver lost control of the vehicle and overturned. The injured were admitted to civil hospital in Ambala City. Three injured Swtantra Rani, Sawita and Basanti have been referred to PGI, Chandigarh. The police has registered a case against the driver of the three-wheeler. — OC

Nursing Day celebrated

Rajpura, May 12
Nursing week and International Nursing Day was celebrated by Swift Institute of Nursing as a mark of respect to Florence Nightingale.

Dr G Munjal, president of Swift Fundamental Research and Education Society, lit the lamp during the occasion. He emphasised the need to carry on the mission of serving the sick and needy with sincerity. — TNS

COURTS

Consumer Courts
Travel company fined Rs 10,000
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed city-based Golden Travel Company to refund a sum of Rs 15,000 paid as advance by a complainant, Chander Pal Tyagi, after it failed to provide him with the bus service as promised. It has also been asked to pay Rs 10,000 in compensation for mental agony and harassment along with a litigation cost of Rs 5,000.

Tyagi, a Panchkula resident, had pleaded with the forum that a marriage party was to leave for Merut (UP) for his son’s marriage scheduled for December 7, 2008.

As the members were large in number, two buses were needed, while the travel company could only commit one bus.

The complainant booked one bus from them and hired the second bus from another operator. He was to pay Rs 20,000 as fare and paid Rs 15,000 in advance.

Tyagi claimed that they were to leave Panchkula at 12 pm and had asked the company to send the bus an hour early so that luggage could be loaded on to the bus well in time.

However, the bus failed to reach till noon and the complainant called up the company asking them to send the bus immediately.

In spite of several calls, the bus failed to arrive. Thereafter, the company officials stopped receiving calls from the complainant’s mobile number. He even tried making calls from his relatives’ phones but to no avail.

Tyagi claimed that they waited for the bus till 2 pm following which they were forced to adjust all members in one bus and some cars.

In its reply, the company said as the number of members accompanying the bridegroom was less, the complainant had adjusted all members in one bus and asked their driver to leave.

When the driver demanded the balance amount of Rs 5,000, the complainant allegedly abused him. The matter was then reported to the police.

The forum comprising Lakshman Sharma and Madhu Mutneja observed that it had been proved that the bus had failed to reach the designated place in time.

Therefore, the complainant had to adjust the members of the marriage party in one bus and some cars.

18-month jail for death due to rash driving
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
Civil Judge-cum-Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Anshul Berry today awarded one-and-half years of imprisonment to Sanjay Choudhary for causing death due to rash and negligent driving. He was also fined Rs 1,000.

The police had registered a case against him on December 4, 2006 after Sanjay Pal was killed by his car near Khera Mandir in Sector 29.

Choudhary was booked under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC. The police had found him driving car in a rash and negligent manner on a public way as to endanger human life and public safety.

CRIME

Two held for thefts
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
The Chandigarh police has arrested two persons in connection with thefts at Morinda and Kajheri village. The accused have been identified as Dalip Kumar (22) and Manoj (15). While Dalip is a resident of Sector 53, Manoj resides in Kajheri village.

The police claimed to have recovered 45 mobile phones, 60 mobile phone batteries, two gas cylinders, one DVD player, one refrigerator and some utensils from their possession.

The police said the accused had stolen mobiles from a shop in Morinda (Punjab), while other goods were lifted from a hotel in Kajheri. Dalip has been remanded in two-day police custody, while Manoj has been sent to the Juvenile Home in Sector 25.

2 held for theft
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
The police arrested Doni Bhatia and Suraj for threatening Kamlesh Jha, a resident of Sector 24, and stealing an LCD screen from a house in Sector 15 after breaking open the lock yesterday. Two others involved in the case, Manjit and Ruby, are at large. A case has been registered.

Arrested

The police arrested Varinder Singh, a resident of Sector 19, from Palika Bazar in the same sector for drinking at public place yesterday. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against the accused and the police is investigating the case. The accused was later released on bail.

Liquor seized

On the complaint of Hari Pal Singh, a resident of Sector 47, the police arrested Vinod Kumar, a resident of Janakpuri, Ludhiana, from the road separating Sectors 47 and 48 and recovered 19 boxes of English wine being ferried in a Tata Sumo (PB 32 C 8060). The police has registered a case under the Excise Act in this regard. The accused was later bailed out.

Scooter stolen

Kuldip Singh, a resident of Sector 23, reported to the police that his scooter (CHT 6200) was stolen from Apni Mandi in Sector 43 on May 1. A case has been registered.

