NEIGHBOURHOOD

Two cops booked for murder
Tribune Reporters

He was rushed to the Civil Hospital from where he was shifted to the GMCH, Chandigarh. Later, he succumbed to injuries at the hospital.

Man commits suicide

Zirakpur: Gurbachan Singh, a supervisor with the Punjab Mandi Board, allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance here this morning. He was rushed to the GMCH-32, Chandigarh, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Gurbachan Singh, a resident of Rampur Bhudda, was posted at Chandigarh office. The police got information of the suicide from the hospital. The deceased’s son stated that his father had been under depression since his operation of stone. The body was handed over to the family after conducting the postmortem at Dera Bassi Civil Hospital, the investigating officer said.

One arrested with poppy husk

Patiala: The Badshahpur Police has arrested one person and recovered 20-kg poppy husk from him. The accused was identified as Darshan Singh, a resident of Dirhba, who was trying to smuggle the contraband.

“We would interrogate him further to ascertain, as to whom he was trying to supply the same,” said a police official. A case was registered under the NDPS Act against Darshan Singh.

Chandigarh, July 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has virtually passed strictures against itself. In one of its kind judgment, Justice Augustine George Masih has ruled a “helpless” employee, ready and willing to function, was deprived of his right to work by "none other than the High Court".

The significant observations on the functioning of the High Court on the administrative side came on a petition by employee Satya Vir Singh.

Working as a Reader, he challenged a committee decision, dated April 28, 2010, whereby his claim for promotion as court secretary and special secretary was declined.

Justice Masih asserted: "The facts of the case in hand depict a picture of an employee, who has been made to suffer because of no fault of his nor there being any reason why he should have not been appointed at the first place.”

The facts reveal a story where a helpless employee had been knocking at the doors of “temple of justice” for claiming his right on the administrative side, Justice Masih observed. Justice Masih concluded the court had not restrained further appointment on the petition by Baljinder Singh Teja. “Mere pendency of the petition was the basis for deprival of the appointment to the petitioner, which resulted in hardship and prejudice due to no fault of his and he has been penalised merely because of the pendency of the case in the court and the petitioner had suffered due to delay of the court in deciding the case.”

Allowing the petition, Justice Masih set aside the committee decision and directed the Registrar-General to “place the matter before the competent authority for reconsideration of the representations of the petitioner….”

Chandigarh, July 28
In a significant development, the Chandigarh administration yesterday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that all additional district and sessions judges in the UT will now be special judges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. They will now be empowered to hear all cases registered under the Act.

The development is significant as currently only one Additional District and Sessions Judge is authorised to hear the cases under the NDPS Act.

Cases under the Act will now be distributed to all additional district and sessions judges here for expeditious disposal of such cases.

The information was furnished to the Punjab and Haryana High Court by UT senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal. In a communication to the High Court, he said the administration had issued necessary notifications in this regard.

The Tribune had earlier reported that there was one court and 174 pending cases under the Act. Moreover, the additional district and sessions judge’s court in the district courts complex - designated to hear the drug cases - had another 1,365 cases to deal with.

Placing the data before the High Court, the UT District and Sessions Judge had earlier sought the superior judiciary’s intervention to deal with the burden of pending cases.

In a letter addressed to the court on April 5, the District and Sessions Judge wrote that apart from him, there were four additional district and sessions judges in his sessions division.

Taking cognizance of the contents of the letter, the High Court has already issued notice to the Chandigarh administration and other respondents in the “court on its own motion” case.

Only recently, the High Court had sought details of pending cases in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana to ascertain whether evening courts were required or not.

Chandigarh, July 28
Two persons died in separate road mishaps in the city in the past 24 hours. In the first incident, a 30-year-old Naya Gaon resident was killed after his motorcycle collided head-on with another bike in Sector 25 last night. The victim, Sanjeev Kumar, died on the spot, while the other rider, Ajay Kumar, was admitted to the hospital in an injured state.

