NEIGHBOURHOOD

Three booked for murder
Tribune News Service

Morinda, February 8
The Ropar police has booked three persons for murdering a resident of Sugar Mill Road over a minor issue late last night.

The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Kirpal Singh. Police officials said the wife of deceased had a tiff with wives of three other villagers.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Gurpreet and Kamaldeep, both residents of Rangian village, and Sukhchain of Sugar Mill Colony.

They fought with each other over the supply of drinking water.

Some elderly intervened during the scuffle and tried to pacify all the quarrelsome residents.

However, the trio reportedly attacked Kirpal Singh who succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead in a nearby hospital.

The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC in this connection. However, no arrests have been made in this regard by the police.

Efforts were on to arrest the accused, said a police official.

Chandigarh, February 8
The Court of District and Sessions Judge, SK Goel, today announced one-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kailash Chander after holding him guilty in a graft case.

The accused was posted as a reader in the office of SDM (South) when he was booked.

Kailash was booked by the UT vigilance department in December 2002, for demanding illegal gratification after he was caught accepting bribe of Rs 5,000 from complainant Rajan Singh, a resident of SAS Nagar.

Chander had demanded money from complainant on pretext of getting his eviction orders stayed.

The UT vigilance department had raided the office of SDM and caught the accused red-handed. 

Chandigarh, February 8
In an order having serious consequences on schools and teaching institutes refusing to refund the advance fee charged from students even after they drop out in mid session, the UT Consumer Forum has ruled that fee should be charged on proportional basis only for the number of days attended by a particular student.

The forum today ordered Abhimanu Visions Pvt Ltd, to refund fee to a student who had to drop out from a preparatory course for competitive examinations conducted by the UPSC.

In her complaint, the student, Vinayshree, a resident of Sector 21, Chandigarh, stated that she had paid Rs 19,500, including admission fee and a one-time charge, for the entire course on July 14, 2007, but had to drop out after two weeks. She claimed that the institute refused to give her the refund amount.

In their response, the institute maintained that the request for the refund couldn’t be met, as the student had accepted the terms and conditions on the enrollment form, in which it was mentioned that fee once paid, would not be refunded.

Quoting some earlier decisions, the forum, comprising Ashok Raj Bhandari and Madhu Mutneja, directed the institute to refund the fee after deducting administration charges of Rs 1,000 and fee for July 13 to August 12, 2007, since the student had left the course after two weeks.

Also, the institute was directed to pay compensation of Rs 10,000 for mental agony and litigation charges of Rs 7,000.

Zirakpur, February 8
The police has booked an Ambala resident for repeatedly raping an NRI girl on the pretext of marrying her. The victim, who had come from France to pursue her study, alleged that the accused had promised to marry her, but later he refused.

The accused has been identified as Gurinderpal Singh, a resident of Ambala City, now residing in Dheer Majra, Lalru.

A police official stated that the victim, a resident of Green Enclave, Zirakpur, alleged that she had come from France, along with her mother and brother, to pursue her study in 2009.

She was studying at a private college in Dera Bassi, where she met Gurinderpal Singh, who was pursuing BTech in MM Engineering College at Mulana, Ambala, the official said. She said they became friends and he promised to marry her. She alleged that she got pregnant after the accused made physical relations with her. However, when she asked the accused to marry her, he refused, the police official added.

Panchkula, February 8
Three persons of a family were seriously injured when about 12 persons attacked them with lethal weapons at their house in the Old Panchkula area late last night. The attackers had a grudge against the victims due to an old rivalry.

The injured, who have been identified as Vijay, Barkha and Golu, were rushed to the General Hospital, Sector 6, for treatment.

The victim in their statement to the police said the unidentified accused had come to their house at 10.30 pm yesterday and attacked them with swords and iron rods. The police did not register any case against the accused till the filing of the report.

One of the victims, Vijay, while talking to the media, said they had already filed a complaint with the police as they were getting threats. But the police did not take any action against the accused, he added.

In charge of the Sector 6 police post said there was an old enmity between the two groups as they had already received the complaint from these groups.

Chandigarh, February 8
Surekha Rani, a resident of Sector 28, lodged a complaint with the police that three unknown persons snatched her bag, containing ` 700 and a mobile phone from Sector 15 yesterday. A case under Sections 379 and 356 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 Police Station.

In another incident, Suresh Kumar, a resident of Ram Darbar, alleged that Sandeep, another resident of his locality, snatched his gold chain yesterday.