Yamunanagar, June 14
The anticipatory bail application moved by former IG MS Ahlawat in a molestation case was adjourned for June 16 by the District and Sessions Judge RC Godhara here today.

The complainant’s counsel pleaded that the documents attached by the accused along with the anticipatory bail application be supplied to him.

Acting on the request, the Sessions Judge directed the Ahlawat’s counsel to supply a copy of the documents to the complainant and fixed the next date of hearing for June 16.

The court was packed to capacity when the case came up for hearing this morning. The complainant, Arvinder Kaur, who is an advocate, along with three security personnel, two of them women, were present. A battery of lawyers appeared in the case. While the advocate VK Rajoria and two public prosecutors BD Soni and Parvez Khokhar, accompanied by SIT chief Krishan Hooda, represented the complainant, the accused was represented by advocates IK Tiwana and Umrish Gandhi.

Ahlawat had filed an anticipatory bail on June 9, apprehending his arrest in a case registered against him on June 8 under Sections 354, 323 and 506 of the IPC on the complaint of Arvinder Kaur.

She alleged that Ahlawat had molested her in his camp office when he was posted as SP in Yamunanagar in 2002.

Ahlawat had pleaded in his anticipatory bail plea that a bare statement of the complainant without any corroboration could not stand the test of legal scrutiny and all allegations in the FIR were improbable.

Ahlawat had attached nine documents, including complaints sent by Arvinder Kaur to various authorities, include the IG of Ambala, the DGP, the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the National Human Rights Commission and the inquiry report of the ADGP.

Yamunanagar, June 14
The Special Investigative Team (SIT) today said the arrest of former IG MS Ahlawat in a molestation case was necessary in view of evidence procured by it against him and pleaded for rejection of his anticipatory bail in a report filed before the District and Sessions Judge here.

The five-paged report was submitted by CIA in charge Pawan Kumar, who is also member of the SIT constituted to investigate the case.

It was stated in the report that the arrest of Ahlawat was necessary to take a sample of his voice and also his hand- writing as the SIT had in its possession the recording of a conversation allegedly between Ahlawat and the complainant in 2002.

Besides, the SIT members had collected a piece of paper allegedly given by Ahlawat to complainant Arvinder Kaur mentioning his mobile number, landline number and two email addresses.

The SIT report pointed out that the influence of the Alhawat was such that he was never made part of any inquiry while in service. Besides, no departmental inquiry had been initiated against him so far. If released on bail, he could influence witnesses in the case.

Faridabad, June 14
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda reiterated here yesterday that his government was working seriously to make the state power surplus and on providing ample potable water to the masses.

Hooda inaugurated the Community Centre in Sector 16 and attended many private functions, including inauguration of a Punjabi dharamshala. The state had been facing power shortage problem, he said.

He further said when he took over the reins of the government, the priority was to increase home generation of power. Various power projects were undertaken, most of which would function by next year.

The state would have additional 5,000 MW power once these plants get functional. Even when Haryana was carved out as a new state, the generation was about 5,000 MW, much below the demand. But his government, in less than six years (including his first tenure as the CM), had achieved what the state could not in its 40 years of existence, Hooda said. Urging people to be patient, he said setting up power plants was a time-consuming process. Though the government’s focus hitherto had been on improving power situation, it also aims at providing ample potable water to the people.

Hooda referred to the pace of development in Faridabad, saying that it had lost its sheen. But, his government had given a boost to the development projects.

Sirsa, June 14
After augmentation in the supply of water into canals and distributaries, farmers of Sirsa district have a reason to cheer about from the power utilities in this paddy transplantation. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam today claimed that the nigam had augmented the capacity of seven substations of 33 kV level in Sirsa district. Earlier on May 25, supply to canals receiving waters from the Bhakhra Main Canal (BMC) in the district was increased due to the greater inflow of water in the catchments areas of Bhakhra Dam.

A DHBVN spokesperson said today that the capacity of 33 kV substations at Darbi and Mirjapur had been augmented by replacing old transformers of 4 MVA capacity each with new transformers of 10 MVA each increasing the total capacity of each substation by 6 MVA to 16.3 MVA and 14 MVA, respectively.

The capacity of 33 kV substation at Kharia had been augmented by replacing a 4 MVA transformer with a 6.3 MVA transformer.

Transformers of 4 MVA capacity at 33 kV substation at Kalanwali and Rori had been replaced with transformers of 8 MVA capacity increasing the total capacity to 16 MVA and 23 MVA, respectively, the spokesperson added. An old transformer of 4 MVA capacity had been replaced with an 8 MVA transformer to augment capacity of 33 kv substation at Keharwala to 19.3 MVA.

