Gidderbaha, April 2
Sukhdev Singh, father of Charanjit Singh, a resident of Fakarsar Thedi village and a close associate of former finance minister Manpreet Badal, has landed in police custody following his alleged involvement in committing a fraud with a state agency, Pungrain.

What Sukhdev Singh along with his another partner Harjinder Singh and others did was that they allegedly siphoned off paddy worth about Rs one and a half crores, stored in the mill by Pungrain for milling in 2010-11. Charanjit Singh was officer on special duty (OSD) to Manpreet before he was dropped from the Punjab cabinet.

After the fraud was detected, a case under sections 406, 420, 120-B of the IPC and section 7 of EC Act was registered at the local police station this evening on the complaint lodged by the district food and supply controller, Muktsar to SSP, Muktsar, on March 25.

The fact came to light when a physical verification of the mill, namely, Sidhu Agro Industries, Gidderbaha, was carried out by assistant food and supplies officer (AFSO), Gidderbaha, with the help of police and other staff members on March 24.

More than 7000 quintals of paddy was found siphoned off by Sukhdev Singh, Harjinder Singh and others.

The physical verification was done in the presence of Jagbir Singh, manager of the said mill. The other startling facts, which also came to light during the verification was that Sukhdev Singh was running Sidhu Agro Industries in the premises of the already existent Sidhu Rice Mills, Gidderbaha, which was against the rule that two independent units could not be run in the same premises.

While the Sidhu Agro Industries was started in 2009, the Sidhu Rice Mills was in operation for the past many years. Sukhdev Singh managed to hoodwink the authorities concerned allegedly due to the political patronage which he enjoyed due to his connections.

In a letter written to the SSP, the DFSC has mentioned that during physical verification, it was found that both Sidhu Rice Mills, which was owned by Malkit Singh and Surjeet Singh and Sidhu Agro Industries, which was owned by Sukhdev Singh and Harjinder Singh, had a paddy room, a rice room, a corridor, office and a common boundary wall.

The food and supply department sources said that the estimate of taxes of various kinds evaded by Sidhu Agro Industries would be worked out by the other departments of state government.

The involvement of employees, who had allegedly worked under the pressure of then ruling politicians, was also being examined.

Meanwhile, Charanjit Singh has alleged that the case against his father Sukhdev Singh was registered by the ruling political set-up of Punjab to harass Manpreet Badal's supporters.

Bathinda, April 2
With the arrest of two former bus drivers of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), the Bathinda police today claimed to have cracked the mystery shrouding the theft of Rs 14 lakh that took place at the Bathinda depot of the PRTC on March 26.

The police has recovered nearly Rs 5.68 lakh from the possession of the accused duo.

Giving details, Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said during the investigation, the police found that Rajwinder Singh of Amritsar district and Dilbag Singh of Tarn Taran district had committed the crime.

Tracing their locations, the police rounded them up and during interrogation, they admitted to have committed the crime, said the SSP. Searching their houses, the police recovered Rs 4.09 lakh in cash from Rajwinder and Rs 1.59 lakh from Dilbag.

The SSP claimed that both the accused were well-aware of the presence of cash in the chest room of the depot.

Parrying further queries, the SSP said the police was yet to produce them in the court and after getting their police remand they would be interrogated to ascertain various facts, including the remaining cash.

When asked about the three employees of the Bathinda depot of the PRTC, who were subjected to third-degree torture by the CIA staff and released only after they were proved innocent, the SSP said, "Taking a suo-motto notice of the newspaper reports, I have asked the officials concerned about the matter. As the officials refuted the allegations and none of the complaints reached me, the investigation is incomplete."

Bathinda, April 2
Under the Dial 108, a free ambulance service scheme, eight vehicles will reach Bathinda district from Amritsar tomorrow. These vehicles will meet the emergency needs of the patients, especially the accident victims, in the district.

Officiating Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Garg today said these ambulance vehicles would be stationed at the Civil Hospitals in Bathinda, Rampura and Talwandi Sabo besides at the community health centres (CHCs) in Bhagta, Nathana, Sangat, Goniana and Maur of the district.

The vehicles have been provided by the National Rural Health Mission to the state government.

Dr Garg said 108 was a toll-free phone number, which could be dialled by anyone to avail of the free ambulance service in case of emergency.

He said the service had its headquarters in Amritsar where global positioning system (GPS) had been installed. He said the ambulances would be equipped with GPS.

Elucidating on the functioning of the service, Dr Garg said a call made on 108 would reach the Amritsar GPS. The caller would provide information about his/her location to the GPS staff, who would instruct a nearby ambulance to reach the accident site.

Bathinda, April 2
Envious of the prosperity of his brother, a man allegedly shot him dead at Naruana village of this district in the morning today.

It is learnt that Gurmail Singh (35) and Makhan Singh were real brothers and had divided their agricultural land some years ago. Makhan was allegedly a drug addict and used to remain idle. Overtime, Gurmail purchased some more chunk of land, which irked Makhan. Frustrated, Makhan started quarrelling with him for one reason or the other.

In statement to the Bathinda (Sadar) police, a daughter of Gurmail alleged that her father had left home for Gurdwara on a bicycle at about 4.30 am today. After few yards, Makhan started chasing him. On reaching the end of street, Makhan fired several bullets at him with his .32 bore licensed revolver.

