The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Nine injured as bus overturns, one serious
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 2
Nine persons, including some women and children, got injured in a bus accident that took place on the Sirhind-Patiala road this morning. One of the injured, identified as Prem Singh of Ghanauri, is referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, in view of his serious condition.

The injured were first rushed to the Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib, and some of them were referred to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, and also in hospitals of Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

Mulepur police station in charge Dalvir Singh said the bus belonged to Hazara Bus Service Company and was on its way from Ropar to Patiala. The bus driver failed to control the vehicle near Jakhwali village and it overturned. The bus fell into the field and glass of windowpanes also pierced the bodies of some of the passengers.

The injured have been identified as Nirmal Singh of Sirhind Mandi, his daughter Jaspreet Kaur, Gurdev Singh of Sarai village, Chamanlal of Bhuawali village, Bikram Singh, Gurmel Kaur and Sukhwinder Kuar of Chakkri Khaas. The police was trying to identify other injured passengers also. The police and some local villagers informed family members of the injured about the accident.

The bus driver and the conductor were missing from the spot and efforts were on to trace the bus owners, said the police officials. They added that a case in this connection would be registered after recording statements of the injured and onlookers.

Railway top officials visit Kalka
Roads to be recarpeted; measures initiated to cope with water scarcity
Our Correspondent

Kalka, April 2
PK Sanghi, divisional railway manager (DRM), Ambala, along with other top officials of the Ambala division, including RK Tayal and Ashok Kumar, inspected the railway workshop, the railway station, the diesel shed and Broad Gauge Railway Colony here yesterday.

The team also took stock of water source at the Kaushalya at Tipra village, near here, keeping in view the problem of water scarcity at the railway colonies for the past few years.

Interacting with The Tribune, Sanghi said adequate arrangements were being made to cope with the problem of water scarcity, especially in the summer, as the work on boring a tubewell at Pinjore was under way.

On the deteriorating link roads of the Kalka railway colony that have not been repaired for the past over five years, he said the repair work had been delayed as the contract could not be finalised.

With the contract having been finalised now and the recarpeting of roads would start soon, he added.

The maintenance of railways’ residential houses had also been started.

Some blocks of Narrow Gauge Railway Colony had been declared abandoned keeping in view the safety of people, especially when most railways’ residential buildings were over 100 years old.

The railway board would provide six more locomotives to the diesel shed, Sanghi added.

15 employees found absent during check
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 2
Five government officers and 10 others were found absent during a surprise check by Patiala Divisional Commissioner GS Grewal here on Thursday.

The absentees included Nishan Singh (BDPO, Khamano), Major Singh (assistant registrar, Khamano), Dilawar Kaur (BDPO, Bassi Pathana), Rajiv Bhalla (SDO, Panchayati Raj, Bassi Pathana), Gurpreet Singh (assistant pharmacist, ayurvedic dispensary, Khamano), Jaspal Singh (superintendent, BDPO office, Bassi Pathana), Surjit Singh (block-level education officer), Sushma Rani (sewadar), Gurmel Singh (clerk, DTO office, Fatehgarh Sahib), Rajiv Kumar, driver Raghubir Singh, DC office’s RIA-branch clerk Rakesh Kumar, assistant engineer and junior engineers in office of BDPO, Khamano, and a clerk of SDM office, Khamano.

Grewal examined the attendance register of the DTO office, Fatehgarh Sahib, branches of DC office, DDPO office, SDM office, Khamano, SDM office, Bassi Pathana, BDPO office, Bassi Pathana, tehsil office, Khamano, tehsil office, Bassi Pathana, and market committee office, Khamano.

The Divisional Commissioner instructed the Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner,

Yashvir Mahajan, to conduct surprise checks at government offices to ensure the presence of government servants. He ordered that movement registers be maintained in government offices so that officials going out on duty was recorded.

He also warned officials and employees of all departments to fill in attendance registers in time everyday, failing which they would have to face stringent action. Departmental action would be initiated against those who were found absent.

Lab view academy for engg students
Tribune News Service

Rajpura, April 2
Dr RS Khandpur, director general of Pushpa Gujaral Science City, Kapurthala, inaugurated National Instruments Lab View Academy at Gian Jyoti Group of Institutions here today.

Jayaram Pillai spoke about the importance of training for engineering students. Dr Harish Hirani, associate professor from IIT Delhi, emphasised upon the significance of national instruments in research and development activities for the students.