A 10 MVA transformer had been installed in place of an 8 MVA transformer at 33/11 kV system of 132 kV substation at Odhan.

The spokesperson said about 20,000 consumers of different categories in 52 villages in the district had been benefited by way of increased voltage and regular power supply with the addition of 28.3 MVA capacity in the power distribution system.

The DHBVN action, like the increased supply of water into the canals, has come at a very appropriate time for farmers, who are due to start transplantation of paddy from June 15.

Sonepat, June 14
The Alipur police today recovered the bodies of Yogesh (19) and Asha (18) of Gokulpuri in Delhi from the house of Asha’s uncle Om Prakash in Inderprasth Colony of Sarup Nagar in Delhi today.

Suspecting it to be a case of honour killing, the police has rounded up the father and a relative of the girl for investigation as the entire family of Om Prakash reportedly absconded after the incident.

The police received a call this morning that a van was standing outside the residence of Om Prakash.

The police reached the spot and when no one claimed ownership of the van, the police entered the house and found the bodies of Yogesh and Asha lying in the house.

Sub-Inspector Pankaj said as per the medical report both the victims had been beaten to death and it was suspected to be a case of honour killing. He said Asha came to Om Prakash’s house 15 days ago.

Rohtak, June 14
Mystery continues to shroud the death of a couple, whose bodies were recovered from the JLN canal here late last evening.

The police has sent the bodies for a postmortem examination at the PGIMS Hospital here. The reports are awaited.

The bodies were decomposed beyond recognition. The police believes that the couple may have died a fortnight ago.

The bodies, found stuck in the filth accumulated in the shallow waters of the canal near the office of the Rohtak range IG, may have been lying in the water for several days.

“It is too early to say if the couple had been murdered, drowned accidentally or had committed suicide.

“ The police is yet to trace their identity and determine the main cause of their death,” said Dalbir Singh, DSP (headquarters).

He said it was yet to be decided whether the victims were a couple or had been drowned in separate, unrelated incidents.

Regarding the possibility of honour killing, he said this would be revealed after a detailed report on the cause of the two deaths and the identification of the victims.

He, however, claimed that identification of the victims, both aged around 30, was difficult in view of the state of the bodies and lack of evidence so far.

The bodies of both the man and the woman bore several injury marks, police sources said.

There has been an alarming rise in such incidents. The total number of bodies recovered from the JLN canal here in the past one month has reached five.

Chandigarh, June 14
The panchayat elections in the eight districts, including Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Rohtak, will be held in two phases — on July 6 and 10.

Announcing the schedule for the fourth panchayat election in these districts, the State Election Commission said the polling would be held to elect 2,112 sarpanches and 20,169 panches of gram panchayats, 980 members of panchayat samiti and 130 members of zila parishad.

Stating this here today, State Election Commissioner Dharamvir said the notices would be published by district election officers (panchayat) on June 21 inviting nominations under Rule 24 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Election Rules, 1994. The nominations could be filed from June 22 to 24 while the scrutiny would be done on June 25.

The candidates would provide information by June 25 to the Returning Officer (panchayat) that he or she was not suffering from any disqualification. The nominations could be withdrawn by June 28 up to 4 pm. The list of contesting candidates and allotment of symbols for elections would be prepared on June 28 immediately after the expiry of the period of withdrawal of candidature. Poll, if required, in the first phase would be held on July 6 and in the second phase on July 10, he added.

Dharamvir said the general elections of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Panchkula, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Panipat districts would be held in one phase on July 6 and the election of other four districts, namely Karnal, Rewari, Yamunanagar and Hisar, would take place in two phases.

Besides, election of gram panchayats of Siwanmal and Naya Gaon Siwanmal of Safidon Block of Jind district would take place on July 6. He said as many as 35,04,276 voters of the eight districts would exercise their right to vote.

Dharamvir said in order to improve the pace of polling, the time of polling had been increased by an hour and now the polling time would be from 7 am to 4.30 pm and the counting of votes for elections to panches and sarpanches would be held immediately after the close of poll and for elections to members of panchayat samiti and zila parishad, the counting would be held on July 12 at 8 am. In case of repoll, the commission might modify the counting schedule appropriately.

Dharamvir said the election of the seats of sarpanches in all these eight districts would be conducted by the use of EVMs for which approximately 8,000 EVMs would be required. EVMs would be taken from the Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana. The model code of conduct in respect of the panchayat elections shall come into force from today in the districts going to polls.

