NEIGHBOURHOOD

Govt aid for children with serious ailments
Tribune News Service

Chhat (Banur), August 20
A rare variety of snakes, which do not lay eggs and are stated to be a missing link between mammals and reptiles, today gave birth to 37 snakes in Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park.

Two female sand boa snakes were brought here from Ropar on the orders of a Ludhiana court.

The newly born have been kept away from their mothers and are being monitored by vets. Zoo officials said sand boa was a kind of rare breed of two-mouthed snake that never laid eggs.

Meanwhile, a team of experts from Central Zoo Authority (CZA) visited Chhatbir Zoo wherein they enquired about the viability of keeping elephants in the zoo. Earlier, the CZA had issued notices to all zoos in India for shifting of all elephants to national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves.

Chhatbir authorities told the visiting CZA authorities that there was sufficient space and congenial atmosphere for elephants. The CZA authorities were requested to inspect the zoo before taking any decision in this context.

The team that visited today comprised of CZA’s monetary evaluator Brijkishore Gupta and Suparna Ganguly from a Bangalore-based NGO. It is learnt that zoo authorities were impressed with facilities available for elephants.

Chandigarh, August 20
Accusing the UT administration of shirking the responsibility of preserving the city’s antique furniture, advocate-cum-social activist Ajay Jagga today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for preventing its disposal to junk dealers.

Jagga said they, in turn, were making lakhs by selling the stuff to foreign museums. Taking on record the petition, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari fixed October 27 as the next date of hearing.

In his petition, Jagga submitted that the UT administration wanted to save its heritage, which was evident from the fact that inquiry committees had been set up and probes ordered time and again, but no conclusive results came out.

He added that laxity on the part of the administration was a matter of prime concern and had led to the filing of the present writ petition.

He further prayed that directions be issued to prepare an inventory of heritage furniture and artifacts and steps be initiated for their preservation. Directions were sought to monitor the safe keeping of the heritage. In case the administration was not interested in preserving its heritage and culture, it could at least earn substantial revenue by conducting auctions at the international level.

He also gave the example of a sale, scheduled to be held on September 22 at an international auction house in London, where extensive heritage articles of Chandigarh were being put under the hammer without notice. He further submitted in case the UT did not want to save the heritage of Chandigarh, it must frame certain rules, prepare an inventory and take steps for preservation.

Chandigarh, August 20
A swindler duped a man of Rs 90,000 at the Punjab National Bank in Sector 17 here this afternoon on the pretext of helping him in getting the amount deposited.

The police initially got information that a dacoity was committed at the bank. Police teams reached the bank, only to find that an employee of a private company was conned by a swindler.

The complainant, identified as Raj Kumar, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, told the police that he was sent by his office to deposit the amount in the bank.

Since he was not aware of the functioning of the bank and did not know how to fill in a deposit form, an unidentified man approached him, offering help.

The unidentified man, after a while, told him that it was his turn to deposit the amount and took it from Raj Kumar.

He went to a cash counter and put the money into his pocket. Judging an opportunity when Raj Kumar was looking elsewhere, he left.

The SHO of the Sector 17 police station, inspector Jaswinder Singh, said CCTV footage revealed that the incident occurred around 3:05 pm and the man was clearly visible.

It was surprising that the man kept loitering in the bank for a long time and was not noticed by the staff. He said a case of cheating was registered in this regard.

Chandigarh, August 20
The records of the inquiry report of former sessions judge MS Lobana in the case of the alleged fake encounter of Kulwinder Singh, alias Kid, on the Tangori-Kurda road at SAS Nagar are missing.

This fact came to light as the CBI special court of Darshan Singh today dropped judge Lobana as witness. He had conducted the inquiry on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The court had summoned the witnesses again after charges were amended in the case. The court had framed charges of murder against Punjab SSP (Vigilance) Surjit Singh Grewal and sub-inspector Amarjit Singh. The court also recorded the statement of the complainant, Trilochan Singh.

During cross-examination, the counsel for the CBI questioned Trilochan Singh (70), retired principal of the Senior Secondary School at Ropar in Kharar, on the discrepancy in the date of the alleged fake encounter.

He mentioned that the CBI had mentioned in the charge sheet that the encounter took place on July 27, 1989, while Trilochan had said it took place on the night of July 23, 1989. In reply, Trilochan said the CBI had mentioned the date wrongly.

Commenting on the delay in trial, Trilochan said, “These are delaying tactics of the prosecution in order to kill justice. It is not less than murder. I strongly feel that justice delayed is not justice denied.”

The CBI counsel further asked whether Kid had had a love marriage or an arranged marriage, to which Trilochan replied that he had an arranged marriage.

The statements of eyewitness Inderjit Singh Waraich and Dhani Ram were also recorded. According to the CBI, Kid had about eight cases pending against him, including those of attempt to murder and robbery, and under the Arms Act.

