Bathinda, April 7
In a bid to give a “befitting reply” to the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) leader Manpreet Singh Badal and his father Gurdas Badal and also to mobilise masses for the Baisakhi rally of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal flew in here today to conduct an extensive tour of the Bathinda and Muktsar districts.

Parkash Singh Badal would, tomorrow and on April 12, confine his tour to the Gidderbaha assembly segment from where Manpreet had recently resigned before floating the PPP. He would address a series of rallies and hold ‘sangat darshan’ in several villages in order to revive his old contacts of the period when he represented the constituency several years ago before installing Manpreet there.

The Chief Minister was apparently trying to further consolidate his position by earmarking two days (April 9 and 13) for holding rallies and ‘sangat darshan’ in his Lambi Assembly constituency. His estranged brother Gurdas Badal has been announced the PPP’s candidate in the Lambi segment for the coming Assembly elections.

Sukhbir Badal is scheduled to make a whirlwind tour of the Bathinda district tomorrow when he would address five rallies of the SAD activists at Kaljharani, Bathinda, Bhuchho, Rampura and Maur Mandi. Besides, he would also lay foundation stones of a couple of projects.

Sukhbir would also mobilise the SAD supporters for the rally of the party at Talwandi Sabo on April 14 on the occasion of Baisakhi. The rally has become an issue of prestige for him as the opposition Congress was also wooing its activists to turn out in large number at Talwandi Sabo on that day.

Their tour is also being considered as a damage control exercise against the outbursts of Manpreet and Gurdas Badal.

Interestingly, Manpreet, accompanied by his father Gurdas Badal, had last week visited the Gidderbaha constituency and was here yesterday to make scathing remarks against his uncle Parkash Singh Badal and cousin Sukhbir.

Gurdas Badal had refrained from commenting on the functioning of his elder brother and CM Parkash Singh Badal, but during his visit here yesterday, he was sarcastic about him by saying that this time instead of contesting the election from Lambi, Parkash Singh Badal should support “me as I have all these years wholeheartedly been campaigning for him in the area”.

On the other hand, Parkash Singh Badal has so far not uttered even a single word against his younger brother but had brought specially-designed diabetes control shoes for him from the US even after the split in the family.

Manpreet Singh said Parkash Singh Badal was rattled by the successful rally of the PPP at Khatkar Kalan on March 27.

Talwandi Sabo, April 7
This historical town, which houses fifth Takht of Sikhs and where 10th Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh compiled Adi Granth, will be virtually converted into a police cantonment on April 10 by the Punjab government to provide unprecedented security cover to the four-day Baisakhi Mela to be held here from April 11 to April 14.

Known as Takht Damdama Sahib as Guru Gobind Singh stayed here for over nine months, 3,000 policemen, including officers, would be deployed in and around this town. It is nearly double the strength of the police deployed here in the previous years during Baisakhi Mela.

The police force of Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts have been engaged for security arrangements during the fair, which lakhs of devotees besides thousands of activists of different political parties and social organisations are expected to attend.

“This is for the first time that 3,000 cops are being deployed so that the Baisakhi Mela passes off peacefully. Every intelligence input in connection with the security of VVIPs is being worked out and action is being taken accordingly,” said Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, adding that during the previous Baisakhi Mela, the number of cops deployed there never crossed 1,700.

The Mansa district police force would take care of security arrangements of the rally to be organised by the ruling SAD (Badal) at the local grain market on April 14. The Muktsar district police force would look after the security arrangements of the rallies to be held by other political parties or to keep a tab on activists of different unions. The Bathinda police force had been assigned the task to ensure smooth flow of traffic and organised parking.

“We will sanitise the entire town, Damdama Sahib complex and its surrounding areas. Anti-sabotage teams will be deployed in strength. The town has been divided into six sectors and each sector will be manned by an inspector-level officer. Police help centres will be set up in each sector,” he said, adding NS Dhillon, IG, Bathinda zone, would be the overall in-charge of the security arrangements.

Meanwhile, information gathered by TNS revealed that for the first time, a comprehensive traffic plan had been put in place to avoid traffic jam during the four-day Mela. About six SP-rank officers and 20 DSP-rank officers were expected to be deployed on traffic duties. Mounted policemen in adequate number would also keep the visitors to the town during Mela days under strict surveillance.

Bathinda, April 7
Following the decision of the SGPC against allowing political rallies on Baisakhi (April 14) near Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, the Congress has decided to hold its political conference on a 10-acre private land on the Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road near Dasmesh School at Talwandi Sabo.

