Sirsa, June 23
In a bizarre twist to the incident of the disappearance of seven-month-old Pooja and the recovery of her charred body at Lehranwali near Rania town on Monday, it has turned out that infant’s grandmother had choked her to death by stuffing an onion in her mouth and later burnt her body in a tandoor.

The police today produced the woman, Surja Devi, in a local court, where she was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The accused has told the police that she killed her infant granddaughter after an altercation with the girl’s maternal grandfather, Jogender, who had threatened to take away Pooja and her mother with him.

The toddler went missing on June 20 and later her charred body was found lying near her home the same evening.

The victim’s father, Gurdip, a resident of Thed basti in the village, had filed a complaint with the police after the infant disappeared mysteriously from her parent’s bed while they were asleep.

“The police had been zeroing in on the family members from the very beginning, as the disappearance of the toddler as well as the recovery of her charred body in and around the house suggested the involvement of someone from the house,” said a police spokesperson.

While quizzing family members, the police found the behaviour of Surjo Devi suspicious, as she changed her statements quite often.

The accused broke down when interrogated by the police and confessed to her crime. She disclosed that she killed Pooja by stuffing an onion in her mouth and later burnt her body in the tandoor.

Surjo said she killed Pooja out of her anger against the infant’s maternal grandfather, Jogender, who had visited their home a few days before the incident and had a quarrel with her over the matrimonial discord of her daughter.

Surja’s married daughter, Manjeet Kaur, was staying with her parents for the past few months and Joginder wanted her to return to her in-laws’ place as he was a kin of Manjeet’s in-laws.

Joginder, she said, had gone to the extent of threatening to take away Pooja and her mother to his home, in case she did not send her daughter to her husband’s home.

The incident has reminded people of the infamous “tandoor” case of New Delhi, where Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma had allegedly killed his wife Naina Sahni and had burnt her body in a tandoor in his restaurant. 

Karnal, June 23
The restrictions on the cultivation of "sathi paddy", which consumes excessive water, has changed the fortunes of farmers in the state, who are now switching over to the cultivation of "sathi moong" in a big way for higher returns.

The National Food Security Mission of the Government of India, under which several programmes were launched for the diversification of crops (from wheat and rice to pulses) proved a boon for the farmers as more than 8,000 acres were covered under moong in Karnal district alone.

The Union Government has set a target of bringing 10 lakh acres under moong during 2010-12 and gave a subsidy of Rs 5,400 per acre on farm inputs.

Karnal farmers not only achieved the target of 4,000 acres but exceeded it by 100 per cent.

As a consequence, the state Agriculture Department gave a subsidy of Rs 3,200 per acre to encourage moong cultivation, which helped the farmers earn an income of Rs 20,000 per acre.

National Agriculture Adviser Ravinder Saini, who visited the moong fields, lauded Haryana for successfully and enthusiastically implementing the centrally-sponsored programmes and informed that the government was providing a subsidy of Rs 3,200 per acre on inputs like moong seed, fertilisers, insecticides, medicines, gypsum and zinc.

The cost of harvesting was very low and that too was met by the government while the returns of about Rs 20,000 per acre went to the kitty of the farmers, he added. Like "sathi paddy", "sathi moong" also has a maturing period of two months and this year, farmers opted for moong in place of paddy, Devinder Singh Malik, Deputy Director (Agriculture), said.

Chandigarh, June 23
Censuring HUDA for acting in a totally unfair and unjust manner to defeat the claim of oustees, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Chief Administrator to probe the matter.

Allowing a petition filed by an oustee, Raghbir Singh, Justice Ranjit Singh has also directed the Chief Administrator to take appropriate action “against anyone responsible, including the Estate Officer, who has tried to act in this manner to defeat the claim of the petitioner”.

HUDA has also been asked to allot a 500 square yards plot to the petitioner within two weeks, either in Rohtak’s Sector 2, or any other adjoining sector in case a plot is not available there.

Raghbir Singh had earlier claimed he was entitled to a plot under the oustees policy formulated by HUDA, which acquired 32 kanals of his land at Bohar village in Rohtak district.

As he was not allotted any plot, Raghbir Singh filed his claim before the oustees lok adalat; and was held entitled to a 500 square yards plot as per the policy.

The respondents still did not allot the plot, compelling the petitioner to approach the high court. In its reply, HUDA and other respondents claimed they had filed an appeal against the order before the apex appellate body consisting of the HUDA Administrator and others. Moreover, the petitioner had never applied for the allotment of a plot under the oustees’ category at the time of floating of the sector, they claimed.

The petitioner asserted the appeal was filed only after notice of motion was issued by the court.

Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “Obviously, the respondents have taken action to file appeal once notice was issued by this court…. I find the action of HUDA to be totally unfair, inequitable and unjust. Firstly, the conduct of HUDA in filing the appeal after three years, that too once the court is seized of the matter is required to the deprecated.

“It is nothing short of mala fide on their part to act in this manner to defeat the claim of oustees. It is HUDA, which has made an attempt to mislead the court not only to deny relief to the petitioner but also to misuse the process of court,” Justice Ranjit Singh concluded. 

Karnal, June 23
With the Karnal police tightening its noose around Gagsina villagers, allegedly involved in a suspected honour killing of a girl, the villagers today gathered at Gharaunda Anaj Mandi and held a panchayat to plead their innocence.

The villagers, supported by local INLD MLA Narender Sangwan, met DSP Surinder Pal and asserted that they had done nothing wrong and the police had been “misinformed”.

