NEIGHBOURHOOD

Man gets two-year RI for demanding dowry
Our Correspondent

Ambala October 16
Superintendent of Ambala central jail SPS Chauhan said the jail inmates had marked reddish marks on their bodies by applying coal, lemon and Derobin, a skin ointment manufactured by Vardhman Remedies.

He said jail authorities had applied this method on some other prisoners and found similar reddish marks on their body as it was found on the bodies of some of the prisoners whose medical examination was conducted in the civil hospital a few days back.

While talking to mediapersons, he said during investigation it was revealed that several inmates had been using such tactics to build pressure on the jail administration. He said their allegation, that they had been beaten in the jail, were totally concocted one.

He further added that some of them rubbed part of their body with coal and later they scrub lemon and a coin on the rubbed part of the body. Reddish brown marks appear on that part, which seems to be the blunt injuries of baton.

He said the prisoners also used Derobin skin cream for this purpose. Reddish marks, giving an appearance of blunt injuries, appear if this cream was rubbed on the body for some times.

He said in 2008 similar allegations were levelled on the officials of Burail jail in Chandigarh by a prisoner -- Harpal Singh. He said the medical examination of the prisoner was conducted by a board of doctors.

The board in its finding had remarked, “Marks found on the body of Harpal Singh were caused by application of Derobin ointment.” The CFSL also gave the similar opinion.

Chauhan said the jail authorities would bring this fact in the notice of the court on the next date of hearing.

Ambala, October 16
The Ambala central jail administration has decided to install a jammer on the jail premises to check the illegal use of mobile phones by inmates. Recently four mobile phones were recovered from the jail inmates during a search campaign.

According to sources, the jail authorities have contacted Vodafone cellular company in this regard. The company has told the jail authorities that it would install a latest jammer device which would completely jam the mobile service within the jail premises and would not affect the signals of adjoining localities.

Earlier in 2008, Hutch cellular company had installed a jammer on the jail premises on the trial basis but it was removed after one month as it had badly affected the signals of Air Force and adjoining colonies.

While removing the jammer, Hutch had informed the jail superintendent that as the jail was situated in the densely populated area in Ambala, the signals outside the jail also got jammed, thereby resulting great inconvenience to public of adjoining area.

Some of the cellular operators had also raised objection to the installation of the jammer on the jail premises which disrupted their signals, it added.

Chandigarh, October 16
Additional District and Sessions Judge Lalit Batra today acquitted Kunal Singla, Madan Mohan and Mandeep Sharma in a case of culpable homicide of Rishipal Singh, whose body was found on the road separating Sectors 20 and 21 on December 9, 2008.

The police had registered a case under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 368 (extortion) of the IPC on March 6, 2009 after one of the accused, Kunal Singla, was arrested.

The police had recovered Rishipal’s body under mysterious circumstances from the road separating Sectors 20 and 21.

Rishipal, 48, was a resident of Sector 40, was accountant in the Auditor General of Haryana office.

The police had traced Kunal Singla of Tira village after he was found using Rishipal’s missing mobile phone.

Chandigarh, October 16
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the branch manager of Thomas Cook (I) Ltd in Sector 9 to pay Rs 50,000 in compensation to Ashwani Kumar Arora for cancelling his hotel reservation.

The forum also asked Thomas Cook to refund Rs 1,32,700 that the complainant had deposited with them.

A resident of Panchkula, Arora had stated in the complaint that he had planned a trip to Europe with his family members for 20 days, starting June 1, 2009.

He approached the company for providing services of consultation and facilitation of submission of visa forms and documents.

The complainant paid a Rs 21,000 to the company as processing fee with receipt dated May 15, 2009.

According to the complainant, he along with his family members submitted application forms for grant of visa and submitted all required documents mentioned in the checklist.

Ashwani added that he was assured that he would get the visa before the date of departure.

On May 28, 2009, he received a call from the office of the company telling him that the presence of the complainant was urgently required at the Swiss Embassy at New Delhi.

On May 29, he went to Delhi, where a company’s representative met him and handed over him the visa application forms along with a written message of the Swiss Embassy.

After going through the visa application forms, the complainant found that the forms did not bear his or his family members’ signatures and the forms were not the same that had been submitted by him to the company.

Even the mobile number of the complainant and his family members were wrongly mentioned on the forms.

When the complainant visited the Swiss Embassy, he was told by the officers that they could not contact him to inform him about the date of interview for visa because of wrong phone numbers on the visa application forms.

The complainant was also told that the date of interview had already passed.

He was advised to fill out separate visa application forms for consideration in future.

Also, the complainant’s son was to go to Singapore for higher studies on June 21, 2009. So, they had no time to fill out the application forms for visa and therefore had to cancel their tour.

