Phagwara, June 18
In the couple’s murder case, the police has booked Arvind Sharma, father of the bride, under section 302 of the IPC, who seemed to be the main suspect in the case.

He had a bad record to his name in Maziana village in Jahanabad district in Bihar.

Kapurthala SSP Ram Singh said a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising Phagwara SP, SHO Sadar Ravinder Singh and in charge special cell, Phagwara, Yogesh Kumar, has been constituted to investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, the bodies of both Kamlesh Singh Yadav and and his wife Khushvu Kumari were kept in the mortuary of Baba Gadhia, said SHO Chaherru Hargurdev Singh.

The family members of both the deceased arrived on Saturday morning to take the bodies to Bihar for their funeral. It was also learnt that the police has rounded up a migrant labourer from Bihar named Kanshi, who was medically examined at the local civil hospital today.

On the other hand, The Tribune learnt from reliable sources that the Phagwara police was in constant touch with the Jahanabad police to nab Arvind and his accomplices, who have not returned to Bihar yet.

It may be mentioned here that the deceased couple solemnised their marriage first in Bihar then got it registered in Punjab and were staying in a quarter allotted by their employer Amarjeet Singh near his tubewell room in his fields in the nearby Miherru village. The groom belonged to a Yadav family and the girl was a Brahmin by caste.

Hoshiarpur, June 18
A B.Tech student of a private college at Kathar was repeatedly raped by a youth of Tanda Urmur. The Sadar police last night booked Gurpreet of Ward No 6, Tanda Urmur, under sections 376, 342 and 506 of the IPC.

According to police sources, the victim girl, who hails from the Choe Chak village PS Ghumaan (Gurdaspur) and is now staying in a college hostel at Kathar, alleged that the aforesaid accused met her at Adda Kathar while she was going to the college and offered her a lift to the college, which she accepted.

Instead of dropping her at the college, he forcibly took her to Jalandhar and also snatched her mobile phone. Later, he took her to Chintpurni road at a private hotel at Chohal, where he locked her up in a room.

After about 20 minutes, he came to the room and repeatedly raped her during the night. In the morning, he dropped her at the bus stand, Hoshiarpur, and threatened her of sire consequences if she narrated the incident to police or family. Before leaving the place, he returned her mobile phone. — OC

Jalandhar/Kapurthala, June 18
A bid to abduct his wife with the assistance of his friends landed a Sant Nagar resident in jail here today. The husband, Sukhwinder Singh, who was reportedly speeding away with his aides after abducting his wife Manpreet Kaur from her parental house in Model Town in a filmy style, met with an accident.

A police party, chasing them, nabbed them at a police naka on the Kanjli road in Kapurthala. Sukhpal Singh, SHO, Division No 7 police station, said the incident occurred at about 11 am when Sukhwinder and his armed friends from Jalandhar and Amritsar reached Sukhwinder’s father-in-law Charanjit Singh’s house in two cars.

Sukhwinder managed to make Manpreet sit in a Swift car forcibly even after objections raised by his father-in-law. Sukhwinder’s aides, who were also in another Swift car, fired into the air as they noticed Charanjit Singh raising alarm, the SHO revealed. Receiving information, the police laid nakas at strategic points at every entry and exit points to the city.

Sukhwinder and his friends in their cars sped away towards Kapurthala but their vehicles collided after they noticed a PCR vehicle at a naka on the Kanjli road. The PCR men took out the injured from the vehicles and rushed them to the Kapurthala Civil Hospital.

Sukhwinder, Vikash and their five other aides have been arrested in this connection. The police said Sukhwinder and Manpreet had a love marriage and had a son from the wedlock. After four years, their relations turned sour as Manpreet came to know that her husband was a drug addict and was booked in certain criminal cases. They decided to get separate, following which Manpreet came back to her parents leaving her son with her in-laws.

