The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Rs 25 lakh stolen from car
Our Correspondents

Nawanshahr, May 30
Rs 25 lakh were stolen from a car by two teenagers in a dramatic way in a busy locality of the town in broad daylight today.

Kashmir Singh of Dudhalan village in his statement to the police said he along with Harwail Singh of Sesowal Kalan village in Machhiwara got a payment of Rs 30 lakh from a branch of HDFC Bank at Banga Road for a cheque received in connection with a land sale agreement. They kept the cash in the car and came to Indian Bank at Railway Road and deposited Rs 4 lakh there. Besides, a payment of Rs 1 lakh was made to someone.

After depositing the money in the bank, when they took a turn towards Pandora Mohalla near the bank, two teenaged boys, wearing black clothes, knocked at the window of their car and told them that oil was leaking from their car. As the road was busy, the teenagers followed their car and again informed them about the leakage of the oil near Gurdwara Sangat Pura situated in the locality. When they came out of the car and opened the bonnet to check the problem of oil leakage, the two teenagers took the bags containing the cash lying in the car and fled away.

The police was informed and the SSP, Narinder Bhargav, ordered for sealing the area and reached at the site immediately. Bhargav interacted with the shopkeepers there to take stock of the circumstantial evidence and routes of the area. As per the statements of the victims, the SSP also visited the HDFC Bank and Indian Bank branches to check the bank transactions.

Bhargav said the police had registered a case under Sections 420 and 380 of the IPC and started investigation into the case.

Grocery shop burgled

Phagwara: A grocery shop was burgled in Satnampura here on Saturday night.

Rajesh Kumar, owner of the shop, said the burglars took away more than Rs 70,000 from the shop and the theft was noticed when he came to open the shop on Sunday morning.

The police has registered a case.

3 fake travel agents booked

Batala: Three fake travel agents were booked by the police for cheating a person on the pretext of sending his son abroad.

While talking to mediapersons here on Monday, Gurdeep Singh, SSP, said Baldev Singh had complained that Angrej Singh, Bunty and Gian induced Baldev Singh to pay them Rs 7 lakh for sending his son to Dubai.

After paying Rs 7 lakh, Baldev Singh met the accused a number of times for sending his son abroad, but to no avail. Ultimately, Baldev Singh approached the police, and an inquiry was conducted on the complaint and finding a prima facie case, the police booked the trio under Section 420 of the IPC at Ghanie ke Bangar police station.

8 booked for assault

Nakodar: The police on Monday booked eight persons involved in the beating up of two persons, Tajinder Singh and his brother-in-law Tarjinder Singh of Syanial village here.

The accused have been identified as Sham, Satnam Singh, Surinder Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Shingara Singh, Darshan Singh, Joginder Singh and Balkar Singh. A case under Sections 323 and 324 of the IPC was registered against them.

The police said the accused had rendered severe injuries to the victims, who were later admitted to a hospital. An old enmity was said to be the main cause of assault.

Jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh stolen

Hoshiarpur: Some miscreants stole gold jewellery from the house of Tarandeep Kaur, wife of Bhupinder Singh, at Model Town here while she was away on Saturday.

According to police sources, Tarandeep Kaur stated in her complaint that she had gone to her relative’s house on that day.

When she came back and checked her almirah she found gold jewellery, including kara, three bangles, three sets, bracelet, four chains and three rings, worth Rs 7 lakh, missing. She suspected that her domestic help Shiv from Nepal had stolen the jewellery.

Man found murdered in house

Phagwara: Mohan Singh (55), resident of Sunnrra Khurad village, was found murdered with sharp-edged weapons in the house of his late NRI cousin Tersem Kaur at nearby Ramgarh village on Monday morning.

The DSP, Sandip Sharma, said the police had registered a case under Section 460 of the IPC and forensic experts, dog squads and fingerprint experts had been summoned. He said the deceased was residing in the house of his late cousin Tersem Kaur, who had died of heart attack three months back in the village, while her husband Tersem Singh and other relatives were residing in the UK.

Darshan Singh of Sunnrra Khurad village, a cousin of the deceased, lodged a complaint with the police that a sweeper, who worked in the house, noticed that grills of a room of the house had been broken and the body of Mohan Singh was lying in a pool of blood on Monday morning.

The body had been sent to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

Land dispute claims life

Hoshiarpur: A land dispute between Joginder Singh and Charan Singh led to the killing of the former at Bhulpur village on Saturday evening.

