Karnal, September 4
In a bizarre incident, a young woman and her four-year-old son were brutally murdered in cold blood in their house in Preetam Vihar colony in Budha Khera village, 7 km from here, late last night.

The duo’s throats were slit and both Preeti (25) and her son, Keshav, were found dead in a pool of blood. Preeti was found dead in the kitchen while her son was lying dead in the adjoining room. A boy from the neighbourhood, who saw them, was shocked and the police was informed.

Preeti, who was married to Sandeep four years ago, and was not pulling on well with her husband, had left her husband's house about one and a half years back and was living with her mother, Kamlesh, son and younger sister.

The police has registered a case of murder against Sandeep on the complaint of Kamlesh, who alleged that Sandeep was suspected the character of Preeti and often threatened to teach her a lesson and kill her.

She said that she had gone for milking the buffalo along with her younger daughter, Puja, but when she returned around 9 pm, she found both of them dead. She suspected that Sandeep had committed the crime with the help of some other persons and used some sharp- edged weapon.

The police station in charge, Preetam Saini, reached the spot and started investigations. The hand of the boy had been chopped off.

Both the parents of the girl and her in-laws were claiming the body but the police gave the body to the mother of the deceased after the postmortem.

In another incident, a man was found murdered in a house in Model Town here. The deceased, Anuj, was suspected to have been shot with a country-made pistol. Anuj (25) had come to visit his friend who had rented a house and when the landlord suddenly called his tenant, there was no response.

The landlord entered the room and found a person lying dead and the tenant missing from the house. The landlord, Kiran, said that she had rented the house to two persons working in Reliance Company but she did not know who was the third person who had been murdered. The police has registered a case of murder .

Fatehabad, September 4
HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi today dared INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala to fight election against him in the forthcoming byelection for the Hisar parliamentary seat on a condition that one who loses will retire from active politics.

The HJC leader said if Chautala accepted his challenge, he would immediate jump in fray, otherwise, the High Power Committee of his party would take a decision on the HJC’s candidate.

“My father Bhajan Lal defeated Chautala’s father Devi Lal from Adampur in 1972 and then I defeated his son Ajay Singh from Bhiwani in 2004 and now I wish Chautala himself should contest against me to test his popularity,” Bishnoi said.

Bishnoi castigated the Hooda government and the UPA government and said the Congress was a spent force now.

“The manner in which senior ministers and the Congress MPs have been found on the wrong side of the law in the recent past, this has shattered people’s faith in the Congress,” he said adding that people want to elect only clean people after the Anna Hazare movement.

Bishnoi said his party had no plan to enter into alliance with any other political party for the forthcoming byelection and said he was confident of a huge victory of his party.

He said the issue of regional disparity would play a vital role in the forthcoming byelection, as he alleged, there had been no development in Hisar ever since Bhajan Lal has gone out of power.

He alleged that while Chautala concentrated on Sirsa alone, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s focus was on Rohtak alone.

Kurukshetra, September 4
Five persons, armed with revolvers, shot dead Joginder Singh in broad daylight around 3 pm yesterday when he was watching TV with his wife, Lalita, and one-and-a-half-year old daughter, Neha, in his rented room in Parshuram Colony here.

Two revolvers, one rifle and about a 100 cartridges have been recovered from the room where the incident took place.

It is learnt that the miscreants parked their car at a distance of about 30 yards and reached the house where Joginder, his wife and daughter were watching TV. They entered the room and shot Joginder Singh who succumbed to his injuries on the spot.

The assailants intended to kill Lalita also but she along with her daughter succeeded in running away. After committing the murder, the assailants escaped in their car.

On getting the information, the district police chief, Parul Kush, accompanied by DSP Bhupender Singh, thana in charge Kewal Singh and detective staff in charge Surinder Maanju reached the place of crime and started investigations.

During investigation, the deceased’s wife, Lalita, who had returned by that time, told the police that Joginder, alias Mahender, a resident of Dhamtan Sahib in Jind district, had been lying ill for quite some time, so they had come to Kurukshetra about two months ago to live here.

When search was made in the room where the incident took place, the police recovered a plastic bag containing two revolvers, one rifle and about a 100 cartridges.

Meanwhile, the police has come to know that criminal cases under Sections 302 and 307, IPC, had been registered against Joginder at Thana Tohana and to save himself and his family, he was hiding here in a rented room.The police has registered a case.

Karnal, September 4
Agitated over the demand for clemency to killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the politics being played on the issue, Mihir Banerjee, President of Sarthi, a leading NGO, has demanded that the “killers of Rajiv should be hanged immediately without a second thought”.

Terming the ghastly murder of Rajiv Gandhi as “murder of democracy”, Mihir demanded that capital punishment to the killers should not be delayed as a vacillating stand on the issue would echo the demand for

clemency to culprits like Kasab, Surender Kohli and Afzal Guru.

