J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Tragic end to love relationship
Girl dies, boy battles for life
Tarn Taran, January 19
In a tragic incident, a girl died after she along with her lover consumed poison in Kirian village, 35 kms from here on Tuesday night. The boy is fighting for life at a private hospital at Makhu, 45 kilometres from here, in Ferozepur district.

Four of robbers’ gang nabbed
Jalandhar, January 19
The Jalandhar (rural) police nabbed four members of a gang of robbers with arms, ammunition and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees. The police claimed that the gang was active in Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Jagroan and Khanna.

Rs 4.5 lakh fake currency recovered
Amritsar, January 19
The State Special Operation Cell today recovered another consignment of counterfeit Indian currency, amounting to Rs 4.5 lakh, following the investigation of recently arrested accused Sukhjit Singh and Sukhchain Singh.

Officials of the State Special Operation Cell show fake currency notes recovered in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Girl hurt in accident; protest against traffic police
Jalandhar, January 19
Furious over an accident in which a school girl was critical injured after being hit by a tractor-trailer, scores of residents of the Balmiki Gate locality pelted the vehicle with stones and lodged their protest against the traffic police.

21 officials found absent from duty
Amritsar, January 19
The district administration found 21 officials belonging to the Local Bodies and Excise and Taxation departments, District Food and Supply Control Office and Civil Defence Office absent from duty today.

54 cases of mild diarrhoea reported in Jalandhar
Jalandhar, January 19
As many as 54 cases of mild diarrhoea were reported today from Pooria mohalla, Dhan mohalla, Sehgal mohalla and Khingra gate localities of the city. The cases came to fore during a day-long medical camp organised today by the Health Department after frequent reporting of diarrhoea cases from these localities.

Tarun Sharma assault case transferred to CIA wing
Jalandhar, January 19
The city police has transferred the Tarun Sharma assault case to its CIA wing after it failed to arrest Gurmukh Singh Rodey, an NRI son of jathedar Jasbir Singh Rodey, a close associate of Punjab Chief Minister.

Tragic end to love relationship
Girl dies, boy battles for life
Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, January 19
In a tragic incident, a girl died after she along with her lover consumed poison in Kirian village, 35 kms from here on Tuesday night. The boy is fighting for life at a private hospital at Makhu, 45 kilometres from here, in Ferozepur district.

Mandeep Kaur (22), and her lover Sukhjinder Singh took the extreme step, as their parents did not accept the relationship and fixed their marriages without their wishes.

They fell in love four years back and tried their best to convince their parents on their marriage.

But the parents of the girl got her engaged with a boy of the nearby Gandiwind Dhattal village and the parents of boy too got him engaged. His marriage was fixed on January 23.

But the couple maintained its relationship and kept meeting despite opposition.

Last night, Mandeep Kaur went to Sukhjinder’s house where both decided to end their lives.

Girl’s parents found the body on the rooftop. A report under 174 CrPC has been registered at Harike police station.

The boy was admitted to Kalra Nursing Home, Makhu. His condition was said to be serious.

The police sources said Sukhjinder Singh was not fit to lodge his statement to either the police or some other authority.

Four of robbers’ gang nabbed
Tribune Reporters

Jalandhar, January 19
The Jalandhar (rural) police nabbed four members of a gang of robbers with arms, ammunition and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees. The police claimed that the gang was active in Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Jagroan and Khanna.

Addressing mediapersons, SSP Ashish Chaudhary said the gangsters were nabbed following a snatching incident in Nakodar two days ago. They snatched Rs 4,700 at a gunpoint from Nakodar resident Surinder Kumar two days ago.

The police chased the robbers, identified as Roshan Lal of Phagwara, Kulbir Singh of Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur, Ajmer Singh of Adampur and Seema of Dakoha locality.

The SSP said during questioning they confessed to have committed 18 robberies in Jalandhar, 10 in Nawanshahr, eight in Kapurthala, nine in Hoshiarpur, eight in Jagraon and six in Khanna. They have been selling the stolen gold through Seema, the SSP said.

The police also recovered three country-made pistols, five stolen motorcycles, gold jewellery worth lakhs of rupees from their possession. He said Roshan Lal and Ajmer Singh were declared proclaimed offenders by the courts and even jumped bail.

Phagwara: The police arrested a vehicle thief, Nirbhya Singh of Jabbowal village in Nawanshahr, today. Wanted in several theft cases committed in many districts, he was booked in a case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC. The police recovered a scooter, motorcycle and some electronic appliances from him.

Rs 4.5 lakh fake currency recovered
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 19
The State Special Operation Cell today recovered another consignment of counterfeit Indian currency, amounting to Rs 4.5 lakh, following the investigation of recently arrested accused Sukhjit Singh and Sukhchain Singh.

