Chandigarh, November 4
Union Housing Minister Kumari Selja finally broke her silence over being indicted by her party for the debacle in the Hisar byelection. Attacking her detractors in the state Congress, she said they should assess their own shortcomings before accusing others.

This is for the first time that the Union Minister and bete noire of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has openly reacted to the accusations being levelled against her. “The state Congress leaders are free to say whatever they want, but each one should look at where the party went wrong. “Doosron par ilzam lagane se pehle, sabko apne girebaan mein jhankna chahiye,” she said. The minister was here to inaugurate the Realcon Summit, 2011, organised by the CII.

Reacting to queries on whether the Hisar byelection was a referendum on the performance of the Congress government and whether it would have an effect on the forthcoming Ratia and Adampur byelections, she said if state leaders carried everybody along, the party could definitely win these two Assembly seats.

Congress candidate from Hisar Jai Prakash had accused Selja, Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh and state Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Chaudhary of working against him and the party, which led to his losing the seat. Later, the general body of the state Congress, too, passed a resolution against three leaders, seeking disciplinary action against them for sabotaging the Hisar byelection. Jai Prakash had even threatened to stage a dharna in Delhi in case action against these leaders was not taken by the central leadership.

The Chief Minister, too, had made an oblique reference to the three leaders, saying that everyone stabbed the party in the back.

Gurgaon, November 4
The death of Vikas Yadav (24), a constable who allegedly allegedly shot himself with his service revolver yesterday, took a new turn today with the victim’s family holding his SHO responsible for the tragedy.

Vikas of Kharkhari village in Farrukhnagar block of Gurgaon district joined the Haryana Armed Police in 2007 . He got married a couple of years ago.

Seeking strict action against the SHO, Yadav’s family members and a number of fellow villagers staged a protest demonstration and blocked the road in front of the Police Commissioner’s office here today.

Neeraj Yadav, Vikas’ brother alleged that the deceased had told him on the phone that Jitender Rana, SHO of Bilaspur police station, where he was posted, had been harassing him.

“In our recent conversations, Vikas said SHO Rana had put his name in an encounter case in order to save another policeman who was close to Rana.”, Neeraj said. The SHO had threatened Vikas with dire consequences in case he revealed the facts.

The protesters also submitted a memorandum to Police Commissioner KK Sindhu, who directed DCP (East) Maheshwar Dayal to probe the matter. He also removed SHO Jitender Rana from Bilaspur police station and sent him to the Police Lines.

Manesar, November 4
Workers at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) feel cheated over their union leaders resigning from the company after getting hefty settlement amounts from the management.

According to sources, the MSIL management has paid Rs 16 to 40 lakh to 30 suspended workers who recently resigned from the company as the “full and final settlement”.

The leaders, obviously, walked away with the lion’s share, with Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU) president Sonu Gujjar and general secretary Shiv Kumar pocketing Rs 40 lakh each, while the other suspended employees got around Rs 16 lakh per head in lieu of their resignation.

However, there was neither any confirmation nor denial of the “golden handshakes” on part of the company. The overnight millionaires also preferred to remain underground, for obvious reasons. The remaining workers, especially the old-timers, feel cheated by the 30 suspended workers who bargained with the management for their individual gains. The suspended employees, however, put the blame on top leaders, including Sonu and Shiv Kumar.

“We 30 suspended employees had decided to remain united, but had little choice after the inquiry indicted us and our own leaders deserted us for their personal gains,” said an employee leader, who was among the suspended workers, who had quit the company.

Though Rs 16 lakh to 28 workers and Rs 40 lakh to their two leaders totals to a sizeable sum, it seems to be a meagre amount as compared to the losses to the tune of Rs 1,700 crore suffered by MSIL during three strikes.

Nonetheless, the frustration of the old-timers at the company is also understandable as most of the suspended leaders of the workers who have quit after pocketing handsome amounts happen to be in their 20s. The MSIL management, which was basically opposed to the formation of a separate workers’ union at Manesar, the main factor leading to the strike now seems to be having the last laugh.

Chandigarh, November 4
A special investigation team (SIT) will now probe the incident of violence in Barchhaper village in Hisar district in which two persons belonging to the Jat community were killed.

As a petition filed by Mohan of Barchhaper village, seeking CBI probe into the FIR registered on February 28, 2010, for murder, attempt to murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy and other offences came up for hearing, Justice Ajay Tewari directed the constitution of the SIT within 15 days. The incident took place around 10 pm on Holi night.

Giving the SIT three months to complete the probe, Justice Tewari made it clear that it would submit the report before the trial court.

The SIT would be headed by an IPS officer of DIG-level of the petitioner’s choice. The proceeding before the trial court, too, stands stayed, as of now. 

Ratia, November 4
Amidst discordant notes from ticket seekers, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Phool Chand Mullana today called upon Congress workers to break the 29-year-old jinx at Ratia in the forthcoming byelection.

Mullana, accompanied by AICC secretary and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and former OSD to CM KV Singh were in Ratia today to ascertain workers’ views on the party’s candidate.

It was in 1982 that the Congress won from Ratia when Neki Ram defeated his nearest rival, Atma Singh Gill of the Lok Dal, by 198 votes.

