Ludhiana, October 31
She was shot in the head before being set afire. After four days of search, the police has managed to solve a murder case. The victim, identified as Dimple (34), a resident of Noorwala road, was suspected to be killed by her husband. Panic gripped the Kirti Nagar area after her charred remains were found on October 26. Except for a partially burnt hand, ACP Bhupinder Singh and SHO Division No 7 Jaswinder Singh had no clue to move ahead in the probe.

The police was depending on information from its sources. It received vital clues yesterday when the autopsy report of the skull stated that the woman was shot. Simultaneously, the police got another crucial lead that a woman from Noorwala road had been missing since October 25.

Following a tip-off, the police rushed to the house of the victim and neighbours identified the woman from the clothes she was wearing on the day of the murder. The neighbours told the police that the couple had strained relations and quarrelled often.

It is learnt that Dimple’s husband has been on the run after the incident. Sources said search parties had been sent to nab him.

The sources suspected that the accused shot her first and then set her afire to eliminate evidence. It is learnt that she was his second wife.

The house was locked and family members were not available for comments. The neighbours refused to divulge any details about the children of the victim.

The police has yet to recover the weapon used in the crime or even the bullet that pierced the skull of the victim. The police is trying to find out whether a country-made weapon was used to kill her.

Ludhiana, October 31
Instead of being prepared to fight any exigency on Diwali, employees of the municipal corporation’s fire department appear to be leaving it to luck to help them out on the festival. Since the department is hamstrung by a staff crunch and poor infrastructure, the employees cannot help but keep their fingers crossed.

They know they would not be able to do much in case major fires break out in the city on Diwali. Their worries are mounting with each passing day with the shortage of firemen, drivers and firefighting equipment staring in their faces. With only 11 drivers for fire engines to cater to a city of 4 million, firemen will be hard pressed to meet any incident.

"We’ll be put on ‘high alert’ duty on Diwali. We’ll do our best but where’s the infrastructure? Then there is the paucity of employees. Despite repeated requests to the state government we haven’t being given more staff”, said a fireman requesting anonymity.

Not only drivers of fire engines, there is an acute shortage of firemen in the department with about 40 needed immediately in the department. Presently, department is working with just three leading firemen and 42 firemen. Every firefighter is on 12-hour duty without any holiday, due to which the staff has been under pressure for the past two years and is on the verge of “burning out”.

Firefighting vehicles number about 33 of which many are as old as ten years. The civic body gets them repaired regularly to ensure there is no shortage of vehicles. According to experts, the life of a fire engine is only ten years and the fire department is still working with 1980s models. Only ten new models have been inducted into the fleet since 2002.

The MC had conducted interviews for appointing firemen on a contractual basis about three months ago. Even though appointment letters were going to be issued to those selected, the process was halted abruptly by mayor Hakam Singh Gyaspura for reasons best known to him. Fresh interviews were then announced but perhaps certain civic functionaries do not considering the much needed recruitment a priority.

Fire stations are also in a pathetic condition. At the Gill Chowk fire station though several foam cylinders are kept to douse a fire the foam in many of them has been converted into water, which keeps on leaking. "No one is bothered nor is there is any check by officials. Foam in cylinders comes into contact with air and gets converted into water, which now leaks continuously", said an employee at Gill Chowk Fire Station. "Going by the previous record on Diwali, about 40-45 fire incidents are reported each year. We have no family-life. No safety equipment has been given to the staff”, said a fireman.

• Only 11 drivers for 33 firefighting vehicles
• Dept manages with just 3 leading firemen
• No 54-metre ladders to control fire in a multistoried building
• About 40 more firemen are needed immediately

Ludhiana, October 31
Gambling stakes in the city range from a few hundred to a couple of lakhs during each session. Gambling begins around Dasehra and continues till Diwali night, or at times, even beyond that with several crores of rupees changing hands during these weeks.

There are hordes of players who gamble for a fortnight before Diwali, but for the “regulars” in card rooms of clubs in the mega city, stakes go bigger as Diwali approaches.

The most popular game for gamblers during Diwali season is flush where stakes are huge while small players continue with rummy at a few hundred rupees per point, and each game yielding a couple of thousands to the winner.