According to police sources, officials of the Revenue Department after demarcation of land installed sign poles of the division of land of both the persons. In the evening, Joginder Singh removed the demarcation sign poles, due to which Charan Singh and another person Gurcharan Singh had a scuffle with him, as a result of which Joginder Singh fell on the ground and Charan Singh and Gurcharan Singh slipped away from the scene.

On receiving information, Manjit Singh, son of Joginder Singh, reached the spot and took his father to a government hospital, where Joginder Singh succumbed to his injuries.

The Tanda police has registered a case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC against Gurcharan Singh and Charan Singh of Bhulpur. No arrest has been made so far.

Gurdeep Giri plays Good Samaritan
Providing free education to kids of ‘poor’ bootleggers
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Pathankot, May 30
Hundreds of bootleggers and others engaged in the manufacture of illicit liquor in nearly a dozen villages adjoining Pathankot have reasons to smile as a philanthropist, Gurdeep Giri, has made arrangements to provide quality education to the children of these “underprivileged” families.

Giri, who runs Swami Jagat Giri Ashram, has opened eight elementary schools in Punjab and the adjoining states of Jammu and Kashmir, but he is paying more attention to the school his ashram runs at Majra village near the Air Force base.

Majra and its bordering villages of Channi Beli, Deeda and Bhadroa are notorious for the fact that hundreds of families, belonging to the lower strata of society, are engaged in manufacturing hooch. These families have been in this business for years and it is their very livelihood.

“These persons are so engrossed in manufacturing illicit liquor that they pay scant attention to the education of their children, some of whom are really bright. I do not take money to impart education to at least 200 kids in the school.”

Recently Himachal Minister Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal visited the ashram.

Buoyed up by the successful running of the school, Gurdeep Giri now plans to open a professional college in remote Dhar Kalan block of the district where poor students will be identified and provided with quality education.

A bootlegger, preferring anonymity, disclosed, “This is our main business and our favourite game is to play cat and mouse with the local police and Excise Department officials. We neither have the time, nor the resources to send our children to schools for their education. We are indebted to Gurdeep Giri who has taken it upon himself to guide our kids. Two of my children study in the village school and topped their classes in the last examination.”

Giri said, “I want to ensure that these kids come out of the vice like bootlegging. Quality education can make them good human beings. Once they are out of school, the ashram stays in touch with these children. This effort will ensure that these kids do not stray down the wrong path once they leave the school.”

Entire staff of two vet hospitals found absent
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, May 30
The whole staff of Government Veterinary Hospital, Fatehbad, 20 km from here, and Mohanpur, 25 km from here, was found to be absent in a surprise checking conducted by the district authorities here today.

The authorities said Kulbir Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), led the checking team.

The ADC when checked the Fatehbad vet hospital, it was found that besides Vet Medical Officer, pharmacist, sweeper and other staff was also absent.

The same was the position at Mohanpur, where the whole staff was also found absent. Varinder Singh, multipurpose health worker (MHW), Sandeep Kaur, staff nurse, and Sukhwant Singh, Class IV employee, of the Primary Health Centre, Fatehbad, were also found absent from their duties.

Nirankar Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur and Gurdeep Kaur, all MHWs, were also found absent from their duties at the Subsidiary Health Centre (SHC), Khan Chhapri , 25 km from here.

Dr Karanbir Singh, Rural Vet Officer of Vet Hospital, Thathian Mahantan, and Karanbir Singh, MHW of the SHC, Mohanpur, were too found to be absent in the surprise checking.

Labourer electrocuted in factory
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, May 30
A labourer, Lal Muni Shah, was electrocuted while working on a machine in a factory here on Sunday. He was rushed to the ESI Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Mill Mazdoor Union leader Jagdish Parshad has demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased from the factory owners.

Meanwhile, in three road mishaps around the town seven persons sustained injuries. All injured have been admitted to the Civil Hospital.

Murder accused, 2 others held
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 30
The city police arrested a notorious criminal, Shama Don, along with his two accomplices after an operation at Mullechak village here today. He was nabbed after a tip-off. Shama Don was involved in the killing of a woman, Paramjit Kaur of the Ranjit Avenue area, during a marriage function at Faqir Colony recently.

S.P Joshi, ADCP, confirming the incident said a Gate Hakima police party, led by SHO Jagbir Singh, had laid a naka near the village after a specific information. Seeing the police party, the criminals tried to flee away leaving their Zen car behind. While Shama Don was caught after a chase, his remaining two accomplices hid themselves in a corn field. More police parties were called and a search operation was launched. They were later identified as Rohit and Laddi of Faqir Colony.

The police recovered a country-made pistol, besides 20 gm smack from the criminals. The Zen car in which they were travelling was also found to be a stolen one, said the ADCP.