JS Bedi, chairman of Gian Jyoti Group of Institutes, said Lab View Academy programme was based on blended learning model and prepares students as per the demand of the industry and higher education in engineering, computer science and related fields.

Cyclist killed in accident
Our Correspondent

Lalru, April 2
One person was killed and another injured in a road accident on the national highway, near here, yesterday.

As per reports, two workers of JCBL factory were going on a bicycle when they were hit by a truck at the crossing of the gas plant.

The two were admitted to the GMCH, Chandigarh, where one of them succumbed to his injuries.

The deceased has been identified as Ram Naresh, a resident of Rae Bareli, UP, while the injured, Parbakhar, hails from Orissa. The police has arrested the truck driver, Tara Singh, a resident of Sambhu, Patiala district, and registered a case against him under Sections 279, 337 and 304A of the IPC. The truck has also been impounded.

Man held with illicit liquor

The police arrested a Naraingarh resident with 50 boxes of illicit liquor at a checkpoint near Handesra here yesterday.

According to sources, Pawan Kumar, a resident of Naraingarh, was ferrying the country-made liquor in a car. The police arrested the accused and impounded the car. A case has been registered against the accused under the Excise Act.

COURTS

Burail jailbreak
Hawara, Bheora produced in court
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 2
Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, convicts in the Beant Singh assassination case, were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in connection with the Burail jailbreak case, here today.

The case had been deferred to May 6 while Narayan Singh Chaura, one of the conspirators in the case, had been declared a proclaimed offender.

Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Hawara and BKI’s India operations chief Bheora were brought here from the Tihar jail for hearing this morning.

Keeping in view the high drama of raising anti-terrorism slogans by members of the Anti-Terrorist Front India and pro-Khalistan slogans by both convicts during the hearing on February 5, the Chandigarh Police undertook elaborate security measures.

In wake of the incident on February 25, their advocate Arvind Thakur also moved an application, demanding the imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC around the court premises during every hearing in the case.

A number of relatives of Hawara, including his sister Kulwant Kaur, and Bheora reached the court premises today to meet the duo, already convicted for the murder of Beant Singh. The relatives met them in the courtroom.

While Bheora was facing a life term, Hawara was awarded capital punishment in 2007, an appeal against which was pending in the high court. Both were shifted from Burail to Tihar around five months ago in New Delhi blasts in 2004.

‘Saag’ time

Hawara’s sister Kulwant Kaur said she had brought ‘saag’ for her brother. “He is very fond of it,” she said. She gave the tiffin to the police, which was delivered to Hawara.

Dowry death
Husband gets 7-year term

Chandigarh, April 2
The court of Additional and District Sessions Judge GC Garg yesterday sentenced a person to seven-year imprisonment in a case of dowry death under Section 304-B of the IPC.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict, Amit Mehra, a resident of Ambala. The case dated back to October 26, 2009, when Meenu Mehra, wife of Amit, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her residence at Sector 21.

The police had initially booked Amit in a case of abetment to suicide after investigations revealed that Meenu, hailing from Ambala, took the extreme step due to her matrimonial dispute. Her family had alleged that she was tortured by her husband. However, the court had framed charges of dowry death under Section 304 B of the IPC against the accused. — TNS

CRIME

One arrested for outraging modesty
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 2
The police arrested the driver of an auto-rickshaw on the charges of outraging the modesty of a girl last night. The accused was identified as Sunny, a resident of Maloya village.

The complainant, aged 20, reported that she hired the auto-rickshaw (CH04L-4098) from the Aroma traffic light point for Kharar around 9.30 pm.

On nearing the deserted area near Maloya, the accused tried to outrage her modesty, she alleged. After that, the accused allegedly dropped her near the ‘Satsang Bhawan’ at Maloya.

The accused was arrested from near the bus queue halt at Maloya, said the police. A case under Sections 366, 354 and 506 of the IPC was registered at the Sector-39 police station.

Vehicle thefts

Rajeev Sharma of Sector 38 (West) lodged a complaint that his Alto car (CH01U-0941) was stolen from the IT Park on Friday. Harcharan Singh of Sector 46 reported that someone stole his Maruti car (CH01Y-5507) from near his house on the night of March 27.

Rajinder Kumar Punj of Sector 41 reported that his Maruti car (CH01Z-5037) was stolen from near his house on March 31. The police registered separate cases under Section 379 of the IPC at the police stations concerned.

Laptop stolen

Priya Manoj Jaswani of Mohali reported that someone stole her laptop from Sector 8 on Friday. The police registered a case under Section 380 of the IPC at the Sector-3 police station.