“But it is flush, with sessions at farmhouses, resorts, hotels and plush drawing rooms, where the stakes go to unimaginable proportions,” confides an old-timer, claiming that wins or losses run into a couple of lakhs in each session which lasts from five to eight hours.

Earlier, leading industrialists and businessmen would gamble in a big way. But with realtors having made a lot of money during the boom in the real estate sector making an entry, the gambling scene has changed.

“Normally, the pot (money which each player has to put in at the beginning) is a few hundred or at the most a few thousand rupees. But at high-stake games, it can go from Rs 50,000 to a few lakhs, with the winner getting a booty of upward of Rs 25 lakh,” sources claimed.

“A few days ago, a young member of an influential family lost nearly Rs 10 lakh in one session at a club,” says an industrialist, who is a regular at the card room.

Another claimed that recently, a businessman lost over Rs 1 crore in a session that lasted till wee hours of the next morning.

The big question is: Do the players with very high stakes carry huge amount of cash to settle the losses on the spot? The answer is no.

“All players are known to one another and with a very few or rare exceptions, all gambling losses are settled in a few days’ time. For those who default, it is over as they become ‘outcasts’ at gambling tables,” a card player remarked.

Ludhiana, October 31
A youth has been arrested for raping a 15- year-old girl in a hotel room. The accused, identified as Honey, a resident of Salem Tabri, had even threatened to circulate her MMS if she dared to reveal his identity.

According to police sources, this incident took place nearly 10 days ago when Honey took the girl to a hotel room on the pretext of handing over a surprise gift to her. The girl claimed that the accused had raped her in the hotel room located near the Clock Tower.

After remaining low for a few days, the girl narrated the entire incident to her parents. It is alleged that the parents of both boy and the girl were aware of their relationship.

The boy had expressed his desire to marry the girl. But, the boy’s parents, fearing legal hurdles, refused to get him married to the girl.

This incident came to light after the boy’s family tired to affect a compromise and even offered ransom to the victim’s family.

The matter was brought to the notice of the Commissioner of Police, who got a case registered in this regard.

Honey was booked under Section 376 of the IPC for rape whereas some of his accomplices were booked for threatening the girl.

Ludhiana, October 31
He was branded as a rapist and languished in jail for over 189 days, undergoing severe mental trauma. For nearly four years he suffered legal onslaughts hoping one day he would come out with his record clean. His family members faced social ostracism for a crime their child claimed he had never committed.

Rishi Sood, 31, is a happy man today as the "swindler" girl who ruined his life has been booked by the police for fraud, extortion and filing false rape charges against him.

However, booking the suspect, Suman Paul aka Neha aka Parul Gupta, a resident of Nehru Colony in Modi Nagar district near Gaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was not a cakewalk for the city police. Despite knowing she has brought false rape charges against Sood many top cops, including SSPs, to dissuade them to file a case against her. That too when three superintendents of police, including two IPS officers, gave a “clean chit” to Sood during the probe conducted by a special investigation team set up by the Ludhiana DIG.

The team, led by Khanna SSP Gautam Cheema, maintained the girl had lodged a complaint against Sood with the intention to blackmail him in order to extort money and recommended cancellation of the FIR. The police also began proceedings under section 182 of the IPC against her for giving false statements to the police. Finally police commissioner Ishwar Singh stepped in and constituted another team, led by ADCP III JS Sidhu, which found Sood to be innocent. Suman was then booked for fraud and extortion.

The incident has again exposed how many women use loopholes in the law to harass innocent youths by falsely accusing them of rape.

Sood, who still shivers while narrating his ordeal, said he met the girl at an exhibition of medical equipment organised in New Delhi in September 2006, where she introduced herself as “Dr Neha”. He said they met at various places following which she “lured” him into marrying her, adding he even planned to visit Delhi to meet the girl’s parents.

“All was going smoothly, until one day Suman demanded Rs 1.5 lakh. I later got to know she had to pay a bill of Rs 1.5 lakh that she owed a local hotel as she was staying there for a long period. When I refused to pay the bill she got a case filed against me," Sood stated.

In the meantime Sood came to know Suman and an accomplice of hers had tried to implicate six other youths coming from “high status” families and working in the medical healthcare industry by sending them SMSes and calling up from different phone numbers. "Somehow we all exchanged notes and managed to escape from the clutches of the gang," he said. Little did Sood know he had landed in the net of an organised racket of "swindler girls" who extorted money from innocent young men by falsely accusing them of rape.