President of the District Congress Committee (Rural) Narinder Singh Bhuleria said here today the Congress had applied for allotment of space to hold the conference, which the SGPC had not given so far.

A meeting of the DCC (Rural) was held here today, in which workers and leaders from the district participated. While Congress MLA from Nathana Ajaib Singh Bhatti attended the meeting, the party MLAs Makhan Singh from Pucca Kalan, Gurpreet Singh Kangar from Rampura Phul and Jeet Mohinder Singh from Talwandi Sabo could not attend the meeting as they had gone to Chandigarh to attend a meeting convened by in-charge of Punjab Congress affairs Gulchain Singh Charak.

Bhuleria said the party expected a gathering of about one lakh at the Talwandi Sabo conference, which would be addressed among others by Gulchain Singh Charak, president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Captain Amarinder Singh and leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. 

Mansa, April 7
Mansa, which was once a tehsil of the Bathinda district and was accorded the district status on April 13, 1992, has become the only district among the 20 districts of Punjab where a Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer has been posted as the Deputy Commissioner.

All the former Deputy Commissioners of Mansa were from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The PCS officers were posted as Deputy Commissioners of various districts of Punjab for a short period immediately after the independence and again when Punjab was re-organised in 1966.

Besides, Mansa seems to have become the only district in Punjab where only three PCS officers will manage its affairs. Apart from the newly posted Deputy Commissioner Ravinder Singh, the other two PCS officers, Rajesh Tripathi and Nachhattar Singh Brar, are posted as SDM (Budhlada) and SDM (Mansa), respectively.

While Tripathi has been given the additional charge of Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) and General Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner, Brar has been given additional charge of SDM (Sardulgarh) and District Transport Officer (DTO Mansa).

Mansa has earned a name for itself in the administrative circles of Punjab for witnessing frequent transfers of its Deputy Commissioners. In the past 19 years, ever since it became a district, Ravinder Singh will be its 20th Deputy Commissioner.

Mansa was elevated to district by former Chief Minister of Punjab Beant Singh for initiating an era of development in the most backward part of Punjab, which was once known as Asia's wettest place due to the consumption of liquor by its people in huge quantity.

Immediately after becoming the Congress Chief Minister, when Punjab was in the thick of militancy, Beant Singh decided to initiate a number of development projects in the district, which was devoid of infrastructure, health, education and transportation facilities at that time.

However, the frequent transfer of Deputy Commissioners, mainly due to political reasons, stunted the growth of the district, where drug addiction has also acquired alarming proportions due to lack of employment opportunities.

A cross-section of the residents of the district said they had not been benefitted in any aspect after Mansa was elevated to district status because the successive state government have denied even basic amenities to them. 

Moga, April 7
Social activists in the Malwa belt of Punjab have come forward in support of veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare, who has launched an anti-corruption campaign by sitting on fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanding a stringent anti-corruption law. His fast-unto-death entered its third day, today.

A Moga-based social activist, Ajay Sood, who participated in the socialist movement along with George Fernandes in the 1970s and 1980s, has come out with a poster likely to be circulated in Punjab tomorrow highlighting corruption.

Former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who has recently floated a new political party — People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), has also announced his support to Hazare. Besides, there were reports of social activists coming out in favour of Hazare in Faridkot and Ferozepur districts.

Dr KS Gill, former president of the Moga Municipal Council and noted advocate Narinder Singh Chahal have also supported the cause of Hazare. They said they demand Jan Lokpal Bill, which would help in curbing corruption.

Jaswant Singh Kanwal, a noted Punjabi novelist, inspired from the socialist movements of the country, also supported Hazare hoping that the Union Government would soon wake up to the call for stringent laws to check corruption. 

Ferozepur, April 7
Thousands of youth seeking recruitment in the defence forces today converged on the supply depot grounds in the cantonment here where the recruitment rally being held by the Army recruitment office under the aegis of Golden Arrow Division began today.

Col Balwan Singh, Director (Recruitment), while giving details, said the recruitment drive will continue till April 14. Aspiring youth from four districts including Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozepur will be allowed to participate in it. He said over 1000 youth from the Faridkot district participated in the recruitment drive today, which will be followed by boys from Muktsar, Bathinda and Ferozepur. He said all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the recruitment process have been made. Col Singh cautioned the youth from falling into the trap of unscrupulous agents.

Fazilka, April 7
A total of 10272 bags of wheat worth Rs 78 lakh were found missing from the covered Markfed godown near Fazilka yesterday. Iqbal Singh, contractor, a resident of Malout, has been booked under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC on the basis of an FIR lodged with Sadar police, Fazilka, by Ajaib Singh Sandhu, District Manager, Markfed, Ferozepur.

