Sirsa, January 8
There are no takers for 550 bags of wheat or for the truck which was carrying the bags. The truck has been parked at the Kalanwali police station for the past five days but there is no clue about ownership. Not even the bags, boldly branded as HAFED (Haryana State Cooperative Supplies and Marketing Federation), are being owned up by HAFED.

The police claims to have impounded the truck after being tipped-off that trucks were illegally carrying unauthorised bags of wheat from government godowns.

But it has no explanation how it allowed the driver of the truck to escape. No action has been taken against policemen responsible for the driver’s escape either. Nor would the police say from where the tip had been received.

For four days the police was unable to identify the owner of the truck also, although it bears a Haryana registration number. But on Saturday police sources claimed, again on condition of anonymity, that while they had traced the owner, he had washed his hands of it and stated that the driver “must have acted on his own”. The owner, too, apparently has no idea where the truck had picked up the consignment and where the bags were headed.

The police had stopped the truck bearing registration number HR-57-3516 on January 3. When the police started checking the vehicle, the driver is said to have slipped away in the darkness.

The role of the HAFED authorities has also come under the scanner. While the District Manager of HAFED denied that the consignment was loaded at the HAFED godown, there is no confirmation yet whether the consignment was missing from any other godown of HAFED.

Gurjant Singh, District Manager of HAFED, denied that the foodgrains belonged to his agency.

He said the stocks of the HAFED were in order and there was no shortage of the bags found in the truck.

He said the mere fact that the bags bore the mark of HAFED did not necessarily imply that the wheat belonged to the agency. He said the bags were normally mixed up in the grain market at the time of lifting and the bags of one agency could be lifted by the other.

Vikram Nehra, SHO of the Kalanwali police station, said the police had traced the truck’s owner from the documents recovered from the vehicle, but he had said that the vehicle was hired by people unknown to him and it was the driver who knew the details. But does the owner have the details and the photograph of the driver? It is still not clear.

The police has registered a case under Sections 401, 409 and 120-B (theft by a gang, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against unknown persons.

Gurgaon, January 8
Believe it or not, but several students of engineering colleges across the state mentioned their mobile numbers and scribbled monetary offers on their answersheets, for the examiner of course.

One such answersheet in possession of The Tribune clearly shows the student’s cell number and the “good deal” offer meant for the examiner (see picture).

At least 70 such cases were detected by officials of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) while marking the answersheets of a semester exam. The matter came up for consideration before the Unfair Means Committee of the university. After detailed deliberations at various levels, the exams of the students found guilty of the misconduct were cancelled.

The university authorities have warned that such candidates would be dealt with strictly. Informed sources maintain that these cases were just the “tip of the iceberg”. Many such cases may have gone undetected.

This episode reminds one of B.Ed students stapling currency notes with their answersheets and is indicative of the falling standards of education in professional colleges and the rot that has set in our examination system.

Hisar, January 8
Irked by the recent developments in the Mirchpur and Mayyar cases, the Jat community has intensified its agitation to seek relief for the accused in both the cases.

While in Mirchpur village Jats continued their dharna for the third day today, the Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti staged a demonstration here today.

On the other hand, the 98 accused in the Mirchpur case lodged in the local jail went on a hunger strike today to oppose their impending shifting to the Rohini jail in Delhi. The trial proceedings had been shifted from a local court to a court in Delhi.

Addressing the demonstration by the community members in Krantimaan Park here, their leaders criticised the Haryana government for what they termed as complete betrayal. They alleged that the Chief Minister had promised that no action would be taken against anyone in connection with the violence in Mayyar village in September last year. However, eight youths had been summoned in the case.

They said no compensation had been paid to those injured in police firing.

They demanded the withdrawal of all cases, including against those chargesheeted in the Mirchpur case.

On the other hand, hundreds of Jats joined the dharna at Mirchpur. They demanded that all cases be withdrawn and no accused should be transferred to the Rohini jail in Delhi. They resolved to continue their stir till their demands were met.

Chandigarh, January 8
Deep-rooted corruption among the men in khaki, and the difficulties in weeding it out, has not escaped the attention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Ranjit Singh has observed the policemen in the very first place are seldom caught and even if they are apprehended, they are rarely brought to book. Sitting in the chair of authority, they influence or pressurise the witnesses to resile and get a clean chit.

The assertions assume significance as top policemen in Haryana have often been accused of not only playing with the law, but also getting away with it for long, by pressurising the witnesses and the families of the victims.

The assertion came on a petition by policeman Ram Phal against the State of Haryana and other respondents. Justice Ranjit Singh ruled: “Not very often, a police official is caught red- handed while taking a bribe. Rarely, however are they convicted for the offences, so serious in nature. In most of the cases, the police officials continue to remain on the post and, thus, are able to influence or pressurise the witnesses to resile to get a clean chit.

“Should such acquittals weigh overwhelmingly on the decision in the departmental proceedings? This question arising in this case is for consideration.”