The gang was enjoying support from noted gangster Raman Rana, who is on the run after he killed his bitter rival Lalla. It is learnt that his operating the gang from outside the country. Rishi's father alleged a gang of swindlers had implicated his son in a false rape case and had demanded Rs 22 lakh from him for withdrawing the complaint.

"I refused to pay the extortion amount and spent 189 days in jail for a rape case," said Rishi and further added, "But my misery did not end here soon after freeing from jail another girl, member of the same gang, stated making frantic call at my number."

"Only I know how I faced this humiliation for the past four years. I wanted to prove I was falsely implicated. I thank my family members and friends who stood by me in thick and thin," said Sood. Meanwhile, Suman was not available for comments.

Besides being booked by the police for falsely implicating an innocent youth in a rape case, Suman Paul was also booked for conning a Delhi based woman, Seema Sehgal, and for committing a theft at a house in Haibowal. She is believed to have “strong links” with gangsters, hoteliers, travel agents and self-styled social activists who allegedly lured affluent youths by frequently changing their identities and phone numbers and later implicating them with false rape charges. Her father has reportedly disowned her.

Ludhiana, October 31
Ignoring the Supreme Court’s directive to all healthcare institutions to immediately provide first aid to accident victims, numerous privately owned and charitable hospitals in the city have been refusing admission to accident victims.

To avoid “legal hassles” most of the hospitals show reluctance in even admitting critically injured accident victims. Thus, a large number of victims die unattended.

Referring to a recent incident, Sunil Mehta, public relations officer, SPS Apollo Hospital, said, “I came across a rickshaw-puller, who after having been hit by a vehicle, was fighting for his life on the roadside. Without wasting any time, I along with a few others took the poor man to a nearby charitable hospital”.

However, he was shocked when an emergency officer at the hospital refused to admit the rickshaw-puller. He, instead, asked those accompanying him to “find” his relatives.

“I even deposited the money for treatment of the poor rickshaw-puller, but even then the hospital officials refused to treat him in the absence of an attendant. The apathetic attitude of the paramedical staff was baffling as no one even came forward to pick up the man from the stretcher. We then had to take him to the emergency ward on our own,” rued Mehta.

In another incident, staff at a major city hospital detained a group of boys who had brought a critically injured man from the accident site to the hospital’s emergency ward.

“It’s because of the hospitals’ attitude and interrogation by the cops that a common man is reluctant to help the accident victims. The health ministry should take steps to solve this problem,” a retired health official said.

Six months ago, city police commissioner Ishwar Singh had announced to give a special “appreciation certificate” so as to motivate residents to help the victims of road accidents. Surprisingly, no one has been awarded the certificate so far.

“We have neither received any recommendation from any hospital nor has any individual come forward to claim the reward. But, the department is regularly campaigning for the cause, so as to save maximum road accident victims,” Ishwar said.

Ludhiana, October 31
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation might call a special meeting to frame the rules for implementing the Street Vendor (Protection and Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill 2009 shortly, but top municipal officials believe that they wont’ be able to get it implemented as there is no record of number of vendors with the department.

A meeting was organised to implement the Bill, introduced by the apex court, on Friday. It was mentioned in the Bill that the street vendors would be registered with the Town-Vending Committee with the Municipal Commissioner as its head. The rehri vendors and hawkers will be get the space demarcated for them. They will get license for a period of 20 years.

One of the top municipal officials said the situation would become chaotic once the Bill gets implemented. “We have no official record of number of rehris in the city. A large number of rehris get added in the list daily. The vendors will also be given access to credit, skill development, social security and housing etc. A committee comprising councillors, MLAs and municipal functionaries will also be constituted to study and implement the Bill. Unfortunately, councillors have been receiving money on regular basis from these vendors. Thus, they will certainly not displace the latter. The municipal corporation has no criteria to establish the credentials of vendors, in such a situation they will become a liability on us,” said the official.

Meanwhile, president of the Punjab Rehri-Ferri Union Balkrishan Pappi has welcomed the move to formulate an Act in favour of the vendors. He said, “It should be made legal. Vendors and hawkers must be provided separate space in the city. The most important thing is that the authorities must take representatives from the rehri-ferri union into the committee. If we are able to highlight our problems then only will the committee be able to sort out issues”.