1 held for unnatural offence

Chandigarh, April 2
The police have arrested a resident of Hallomajra for killing a dog after having unnatural sex with it on Thursday night.

The police arrested 19-year-old Santosh Chaudhery, who was caught committing the offence by the owner of the pet. Sub-inspector Harjinder Singh, investigating officer, said the pet belonged to Jang Bahadur, a head constable with the Chandigarh Police, who owned a number of pet dogs.

The pet was missing from the residence on Thursday evening. After a thorough search of the area, the head constable and his family traced it to a deserted plot near their house.

They were left aghast to find it with Santosh in the park. He had tied its hands and feet with a rope and shut its mouth with a piece of cloth. The head constable went towards it, but it was already dead. The police arrested Santosh, who was found in an inebriated state. He confessed to his crime. — TNS

One held for sodomising 10-year-old

Zirakpur, April 2
The police today arrested Sukwinder Singh, alias Reetha, a resident of Dhanas, Chandigarh, on the charges of sodomising a 10-year-old boy of Chhat village on March 26. However, the two others are still absconding.

A police team conducted a raid at Dhanas where they arrested Reetha. The accused was produced in the Dera Bassi court and was sent to judicial custody. The investigating officer, ASI Shamsher, said the incident occurred on March 26 when Reetha had come to the complainant, Gurmeet Kaur’s, house, along with his two friends, in an auto-rickshaw last night around 11.30 pm. A case was registered against three persons against. — TNS

SPORTS

Lahiri triumphs on Panchkula greens
Donald Banerjee

Panchkula, April 2
Anirban Lahiri has done it again. This 23-year-old Bangalore lad fired four birdie pairs after a bad start to clinch the Aircel PGTI Players Championship on the par-72 greens of the Panchkula Golf Club here today.

He carded a five under 67 on Saturday for a 14 under 274 total. Seasoned Mukesh Kumar finished two strokes behind at 276 returning a four under 68 on the last day.

Another two strokes behind occupying the third slot is 19-year-old Rashid Khan, who could muster a two under 70 score in the final round.

The Panchkula greens appears to be a happy hunting ground for Anirban, as he had scripted victory on the same soil two years ago in the Haryana Open of the Aircel PGTI.

Lahiri started with bogeys on the third and fourth. But then began the recovery. He sank birdies on the fifth, sixth, eight and ninth to be two under par 34 at the turn. He continued with his good work sinking another four birdies (11th, 12th, 14th and 15th) before conceding a bogey on the last hole to be five under 67 for the day.

Lahiri displayed some good hitting and a couple of long birdie putts as he scripted victory on Panchkula soil. All the five par-fives were birdies.

Lahiri said, “I played really well today and didn’t let anyone get close to my score. I think the four birdies towards the end of yesterday’s round helped me a great deal.”

The birdie on the 14th was the best, he added: “I drove it towards the right. But unfortunately the shot flew out of bounds and landed 55 yards from the green. I managed to salvage a birdie from that position after my second shot landed 6 ft from the pin.”

This was his second victory from three outings on this year’s Aircel PGTI, placing him second on the Rolex Rankings after Gaganjeet Bhullar.

Mukesh Kumar’s (69-71-68-68) bogey-free 68 earned him second place. Rashid Khan (65-74-69-70) made five birdies against three bogeys in the final round to finish third at 10 under 278.

Chandigarh’s Harendra P Gupta shot a two under 70 in the final round to secure fourth place at eight under 280. Kapurthala’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Brazilian Adilson Da Silva finished a further stroke behind in tied fifth slot.

Adilson was all praise for the Panchkula greens. The course also came up for a lot of praise from Anirban Lahiri.

Adilson called it a fast and tricky course.

Lahiri said despite the exposure of the course to hot and windy conditions the greens had been well maintained.

Score

274 Anirban Lahiri (72-65-70-67); 276 Mukesh Kumar (69-71-68-68); 278 Rashid Khan (65-74-69-70); 280 Harendra P. Gupta (70-69-71-70); 281 Gaganjeet Bhullar (68-73-71-69) and Adilson Da Silva (66-71-73-71); 283 Mithun Pereira (71-75-69-68), Anura Rohana (67-75-70-71) and Shankar Das (69-73-70-71); 285 Abhishek Jha (71-74-70-70); 286 Gurbaaz PS Mann (74-74-68-70), Shamim Khan (71-70-73-72), Sudhir Sharma (68-73-73-72) and Om Prakash Chauhan (70-75-67-74).