Tibri Cantonment (Gurdaspur), July 21
An Army Major’s wife has created a flutter in the cantonment area by complaining to the local police against her alleged harassment by her husband and two of his senior colleagues.

Jyoti Sharma, a former air-hostess and wife of Major D.P. Sharma, currently posted with 56 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Jammu and Kashsmir, has written a letter to the Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police (a copy of which is with The Tribune), claiming that her husband used to assault her “physically and mentally” because she gave birth to a baby girl instead of a boy as desired by him and her in-laws. The Major also assaulted her for not bringing dowry, she claimed.

The couple are also entangled in a divorce case going on in a Delhi court.

SSP Lok Nath Angra confirmed that his office had received a complaint against the Major and two of his colleagues.

He said an inquiry had been ordered into Jyoti’s allegations, but the probe was going at a slow pace as his department was unable to contact Major Sharma who was away to his place of posting in J&K.

This claim of the SSP, however, was denied by Jyoti, who said the inquiry could be conducted through her husband’s representative if the police was serious about the investigation into her complaint.

Jyoti has also alleged that Major R.P. Dhaiya and Col Sanjay Chowdhury, who are friends of her husband and at present posted at Tibri Cantonment, were “concocting false stories in order to create evidence against her in the matrimonial litigation pending against her”.

In her complaint, Jyoti fears that she may be implicated in some false case at the instance of Major Dhaiya and Colonel Chowdhury.

Major Dhaiya, when contacted, washed his hands off the episode which, army sources claimed, was giving a bad name to Army officials.

“I have nothing to do with the case,” he said.

Colonel Chowdhury also expressed the same viewpoint. “The Army authorities have already initiated an inquiry. Moreover, as far as the divorce proceedings of the Major and his wife are concerned, the matter is sub-judice. I have nothing more to say,” said Colonel Chowdhury.

Jyoti has claimed that she was being put under surveillance, her telephone was being tapped and she was being stalked. She alleged she was being “threatened by officers to take my complaint back.”

In an earlier complaint, Jyoti stated, “Major Dhaiya and Col Satpal Singh used to visit my place without my permission to bring me under pressure so that I get depressed and sign the divorce papers.”

Phagwara, July 21
The episode relating to supply of scalded milk powder in some aanganwari centres in Phagwara and Chaheru took an ugly turn when members of the Aanganwari Workers Union held a demonstration along with two tins of the scalded milk powder and showed these tins to SDM Amarjit Paul in his office this afternoon.

The SDM, however, told them that three samples of the scalded milk powder had been taken by a team of the Health Department headed by the District Health Officer and he had ordered to investigate the matter in detail.

Meanwhile, another faction of the Aanganwari Workers Union raised its voice in support of the Child Development Project Officer.

It may be recalled that a few tins of scalded milk powder were found in an aanganwarri centre in Chaheru a few days back and later some aanganwari workers went to nearby Palahai village to check the milk powder which was kept in a room of the cooperative society office, where a tussle between some residents and union activists took a turn into heated exchanges as villagers objected to the working of the union which, they said, had no authority to check.

The Phagwara SDM also agreed with Palahai residents and told The Tribune that nobody except officials of the department concerned and the health authorities could check anything meant for supply of more than 180 aanganwarri centres in Phagwara subdivision.

Hoshiarpur, July 21
With the arrest of eight persons, the district police claimed to have unearthed a swindlers’ gang who used to con poor unemployed youths on the pretext of providing them jobs in the Army.

Addressing the mediapersons, Hoshiarpur SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said gang members were identified as Ashvani Kumar, Gaurav Bhandari, alias Monu, both of Dasuya town, Kamal Pal of Pathana (Tanda), driver Davinder Singh of Mirpur, Jagir Singh, Ranjit Singh and Roop Lal, all of Uchi Bassi, and Roop Singh of Budhawar had been operating in Dasuya sub-division of this district.

The police seized one Scorpio jeep (No PB 07 P 7486), Rs 13.6 lakh, 3 fake stamps of Army officials and some other fake documents relating to the Army from them.

The gang members used to contact those youths who were rejected by the recruitment board during the recruitment process at various places, including Khasa in Amritsar, Tibri Cantonment in Gurdaspur, Jalandhar Cantonment, and assured them of providing jobs in the Army without any test.

After giving the youths their mobile phone numbers, the members asked them to contact them later. When any gullible youth contacted them they introduced him with other members of the gang who posed themselves as Army officers. After charging hefty amounts, they handed over the youths fake papers regarding their appointment in the Army and asked them to go for preparing railway warrant. Later, they switched off their mobile phones. More than 32 cases of cheating innocent youths had been come to light so far.

The SSP said almost all the gullible youths belonged to poor families. They arranged the money for the purpose by raising loans or selling their buffaloes on this hope that they would get regular jobs in the Army which would bring prosperity in their families.

Some youths contacted the SSP office after the Army recruitment held on May 16, 2010 at Khasa in Amritsar. They told the police that they had gone to Amritsar to get themselves recruited in the Army but were declared unfit. After which the accused contacted them and assured them to get them recruited in the Army without any test and called them at Uchi Bassi where after charging Rs 1.3 lakh each handed them over fake documents regarding their employment in the Army.

Later, the Dasuya police was tipped-off that some persons were preparing fake documents to con innocent persons in the name of providing them jobs in the Army at Uchi Bassi. After registering a case under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120 B of the IPC, the police raided the house of Jagir Singh and arrested the latter along with Roop Lal and Ranjit Singh. The police seized fake certificates, stamps relating to the Army and some other fake documents from his house.

On July 19, Santokh Singh of Joga Singh Wala, Amritsar, got registered a case under sections 420, 406, 465, 467, 472, 473 and 120 B of the IPC against all the accused with the Dasuya police station. Thereafter the police raided and arrested the remaining accused.

Their interrogation is on, Rakesh Aggarwal said adding that at least 4 other members of this gang were still at large.

Jalandhar, July 21
The Jalandhar (Rural) police has failed to make any headway in the gang -rape case even more than a week after the crime. The police is groping in the dark while the suspects are openly moving in the area allegedly under the patronage of certain cops.

Lohian SHO Manjit Singh claimed that the noose would be tightened against the suspects only after completion of the investigations.

He, however, admitted that the suspects were being questioned regularly but their formal arrest could only be made after the investigations were completed.

Pendu Mazdoor Union, Punjab, president Tarsem Peter, however, claimed that the police had been trying to hush up the case. The police hardly dared to arrest them even after recording the victim’s statement against the suspects. He said if the suspects were innocent then why they had been detained illegally for so many days.

Daughter of a gateman with the RFC, the teenager girl of Padda Colony in Lohian was abducted from her house, taken to a deserted area and gang raped by her neighbours, Laxmi, his sons Raju and Vijay and their one unidentified accomplice, on July 12.

Tarn Taran, July 21
Arwinderpal Singh, an assistant clerk in the SBI, Sabhra branch, allegedly withdrew approximately Rs 4 lakh fraudulently from his own branch.

A case under sections 420, 419, 467, 468, 471, of the IPC and sections 13 (1) D, 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, has been registered against the accused at the Patti police station. Branch Manager Om Parkash in his complaint to the police alleged that the accused had opened a bank account (no 30366762277) in the name of his wife Mandeep Kaur and his close relative in the bank branch and first deposited an amount of Rs 3,95,122 through a bogus cheque and after some time he withdrew the amount from the account. The fraud was detected during the routine check.