They were lodged in Amritsar Central Jail. This recovery almost established the fact that hardcore smugglers, lodged in the jail, had been carrying out their nefarious activities from the jail premises too. It is to mention that Sukhjit was arrested on January 14 with fake currency of Rs 3.5 lakh and was booked in a case under Sections 489-A, B, C, 420 and 120 of the IPC.

The SSOC officials did not rule out the possibility of a Pakistan connection behind the racket. Manminder Singh, AIG, Counter Intelligence, Punjab, said, “Investigations are being conducted on different lines to unearth the nexus and network of this gang. More arrests are likely to be made soon. The Pakistan connection to the consignment is being looked into.”

Harwinder Singh, an official of SSOC, said all the currency notes are in the denomination of 1,000 with a very superior quality of printing. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the recovered consignment was a part of a bigger consignment, which was recently smuggled from Pakistan. More such recoveries are expected,” he said.

Nevertheless, the involvement of Sukhchain Singh has raised a question mark about the law and order situation in the Amritsar Central Jail, which has frequently been in the news for wrong reasons. Recently, officials seized 12 mobile phones after a raid on the jail. There were reports then that a notorious fake currency smuggler lodged in the jail continued his activities from the jail and kept in touch with his Pakistani counterparts through a mobile.

Girl hurt in accident; protest against traffic police
Tribune News Service

One killed in mishap Phagwara: Navdeep Singh, a Chandigarh resident, was killed in a road mishap near Khalwara village today. The body of the deceased was sent to the local Civil Hospital for the postmortem examination. — OC

Jalandhar, January 19
Furious over an accident in which a school girl was critical injured after being hit by a tractor-trailer, scores of residents of the Balmiki Gate locality pelted the vehicle with stones and lodged their protest against the traffic police.

The residents took to the streets following 13-year-old Bhavan was hit by the vehicle and was left with multiple fractures.

The accident occurred when she was on her way to school. The driver reportedly fled from the spot leaving behind the vehicle. Noticing the incident, the shopkeepers and residents of the area assembled and rushed the injured to the hospital.

The residents alleged that the traffic policemen failed to implement the rules, which restrict entry of heavy vehicles in the inner city areas during the peak traffic hours.

The protesters withdrew after the police officials assured them to deploy traffic police personnel at and around the Balmiki Gate area. The police also impounded the tractor-trailer and two other heavy vehicles spotted in the locality.

21 officials found absent from duty
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 19
The district administration found 21 officials belonging to the Local Bodies and Excise and Taxation departments, District Food and Supply Control Office and Civil Defence Office absent from duty today.

Senior assistant Harjinder Kaur and junior assistant Arwinder Kaur, both from the Local Bodies Department, were not present in the office.

In Assistant Excise and Tax Department (Amritsar - I), Manjit Singh, H.S. Sandhu, Kamal Bedi, Subhash, Jaspal, Harmesh Kumari and Jaswinder Singh, all Excise and Taxation Officers, Verma, Inspector, Rajinder Kumar and Mandeep Kaur, both junior assistants, Gurdeep Singh, Steno, Parminder Singh, Sandeep Kaur and Baljinder Kaur, all data entry operators, were found absent.

Amarjit Kaur, record keeper, and Sita, clerk, from the Excise and Taxation Department (Amritsar-2) were absent.

Manjit Kaur, auditor of District Food and Supply Control Office, and H. Khanna, clerk, and Ranyog Singh, class fourth employee of Civil Defence Office, were found absent.

Apart from the aforementioned offices, teams of the administration also raided zila parishad and MNREGS offices.

54 cases of mild diarrhoea reported in Jalandhar
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 19
As many as 54 cases of mild diarrhoea were reported today from Pooria mohalla, Dhan mohalla, Sehgal mohalla and Khingra gate localities of the city. The cases came to fore during a day-long medical camp organised today by the Health Department after frequent reporting of diarrhoea cases from these localities.

District Health Officer Dr R.L. Bassan said the residents of the area were drinking contaminated water for the past few days due to faulty water supply lines of the localities. He said the officials concerned of the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, had been intimated about the fault. He said that the door-to-door health survey was conducted by the department, yesterday. He added the department would also organise a camp on January 20.

Over 5,000 anti-diarrhoeal tablets were distributed for the purpose, he added.

Tarun Sharma assault case transferred to CIA wing
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 19
The city police has transferred the Tarun Sharma assault case to its CIA wing after it failed to arrest Gurmukh Singh Rodey, an NRI son of jathedar Jasbir Singh Rodey, a close associate of Punjab Chief Minister.

ADCP (crime) Rajpal Singh Sandhu confirmed the transfer of the case. The CIA staff would now investigate the case and record the statement of the victim on the permission of doctors attending to him at the DMC, Ludhiana.

The victim had earlier sought anticipatory bail that was rejected by the district and session court.

The family members of Tarun Sharma, a city-based cloth trader, who was attacked by Gurmukh Singh Rodey, had alleged police slackness in the case since the accused was politically well-connected.