He said there was no use in electing a person from the opposition in these elections.

“What have the people of Hisar earned by electing Kuldeep Bishnoi as their representative? Being the lone MP from his party, he will not be able to do anything for his constituency,” Mullana said.

Mullana said he had come here to ascertain the party workers’ views on candidates, and he would convey their will to the high command.

When leaders like Tanwar, Gillankhera, KV Singh and DCC chief Randhir Singh were underscoring unity, Jagdish Mistri, a confidant of AICC general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh, started protesting from the stage against denial of opportunity to address the workers.

When given the mike at the intervention of Mullana, Mistri, who contested the 2000 general election from here on the Congress ticket, not only himself gave vent to his anger against party leaders but also passed on the mike to another ticket seeker, Mandeep Kaur Gill, who castigated the party leaders for “undemocratic” style of functioning.

Targeting a particular ticket seeker considered close to Ashok Tanwar and a hot favourite as the party’s nominee this time, Mistri and Gill alleged the party leaders had already taken a decision on the candidate and termed today’s meeting as a sham.

Tanwar, however, assured them that the party was yet to take a decision and urged them to fight unitedly to win both Ratia and Adampur seats. 

Panipat, November 4
A court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma has sentenced a local woman to three years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,500 after she was found guilty of having kept a poor girl from West Bengal in illegal confinement and later selling her to a local farmer for merely Rs 10,000.

According to the police, 20-year-old Pinky, who had run away from her maternal house in Kolkata in January last year, reached Panipat railway station where she met a local resident, Anita, who used to live in slums of Sector 24.

Anita took her home and forced her into flesh trade. After keeping her in illegal confinement for two months, she sold Pinky to Karam Singh of Chhajpur village in the district for Rs 10,000.

However, the girl fled and filed a complaint against Anita with the Panipat police.

The police registered a case on March 12, 2010. After this, the girl went back to her own house in Kolkata. She came here only to appear before the court of law where she deposed against Anita. 

Hayatpur, November 4
Several police parties were out to nab attackers of Shiv Narayan, father of the late Hayatpur sarpanch Rakesh (26), who was shot at and injured here yesterday.

Shiv Narayan (52), is a key eyewitness in the murder case of of his son and former village sarpanch, Rakesh, who was shot dead in June this year. A gunman, Joginder, provided to Shiv Narayan by the police in view of threat perception maintained that his weapon, an SLR rifle, was defective and did not fire at the moment.

Joginder said he had lodged a complaint regarding the defect in his rifle a few days ago, but to no avail.

Abhay Singh Rao, Gurgaon DCP (West), however, rubbished the claim of the weapon being defective, stating that the gunman perhaps did not want to keep the SLR.

According to police sources and villagers, Shiv Narayan was near his house about 6.30 am yesterday when some motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire at him. He ran towards his home, but a bullet hit him in the thigh. Joginder tried to retaliate, but his rifle did not fire. He hit one of the assailants with a bottle. By then, some villagers rushed to the spot and the assailants fled from the spot.

Shiv Narayan was taken to a private hospital in Gurgaon, while the villagers blocked the Pataudi-Gurgaon road in protest against the attack.

In the complaint registered with the police for attack, Manoj and Mukesh have been named. On the other hand, Manoj also received a bullet injury yesterday itself.

Meanwhile, the police authorities today set up a police post at the village.

Chandigarh, November 4
Bhiwani's Brahmin Sabha has said it would not oppose the marriage of a bureaucrat couple who are marrying outside their castes even as the Haryana Police said security to the girl's family would continue.

Neelam Sharma, an upper-caste Indian Foreign Service officer, who hails from Patranwali village in Bhiwani and is currently posted at the Indian Mission in Moscow, is set to marry Kuldeep Yadav, IAS officer, on November 8. Yadav, who hails from Rewari district in Haryana, belongs to the Ahir community. Yadav and Sharma had met during their training and the former is currently posted as Additional District Magistrate in Godhra, Gujarat.

“Media reports suggesting that we had exerted pressure, warned or threatened the girl's family to stop their marriage are not true. In fact, our simple request to the family was that since no village girl had ever married outside her caste, it should try and maintain that tradition,” RK Sharma, sabha leader, said.

Asked what came out of the panchayat meeting held in the village on Sunday, Sharma said: “There are old customs in society which are relevant today but that does not mean we will stop anyone from marrying inter-caste. We had even requested the media not to blow the issue out of proportions.” He also denied reports that the girl's family had been asked not to solemnise the marriage in the village as it could escalate tension.— PTI 

Sonepat, November 4
Furious over the failure of the administration to recover the bodies of two youths, Surender and Sonu, of Akbarpur Barota village from the Diversion Drain No. 8 even after three days of the incident, villagers blocked the Sonepat-Narela road for almost one hour.

After receiving information of the road blockade, Tehsildar Braham Prakash and the police reached on the spot and persuaded the villagers to lift the blockade assuring that no efforts would be spared in searching the bodies.

The administration had even requisitioned the services of the divers from other districts, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, but all efforts to locate the bodies failed. People were also searching the bodies with the help of boats and other arrangements.

The Irrigation Department had also stopped the flow of the West Yamuna Canal water into the drain to bring down the water level in the drain.