R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
One held with fake degrees: The police has arrested one person for possessing fake degrees during a raid at a computer centre in the Guru Nanakpura area. Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said a case had been registered. He said the accused was in possession of fake degrees of a Karnataka-based university. He said ASP Vikrampal Bhatti was supervising the investigations. Bhatti said the case was at its preliminary stage. "This could lead to a well-organised racket involving more people from the surrounding areas or even far off places. We have arrested Bhupinder Kumar during a raid at F-Soft institute in Guru Nanakpura," he said.

Train traffic remains affected: Torment of train passengers continued on Wednesday as the movement of some trains touching Bathinda remained affected on third consecutive day in view of the pro-reservation agitation launched by the Jats at Hisar in Haryana.

Hoshiarpur
Six booked for abducting minor: On the complaint of a 15-year-old girl of Sarhala Kalan village, the Chabbewal police has booked Paramjit Kaur, Sucha Singh, sarpanch of the village, Joginder Singh, his sister Sandeep Kaur, mother Mohani, brother Harjinder Singh under sections 363, 366, 376 of the IPC. Police sources said the victim had alleged that she was abducted by the accused and forced her to marry Joginder, who later raped her.

Man commits suicide, in-laws booked: Facing harassment at the hands of his in-laws, a resident of Hardokhanpur village allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan at his house. Police sources said Tilak Raj, deceased Charanjit Singh's father, stated in his complaint that his son married Ranbir Kaur about eight years ago and had three children. Members of his in-laws family, Jaswinder Singh, his wife Paramjit Kaur, and Gogi, all of Mojalipur used to harass and maltreat him. About two years ago, Charanjit's wife left him and started living with her parents. This had made Charanjit mentally upset following which he committed suicide, he alleged. A case has been registered against members of his in-laws family, including deceased's wife.

Muktsar
10-yr jail term for two rape accused: In a three-and-a-half-year old rape case, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Hemant Gopal today awarded the two accused with an imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 10,000 each. Kamaljit Singh of Jaito town in Faridkot district had filed a complaint with the local police alleging that Rohit Kumar of Jaito along with the help of his friend Ashok Kumar abducted her minor daughter and took her to Beas, where Rohit raped her on the pretext of marry her, but later refused. Before pronouncing the order, the court heard the arguments of both the sides and finally held Rohit and Ashok guilty of the heinous crime.

Shahkot
No breakthrough in murder case: The Shahkot police has not able to make any arrest in the murder case in which a woman was found dead at her residence on Tuesday morning. On the statement of deceased’s parents, the police had booked her husband Kailash Nath, her mother-in-law Kamlesh, sister-in-law Punam and deceased’s brother’s wife Rekha Rani. SHO Lakhwinder Singh said raids were being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the accused.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Woman killed by tusker: A woman was killed by an elephant in the Satyanarayan forest area of the Motichur range of the Rajaji National Park today. The deceased, identified as Pramila (40) had gone to the forest area to get fodder when she was attacked by an elephant, which resulted in her death. A resident of Punjab, Pramila had come to her parent’s house in Raiwala. The body of the woman has been sent for postmortem.

Music album shot: The shooting of video album ‘Subada’ is taking place in picturesque locations of Mussoorie these days. The director of the Garhwali album, Ajay Bharti, said the eight songs in the album gave a glimpse of traditions and customs of Garhwal. The pain of migration has also been delineated in one of the songs. Virender Rajput, Harish Panwar, Meena Rana, Manglesh Dangwal and Gajeder Rana have contributed to the songs.

Kumaon Briefs
Two youths killed as truck falls into gorge: Two youths were killed when the truck they were travelling in fell into a gorge near Jwarnaidi in the Jainti area of Almora district. The two youths along with six others had hitched a ride in the truck which was going to Haldwani. The deceased have been identified as 17-year-old Inder Singh Mehra, a resident of Pajaina Surkhal village, and 16-year-old Sundar Singh Naula, a resident of Basiya Khankar village. They were students of Sarvodaya Inter College. A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident.

Social activist dead: Jagat Singh, a social activist who is better known for the Green City initiative in Haldwani, died at his home in the Gurunankpura locality of the town on Tuesday. He was 86. Besides being an environment and social activist, Jagat Singh was also a good poet, painter, theatre artist and photo journalist. He wanted to see Haldwani develop as a green city on the lines of Jaipur, which has been developed as Pink city. He was involved in several tree plantation efforts and was a member of several socio-cultural organisations.

Man falls into drain, dies: One person died after he fell into a drain near the Base Hospital in Haldwani. The deceased has been identified as 27-year-old Ayub Sheikh, a resident of Line No. 16 in the Vanbhoolpura area of the town. He worked with a brass band in the town and was returning home after performing at a marriage function on the Rampur road. He is believed to have sustained head injuries in the fall, which proved fatal. The body was found on Wednesday morning.

Two booked for beating boy: The Rudrapur police has booked two persons for beating a nine-year-old boy. Ved Thukral and his brother Harish Thukral beat up Zafran, a resident of the Subhash Nagar locality, while he was returning home from market. They accused Zafran of stealing iron rods from their house after breaking a cement slab. They punched and kicked the boy and later beat him up with an iron rod. They also allegedly threatened passersby who tried to intervene. However, they denied having thrashed the boy. The police is investigating the case.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)