Bathinda, October 24
Police today claimed to have cracked the abduction case of a two-and-half-year-old child, Kartik, who was found lying beneath a peepal tree at a secluded place in the Model Town Phase-II area today in the morning at around 6.15 am.

Paramjit Singh, a resident of Model Town, Phase-II, who was out for his morning walk, detected the child, who was wrapped — except for his legs — in a piece of cloth.

Bathinda SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill addresses a media conference on Monday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

"I was taking a walk along with my wife. Another couple walking ahead of us noticed the baby and informed us. We called up others also and removed the cloth and found that it was the kidnapped child whose photographs had been published in the newspapers," Paramjit said.

He added that the child was breathing but was unconscious. People around immediately informed a neighbour of the child's family with the help of another morning walker. The family members reached the place within a few minutes and Kartik was taken home.

He said it was likely that the child had been dropped there in the wee hours and was asleep.

An ambulance of the NGO, Naujawan Welfare Society, was called and Kartik was taken to the Civil Hospital for medical examination.

The family members said that a black necklace (which did not belong to the family) was found hanging around Kartik's neck and the peepal tree was soaked with some liquid.

The Tribune team too reached the house of the child's family when they were shifting Kartik to the Civil Hospital at around 6.30 am. "We heaved a sigh of relief as Kartik returned safe and sound," said Manu, one of the neighbours standing outside the house.

No cop was present around the house and residents of the area tried to contact the Bathinda SSP whose cell phone was switched off.

The matter was then brought to the notice of Sadar SHO Gurjeet Singh Romana and SP (D) Sukhdev Chahal was the first to reach the Civil Hospital after half an hour.

Later, Senior Superintendent of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill too reached Kartik's house and expressed his solidarity with the family members.

Bathinda, October 24
Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill claimed that the police had traced the kidnappers last evening itself and the police officials were closely monitoring them. "We did not arrest the accused to ensure the safe return of the child," said the SSP, while addressing a press conference at his office.

He said that two of the three arrested are young boys in the age-group of 18 to 22 years. They are residents of Dhobiana Basti, which is hardly a kilometre away from the house of the kidnapped child, Kartik. The accused have been identified as Sandeep Sharma, Happy and Raj Kumar. Raj Kumar is said to be absconding and will be arrested soon, the SSP claimed.

A day after the child's kidnapping, on Sunday, the kidnappers tried to drop a slip bearing their cell phone number to demand ransom. "But they could not do so due to the presence of a large number of people and policemen present there," the SSP said.

The SSP said that Happy is the main accused who also runs a barber's shop in Dhobiana Basti and was involved in a brawl last year. A case was registered against him at the Kotwali police station at that time.

He said the trio had picked up Kartik and kept him in an isolated house in Dhobiana Basti. "When we intensified pressure by continuous patrolling in the city, the accused panicked and left Kartik under a peepal tree today in the morning and fled," he said.

A case in this connection has been registered against the three accused, who seem to be drug addicts. Efforts are also on to nab the third accused.

He added that some others suspected to have been involved in the case would be released after completing the formalities.

Bathinda, October 24
Utensils of copper and brass flew off the shelves of different shops in the city on Dhanteras today. While it is customary to buy utensils of copper and brass, people also ended up buying items made of steel, silver-plated and non-stick cookware.

"It was a very busy day for us today. In fact, there was an unprecedented rush in the evening hours when people from the working class visited us," said Paramjit Singh, the owner of a shop in Sirki Bazar.

Branded cooking ware remained much sought after with people buying complete dinner sets and assorted utensils. Steel too maintained its sheen. "It is not an easy task to maintain utensils of copper and brass. People buy utensils of these metals only for the sake of custom. For daily use, only steel is being relied upon," added Ashok Kumar, another utensil seller.

Meanwhile, last minute shoppers and encroachment in the market

clogged the streets today. At the AC market, most of the shopkeepers had put up extension stalls in the parking lot, leaving people with no option but to park their vehicles outside the nearby government schools.

Turning a blind eye, neither the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities nor the police bothered to ease traffic bottlenecks that gave a tough time to the shoppers. Adding to the chaos, shopkeepers in the Dhobi Bazar, Sirki Bazar, Bank Bazar, Post Office Bazaar and Hospital Bazar also put up extension counters minting money on the festive season.

Bathinda October 24
Dhanteras witnessed people preferring to buy cars in good numbers. According to the car dealers, it is the day when they deliver the maximum number of cars in a year. However, some credit can also go to the discount offers of the car brands and loans at low interests provided by the banks, which attract customers.