Mandi Ahmedgarh/Mullanpur Dakha, October 31
Even as the government claims to have expedited the paddy procurement process, farmers in several mandis of the district are dejected as they have been waiting for the past several days for their produce to be lifted.

Having waited for emptying of space in grain markets for days together farmers have started dumping their produce on roads and streets adjoining yards. Public places and commercials premises are no exception to serve as temporary yards.

The alleged disagreement among commission agents and rice sheller owners over percentage of moisture and discoloured grains of paddy have resulted in a situation wherein non-lifting of procured commodity has filled the yards to the brim. Height of stacks of filled bags gives an impression as if grain markets were converted into yards of procurement agencies.

Investigation by The Tribune revealed that non-lifting of paddy procured by various state agencies and the central food agency had emerged as major impediment in smooth procurement of paddy crop, which has glutted grain markets in this region.

Agitated farmers, who had been waiting for a suitable place for their produce for many days, were forced to dump their crop at odd places, including fields, katcha roads, streets, parking places and common lands.

The problem is graver at Mullanpur Mandi where farmers have been waiting for over a week for procurement. Though the market yard is known for having one of the largest yards of this region, its interior has almost become inaccessible for four-wheelers. All roads inside and adjoining the mandi have been covered either with heaps of paddy or stacks of filled sacks.

According to an estimate, about half of the procured paddy was yet to be lifted from mandis and purchase centres of the area.

Perusal of records revealed that over 14 lakh sacks out of total procured paddy (30 lakh bags) were yet to be lifted from centres falling under the market committee, Mullanpur Mandi, till Saturday.

SDM (West) Prem Chand had earlier directed officials of various procurement agencies to ensure that every suitable heap of paddy should be purchased immediately and the procured produce should be lifted within two days.

The officials who succeeded in keeping things normal for few days failed to maintain the desired status of the mandi.

Ludhiana, October 31
The water being supplied at Sherpur, Lohara and Daba areas in Ludhiana South Assembly segment is contaminated with high quantity of E.coli found in samples. This particular area usually witnesses a gastroenteritis outbreak every year.

Revealing this here today, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee secretary and party delegate from Ludhiana South, Bhupinder Sidhu, said random samples collected by residents in the area were tested at Punjab Agricultural University and were found to be highly contaminated.

He said in the Daba area, every 100 ml of water was found to contain about 1,100 E.coli organisms while in Sherpur it was 460 per 100 ml and 1,100 organisms in the Lohara area.

Quoting specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), he said water should be clean and should not have E.coli in it. However, given the fact that such purity was difficult to achieve, the BIS maintained that it should not be more than 10 per 100 ml.

He said the BIS maintained that the E.coli contamination should not be noticeable in 100 ml of water. “If this is seen in such small quantity of water, it means that the contamination is at the highest level,” he stated.

The result of such high levels of contamination was the outbreak of diseases like gastroenteritis, jaundice, hepatitis, typhoid and dysentery. It could even lead to cholera, he said, adding that investigations had revealed the presence of some more disease causing pathogens in the samples which were yet to be included by the BIS in its specifications.

Every year, there were hundreds of gastroenteritis cases in the area. He said it had been happening for years and the authorities were simply sleeping. “The Ludhiana municipal corporation has been supplying contaminated water for so many years and despite outbreaks of diseases, it remains unchanged,” he said, demanding strict measures to check this negligence.

LUDHIANA: The most awaited event of the year, Wiztech 2010, was organised at DCM Presidency School in which over 300 students from Chandigarh, Faridabad, Ferozepur, Ambala, besides Ludhiana, participated in IT events like web designing, C++ programming, Q-basic, PowerPoint presentations, IT quiz, declamation, e-chess, I-paint etc.

Sukhdev Singh, head, IT and communications, DCM Group of Schools, said the students from various DCM Schools showcased their talent in the field of information technology and computing, adding that the idea was to prepare these young minds for the information age to meet the future challenges of this technologically advancing world.

Eminent educationist and award winning teacher Bharat Bhushan presided over the opening ceremony.

Raikot/Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 31
Responding to a call given by Left-wing parties to stage a countrywide protest during US President Barack Obama’s visit, office- bearers and activists of these outfits launched a public awareness campaign in the area today.