Confirming the facts, Sadar police station SHO Paramjeet Singh Dod said the accused shot around six bullets at Gurmail killing him on the spot.

The SHO said the accused had been booked under Section 302 of the IPC and the Arms Act. The police arrested the accused and recovered the weapon used in the crime. He said, “Though the land is involved in the case, it is not exactly a case of property dispute. Makhan killed his brother in frustration as he was envious of the addition in his brother’s land holding.” — TNS

Moga, April 2
Many areas of the Malwa belt in Punjab witnessed thunderstorm on Friday night and during the daytime on Saturday at a time when the harvesting period has just begun, sparking 
fears of deterioration in grain quality even as agricultural scientists were hoping for a bumper harvest.

Unfortunately, the agriculture department, a few days back, had recommended irrigating the wheat crop at a time when a dry spell was looming large across the state. The farmers who irrigated the crop, most likely suffered the loss. The standing wheat crop in the already prevailing wet conditions has visibly got flattened on the fields. Reports from many parts of Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar, Bathinda and the Jagraon area of Ludhiana district have revealed that unprecedented weather condition could further delay the harvest and downgrade the quality of the grain.

However, the Chief Agriculture Officer of Moga, Dr Ravi Kumar Sabbarwal was of the view that the overnight thunderstorm would not much affect the production and quality of the grains. He said that the ‘wheat ears’ have the tendency to stand up again in a few days after getting flattened once the wet conditions turn dry. "Since, the downpour has not been much, therefore, the impact of the adverse affect of storm will not matter a lot under these conditions", he said.

Adding that the prevailing night temperature, little below the normal temperature, has come as a boon for the standing wheat crop, he said that it would help to increase the size of the grains. "Hence, the net production per hectare will not be much affected by the thunderstorm even as standing crop has flattened", he hoped.

It may be mentioned that the harvesting has not yet begun due to late sowing in the entire Malwa belt. Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, a state awardee agriculture scientist, also claimed that overnight thunderstorm would not affect the crop much but if the downpour lashes again in the next couple of weeks the standing wheat crop could get damaged partially depending upon the intensity of the rain.

Moga, April 2
A newly-wed woman was shot dead by her husband over dowry at Dosanj village in Moga district on Saturday.

The police registered a case of murder at the Mehna police station against the husband, his mother and his sister who had fled from the spot.

Pushpinder Singh, SHO, said that during the preliminary investigation, it has come to light that the woman, Harpreet Kaur (22), daughter of Harbhagwant Singh, a resident of Kudduwala village of Faridkot district was married to Balraj Singh, son of Teja Singh of Dosanj village in Moga on December 3, 2010. He said the deceased girl’s family had alleged that her husband and in-laws were constantly demanding dowry which could have led to the murder.

Meanwhile, Gurdev Singh, uncle of the woman in whose presence Balraj shot his wife, said she called him on Friday complaining of harassment and demand for a Swift car.

Gurdev said this morning, he was surprised to see that Jaswinder Kaur, mother, and Joginder Kaur, sister of Balraj, having a verbal duel with his niece and when he asked them to stop, Balraj took out his revolver and shot Harpreet from a close range on her forehead. She died on the spot.

Talwandi Sabo, April 2
Making a significant departure from its traditional style, perhaps for the first time in its history, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has decided to hold its political conference here on the occasion of Baisakhi outside the premises of Takht Shri Damdama Sahib, situated in this town.

During the previous years, the SAD (B) held its political conference in the Diwan hall, located adjacent to the main Gurudwara of Takht Shri Damdama Sahib. This year, the SAD (B) leadership has decided to shift the venue of its political conference into the premises of the local grain market, located on the Talwandi Sabo-Maur road, about one kilometer from Takht Shri Damdama Sahib.

Takht Damdama Sahib, which is the fifth Takht of Sikh religion, is the place where the tenth Sikh Master Sri Guru Gobind Singh stayed for over nine months after fighting last battle with Mughals at Muktsar and compiled the Adi Granth.

Sukhbir Badal, President, SAD (B), Balwinder Singh Bhunder, MP, Amarjit Singh, assembly segment in-charge of party, Sikander Singh Maluka, former minister, today visited the grain market to select the site.

Talking to media persons, Sukhbir said that the grain market was selected as the venue for the party's conference so that one lakh people, who were expected to attend the rally, could be accommodated easily under the roof and tents and they could be made comfortable by saving them from the hot sun.

He added that one lakh people would assembly at the party's rally to be held on Baisakhi. They would come from the nine assembly segments of Bathinda parliamentary constituency only.

He claimed that the party's conference held at Maghi Mela at Muktsar and at Khatkar Kalan on March 23 on the occasion connected with the 80th anniversary of martyrs Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, attracted a huge rush of people and hence, the party leadership expected that rush at Baisakhi rally would be unprecedented.

The main opposition party Congress and other political outfits will also hold their conferences on the occasion.

Moga: One person was killed and 19 others injured when a tractor-trolley in which they were travelling was hit by a truck near Baghapurana on Friday evening. The incident occurred when the victims were returning from a religious function at Langena village.

A truck coming from behind rammed into the trolley which overturned on the spot. The dead was identified as Gurdas Singh. The three seriously injured were referred to Faridkot. — TNS