They claimed that the girl died due to diarrhoea and was cremated in the usual manner since there was nothing suspicious about her death. The family members of the girl and villagers were in the dock after the police took suo motu cognisance of the incident and registered cases under Sections 302 and 201 against 24 persons for murder and destroying evidence.

Karnal SP Rakesh Aryasaid it might be a case of honour killing. He said the police had picked up the paternal uncle of the deceased for interrogation.The suspicion about honour killing was raised after the police came to know that the girl, Neha, a minor, had eloped with her lover, Sandeep, a few days ago and the police had arrested them from Bareilly. While the girl was sent home, the boy was arrested and sent to a jail in Karnal.

The persons against whom cases have been registered include the girl’s father, Vijender, Yashvir, Narender, Maha Singh, Vinod, Sukhbir, Jai Singh, Sukhbir, Pradeep and Praveen.

Yamunanagar, June 23
Roshan Lal Arya, former MLA and president of the Haryana Vanchit Varg Sangharsh Samiti, today criticised the Haryana Government for allegedly failing to “honour and safeguard” the human rights of Dalits and non-Jats in the state.

He has demanded a judicial probe into the death of a woman in police lathi charge on Dalits outside the Hisar district administrative complex on June 13, besides a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the family of Santosh and a government job to one member of her family.

Arya accused Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of working as a Jat mahapanchayat activist.

He said Dalits of Mirchpur and people of the Backward Classes were lathicharged by the Haryana police at the Hisar district administrative complex on June 13, in which 22 Dalits of Mirchpur were injured and a woman, Santosh, belonging to a Backward Class was seriously injured and went into a coma.

He alleged that she was not provided proper medical treatment and at the last moment she was shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, where she was declared dead on June 20 and was sent back to her native Bahamani Wala in Kaithal district. She was cremated after sunset without the presence of her husband and son, he alleged.

Arya alleged that the human rights of non-Jats were being violated in Haryana. The administration had adopted different yardsticks for Jats and non-Jats in the state.

Sirsa, June 23
Close on the heels of two minor girls being saved from wedlock yesterday, the authorities here prevented the marriage of two more minor girls at Madhosinghana village today.

Both girls, Suman Bano and Manju Bano, are siblings and the marriage party of their respective bridegrooms, Parvez Khan and Naseeb Khan, both siblings from Rajasthan, was on the way to the village when Child Marriage Prohibition Officer Sadhna Mittal intervened and stopped the marriages.

The girls’ father, Munshi Khan, had planned the marriage of his three daughters together.

The authorities, however, allowed the marriage of Zubeda Bano, the eldest of the three sisters, as she was found to be born in 1992 during an inspection of their age certificates.

Sadhna Mittal said she had received a tip-off that Munshi Khan was marrying off hais three minor daughters today and their barats were expected in the afternoon.

After seeking police help, the officer reached Madhosinghana village and demanded the proof of age of the three girls.

While Zubeda was found above 18 years of age, Suman Bano and Manju Bano, born in 1994 and 1996, respectively, were minors and Mittal directed their father to stop their marriages.

The girls’ family members offered a lot of resistance and said the Child Marriage Prohibition Act was not applicable to them as the Muslim Personal Law governed their marriages.

However, after intervention of the village elders, Munshi Khan agreed to postpone the marriage of his two minor daughters till they attained marriageable age.

Chandigarh, June 23
Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who had been sulking since the day his portfolios were changed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, seems to have reconciled to the new situation.

He told The Tribune on the phone that he never said that he would not join his new portfolio. Yadav, however, will still take a few days more to come to Chandigarh. He said he was in his constituency to look after the interests of his people. But he claimed that he was clearing the files of his new portfolio of power. He said it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to allocate any portfolio to any minister.

He had met senior Congress leaders in Delhi, who told him to continue with his work unmindful of the Cabinet reshuffle.

Meanwhile, several organisations like the Punjabi Sabha, the Gujjar Samaj and the Saini Samaj of Rewari have come out in support of Yadav and have demanded that the Irrigation Department must be reallocated to him because the water-starved area of Rewari was getting a good share of irrigation water under him . 

Gohana, June 23
Elderly villagers from Katewal village of the Gohana segment of the district yesterday blocked the Sonepat-Gohana state highway to protest against the non-payment of pension for the past four months. They held a demonstration at Chowk Lath Jaili for over three hours, disrupting traffic.

Senior revenue officials rushed to the spot to pacify the agitators, who raised slogans against the authorities concerned for their plight.

Tehsildar Balwan Singh said appropriate action would be taken to ensure that elderly pensioners did not face problems. 

Sonepat, June 23
The Sonepat police has arrested Anil and Krishan of Kami village in connection with the murder of Sandeep, alias Monu, of the same village on June 21 night. The police said the two had confessed to have committed the murder owing to old enmity.

According to the police, Sandeep was asked by Krishan to come out of his house on June 21 night. Sandeep was taken on a motorcycle by Krishan behind Sukhdev Dhaba on GT Road where Anil was already there. Both inflicted fatal injuries on Sandeep’s head, face and neck before making good their escape.

In another case, the police has arrested Jagat Singh of Hullaheri village, near Sonepat, in connection with the murder of Sandeep of Gohana. The accused have confessed to have strangulated Sandeep before throwing his body into a canal on January 19 last year.

Sandeep’s body was recovered from the Delhi branch of the West Yamuna Canal near Badli on January 29 last year.