Phagwara, March 21
Rakesh Kumar (30), who had been living in Libya for the last three and a half years, left the country to save his life from the violence spreading there and arrived at Lassarra village here last week, but was allegedly murdered by his wife Veena, alias Simran, and her paramour Sikandar with the help of some other persons yesterday.

Rakesh Kumar was found brutally murdered with sharp-edged weapons at a village field last morning.

Phillaur DSP Raj Balwinder Singh, said Rakesh went to Libya three and half years ago and did not have cordial relations with his parents living at Khotrra village. He sent some money to his wife, who purchased some land and constructed a small house at Lassarra village a few months ago. Meanwhile, due to violence in Libya, Rakesh arrived at Lassarra village nine days ago.

The DSP said when Rakesh was in Libya, his wife Veena, mother of a three-year-old daughter, developed illicit relations with village youth Sikandar and both were worried after the return of Rakesh and decided to eliminate him and took help of a few other youths for the purpose.

Goraya SHO Kailash Kumar said about half a dozen youths, including, accused Sikandar and Naresh, both residents of Lassarra village, on Saturday night came to the house of Rakesh and knocked its door. Veena, who had already given some intoxicants to her husband, opened the door and brought her husband in a semi-conscious condition to a nearby field.

They murdered Rakesh with the handle of a water pump and other sharp-edged weapons and escaped in the dark. Veena returned to her home.

Veena told the police that she found her husband missing at midnight and later he was found murdered in a field on Sunday morning.

The DSP said the police had arrested Veena, her paramour Sikandar and Naresh under Sections 302, 34 and 120B of the IPC today, while their three other accomplices were still at large. The police had recovered the handle of a water pump. The body was handed over to the family members after postmortem.

Later, hundreds of villagers attended Rakesh’s funeral at Khotrra village on Sunday evening.

Pathankot, March 21
Hundreds of activists of the Pathankot Zila Banao Sangharsh Committee blocked traffic for an hour near the busy Tehsil Complex here today to protest against the state government’s indecisiveness in conferring district status upon Pathankot tehsil.

The protesters, led by committee president Rakesh Sharma, said their next step was to gherao the state BJP president Ashwani Kumar’s residence as the demand of upgrading Pathankot tehsil to a full-fledged district was in the election manifesto of the BJP.

Later, Punjab Transport Minister and Pathankot MLA Master Mohan Lal joined the demonstrators and said he would take up the committee’s proposal with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. However, without naming anyone, he said there were some disgruntled elements in the state BJP who were not interested in getting the district status for the city. Rakesh said the agitation would be intensified in the coming days. 

Pathankot, March 21
Two senior officials of the State Bank of India (SBI) were killed and another five persons sustained serious injuries in a road accident today when the vehicle, Tavera (JK-14-B-3877), they were travelling in hit a roadside tree near Kanwa village, about 20 km from here, on the Pathankot-Jammu national highway.

According to information, Ashwani Sharma (43), resident of Poonga village, Hoshiarpur, and Area Manager of the State Bank of India posted at Jammu, and Tarsem Lal Jassi (44), resident of Mohalla Kot Ram Dass, Jalandhar, and posted as Manager of the State Bank of India, Kangra, were travelling with four other persons in the ill-fated vehicle, which was hired by them as a taxi and were going from Ludhiana to Jammu.

At around 8 am as they reached near Kanwa village, driver of the vehicle Narinder Singh lost control over the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a vehicle coming from the opposite side. The Tavera rammed into a roadside tree at a high speed, resulting in the death of both Ashwani Sharma and Tarsem Lal Jassi on the spot.

The injured, who were identified as driver Narinder Singh, Gurinder Singh, both residents of Jammu, Amarjit Singh, Gurminder Singh and Joginder Singh, all residents of Talwara, were rushed to nearby hospitals, from where two injured were referred to the DMC, Ludhiana. SHO Vishwanath said the bodies of both officials had been handed over to their family members after conducting postmortem at the Civil Hospital here.

Hoshiarpur, March 21
With the arrest of three persons, the district police claims to have unearthed an inter-district gang of robbers. It also arrested two thieves.

Talking to mediapersons here today, SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said acting on a tip-off, the Dasuya police last night raided the choe at Sagran village and arrested three members of an inter-district gang of robbers, viz Bahadur Singh of Morian (Dasuya), Ranjit Singh of Ghorewaha (Tanda) and Inderpal Singh of Chack Mehra (Dasuya), while they were preparing to commit a dacoity and seized a pistol made in Italy, magazine, six live cartridges, air pistol, sickle, two motorcycles and a Scorpio with fake number plates.

However, their two accomplices Manjit Singh, alias Shera, resident of Budho Barkat, and Lucky of Naraingarh, managed to flee under the cover of darkness.

A case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act had been registered against them.

Bahadur Singh was the leader of the gang, which was operating in Punjab. Nine cases had been registered under various sections of the IPC and the NDPS Act against Bahadur Singh at various police stations of Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar, whereas three cases under various sections of the IPC and of the Arms Act had been registered against Ranjit Singh in various police stations of Hoshiarpur and Faridkot.

Meanwhile, the city police has arrested Mandip Singh, alias Manu, resident of Gandhi Chowk, Bahadurpur, and Jagdeep Singh, alias Vicky, resident of the local Dev Nagar, and seized Rs 65,000, gold ornaments and two mobile phones.

The duo broke into a finance company shop at the local Bahadurpur Gate and stole Rs 1.65 lakh and 4 tola gold ornaments and two mobile phones from the safe of the shop on the intervening night of March 19 and 20, 2010, for which a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC had been registered at city police station. Their one more accomplice, Kaka of Bahadurpur, is still at large.

The duo were addicts and to fulfil their craving for drugs, they committed the theft for the first time, said Rakesh Aggarwal.