Going into the background, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “While serving as Assistant Sub Inspector, the petitioner was compulsorily retired from May 14, 2009, vide an order passed on May 13, 2009. In the present petition, he is challenging the order of punishment of stoppage of increments.

“As per allegations, the petitioner, while working as investigating officer during his stay at Kherki Daula under the Sadar Gurgaon police station, had demanded a bribe from one Mehar Chand. He made an application to inspector, Vigilance Bureau, Gurgaon, alleging the petitioner had demanded a bribe of Rs 2,000.

“The setting aside of order of punishment would have no effect on the order of compulsory retirement, which is not passed by way of punishment but is on the basis of the overall record of service, which is taken into account to form a view whether a person is fit to be retained beyond completion of particular period of service or age.

“There is, thus, no merit in the writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.”

Fatehabad, January 8
Much to the relief of the district authorities, the Chandpura visit of Baljit Singh Daduwal passed off peacefully here today.

Daduwal’s cavalcade of vehicles arrived at the outskirts of Chandpura village at 11.30 am from where he was taken to the village in a procession of motorbikes by Sikh youths.

Daduwal stayed in the village gurdwara for little over an hour during which he played “gatka” in the religious procession.

In his address, Daduwal dissuaded people from female foeticide and urged them to keep distance from “self-styled godmen”.

The police had made elaborate arrangements. Though deployment of the police was minimum in the vicinity of the gurdwara, over 10 reserves were deployed on the outskirts of the village.

SP Vivek Sharma himself reviewed the arrangements in the village in the morning and then kept a watch on the developments from the Jakhal police station.

Daduwal’s visit had raised the concern of the authorities due to recent developments in Bhikhi (Punjab) and Chandpura’s previous history of Dera-Sikh clashes. 

Sirsa, January 8
For the second day in succession today, angry followers of Dera Sacha Sauda held a demonstration in front of the local courts, where dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh appeared through videoconferencing before the CBI court, hearing his case at Ambala.

The irate followers, including a large number of women and children, who did not articulate the motive of their protests yesterday, made their “intentions” clear today.

Yesterday, dera followers had raised religious slogans. Aditya Insan, a spokesperson for the dera, had maintained that they were angry at the misbehaviour of a cop.

Today, the official spokesperson for the dera remained tightlipped, but the agitating followers raised slogans like “Jhoote case vaapis lo (take back false cases)”.

The dera followers started assembling on the Barnala road outside the court complex since 11 am, though the dera chief was to appear in the court at 2 pm.

Despite the biting cold, women and children assembled on the road, forcing the police to divert traffic to other roads. The followers raised slogans against the government and asked it to “stop harassing a saint”.

A large number of dera followers had assembled on the road by the time the dera chief’s cavalcade arrived in the court at about 1.40 pm.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh remained in the court complex till 2.45 pm and his followers continued raising slogans, demanding the annulment of criminal cases pending against him. The case was adjourned by the court till Monday.

The followers started returning to their homes soon after the dera chief left for his dera.

The protests by the dera followers have coincided with the hearing of three criminal cases pending against him on a daily basis.

The CBI court has been hearing the cases on a daily basis since Wednesday and the case has now again been listed for Monday.

Panchkula, January 8
Thousands of applicants from all over the state had to face a lot of inconvenience and harassment as the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Haryana, which had invited applications for the post of Assistant Block Resource Coordinator, cancelled the interview at the last minute here today.

According to information, more than 60,000 applicants from far-off places such as Nuh in Mewat had come to deposit the forms in the DIET office in Sector 2.

The department was to accept applications and hold interviews of candidates for the post of Assistant Block Resource Coordinator under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan project being implemented by the Haryana Prathmik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad.

However, in view of the presence of a large number of applicants at the site, the department cancelled the interview.

District Elementary Education and Training Director Pankaj Yadav said they had no programme to hold the interview and they were only to accept the application forms.

He said they did not expect such a response as they had invited applications from candidates possessing a postgraduate degree with computer knowledge and proper record of extra-curricular activities at college level.

One of the applicants, Kuldeep Singh of Nuh in Mewat, said it was a sheer wastage of time and money as he along with four other candidates had hired a taxi yesterday to deposit the form.

He said the authorities should have invited applications through registered post, as he had to spend more than Rs 1,000 for depositing the form.

Another applicant, Hakam Singh of Karnal, said the authorities had not even mentioned the number of seats or pay scale to be given to the selected candidates.

He said the department had also failed to specify whether the post was temporary or permanent. 

Fatehabad, January 8
A couple died after inhaling gas emitted from an LPG geyser in Ratia town here today. The deceased have been identified as Devender (40) and Kuldeep Kaur (35). The couple along with their two children resided in a rented accommodation in Tibba Colony of Ratia town here.

Sources said Devender went to the bathroom for bathing, while his wife was already washing clothes there. When the couple did not come out of the bathroom for long, their children called their neighbours, who broke open the door. The couple was found lying dead. Sources said the couple died of asphyxia due to gas emitted from the geyser. — TNS