Jind, June 14
The recounting of votes of repoll, which was held today for the post of sarpanch at Pega village, produced the same result as was declared on Saturday (June 12), the day the polling was held.

The same candidate, Kela Devi, has been declared the winner following the recount held on the orders of the District Election Officer that took place in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner this morning.

It was done following a protest by supporters of a candidate who had blocked the national highway between Jind and Kaithal on the night of June 12 for about 14 hours, seeking a re-election.

The irate residents of Pega village had also damaged an electronic voting machine.

The Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer today said that the recount had produced the same result iand contestant Kela Devi, had been declared the winner.

He said the candidate who was placed third and whose supporters had created a ruckus over the issue still remained at the same position.

The protesters had not only damaged one of the EVMs yesterday, but also blocked traffic last night to demand re-election at all booths of the village.

Meanwhile, a re-poll was held for representative of Ward No. 8 of the Panchayat Samiti and Ward No. 10 of the Zila Parishad.

Chandigarh, June 14
Haryana has virtually received a rap on its knuckles for acquiring the agricultural land with standing crop when shamlat deh or common village land belonging to the panchayat was available for the setting up of a sewerage treatment plant in Panipat district.

The High Court also scrutinised the action of the state Chief Minister in suggesting an alternative site for the setting up of the plant leading to de-notification of a chunk of land and notification of another piece. However, the High Court apparently found no fault with the action.

The Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Jitendra Chauhan further quashed the notifications for acquiring the land of Jagtar Singh and another petitioner.

The Bench asserted: “We are of the view that once shamlat deh land belonging to the gram panchayat was available as per the observation of the Chief Minister in his note dated March 28, 2007, there was no justification for acquiring agricultural land, which has standing crop.

“It appears to be well settled that once banjar quadim land or any other land of non-fertile nature is available, agricultural land belonging to the agriculturist should not be ordinarily acquired.”

The Bench observed: “The state desired to set up a sewerage treatment plant at Samalkha village in Panipat district. At the first instance, a notification under Section 4 read with Section 17(2)(C) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was issued on November 16, 2006….

“On December 28, 2006, a declaration under Section 6 read with Section 17 (1) was made…. However, the Chief Minister, Haryana, did not deem it appropriate to set up the plant inside the abadi area, as is evident from the letter dated January 4, 2008…

“A notification dated April 8, 2008, brought an end to the acquisition of the specified land. The de-notification in such a manner and further proceedings for acquisition may have bearing for invoking of urgency clause. On May 9, 2008, again a notification was issued. This time 48 kanals and eight marlas was sought to be acquired.”

Challenging the process, the petitioners claimed that their land was situated next to the area sought to be acquired earlier.

Speaking for the Bench, Justice Kumar asserted: “The facts of the present case would not justify invocation of urgency provision contemplated by Section 17(2)(c) of the Act…. Moreover, there is no application of mind as required by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the cases of Mukesh Hans and Essco Fabs (supra) for dispensing with inquiry under Section 5-A of the Act….”

Justice Kumar concluded that the instant petition succeeded and the impugned notification and all the subsequent proceedings pursuance to such declaration were quashed qua the petitioners.

Sirsa, June 14
Mystery surrounds the death of a Punjab Police cop in a private drug de-addiction centre at Dabwali in Sirsa district.

The victim, Pritam Singh, a wireless operator with the Punjab Police, was admitted to the centre on Saturday as he was addicted to liquor. Pritam’s kin alleged that he was perfectly fine when they left him at the centre Saturday evening. However, they were informed yesterday that Pritam had died.

Tilak Raj, brother of the deceased, said Pritam wanted to quit drinking. He had come on leave on Saturday and family members took him to the centre at Dabwali the same day. But, they received a call from the centre last evening and were told that Pritam’s condition was serious. And, they found him dead when they reached the centre.

The owners of the centre told the family members that Pritam complained of uneasiness in the afternoon and was taken to general hospital where he breathed his last. While, doctors of the hospital said the victim was brought dead.

The police said it would decide the further plan of action on the basis of the autopsy report. Private drug de-addiction centres have been involved in poppy husk and opium trafficking cases.

The health authorities had raided these centres after a patient’s death last year also, leading to closure of several centres.

Manager of the centre Sunil Gulati said Pritam died of heart attack, adding that the centre was registered with the Delhi government and their registration was valid across the country.

“We charge a nominal fee of Rs 5,000 per case and treat the patients with counseling and Ayurvedic medicines,” he said.

He claimed that their centre “Nai Kiran” was an NGO and over 33 patients were being treated there at present.