A case was registered on July 22, 1989, when Grewal was posted as inspector (Crime) with the CIA staff at Patiala. The police had accused seven cops of the crime.

Kid was killed in an alleged fake encounter in July 1989 by the accused policemen on the Tangori-Kurda road under the Sohana police station in Mohali.

The court had framed a case of abduction against Grewal and Amarjit, while a murder case was lodged against five other policemen, Birbal Das, Gurcharan Singh, Nikka Ram, Chanan Singh and Dayal Singh, in 2002.

During the course of arguments, the CBI appealed in court that Grewal and Amarjit be charged with murder.

It was alleged that Grewal and Amarjit, along with other CIA personnel, raided a house at Phase V, Mohali, on July 22, 1989, in search of terrorists Dhyan Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Jagbir Singh, alias Panjola.

During the raid, Palwinder, an acquaintance of Kid, was shot dead and Kulwinder was picked by the raiding party. Later, Kulwinder was killed by police personnel in an alleged fake encounter.

Kulwinder’s father Tirlochan Singh had moved a writ petition against the policemen in the high court. Acting on the petition, the court had directed the sessions judge to inquire into the case and submit a report.

Zirakpur, August 20
Two persons, including a youth and an old woman, were killed in separate mishaps that took place in the area in the past 24 hours.

The first incident took place on the Dera Bassi-Ramgarh road last night where Manish Kumar (19), a resident of Kishangarh at Chandimandir (Panchkula), lost his life.

The incident took place when Manish was on his way back to his home when his motorcycle hit a wall on the roadside. The impact was so harsh that the youth died on the spot. The body of the deceased has been handed over to his family after conducting the postmortem and inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC have been initiated, said the police.

Another incident took place on the Ambala-Kalka railway track near Gazipur Jattan village in Zirakpur, in which a fifty-year-old woman was killed.

The Lalru railway police in charge, Sulekh Chand, said the woman was walking along the track and was struck by Sadbhavna Express on its way to Chandigarh this morning.

The deceased could not be identified. She was wearing a cream-coloured suit and was carrying Rs 600 in a velvet purse. The body of the deceased has been kept at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, for 72 hours for identification and inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC have been initiated.

Panchkula, August 20
The police seized 750 cartons of the Indian made foreign liquor worth over Rs 5 lakh being illegally transported to another state today.

After getting a tip off, a police team, led by Chandimandir SHO Jangsher Singh, laid a naka and seized the liquor while it was being taken to Gujarat from Chandigarh. The police signalled the driver of the truck (HR-58-2788) to stop and after inspection found 750 cartons loaded in the vehicle. The driver, who was identified as Suresh Kumar, a resident of Bhiwani, had the invoices for the sale of detergents.

The police said when the driver was signalled to stop he tried to escape from the site along with the truck. However, the police party chased the vehicle and also intimated Ramgarh naka through wireless. Subsequently, he was caught with the contraband.

It is worth mentioning here that there seemed to a spurt in the smuggling of the liquor from Chandigarh to different parts of the country. The excise department had seized illegally transported IMFL worth Rs 19.5 lakh till July 19. Fines worth over Rs 48 lakh were imposed on the persons caught smuggling liquor through Panchkula this year.

Chandigarh, August 20
Himal Gusain of SD Public School, Sector 32, and Sanjeev Biswas with four points each were leading at the end of the fourth round at the 21st Chandigarh Chess Championship being held at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44-C, here, today.

Both were closely followed by 11 players with three points each. The championship is being organised by the Chandigarh Chess Association. Four players will be selected to represent Chandigarh at the National Challengers Meet being held from September 15 to 26 at Bhiwani, Haryana.

The point position at the end of the 4th round today is as follows:

4 points: Himal Gusain and Sanjeev Biswas

3 points: Abhinandan Vohra, Jaskeerat Singh Ahluwalia, Baijnath Prasad, Varun Utreja, Manu Aggarwal, Pradeep Singh Negi, Sunil Bansal, Karan Bhatti, Nitin, Simranjeet Kaur, and Rakesh Kochar.

2. 5 points: Tejas Nagpal.

2 points: Vibhushit, Anubhav Tuknayat, Bhupinder Singh, Swapan, Tarini Goyal, Pradip Singh, Prathima, Naresh Kumar, Dhruv, Rahul Arora, Arunima Goyal, Harish Chand, Vipan Negi, Lakshay B Singh, and Snehlata.

1.5 points: Tanya Kaushal

1 point: Ashwani Nirankari, Harinder Pal Singh, Shweta, Dalbir Singh, Kashish Kaushal, Manas Das, Shivika Jain, Manas Sharma, Nandinii, Surindra Arya, Tejpal, Anhat.