As per the FIR, the Markfed officials conducted physical verification of wheat lying in the godowns, managed by M/S Prem Kumar and Co. at Fazilka from March 28-30.

During the verification, 10272 bags of wheat (each weighing 50 kg) were found missing in the stocks. 

Moga, April 7
India-born Canadian citizen, Jagdev Singh, facing the charge of allegedly murdering former Moga MLA Nachattar Singh Gill, father of Punjab DGP Paramdip Singh Gill, got moral support from the Canadian government on Thursday.

Two officials of the Canadian High Commission came here in the morning. They visited the court room and silently watched the ongoing proceedings of the trial against their citizen in the sessions court. When the matter was taken up by the judge, the prosecution demanded closing of evidence in the case.

However, the defence counsels, Sunil Chawla and Ramesh Grover, objected to it and demanded time for defence evidence. Agreeing to the plea of the defence counsels, the additional district and sessions judge Sukhwinder Kaur adjourned the trial to April 28 for defence evidence.

While talking to The Tribune, Grover said one of the witnesses, Balkar Singh, a resident of Moga, produced by the prosecution, was a known criminal of the area against whom many cases were registered by the police.

Balkar had stated in the court on May 13, last year, “On February 3, 2009, it was near around 6 pm, I was present in my house. Jagdev Singh, son of Joginder Singh, came to me to whom I knew prior to that day. He asked me to get him produce before the police. He also disclosed that they have murdered Nachhattar Singh, ex-MLA with the conspiracy of Gurjit Singh, Chamkaur Singh, Hardev Singh and Pritam Kaur, Paramjit Kaur alias Bholi and Gurtej Singh…”

Grover alleged that Balkar was influenced by the DGP to give a statement against Jagdev, which was quite evident from the fact that he visited the office of the DGP 17 times, ever since he took over office.

He further said five weeks after Balkar recorded his statement in the court, on June 21, last year, the then SHO of the police station (south) Ram Singh recommended to the SP (D) to delete his name from the list of ‘bad characters’.

The next day, hurriedly, the SP (D) ordered deletion of Balkar’s name from the list of ‘bad characters’ transferring it to the personal file, revealed Grover.

It may be mentioned that the DGP’s father, a popular political figure of the area, was murdered in 1991 and an FIR under Sections 302, 307, 120 B, 34 of the IPC; Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act and Sections 5, 6 of the TADA Act was registered against Jagdev’s family members including mother Pritam Kaur, brother Hardev Singh, sister Paramjit Kaur and three others. Jagdev’s name was included in the list of alleged accused during the course of investigation.

The Supreme Court had already acquitted all his family members from the charges of murder except Jagdev Singh, who did not file a petition in the apex court. After the controversial murder, Jagdev left the country and went to the US and finally settled in Canada where he was given Canadian citizenship. He came back home in 2009 and surrendered before a local court. The Moga police also registered three separate cases of fraud, corruption and theft against Jagdev, which were pending against him in various courts. 

Bathinda, April 7
A retired constable of the Bathinda police has been booked on the charge of cheating the department by getting the job on the basis of a fake certificate of his middle school examinations. What is surprising is that it has taken the department 36 long years to discover the alleged fraud.

The cop, Chamkaur Singh of village Samalsar in Baghapurana sub-division of Moga district, had joined the department on June 5, 1975 as constable. Soon after, one Hakam Singh of his village had lodged a complaint against him for using fake certificate and concealing the fact that he had been convicted for attempt to murder, before getting the job.

Acting upon the complaint, the then Bathinda SSP had marked an inquiry and during the probe, he was found guilty of the crime.

However, rather than registering a case, a regular investigation was launched against him in 1981.

Subsequently, the department dismissed him in 1982, which the accused challenged in court which gave a decree in his favour and directed the police department to reinstate him. An appeal by the state government in Punjab and Haryana High Court also went in favour of the accused.

Meanwhile, the cop in question retired from service. But following the HC directions, in 2010, he was reinstated but a probe was ordered.

During the probe, SP (Headquarter), Amarjit Singh, found the charges to be true. Considering the directions of the HC which reportedly said that if found guilty, a criminal case be lodged against him, the investigation official recommended a case under sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

Subsequently, the Kotwali police booked the accused on Wednesday and sent the report to Economic Offences Wing for further action. — TNS

Fazilka, April 7
Sadar police have recovered fake currency notes of Rs 1000 and 500 denomination worth over Rs 2.57 lakh from a location near Ferozepur. The seizure was made following disclosure by the accused, arrested by the police on Wednesday while trying to use the fake currency at Mandi Ladhuka in Fazilka sub-division.