The police said both motorcycles were travelling at high speed and collided head-on. Sanjeev Kumar was heading towards Naya Gaon, while Ajay Kumar, a Sector-25 resident, was coming from the opposite direction when their bikes collided near the petrol station in Sector 25.

Sanjeev was taken to the PGI, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The police has booked Ajay Kumar in a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving under Section 304 A of the IPC.Sanjeev was employed as a salesman with a private company and had recently quit his job, the police added. In the second incident, a 65-year-old street vendor was killed when a speeding Swift car ran over him near the ISBT, Sector 43.Madan Lal, a Kajheri resident, was on foot when the mishap took place.He was taken to the hospital where he died later. The police has arrested the driver of Swift car (PB 07 W 5965), Parminder Singh, a resident of Hoshiarpur.

Chandigarh, July 28
A lawyer and his wife were allegedly assaulted by at least eight persons following an incident of road rage in Sector 26 last night.

Raj Nath Arora, a resident of Advocate Society, Sector 49 A, alleged that a Swift car (CH 01 AF 7667) hit their car in Sector 26 and sped away. The lawyer chased the car and intercepted it at the Hallo Majra traffic lights.

He asked the driver of the car to step out, following which a scuffle broke out. The lawyer alleged that the driver of the car summoned his associates, who assaulted him and his wife.

The assailants fled the scene with Rs 46,000 in cash and a gold chain belonging to the victim.

Acting on the complaint, the police has registered a case under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 354, 279 and 379, IPC, at the police station-26.

Police Station-26 SHO Sri Parkash said they had got the medical examination of the lawyer conducted. A hunt was on to trace the assailants on the basis of the car number.

Chandigarh, July 28
Sub-inspector Sohan Singh, posted at the police station-3, has been suspended for dereliction of duty. He has been accused of granting bail to an accused in a non-bailable offence.

After a report submitted to the SSP pointed out legal lapses on part of the official, senior police officers today suspended him and marked a departmental inquiry to look into the legal lapses.

SI Sohan Singh had granted bail to a class-XII student who had injured a head constable near Verka booth in Sector 8 on July 20.

The accused, who was driving a Tata Aria car (PB 65 N 0145), was signalled to pull over at a police check point near a Verka booth in Sector 8, but he accelerated the car, hitting head constable Prince and leaving him injured.

A case under Sections 279 and 353, IPC, was registered at the police station-3 against the driver, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, Naya Gaon. The sub-inspector, however, bailed the accused out despite the fact that bail could not be granted to those accused of assaulting a public servant under Section 353 of the IPC.

Chandigarh, July 28
The UT police today submitted an application in court, seeking production warrants of DSP Raka Ghirra, who is currently in judicial custody. The hearing of the application has been deferred to Saturday.

The police will seek police custody of the disgraced DSP to interrogate her in connection with the two cases registered against her at the police station-11.

The police had registered the cases following the recovery of a huge amount of liquor and cartridges after a CBI team conducted a raid on her Sector-15 residence. She was booked under the Arms Act and the Excise Act.

The CBI had arrested DSP Ghirra red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh.

Panchkula, July 28
A newborn was found dead in the toilet of General Hospital, Sector 6, here today. The infant’s mother, however, could not be traced.

A sweeper was cleaning the toilet in the morning when he spotted the newborn’s body dumped in the commode. He informed the authorities, which ordered the scrutiny of patients visiting the hospital with pregnancy. However, no such patient was found on record.

The case has been handed over to the police for further verification.

Chandigarh, July 28
Three years after a woman was allegedly raped, the UT police today finally registered a case following an inquiry recommendation.

The woman had alleged that she was raped by a Kurukshetra resident in an unconscious state after the accused served her tea laced with and intoxicant.

The woman was repeatedly raped by the accused, Mohan Lal, who used to threaten and blackmail her. She later gave birth to a girl.

In her complaint, the woman alleged that the accused started blackmailing her after raping her in an unconscious state. He used to threaten her with revealing their relations to her husband. The victim’s husband later learned about the matter and lodged a complained with the police.

