B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Anonymous letter with cell number creating panic
Faridkot, February 14
Some residents in this area are battling nerves these days after they got anonymous letters — asking them to pay up to Rs five lakh as extortion or their children would be killed.

Two poachers arrested in Harike
Harike (Ferozepur), Feb 14
Two poachers were today arrested here by the wildlife officials and carcass of six migratory birds seized from their possession.

Due to cold conditions in Europe, migratory birds have arrived at Harike in large numbers. A Tribune photo

Two-day police remand for rape accused
Muktsar, February 14
A local court in Gidderbaha today sent Kaka Singh, accused of raping a 19-year-old girl, to two-day police remand, who had surrendered before the Gidderbaha police late last evening.

18 apprehended for indulging in gambling
Ferozepur, February 14
The Ferozepur police has apprehended 18 persons on the charge of gambling and recovered an amount of Rs 1.32 lakh from the spot.

30 cartons of liquor seized in Fazilka
Fazilka, February 14
Police has seized 30 cartons, containing 360 bottles of illicit foreign liquor on Malout road here during a ‘nakabandi’ from three persons. All the three occupants of the car managed to flee after assaulting the police officials. They have been booked under section 307 of the IPC and Excise Act.

Sawmill gutted in Abohar
Abohar, February 14
A sawmill located on the Abohar-Malout road (NH-10) was gutted. The fire reportedly broke out due to a short circuit in the power supply late last night. The owner of the sawmill, Rakesh Kumar of Patel Nagar, said his neighbourer on the highway informed him as they noticed flames coming out. 
A sawmill gutted in Abohar on Monday night. Tribune Photograph 

Drug pedddler arrested
Ferozepur, February 14
The Ferozepur police has arrested one cross-border drug peddler identified as Gurmeet Singh and recovered 250 gms heroin from his possession. SSP Hardyal Singh Mann said Gurmeet owned around 2 acres of land along the zero line of Indo-Pakistan border which was being used for this sinister racket.

 Anonymous letter with cell number creating panic
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 14
Some residents in this area are battling nerves these days after they got anonymous letters — asking them to pay up to Rs five lakh as extortion or their children would be killed.

While these threatening letters also carry mobile numbers to settle the ‘extortion deal’, police dismiss these as prank, calling it a handiwork of some drug addicts.

So, while some of the recipients of these anonymous letters are throwing away these letters in the dust bin, in many other cases, these letters are making the life of persons concerned miserable.

Some days back, Rajinder Kumar (name changed), a clinical lab owner in Faridkot, got a letter. The anonymous letter demanded that Rajinder cough up Rs two lakh as extortion for the safety of his family. Rajinder Kumar was asked to contact on a given mobile number for the delivery of the extortion money.

Over ten days back, Rajinder went to the city police and handed over the anonymous letter and demanded that the police identify the owner/subscriber of the given mobile number. But so far, he has got no response from the police. However, the mobile number given in the anonymous extortion letter is switched ever since the police was informed.

Now, Rajinder Kumar has approached the senior police authorities for a detailed investigation. But there are many others who don’t react like Surinder Kumar.

Narinder Pal Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Faridkot, feigned ignorance about any such case. “I will look for any such complaint,” he said.

The police are clueless about the identity of the subscriber of the given mobile number and the mobile dealer who issued the number. While apparently, there is a subscription fraud in these cases and subscribers sign up for the mobile service using false identity, police never bothers in such cases until the victim is an influential person, said Mangat Arora, an advocate.

Using false identiy, this type of criminals prefer prepaid phones to arrange for extortion and ransom payments.

They buy the mobile phones anonymously, get a new number, use them for a day or two and throw them away before police figure out the number and their credentials are verified by the mobile companies, said Mangat Arora.

 Two poachers arrested in Harike
SP Sharma
Tribune News Service

Harike (Ferozepur), Feb 14
Two poachers were today arrested here by the wildlife officials and carcass of six migratory birds seized from their possession.