According to the complainant, he paid Rs 48,500 for cancellation of hotel reservations, Rs 13,200 for cancellation of air tickets and Rs 2,500 on account of various visits to the Swiss Embassy, spending Rs 85,200 in total.

In its reply, the Chandigarh office of the company said it had handed over the application forms submitted by the complainant along with documents to the Delhi office, which replaced the same and filled in wrong mobile numbers.

The forum asked the company to pay Rs 48,500 towards cancellation of the hotel reservation, Rs 13,200 towards cancellation of air tickets, Rs 21,000 towards processing fee.

Chandigarh, October 16
The UT police today submitted a chargesheet in the local court against Utsav Sharma, who had allegedly stabbed convicted former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore.

The police has filed charges under Sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Utsav had allegedly stabbed Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika molestation case and currently lodged in the jail, in the face with a knife on February 8. Rathore was being produced in a court when the accused attacked him. — TNS

Zirakpur, October 16
Another school student became a victim of negligent driving on the Zirakpur-Dhakoli road last night. This is the second fatal accident on the stretch in a week. A 17-year-old schoolgirl was killed on October 14. Two others were killed and five persons sustained injuries in various accidents in the past few months.

Last night, a 16-year-old boy was killed while his scooter was hit by a speeding truck near Dhakoli railway crossing. The deceased was identified as Shubham Choubey, a resident of Geeta Apartment, in Guru Nanak Colony, Dhakoli.

The incident took place around 9.30 pm when Shubham was on his way to his home from Chandigarh on his scooter. He was coming back from his tuition. While he reached near railway crossing, the truck hit the scooter from behind.

He fell down on the road and sustained severe injuries. His parents immediately took him to the Command Hospital, Panchkula, where he succumbed to his injuries during the treatment. A case has been registered against the truck driver for negligent driving.

According to sources, traffic was diverted to Dhakoli village due to construction of the Railway Overbridge (RoB) at the railway crossing near New Generation Apartment. However, the work of the ROB is in progress and would be completed by next year, sources added. The road has become congested and frequent traffic jams have become a daily routine for the residents.

Locals of the area demanded the entry of heavy vehicles to be banned on the road and traffic cops be deployed for the safety of commuters.

Krishna, a resident of Dhakoli, said it took her half-an-hour to reach her home from Panchkula barrier to Dhakoli, just a kilometre away as her car was stuck in the jam.

Mohali DSP (traffic) GS Mann stated that the heavy traffic on the Zirkapur-Dhakoli road would be banned shortly. “We will instruct the traffic in charge, Zirakpur, to check traffic rules violations,” he added.

Panchkula, October 16
Tables were turned on a property dealer of Dhampur Colony in Pinjore as the Kalka police has booked him for filing a false case of dacoity against the opposite party in a land deal case.

The police has registered a case under Sections 182 and 211 of the IPC against Pinjore-based Pawan Kumar, alias Chuni Lal, proprietor of Kaithal Property Dealer of Pinjore, for filing a false case against five persons at Pinjore police station.

The police said Chuni Lal had alleged in his complaint that five robbers came to his shop around 8 pm in a white Skoda car (HR-38-0005) and took away Rs 2 lakh cash and a gold chain from the cash box at gun point.

After receiving information the police from Pinjore and Kalka arrived on the scene immediately. The police said a message was transmitted without delay in the district. The police was able to intercept the Skoda car after some time and arrested five persons who were taken to Kalka police station. They were identified as Krishan Kumar, a resident of Kaithal, Ramesh, Ishwar, Jagpal and Surinder.

The police said during investigation it was revealed that the arrested persons had visited the office of Pawan Kumar to receive money in a land deal case. However, the accused, in order to implicate the opposite party, lodged a false case against them with the police.

Mohali, October 15
Three months after the Mohali police booked Fiza, alias Anuradha Bali, the estranged wife of Chander Mohan, for allegedly tresspassing into the house of her neighbour and breaking a windowpane and flower pots, yet another complaint against her has been forwarded to the SDM, Mohali, for preventive action against her.

Sources in the police said based on a complaint by her neighbours, the police has forwarded the case to the SDM for necessary action. The SDM has summoned Fiza on October 20. Fiza, on the other hand, has been claiming that her neighbours have been harassing her and they were allegedly intruding into her privacy by installing CCTV cameras in their rear courtyard.

Meanwhile, late in the evening, the complainant called up the Mohali police alleging that Fiza had thrown eggs in the rear courtyard of his house. On the basis of the compliant DSP (City-1) Rakha Gehera, along with a police party, went to the spot to probe the complaint. Ram Krishan alleged that he was continuously being harassed by his neighbour. Till the filing of the report, the DSP said suitable preventive action would be taken after probing the matter.