Chandigarh, July 28
St John's High School and Strawberry Fields School won the St. John’s Football Championship, in their respective categories, at St. John High School, here, today.

In the final match for the boys (U-16) category, St John's High School defeated Saupin's School, Sector 32, by 2-0. Even after giving his best, in-form goalkeeper Deepankar Raleh failed to stop the opponent to strike twice.

Amaan drew the first blood in the 13th minute of the game. Sarfaraz converted the awarded spot kick into a goal during the 20th minute to seal the team’s victory.

In the final match for the boys (U-12) category, Strawberry Fields defeated the hosts in the sudden death.

In an interesting tie-breaker after attempting nine penalties, Strawberry Fields overcame the opponents by 3-4.

During the tournament in the boys (U-12) category, Yasho Vardhan (Strawberry Fields), Chaitanya (Saupin's), Ajay (St John's) were declared the best players while Sarfaraz, Barinder Thappa, Amaan (St John's), Anmol (DPS-40) and Karanvir (Saupin's) were adjudged the best players in the boys (U-16) category.

Chandigarh, July 28
Pooja will face Mehak Rana in the final match of the girls (25kg) category, during the ongoing Judo Tournament for Sub-Junior Boys and Girls (U-14).

Pooja defeated Neha and Nandita while Mehak overcame Sonia and Jaspreet, during the qualifying rounds being held at Sports Complex, Sector 42, here, today.

In the boys (25kg) category, Akhilesh defeated Pushpinder, Prince and Sunil Kanwar whereas Nishant pipped Abhishek, Sunil Kumar and Piyush, to storm into the finals of the category.

Results

Boys Pool-A (30kg): Brijesh Kumar defeated Satish, Harpeet and Bhanu Pratap.

Pool-B (30kg): Ajay Rawat defeated Mandeep Kumar, Jaspreet , Abdul and Akash.

Pool-A (35kg): Neel Kamal defeated Ravinder and Keshav Kunal.

Pool-B ((35kg): Manit Garg defeated Rohit, Manish and Vikram.

Girls Pool-A (23kg): Pooja defeated Neha and Nandita

Pool-B (23kg): Mehak Rana defeated Sonia and Jaspreet

Pool-A (27kg): Ritika defeated Harshdeep and Parneet Kaur

Pool-B (27kg): Pooja defeated Rajni

Pool-A (32kg): Shallu defeated Anita and Chander Mani

Pool-B (32kg): Komal defeated Nandani

Pool-A (36kg): Savita defeated Muskan and Mansi

Pool- B (36kg) : Aaarti defeated Sweety 

Chandigarh, July 28
Himani Sood of Ultimate Tae kwon do Club finished as a winner to qualify for the 31st National for Junior Boys and Girls Tae kwon do Championship to be held in Ranchi (Jharkhand), during the Chandigarh State Taekwondo (U-17), held here.

Himani won the gold medal in the 42 kg category of the competition. During the competition Arshita (18kg) won gold medal, Sughndha (16kg), Nandini Tola (22kg) and Somya (32kg) won silver medal. Arubita (29kg) and Lavisha Tola (41kg) won bronze medals, in the sub-junior girls category, during the competition. In the sub-junior boys category, Aksh Prasher (21kg),Gurkirt Singh (28kg), Kartik Tola (30kg),Vikas Chopra (56kg) won bronze medals while Shksham Sharma (41kg), Atharv Vashisht (50kg),Vishnu Singh (60kg) and Abhinandan (72kg) won silver medals, in the competition.

Chandigarh, July 28
The Chandigarh Football Association will organise a football league for the senior category from August 2 at the Football Stadium Sector 17, here, today.

Principal AG (Audit), Haryana, Base Repair Depot, Chandigarh, Panjab University Campus, and Government College, Sector 11, will participate in the competition.

The matches will be played on a league basis, the team with maximum points will be declared the winners of the tournament.