Mihir, who has been addressing students in 
a number colleges to demand “death”

for the killers of Rajiv Gandhi, said that “we must practice what we teach” and ensure that Satyamev Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs) in the National Emblem of India must prevail.

“When Nathu Ram Godse, killer of Mahatma Gandhi, was hanged without any public outcry, why some people and political parties are batting for the Rajiv killers, little realising that playing politics on this issue would undermine democracy, subvert the rule of law and embolden criminals and anti-social elements,” he cautioned.

He said it was unfortunate that petty personal and political interests of political parties and individuals had provided a platform for debating this “non-issue” and people across the country should shun such people and suggestions.

Sirsa, September 4
Residents gave a sound beating to two cops, who allegedly entered a house in the local JJ Colony in a drunken condition and started misbehaving with a woman.

The house owner, Raj Kumar, who objected to the behaviour of the cops, was roughed up by them and was threatened of dire consequences.

Raj Kumar managed to come out of his house and informed neighbours about the behaviour of the tipsy cops.

One of the cops managed to give the residents the slip, but the second one was given a sound beating.

Later, Suresh Pal, an inspector in the City Police Station, took the two cops, Bhup Singh and Bhal Singh, both head constables to the local General Hospital for their medical examination.

SP Satinder Kumar Gupta said the SHO of the City Police Station would explain the position.

“The cops had received a tip-off that “satta” was going on in the house. They decided to go inside in civil dress, so that they could arrest the accused, if the information was found true. However, the house owner created a scene with the help of some neighbours and beat the cops,” claimed Inspector Surinder Pal.

He said the cops had not been found drunk.

Chandigarh, September 4
The stategovernment has decided to constitute Grameen Jal Swachta Committees in each village for ensuring availability and supply of clean drinking water .

An official spokesman said here that 50 per cent women would represent these committees and it would comprise members belonging to SC families. The assistance of gram panchayats would be sought for the constitution of these committees. The committees would work not only for preventing the wastage of water but also for water recharge and its proper storage.

Under this new system, committees would also be constituted at the block level which would not only chalk out proper planning but also be responsible for implementation and monitoring of the project. These committees would help ensure chlorination of tubewell water and make it available to all areas through pipelines.

He said Rs 5.16 crore would be spent on this project in the current financial year under which 36 schemes had been approved.

The Public Health Engineering Department would give gram panchayts some financial assistance to ensure the prevention of wastage of water and its proper supply. A sum of Rs 7,000 would be given per month for one tubewell, Rs 15,000 for two tubewells, Rs 20,000 for three tubewells, Rs 24,000 for four tubewells.

Sonepat, September 4
Lokayukta Justice (retd) Pritam Pal has suggested that Vigilance Committees should be constituted at the district level on the pattern of Madhya Pradesh to work as a watchdog against corruption in public dealing matters in government offices. This suggestion had been sent to the state government for consideration, he added.

While addressing a meeting of the district officers, representatives of the panchayati raj institutions, mediapersons and the NGOs in an open darbar organised here at Panchayat Bhawan he, he pointed out that the Haryana Lokayukta Act, 2002, was toothless and there was a need to amend it so that the Lokayukta had the power to punish the guilty officials. The Lokayukta should also be empowered to take a suo motu cognizance of offences committed by them, he added.

He explained that the Lokayukta Act did not provide power to the Lokayukta to take direct action against the guilty officials and it could only recommend action to the state government. In order to speed up the working of the Lokayukta’s office, some new appointments were being made by the government, he added.

He said as many as 544 complaints had been received in the Lokayukta’s office during this year and only 133 complaints were pending for disposal.

Chandigarh, September 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today exhorted the teaching community to cooperate with the state government in providing quality education.

Extending greetings on the eve of Teacher’s Day, the Chief Minister said “this day reminds us of the philosophy and high ideals of great philosopher and educationist, Dr S Radhakrishnan.

Describing teachers as nation-builders, Hooda said: “Teachers enjoy a place of pride in our Guru-Shishya tradition. Following this age-old tradition, the teachers should provide quality education to students so as to make them self-reliant.”

The Chief Minister said the government had accorded top priority to education and the state was fast emerging as an education hub. 

Sirsa, September 4
Amidst demonstrations by residents against poor sanitation and choked sewers at various places in Sirsa town, representatives of several social organizations today served an ultimatum on the authorities to improve the situation.

Representatives of over 50 social organisations today met under Jagdish Chopra, president of the Nagrik Parishad, and served an ultimatum to the authorities on five major demands of local residents.

The residents identified potholed roads, choked sewer, poor sanitation, stray animals and encroachment as five major problems. “It is pitiable that while residents have been blocking roads and holding demonstration against these problems, the authorities have been looking the other way,” lamented several speakers.

They said a joint agitation was the only way to make the authorities take remedial steps.