The divisional forest officer, Daljit Singh, said that the poachers had killed these birds by administering some poisonous substance to them. A case under the Wildlife Act has been registered against the two for killing the birds that include Grey Leg Geese, Gadval Shovler and Common Teal.

Daljit Singh said that due to extremely cold conditions in Russia, Europe, Central Asia and Western Himalayas, the arrival of migratory birds in the Harike wetland has crossed 1.25 lakhs.

He said that a team of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was camping here to identify the species of birds that arrive at the wetland during the winter. About 76 species have so far been identified of which seven were rare and endangered.

The Harike wetland had come into news when a Dolphin was spotted in the waters. Daljit Singh said that two groups consisting five Dolphins have been spotted and these keep shifting to other locations. The recent spotting was near the Karmuwala village. The rare Star Tortoise was also found here when a tortoise belonging to the species was found trapped in a village. 

 Two-day police remand for rape accused
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 14
A local court in Gidderbaha today sent Kaka Singh, accused of raping a 19-year-old girl, to two-day police remand, who had surrendered before the Gidderbaha police late last evening.

The girl had levelled allegations against Kaka Singh, a native of Kothe Himmatpura near Kot Bhai village, that he raped her for five days after promising to marry her. However, the accused was already married, the girl stated in her complaint.

 18 apprehended for indulging in gambling
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, February 14
The Ferozepur police has apprehended 18 persons on the charge of gambling and recovered an amount of Rs 1.32 lakh from the spot.

Addressing media persons, SSP Hardyal Singh Mann said that on the basis of a tip-off, the CIA staff team raided a rice sheller near Grain Market in Talwandi Bhai where Ramesh Kumar alias Pappa alongwith 17 other persons were involved in gambling.

The SSP said that Ramesh Kumar was the kingpin of the gambling racket and when the police party raided the rice sheller, gambling was going on at five tables.

Five separate cases have been registered in this regard at the Ghal Khurd police station, the SSP informed.

  30 cartons of liquor seized in Fazilka

Fazilka, February 14
Police has seized 30 cartons, containing 360 bottles of illicit foreign liquor on Malout road here during a ‘nakabandi’ from three persons. All the three occupants of the car managed to flee after assaulting the police officials. They have been booked under section 307 of the IPC and Excise Act.

As per SHO Sadar police, Chhinderpal Singh, the police officials had laid a naka on Malout road and when they tried to stop a red Maruti car, the driver of the car accelerated and tried to run over head constable Kali Parsad.

The police officials chased the car bearing registration number DL 6 CC 8586. The car occupants left the car and fled away. Later on, they were identified as Vicky and Sunil Kumar, resident of village Rana and a local resident Krishan Kumar.

Police party recovered 30 boxes of foreign wine from the impounded car which were reportedly being imported illegally to Fazilka from some other areas. The SHO said that police have conducted raids at different possible hideouts of accused but no one has been arrested so far. — OC

  Sawmill gutted in Abohar

Abohar, February 14
A sawmill located on the Abohar-Malout road (NH-10) was gutted. The fire reportedly broke out due to a short circuit in the power supply late last night.

The owner of the sawmill, Rakesh Kumar of Patel Nagar, said his neighbourer on the highway informed him as they noticed flames coming out. Five fire tenders were called but wood worth lakhs of rupees had perished by 3 am today when the fire fighting staff succeeded in its efforts to extinguish the fire.

City police monitored the fire control operation and registered a report in this connection. — OC

 Drug pedddler arrested
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, February 14
The Ferozepur police has arrested one cross-border drug peddler identified as Gurmeet Singh and recovered 250 gms heroin from his possession. SSP Hardyal Singh Mann said Gurmeet owned around 2 acres of land along the zero line of Indo-Pakistan border which was being used for this sinister racket.

SSP said that during interrogation, Gurmeet revealed that his two other accomplice Satnam Singh and Natha Singh who had links with Pakistani drug smugglers had smuggled three packets of heroin out of which 2.5 Kgs had been taken by them while he was left with 500 grams.

Gurmeet also told that Satnam and Natha were related to each other and they often bring consignment of Heroin from across the border using their Pak-based contacts.