Chandigarh, October 16
Delhi’s Hemant Sharma maintained the lead with six points at the end of the seventh round in the 19th National U-25 Chess Championship being held at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, here today. He is closely followed by a pack of four players with 5.5 points each.

In the seventh round on the top board there was a quick draw between Gurpreet Singh Maras of Maharashtra and Hemant Sharma of Delhi. On the second board, Shreyansh Dhaklia of Chattisgarh drew with Arjun Tiwari of the Railways. On the third board, International Master Rahul Sangma of Delhi defeated Yogesh Gautam of Haryana.

Point position: 6 points Hemant Sharma (Delhi); 5.5 points: Sangma Rahul (Delhi); Gurpreet Singh Maras (MAH); Tiwari Arjun (Railways); Thanki Hemal Karsanji (GUJ); 5 points: Shreyansh Daklia (Chhat); Ganesh Babu S (TN); Pradip Tiwari (MAH); Krishna Prasad KC (TN); 4.5 points: Yogesh Gautam (HAR); Gusain Himal (Chandigarh); Roop Saurav (Bihar); Joshua AP (UP); Singh Gursher (PUN); Bhatt Jalpan (GUJ); Rishabh Mishra (MP); Akshat Chandra (Delhi); Vijay Kumar (Bihar); 4 points: Sumit Grover (J&K); Neetakshya Singh (HAR); Piyush Manuja (PUN); Ravi Teja M (AP); Jaydeep Sharma (Delhi); Rahul Lamba (PUN); Soumya Banerjee (WB); 3.5 points: Uma Maheswaran P (TN); Shravan Nilkanth (MAH); Nishant Malhotra (Delhi); Biswajit Bharadwaj (Assam); Swapnil Bansod (MAH); Ravikant Sharma (MP); Jaskeerat Singh (Chandigarh); 3 points: Rajesh Ranjan (Bihar); Pardeep Singh Negi (Chandigarh); Subhash Chopra (HAR); Anubhav Tuknayat (Chandigarh); Singh Manpal (PUN); Deepak Ranga Rao (Ranchi); Simranjeet Kaur (Chandigarh); Satbir Singh ( Chandigarh);

Nagpal Tejas (Chandigarh); Anmol Gupta (Delhi); Akshay Shoshta (HP); Rakesh Ningthoujam (Manipur); Nivedan Bhardwaj (Chandigarh); Ravneet Kaur (Chandigarh); 2.5 points: Shweta (Chandigarh); Amarjeet Singh (PUN); Ratul Sharma (PUN); Shivika Jain (Chandigarh); Tarun Kumar (HP); Surender Pal (HP).

Mohali, October 16
Top seed Aviraj Kamboj and second seed Prabhsimran Bal stormed into the semifinals of men’s singles in the Anee’s Tandem Tennis Tournament at Anee’s Tandem Tennis Academy, Sector 69, here today. The other semifinalist included Deepak Thakur and Tushar Sharma.

Kamboj thrashed Rohit Sharma of Punjab 6-0, while Deepak Thakur beat Varun Chawla 6-2 to set up clash with Kamboj.

In the other quarterfinals, Tushar Sharma beat Abhishek Munjal 6-4 whereas Prabhsimran Bal trounced Ajarjeet Singh 6-1. Both winners will face each other in semifinal.

The results: Boys’ under-10: Harbir Singh Brar b Indrish 6-1; Adish Bansal b Bhavjot Khurana 6-3; Manveer b Vishavjeet 6-0; Anmol Kamboj b Jaspreet 6-2.

Under-14: Sagar Bains b Harsimran Singh 6-2; Sachit Malhotra b Ankush Thakur 6-4; Sabrang Sandal b Ankush Nagpal 6-2; Anmol Kamboj b Rohit Dhiman 6-2.

Under 18 (pre-quarterfinals): Aviraj Kamboj b Ajarjeet Singh 6-0; Chandan Agnihotri b Kanik Batra 6-4; Deepak Thakur b Karan Sabarwal 6-3; Ankush Thakur b Jashan 6-2; Sachit Malhotra b Rohit Dhiman 6-0; Rohit Sharma b Subham Shahni 6-2; Rohtas Singh b Anshul Gupta 6-1; Prabhsimran Bal b Shatul 6-0.

Men’s singles: Aviraj Kamboj b Rohit Sharma 6-2; Deepak Thakur b Varun Chawla 6-2; Tushar Sharma b Abhishek Munjal 6-4; Prabhsimran Bal b Ajarjeet Singh 6-1.