SPORTS

Shubham dazzles in St Soldier’s win
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 12
Excellent performance by Shubham (unbeaten knock of 74 and two wickets for seven runs) helped St Soldier’s Loyalists, Panchkula, to beat Mountview Wizards, Baltana, by 47 runs in a league match of the sixth Satluj Hot Weather Cricket Tournament held on the school premises here today.

After winning the toss, St Soldier elected to bat and scored a total of 186 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their stipulated 25 overs. Shubham 74 n.o. and Anish 26 were the main scorers.

For Mountview Wizards, Sanyam Nagpal and Rahul took two wickets each giving away 25 and 27 runs, respectively. Chasing a victory target of 187 runs, Mountview Wizards failed to resist the stiff bowling of St Soldier and were bundled out for 139 runs in 23.2 overs. Shubham was the pick of the bowlers, as he took two wickets for just seven runs. Anjit with two for 28 runs was another wicket-taker. For Mountview Sanyam, Nagpal 30 and Mandeep 21 were the only batsmen who faced the St Soldier bowlers with some resistance. Tomorrow’s fixture: NICS Stallions Patiala v/s Mountview Wizards, Baltana, at 1 pm.

Results:

St Soldier Loyalists: 186/7 in 25 overs (Shubham 74 n.o., Anish 26, Sanyam Nagpal 2/25 and Rahul 2/27).

Mountview Wizards: 139 all out in 23.2 overs (Sanyam Nagpal 30, Mandeep 21, Shubham 2/7 and Anjit 2/28).

Nimrat to face Bani in U-12 final
Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 12
Local player Nimrat Walia and Bani from Punjab will meet in the under-12 category final of The British Total Tennis AITA Talent Series Tournament being played at The British School, Sector 70, here.

Nimrat got the better of Shea Bhasin, also from Chandigarh, in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, whereas for Bani, the semifinal match against Sara Karoor was just a cakewalk, as she drubbed the Punjab player with ease 6-0, 6-0.

On the other hand, in the under-14 boys’ section, Punjab players, top seed Ankush Arora and Tegbir Hara, justified their seeding by making it to the semifinals.

The other semifinalist Sachit Malhotra of the Total Tennis Academy turned tables on the third seed Rahul Seth of Chandigarh in the quarterfinal match. Dominating the proceedings throughout the match, Sachit broke Rahul’s service at 3-3 in the first set and then <http://set.in> at 2-1 in the second set to win the match 6-3, 6-3.

In another interesting match, unseeded Josh Bhasin of Chandigarh made into the semifinals of boys’ under-14 category and will meet second seed Tegbir Hara of Punjab. Tall and lanky Josh, who made in through lucky looser, played controlled ground shots to down Addhyan, also from Chandigarh, in two straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

In the boys’ under-12 category, top seed Robin Kapoor of Punjab, Chandigarh’s Rohit Kumar, Sabrang Sandal and Parmeet Deol have also qualified for the semifinal ties.

The results:

Boys U-14 quarterfinals: Ankush Arora (PB) beat Abinav Mahajan (PB) 6-2, 6-0; Sachit Malhotra (CHD) beat Rahul Seth (CHD) 6-3, 6-3; Josh Bhasin (CHD) beat Adhhyan (CHD) 6-1, 6-4; Tegbir Hara (CHD) beat Sultan Singh (CHD) 6-2, 6-2.

U-12: Robin Kapoor (PB) beat Yashpal Neeraj (CHD) 6-0, 6-1; Sabrang Sandal (CHD) beat Kemp O'Brien (CHD) 6-0, 6-0; Parmeet Deol (CHD) beat Hritik Abrol (CHD) 6-0, 6-0; Rohit Kumar (HR) beat Siddharth Kapoor (CHD) 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles U-14 quarterfinals: Abhinav & Sabrang (CHD) beat Rohit & Adhhyan (CHD) 1-4, 5-3, 4-2; Parmeet & Anmol (CHD) beat Kemp & Neeraj (CHD) 4-1, 4-0.

Girls U-14 semifinals: Meenal M'wal (MH) beat Bani (PB) 6-4, 6-1; Karishma Mehta (CHD) beat Nimrat Walia (CHD) 6-3, 6-3.

U-12: Nimrat Walia (CHD) beat Shea Bhasin (CHD) 6-2, 6-4; Bani (PB) beat Sara Karoor (PB) 6-0, 6-0.

New sports policy on cards
Three-day Khalsai fest begins
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 12
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said today the state government would announce its sports policy in a few days. Aimed at promoting traditional sports of Punjab, the new sports policy would also aim at creating world-class sports infrastructure.

The proposed sports policy has identified nine games, including kabaddi, hockey, athletics, volleyball, wrestling, boxing and basketball.