Jalandhar, June 18
Hundreds of government school students of rural areas of the district today held protest in front of the District Administration Complex, Jalandhar, under the banner of Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU).

The students demanded early and uniform implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009, across the state and pressed the government to initiate an enquiry into the embezzlements of funds in Sarv Siksha Abhiyan, reports of which have appeared in the media recently.

Addressing the protesting students, Tarsem Peter, President, PMU, said thousands of children still indulged in child labour seem to make a mockery of the much-hyped anti- child labor and Right to Education Act.

He said instead of facilitating education by giving scholarships to tens of thousands of students belonging to scheduled castes, backward classes and religious minority families, both state and central governments are apathetic about all such student welfare schemes.

Later, students submitted their memorandums to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister through the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Gurmail Singh, President, Democratic Teachers Front and Sandeep Arora of Naujwan Bharat Sabha also addressed the gathering.

Moklan (Jalandhar), June 18
A pall of gloom descended in this sleepy village following the announcement made from the nearby Chak-Shakur village gurdwara, regarding the death of Balbir Kaur, her son Gurpreet Singh and Sagar of Zora village, in a train mishap this morning.

The tragedy struck at the entry of the village road when the speeding Jammu-Howrah Himgiri Express rammed into a private mini bus, killing three persons, including two family members of a Kargil martyr Jarnail Singh and another passenger, on the spot.

Balbir and her son Gurpreet Singh, a Class V student of a village school, died while they were just a km from their destination.

Villagers of the nearby villages, including Cholang, Chak Shakur, Patyal rushed to the spot and swung into rescue operation. They also helped the railway police and Jalandhar police personnel in removing the mangled remains of the bus.

Balbir, a widow, was on her way back from her parental house in Naushera village near Hariana in Hoshiarpur district when the tragedy struck, claimed Joginder Singh, brother-in-law of the deceased.

Sandeep Kaur, daughter of the deceased, was inconsolable after she came to know about the tragedy. Balbir was staying along with her ailing father-in-law Sohan Singh since after the death of her husband Jarnail Singh.

Sitting on a chair in a corner of his room with a hip-joint fracture, Sohan Singh could barely hold his tears as he claimed that now Sandeep was the only hope of his survival.

Relatives and friends of the family started assembling at the house soon after the news spread.

The post-mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow at the Jalandhar civil hospital after constitution of a board of doctors.

Scores of onlookers assembled at the accident site, which caused traffic chaos on the busy Jalandhar-Jammu highway for over five hours. Villagers also arranged water tankers for the train passengers who remained stranded on the railway line for long hours.

Nawanshahr, June 18
A mother and son duo, identified as Ravneet Kumari and Vansh Kumar (5) of Kalewal village died on the spot and a number of passengers received injuries, when a mini-bus (PB3F-7186) coming from Bhaddi to Pojewal overturned at a link road near Jhandupur village, allegedly due to the over speeding and carelessness of the driver on Friday. 

The police, accompanied by local residents, carried out a rescue operation. The injured persons were admitted to the civil hospital, Saroya. Driver Mohan Lal, alias Sonu, of Singhpura village absconded from the site. A case under sections 279, 337, 338 and 304 A of the IPC has been registered against him. 

Amritsar, June 18
The district court here today released a lovelorn youth from Uttar Pradesh, who had been found roaming around on the International Attari Railway station, after charging a fine of Rs 1,000.

Deepak Kumar (24), from Gorakhpur district, without valid documents, wanted to travel to Pakistan to meet his net friend there. He was apprehended by the customs. Upon frisking, nothing objectionable was found on him. After completing basic formalities, he was handed over to the railway police.

Sources in the railway police said the youngster wanted to board Samjhauta Express without valid documents, to crossover and meet his friend. A student of MCA, Deepak developed a close friendship with a Pakistani girl on the internet. He said he was deeply in love with the girl and wanted to meet her.

The railway police took him to the court where the duty magistrate released him after imposing a mild fine.