As per the details, Puran Singh and his son Jagmeet Singh, residents of village Bhakra near Ferozepur, purchased some articles (pesticides) at Mandi Ladhuka. They made payment through notes of Rs 1000 and 500 denomination to the shopkeepers. After examining the notes, the shopkeepers beccame suspicious and informed the police.

Police led by Ladhuka post in-charge Balwinder Singh arrested the accused with currency notes of 1000 and 500 worth Rs 33,000. Out of the amount mentioned, notes worth Rs 7,500 were found to be fake.

Police registered a case under section 489 A, B and C against the father-son duo. The police produced them before the Judicial Magistrate, who remanded them to police custody today.

The accused confessed that they had concealed more fake currency at their residence at village Bhakra near Ferozepur.

SHO Baljit Singh said the currency was concealed in a pit beneath the handpump in their house. It is stated that that the accused has admitted that the fake currency had been smuggled from Pakistan during the foggy weather in winter, this year.

Anirudh Gupta adds from Ferozepur: Giving details about the seizure, SSP Kaustubh Sharma said during the interrogation, the accused revealed that they had concealed more fake Indian currency notes near their house compound at village Bhakhra along the Indo-Pakistan border near Hussainiwala. On the basis of the information, the police carried out a search of the area and recovered another Rs 2.57 lakh dumped in the fields along the international border, out of which Rs 1.6 lakh was in the denomination of Rs 1000 and the rest in Rs 500.

The SSP said the accused used to go across the cobra fencing to work in the agricultural fields where Puran Singh had some land on contract basis. During the interrogation, Puran Singh said he had come across a Pakistani national while working in the fields during the foggy days of January, this year, who lured him into smuggling of fake currency. This was the second consignment received by Puran Singh amounting to Rs 3 lakh, said the SSP. He added that the police was looking into the details about where he supplied fake currency earlier.

Ferozepur, April 7
The police have failed to arrest the accused involved in the attack on wildlife officials in the second week of December, last year. They were patrolling the Hari Ke pond to check illegal fishing.

A section of officials of the Wildlife Department were allegedly attacked by some influential persons when they were caught red-handed while encroaching upon the Hari Ke wetland and illegally fishing in its Kot Kamp Khan area, last year. Sanjeev Tiwari, District Forest Officer (Wildlife), Ferozepur, alleged that though a case was registered at Makhu police station under different Sections of the IPC, no accused was arrested so far.

He said he had also spoken to senior functionaries of the district police in this connection, but to no avail.

Balwinder Singh, DSP, Zira, said the statements of some of persons were yet to be recorded for the completion of the inquiry. — TNS

Moga, April 7
A youth at present living in the UK has been booked by the police on the charges of forgery and violation of the Passport Act for allegedly faking the documents to make his passport in another name.

The woman sarpanch Pritam Kaur, who verified his credentials and attested his name, has also been booked along with him by the police. A case in this connection has been registered at the Dharamkot police station of Moga district.

As per the details, Paramjit Singh, a resident of Naseerewala village, alleged in a complaint to the police that one Sahib Singh, a resident of Chak Kania Kalan village, forged his name to make his passport.

The local DSP conducted a formal inquiry into the allegations. It was found true that Sahib Singh forged his name as Paramjit Singh to make his passport to go to the UK.

It was learnt that he was earlier deported from the UK on the charges of bad character, due to which he was legally banned from returning to the UK in his original name. So, he forged his name as Paramjit Singh with the sole motive to go back to the UK and succeeded in it.

The woman sarpanch was eluding arrest while the police had dispatched a message to the British High Commission about the case registered against Sahib Singh alias Paramjit Singh. 

Sriganganagar, April 7
Subhash Saharan (23) of Purani Abadi here was among the three Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans, who were killed after they were ambushed by suspected terrorists belonging to the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). The ambush took place in the thickly-forested Singhikhola-Laubheta area along the Indo-Bhutan border in the western Assam’s Kokrajhar district.

The body was flown to New Delhi from Guwahati and brought here by road by a contingent of the SSB led by inspector Ramesh Sarawat today. DC Mugdha Sinha was joined by SDM Narender Singh Purohit, SP Rupinder Singh, ASP Sandeep Chauhan and DSP Ashok Meena in laying wreaths. — OC