Zero point: Sunil Rana.

Chandigarh, August 20
Punjab were bowled out for 282 by Tamil Nadu on the first day of the Buchi Babu Tournament being held at M Chidambaram stadium in Chennai today.

After winning the toss, Punjab elected to bat first and were bundled out for 282 runs in 84.5 overs. The match was interrupted by rain and play remained suspended from 3.20 pm to 4.08 pm. Punjab lost their first wicket without any run on the board, when their opener Sarul Kanwar was caught at square leg while trying to fend a short-pitch delivery from medium pacer Yo Mahesh.

After the departure of Sarun, skipper Southpaw Uday Kaul joined his skipper Karan Goel and two stitched 108 runs for the second wicket partnership. Karan was snapped by the keeper of off-spinner M. Prabhu for 57 inclusive of six boundaries and two towering sixes.

Uday was next to go when he uppishly drove off spinner M. Prabhu to be caught at mid off for a well made (60) inclusive of 7 boundaries with the team’s total reading of 139 for 3. Vishwas Bhalla and Mandeep Singh were involved in another useful partnership of 60 runs for the 4th wicket with Vishwas Bhalla contributing 18.

Mandeep continued to dominate the bowling but was unfortunately run out with his individual score of 66 inclusive of 5 boundaries and 1 six and the team’s total reading 199. Leg spinner Rahul Sharma propped up the tail with a breezy 38 inclusive of two boundaries and three towering sixes.

For Tamil Nadu off spinner M. Prabhu was the most successful bowler as he scalped 4 wickets giving away 101 runs. Yo Mahesh ably supported him from the other end as he chipped in with 2 for 45.

Tamil Nadu was 16 for no loss in 3 overs with test star M. Vijay and Anirudha Srikanth at the crease. Srikanth survived when he was dropped by Vishwas Bhalla off the bowling of Bharat Lumba. The match will resume tomorrow.

Brief scores:

Punjab: 282 all out in 84.5 overs. (Mandeep Singh 66, Uday Kaul 60, Karan Goel 57, Rahul Sharma 38, M. Prabhu 4 for 101 and Yo Mahesh 2 for 45).

Tamil Nadu: 16 for no loss in 3 overs.

Chandigarh, August 20
Ajit Karam Singh Public School, Sector 41, and New Public School (NPS), Sector 18, will lock horns in the final of the under-14 category of the Inter-School Table Tennis Tournament, underway at the Table Tennis Hall, Sector 23, here, today.

While paddlers of AKSIPS-41 got the better of St Joseph’s team by 3-0, NPS beat DAV Public School, Sector 8, in the semifinals held today. 
The final will take place tomorrow at the same venue.

The results:

1st round: NPS-18 bt Bhavan Vidyalaya-27 by 3-0; St. John’s-26 bt Gurukul by 3-0; Delhi Public School-40 bt St Stephen-45 by 3-2; Manav Mangal-21 bt Ryan International by 3-1; AKSIPS-45 bt GMSS-47 by 3-0; St Soldier-28 bt Vivek High School-38 by 3-0; St Joseph-44 bt AKSIPS-45 
by 3-0.

Quarterfinals: St Joseph -44 bt St Soldier-28 by 3-0; DAVPS-8 bt Manav Mangal-21 by 3-2; AKSIPS-41 bt St John’s by 3-0; NPS bt DPS by 3-0.

Semifinals: AKSIPS-41 bt St Joseph-44 by 3-0; NPS bt DAVPS-8 by 3-1.

Chandigarh, August 20
The IC Club, Sector 26, will meet Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 56 (Club), in the Under-16 Sub-Junior State Women’s Cricket Championship for Kailash Behal Trophy at I.S. Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, on August 23.

In the first semifinal, Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS)defeated Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School by 126 runs.

After winning the toss GMSSS decided to bat first and scored 181 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. Kajal 26, Sarita 32 and Kusum 24 were the main scorers of GMSSS while Kavita was pick of the bowlers for Dev Samaj School as she scalped 2 wickets giving away 32 runs.

Chasing the victory target Dev Samaj School were bundled out for 55 runs in 16 overs. Dolly and Saloni were the main run getters for their team as they scored 8 and 9 runs, respectively. For GMSSS, Reena was the pick of the bowlers as she scalped 4 wickets giving away only 9 runs.

Brief scores

Government Model Senior Secondary School: 181 for 8 in 20 overs (Kajal 26, Sarita 32, Kusum 24, Kavita 4-0-32-2, Abhishta 4-0-18-1).

Dev Samaj School, Sector 21: 55 all out in 16 overs (Dolly 8, Saloni 9, Reena 3-0-9-4 with hat trick, Kajol 3-0-18-2).

The final match between IC Club, Sector 26, and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 56, will be held at Dev Samaj School Grounds at 8 am on August 23.