The General Manager of Tata Motors, Rajeev Goyal said this year, they have special offers for the occasion. "Especially on Dhanteras, people buy new cars as they feel that with the new vehicle, prosperity would enter their homes," said Goyal, adding that over 15 cars have been sold today, including the SUVs and cars.

Mukesh Moudgil, the manager at Bhagat Ford, said the buyers had already made their payments 15 days back. However, special requests had been made to deliver the car on Dhanteras. "Undoubtedly, the day is important both for the residents and the business community. On other days, only 3 to 4 vehicles are booked. However, we have already handed over 12 cars on Dhanteras. Today, the maximum number of cars has been delivered. We are now facing a shortage of cars. Otherwise, the number would have been over 20," said Moudgil.

The maximum rush is for the oldest serving brand, Maruti. A sales executive at the Tara Motors, Simran, said, "We have been dealing with the customers since 10 am in the morning. Due to Dhanteras, everybody wants their order today only. Even tomorrow, we have plenty of bookings. Till now, more than 32 vehicles have been delivered. We have no idea as to how many cars would be handed over tomorrow.”

Tomorrow also, a day prior to Diwali, the showrooms will remain colourful with the customers not taking any chance to miss the estival shopping offer. 

Bathinda, October 24
The court of the District and Sessions judge SK Aggarwal today awarded life sentence to two youngsters for killing a child. Ajay Kumar, 18, and Vijay Kumar, 23 from the Guru Nanak Dev Basti in Bathinda had murdered a child named Dalip Kumar from the Thermal Colony area in October last year.

In her complaint to the police, Dalip's mother Shamphul Devi alleged that the brothers, Ajay and Vijay, attacked her son at their home. The accused, pleaded with the court to take a lenient view of his case, said they were students and only beginning of their career. However, considering the nature of offence and their role in the offence, the court awarded them life term and a fine of Rs 5,000 under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC.

The court also awarded one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 under sections 325 and 34 of the IPC, while six months of jail has been awarded under section 323 of the IPC. — TNS

Bathinda, October 24
A resident of Balianwali residing in Bhokra village was murdered last night by four youngsters who were in an inebriated condition. The deceased has been identified as Binder Singh. He was cultivating the land of Harjinder Singh Mann after taking it on lease.

He used to sleep in a place adjacent to a liquor vend of the village near the bus stand. Last night, some miscreants were consuming liquor near the bus stand and entered into heated arguments with Binder over a petty issue.

When Binder went inside to sleep, the boys decided to teach him a lesson and attacked him. He was rushed to a private hospital on the Bathinda-Barnala road where he succumbed to his injuries. The accused have been booked under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. — TNS

Bathinda, October 24
Nearly 20 persons stormed into the office of the Civil Surgeon here this afternoon, where the Director, Health Services, Punjab, Dr JP Singh, was holding talks with the officials of the Health Department in connection with the spread of dengue fever in the city and other parts of the district.

These persons had gathered there to meet the Director and protest against the non-availability of the platelet rich plasma (PRP) units to them till 4 pm for the dengue patients. They alleged that this had been done despite providing blood units to the Blood Bank in the morning.

The Director told them to give him some time for holding talks with the leaders of the Medical Laboratory Technicians Association. On this, the relatives of the patients left and the Director held talks with the association leaders.

After the meeting, the district general secretary of the association, Resham Singh Jalal said they would now start preparation of the PRP units and testing of the blood samples as the director had given them the assurance that a meeting would be held on October 28 at Bathinda, in which the Chief Minister, Health Secretary and the Director, Health, would participate to discuss the demands of the association.

However, the Director avoided commenting on the meeting. The Civil Surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh said they had got time from the Chief Minister through the Deputy Commissioner for the meeting on October 28 here.

The Director said he had sent the genuine demands of the association with his recommendations to the government.

When the Director was asked as to why he had arrived today as he had visited the Bathinda Civil Hospital only five days ago, he said the Civil Surgeon had rung him up about the strike of the laboratory technicians and the problems being faced by the relatives of the dengue patients. It was because of this that he had come again to resolve the matter and assess the dengue problem.

Later, a meeting was held to review the dengue problem in the district. ADC (D) Dr Abhinav Trikha, Director Dr J.P. Singh, Commissioner of Bathinda Municipal Corporation Uma Shanker Gupta, Civil Surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh and District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa also participated in the meeting.