Jalandhar, June 12
Parents of kids suffering from thalassemia in the region need not rush to Chandigarh every month to get the drug for their afflicted children as the Thalassemic Children Welfare Society, Jalandhar, has made the drug available in its centre at the Civil Hospital here.

Earlier the drug, which is essential to clear the toxic iron accumulated in the patient’s body after repeated cycles of blood transfusion, was available only at Chandigarh. Besides medicine cost of Rs 1,200-1,800 per month, families had to spend hundreds of rupees on travelling.

“Most of the kids registered with our society belong to poor families. Some of them are even not able to bear medicine costs. Travelling 250 km just to get the medicine sounds unnecessary for such families whose breadwinners are daily wagers and cannot spare even one day to go to Chandigarh,” said society secretary T.S. Bhatia.

Dr Gagandeep Singh, Blood Transfusion Officer, Civil Hospital, said earlier the parents had to get the drugs prescribed from the doctors concerned in the PGI. “Now the drug will be available even on the prescription of local doctors. Earlier there was some technical or legal hitch, owing to which the company was not supplying the drug to this region,” he added.

Nearly 70 thalassemic kids are registered with the society and the blood of all these children is replaced free of cost in the ward which is functional in the Blood Bank, Civil Hospital.

“We are trying to rope in some philanthropists so that the medicine could be 
provided at concessional rates to poor patients,” said Dr Gagandeep Singh.

Nawanshahr, June 12
The police arrested five people for the murder of Jatinder Singh of Karyam village within few hours of the incident on Friday night. The accused have been identified as Balwinder Singh, Vipin of Moogowal village in Hoshiarpur, Makhan Singh of Gujarpur village, Rajiv Kumar of Bhangal Kalan village and Kulwinder Singh of Skohpur village.

The police swung into action after registering a case under sections 302, 307, 148 and 149 of the IPC on the basis of a complaint filed by Ranbir Singh of Bhangal Kalan village, who was an employee of the deceased and was the eyewitness of the incident. According to Ranbir Singh, Jatinder was murder as he stopped Rajiv Kumar from teasing his sister-in-law.

Ranbir was working at the tent house, owned by Jatinder Singh, at Karyam. At around 8 pm on Friday, Ranbir said, Jatinder came to his house on his scooter and asked to accompany him to nearby Lodhipur village, where a tent was to be put up. Jatinder Singh received a phone call at about 8.30 pm when they were near Ghataron village. The caller asked him to stop. As he stopped, the accused reached there on a motorcycle and scooter. Armed with baseball bats and swords, they attacked Jatinder Singh, the eyewitness said.

When Ranbir tried to save Jatinder Singh, they also attacked him leaving him injured. Jatinder died on the spot, said Ranbir Singh in his statement.

Nawanshahr: Ram Piari (70), a widow, of Nagra village was found murdered in the courtyard of her house. She was living alone in the house constructed by her NRI son in the village. Son Mukhitiar Singh said at about 7.30 pm, her mother after taking dinner at his house, went to the house owned by his brother. In the morning, when she did not wake up, the neighbours informed them. After entering the house, they saw the blood soaked body of his mother lying in the courtyard. The police has registered a case at Banga police station. Ram Piari had three sons. While two sons were living here, the third one was living abroad.

Phillaur: Some persons allegedly murdered a villager, identified as Balbir Singh, at the nearby Mau Sahib village late last night. Sewa Singh, brother of the deceased said his brother was attacked with a hammer and bricks and killed by some assailants, when he was sleeping in the tube well room in his fields in the village. He was found dead in the morning. A hammer with bloodstains was also recovered by the police. The Phillaur Police has taken three villagers into custody in this connection and registered a case under section 302 of the IPC. The dead body of the deceased was handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination.

Tarn Taran: One Sukhchain Singh was shot dead and four people were seriously injured when two groups clashed over a piece of land in Bhikhiwind, 35 kms from Tarn Taran, here today. A case under sections 302, 34 of the IPC and sections 25, 54, 27 59 under the Arms Act has been registered. 

Kapurthala, June 12
A teenager was allegedly gangraped by three youths in Narottam Vihar Colony.The police has arrested four persons, including a woman, for their involvement in this well planned gangrape, said Lakhwinder Singh, the investigating officer.

The victim lodged a complaint against three youths and her friend with the city police, in which she said she was accompanying her friend, with whom she was working in a beauty parlour, in the city market when Deepak Kumar approached them. Deepak, known to her friend, was riding a motorcycle. The girl alleged Deepak offered her a ride and allegedly took her to a kothi in Narottam Vihar where his friends Vishnu and Om Prakash were already present.

They threatened the girl of dire consequences and detained her for the night and took turns to rape her. The victim alleged that the trio abducted her in connivance with her friend. After registering a case of rape and abduction on her complaint, the police got a medical examination of the girl conducted at the local Civil Hospital.

 In the second accident, Pinki (5), daughter of Pappu Rai, was killed on the spot when she was hit and crushed by a speeding truck outside the local convent school on the national highway on Friday. — OC