Amritsar, January 13
An unidentified woman in her early twenties was found murdered in Bhinder Colony falling under Chatiwind police station here today.

Shockingly, the culprits tried to dispose of the body by setting her afire. Area residents located the body when they noticed several stray dogs eating the half burnt body of the deceased.

The Chatiwind police has registered a case under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC.

Jagtar Singh, a resident of Krishna Nagar area, in his statement to the police, said the day before yesterday he saw several persons setting piles of crop straw on fire near his dairy in Bhinder Colony. On Thursday, he observed that dogs were eating something and foul smell was emanating from the place. There he saw the body lying.

Kulbir Singh, Station House Officer, Chatiwind police, said the post-mortem examination was conducted today. It was established that the deceased was a girl and she was killed by unscrupulous persons and in order to dispose of the body they set her on fire. He said investigations have been initiated.

The police is also finding if there is any missing report filed by the family in the nearby police stations.

Amritsar, January 13
Shifting loyalty from the BJP to the Congress has cost dearly to a city resident. Sahib Singh has gone missing after a group of BJP supporters, headed by close aides of sitting BJP MLA Anil Joshi, allegedly attacked him and ransacked his house late last night.

Satinder Kaur, the victim’s wife, alleged that Vijay Kumar and Rakesh Mintu, both close confidants of Anil Joshi, accompanied by several policemen and several others, dragged and took her husband Sahib Singh away. Alleging police inaction she alleged that the police were hand in gloves with the ruling party and did not take any action for rescuing her husband.

However, the police authorities said Satinder Kaur did not give her statement to the police till today afternoon. They added proceedings of declaring Sahib Singh a proclaimed offender was already in progress following a case registered against him on the complaint of Vijay Kumar. Sohan Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, said the incident resulted after a dispute occurred between their children.

Anil Joshi, terming it as a political gimmick, said the Congress candidate has no concrete issue with him and therefore the Congress was resorting to such practice to grab attention. He denied involvement of any of his supporters in the incident and added that Sahib Singh has a criminal record and wanted by the police in a case.

Addressing the media, Satinder Kaur alleged the accused entered her house after breaking a wall of the adjoining house and an iron gate of the terrace. She said she tried to hide her husband in the bed box. However, the culprits broke the door and attacked her husband with swords, she alleged while showing the blood in the bed box.

She said earlier her husband was a BJP supporter. However, this year, he got associated with the Congress candidate from this constituency, which did not go down well with BJP leaders.

Sohan Singh said on the statement of Satinder Kaur, the police has registered a case under Sections 364, 452, 427, 323, 324, 353, 354 and 356 of the IPC against Vijay Kumar and his wife Simran, besides several unidentified persons in this connection.

Amritsar, January 13
In a shocking incident, a 17-year-old boy was kidnapped, assaulted and sodomised with a motive to teach him a lesson after his verbal dual with one of the accused.

Worse the incident was videographed on a mobile phone and it was uploaded on a social networking site to embarrass the victim.

The accused, identified as Ranjodh Singh and Paramjit Singh of Akali Market area who along with over a dozen of their accomplices even shorn the victim’s hair and decamped with his belongings including mobile and cash.

Jagjit Singh, the victim who lodged a complaint with C-division police station, said the incident took place on January 8 evening when he was called by the accused for settling the dispute which had occurred between them.

As he was in deep shock and was embarrassed with the incident, he did not report the matter to anyone, he told the police. He said the culprits called him outside the Jallianwala gate for a compromise. The accused, who were armed with sharp-edged weapons, took him to a secluded place on the rear side of the railway station located near the Gol Bagh area. The accused thrashed him and took him to a roadside toilet. They took off his clothes and one of the accused Paramjit Singh sodomised him.

Randhir Singh, investigating officer, said a case under Sections 382, 377, 365, 342, 323, 294, 295-A of the IPC and Sections 67-A and 67-B of IT Act has been registered in this connection. The accused were on the run since the registration of case. He said raids were being conducted at the residences of the accused involved in the case.

Fact File

n The constituency has a total of 1,51,276 voters, out of which 79,128 are male and 72,148 are female.

n In the last four Assembly elections, electorates have voted alternatively for the Congress and the BJP, which means that the constituency has never returned the incumbent MLAs to the Assembly. In 2002, Joshi defeated Jugal Kishore Sharma of the Congress.

n The Congress had earlier announced to put up Ashwani Kumar Pappu as its candidate from the constituency, but later decided to go in for Karamjit Rintu.

Amritsar, January 13
Lohri was celebrated today with traditional fervour in the holy city. Families exchanged gifts with near and dear ones. Colourful kites of various shapes and sizes dotted the sky all over the day. Residents of various areas lit bonfire to celebrate Lohri and danced on the beat of a dhol.

Many educational institutes organised functions to celebrate Lohri. Ryan International School held an inter-house kite competition in which its four houses participated. School headmistress Rajni Kalra said it was indeed a keen contest. She said students took pledge not to use Chinese dor.

DAV International School Principal Anjana Gupta lighted the bonfire to celebrate the festival in the school campus. The school also organised a kite flying competition.

Holy Heart Presidency School also celebrated the festival. Students performed bhangra, gidda and Punjabi fusion dance. Sidana Educational Institute celebrated Lohri on its campus.

Amritsar, January 13
The Lohri festivities took over the poll campaigning, forcing the candidates to hold small corner-meetings only.

Some of the candidates in the poll fray preferred to hold meetings with their close confidants to chalk out their campaign strategy instead of going out to masses. As such, not much political activity was seen in the holy city. With the general public remaining busy in celebrating the festival, supporters’ presence at meetings was also not encouraging. As such SAD's candidate from Majitha seemed to be the only exception who organised a gathering at Abdal village near here. The BJP candidate from Amritsar East constituency Navjot Kaur Sidhu too went door-to-door in Tung area of the ward number 19.

The Lohri celebrations forced others to postpone the door-to-door campaigning by another day. Residents had expected hectic political activities after the nomination process came to an end yesterday.

An associate of Congress candidate Sunil Datti from Amritsar East Constituency said, “The people today are busy with Lohri celebrations and the poll campaign started on a slow note.”

After scrutiny of nomination papers, 110 candidates remained in the poll fray.

The nomination papers of three candidates from Jandiala reserved constituency have been rejected. Five nomination papers were rejected from the Majitha Assembly constituency.