The Left parties have planned to stage protest to seek justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy and against the US pressure on the Indian foreign policy.

“Though common man is least interested in political scenario at the world level, he seems to be disappointed over continuation of the anti-India policies even after regime of George Bush. He (common man) is more upset because expectations of positive changes after Barack Obama did not materialise,” said Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, CPM secretary, after convening meetings at various places today.

Regretting that the US is aggressively pressurising the Indian government to adopt economic policies, which are detrimental to interest of the people in the name of a strategic alliance, Sekhon said government employees, labourers and farmers were eager to lodge their protest before the US president.

Baldev Singh Latala and Sikandar Singh Jartoli, office-bearers, Punjab Kissan Sabha, demanded that the US should also stop pushing India to give up liability claims on US nuclear suppliers and open its retail, farming and educational sectors to the US multi-national companies.

Maintaining that the Indo-US Defence Framework Agreement sought to convert India into a military ally of the USA they said people of the area wanted that the same should be scrapped.

Ludhiana, October 31
Rich tributes were paid to Indira Gandhi on her 26th death anniversary at prayer meetings organised by Congress activists in different parts of the city today. Congress workers, led by District Congress Committee (DCC) president Jagmohan Sharma, remembered the slain Prime Minister, saying she had taken the country to new heights during her tenure.

Sharma said the first woman Prime Minister of India was still remembered for introducing major economic reforms, ameliorating the lot of the poor, empowering youth and women and providing dynamic leadership during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. “After a glorious stay at the office, she went on to lay down her life for the sake of the unity and integrity of the country.”

Paying homage to the leader at a prayer meeting at Rajguru Nagar locality, former DCC president Krishan Kumar Bawa said Indira Gandhi’s name was enshrined in the history of Independent India.

Her bold and revolutionary economic steps like nationalisation of banks, scrapping of privy purses of the erstwhile princes, and later leading the country towards a magnificent victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war had ushered the country into a new era.

Those present were Congress Sewa Dal president Nirmal Singh Kaira, DCC vice-president Harchand Singh Dhir, Yash Pal Sharma, Resham Saggu, Sushil Malhotra, Kuldeep Sharma, Ved Parkash, Satnam Singh, Akshay Bhanot and Gurbhej Chabra.

Khanna: Tributes were paid to Indira Gandhi at a function organised under the leadership of former PPCC chief Shamsher Singh Dullo at the block Congress office here.

Dullo said the former Prime Minister had worked hard for the uplift of the country. District president Bhalinder Singh also spoke and appealed to people to follow in her footsteps.

Ludhiana, October 31
Congress activists today celebrated the nomination of former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) at a meeting organised by the Urban Development Cell of the PPCC at Circuit House here.

Addressing the party workers, cell chairman Ramesh Joshi expressed gratitude on behalf of the party cadre to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, in-charge of Punjab affairs Mohsina Kidwai, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari for handing over the command of the state unit to the Captain.

He said only a leader of the calibre of Capt Amarinder Singh could take on the SAD-BJP ruling combine, expose their anti-people and communal policies and lead the party towards victory in the coming Assembly elections.

Charging the government with indulging in politics of vendetta and witch-hunt, Joshi alleged that not just the former Chief Minister but over 30,000 functionaries of main opposition parties were implicated in false cases and were still facing harassment.

Taking a dig at the claims of the government on development front, he wondered as to where the ruling coalition would arrange funds from for new projects when the state was already reeling under a debt burden of a staggering Rs 70,000 crore.

“The only agenda of the government is to loot and exploit people and take them for a ride with false promises,” Joshi said.

Ludhiana, October 31
The working committee of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings has condemned the lackadaisical attitude of the Punjab government in not issuing the relevant notification for the release of 75 per cent pending VAT refund amount to the trade and industry of the state.

Avtar Singh, general secretary, and Upkar Singh, joint secretary of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, said the official approval to release the pending VAT refund amounts up to 75 per cent of the total amount was first announced in August, 2010 by the VAT committee formed by the Punjab government. Subsequently, Cabinet ministers of the state had given the nod to release the amount by issuing a notification immediately.

The Chamber has urged the Chief Minister to intervene and order the ministry concerned to issue a notification to this effect so that pending VAT refund amount was released to those taxpayers whose significant amounts had been withheld.