According to sources, Punjab government will now organise district and inter-district level tournaments with attractive prize money of Rs 25 lakh, he added.

Sukhbir inaugurated three-day Khalsai Games festival dedicated to Sirhind Fateh Divas Tercentenary celebrations here at the stadium of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College.

He lauded initiatives of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) for organising the competitions of traditional sports.

Regarding sports policy he said: “The government has chalked out an ambitious project to introduce ranking of players on the basis of their performances in domestic as well as national circuits to identify and nurture top hundred players in each game. With new ranking system we would have a larger identified pool of promising players, who could be nurtured for the national as well as international sports meets,” he said.

Underlining the need for opening more job opportunities for promising players, Badal said nine different boards and corporations of Punjab government had been directed to raise one state team of one particular game.

He also pointed out that three per cent quota of sportsmen would be filled within three months and all the departments had been directed to fill the backlog. “Six hockey stadiums in the state would have Astroturf and floodlight facilities by December.

Similarly, eight kabaddi stadiums with flood light facilities will be constructed before the next World Kabaddi Cup in 2011,” he added.

Meanwhile, some residents of Sirhind rued that despite tall claims of politicians no district-level stadium had come up in the area. “All cultural, sports and other big events are organised at SGPC run institutes due to which studies of students gets disrupted”, said Paramvir, a resident of Fatehgarh Sahib.

Cricket Meet
49 probables announced
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 12
The Cricket Federation of Haryana has announced 49 probables for the 2nd All -India Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda (under-17) Nationals Cricket Championship. The preparatory coaching camp is to to be held in Panchkula and Chandigarh from June 1 to June 4. The camp will start from May 14 at 3.30 pm at Hansraj School Cricket Ground, Sector 6 here.

All the players should report at 3.30 pm at the venue.

The names of the probable are as follow:

Kamaljit Singh, Hitesh Kumar, Badal Singh, Sumit, Ajay Duhan, Ashish Kumar, Sachin Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Ankush, Ankit Chaudhary, Sahil Preet Singh, Animesh Goyal, Amit Dhiman, Anu Jaiswal, Amit Chaudhary, Kunal Duggal, Varun Kohli, Lokesh Mehta, Palwinder Singh, Abhisek Mirk, Ajay Kashyap, Jatin Kumar, Rahul, Abhisek Kumar, Akshit Kumar, Rahul Singla, Deepak Saroha, Amit Dahiya, Mukesh Saroha, Pardeep Singh, Nirwair Singh, Shubham, Nikhil Saini, Raman Kumar, Dhushyant Chauhan, Aditya Singh, Mohit, Sohil, Arun Yadav, Atish Gupta, Mohit Singh, Ravi Shankar, Mohit Rana, Paramjit Singh, Kawaljit Chawla, Sachin Pal, Raj Kumar, Shubham Tiwari and Gaurav Kumar.

Snooker
Aman, Pardeep enter q-finals
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12
Aman Bhasin, Pankaj Gulati and Pardeep Kinger have entered the quarterfinals of snooker (best of five frames) at the ongoing 9th Saurabh Khattar Memorial Billiards and Snooker Championship at the Chandigarh Club, Sector 1, here today.

Kinger beat his opponent Saurav Nayyar by 3-0 (61-18, 89- 17, 60-41), while Aman Bhasin moved ahead trailing Manjul Sood by 3-1 (90-10, 76-15, 30-66, 79-43).

Pankaj Gulati got the better of Jaskeerat Singh 3-0 (71-21, 87-34, 72-24).

The results of second round snooker match (best of three frames) are as under:

Rajesh Jain bt Sunny Sagar 2-0 (88-46, 54-30); Sandeep Duggal bt Anshul Mittal 2-0 (82-27, 94-10) and GS Batra bt Gurminder Singh 3-1 (40-47, 59-33, 48-46).

Media putting contest
Our Golf Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 12
A media putting competition will be held at the CGA Golf Range on May 15 at 10 am. Chandigarh Golf Association general secretary CSR Reddy said those journalists interested in taking part in this mega putting contest could give their names to the office of the CGA Golf Range by e-mail or telephone.

Prizes will be given away at the same venue soon after the competition.

Katoch Shield final from today
Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 12
The four-day final between the district teams of Chandigarh and Patiala for the Katoch Shield (seniors) would get underway at the Punjab Cricket Association’s Stadium from tomorrow.

The on the field ongoing would be supervised by Navdeep Singh and Ranjiv Sharma, while former national umpire Jasbir Singh would be match referee.

The defending champions Chandigarh will be led by Vishwas Bhalla, whereas Pankaj Dharmani is the skipper of Patiala team.

The match will start at 7 am.