Ludhiana, February 29
A month after the gruesome double murder of Moga DSP Balraj Singh Gill (46) and Monica Kapila (38), the police has failed to make any headway in the case.

Except character assassination of the duo, nothing concrete has come out of the investigation conducted so far. In the name of investigation, the police could only manage to establish that the duo had an affair and used to meet at a farmhouse of Sanjay Agnihotri in the Golf Link area.

Except that, the police has nothing to offer. Who were the killers ? What was the motive behind the killing? The police has simply no answers to all these questions.

The city police, for whom the double murder has become a matter of self- respect, is receiving brickbats from all quarters for failing to crack the mystery. Till now, the police has tried everything written in the criminology book, but without success.

Besides questioning the family, friends, colleagues and business partners of Gill and the husband of Monica Kapila, the police has probed nearly 100 suspects of criminal background in connection with the case.

Not only the city police, even senior officers posted in other districts are showing keen interest in the murder mystery and have even visited the farmhouse several times. According to sources, Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Ludhiana range) MF Farooqui is working behind the scenes and providing crucial inputs to the police.

Investigation so far:

February 1: Moga DSP Balraj Singh Gill and Monica Kapila killed at a farmhouse in Golf Link.

February 2: DSP cremated, police launched massive hunt to nab the criminals.

February 3: Monica cremated, husband and woman friend probed. DSP friends, cook and security guards questioned.

February 4: Police forms teams, visits Himanchal Pradesh

February 5: Cars of Balraj and Monica found from two different locations

February 6: Police starts working on a theory of robbery killing

February 7: Massive combing operation launched in Hambran, Noorpur Bet and surrounding villages.

February 8: Police allegedly rounds up few suspected youths with criminal background.

February 9: 25 persons probed in the double murder case.

February 11: Technical experts from Delhi called to crack the case.

February 12: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Administration Hardeep Dhillon conducts a meeting to check the progress of the case.

February 13: ADGP visits the site where the murder took place and asked a volley of questions from the investigative team.

February 14: Doctor, alleged to be the paramour of Monica and an acquaintance of DSP Gill, probed in the case. Found innocent.

February 14- 22: Daily one-hour- meeting of the SIT team, headed by DCP Ashish Chaudhry to discuss the development of the case.

February 23: Two SIT teams formed to probe the case from different angles.

February 24: The double murder case became more mysterious after it was discovered that another woman used to frequently call the DSP.

February 25: Police launches fresh probe in the case to find out the antecedents of the woman who used to call DSP.

February 26-27: No headway in the case. 

Ludhiana, February 29
With the arrest of two persons, the city police has claimed to have cracked the blind murder case of a watchman, whose butchered body was found from a park in the Jodhewal Basti area February 16.

The accused, identified as Parvesh Kumar and Radhe Sham, both migrants who were nabbed by the police for murdering the victim Surjit Singh, alias Kala, confessed before the police that they had murdered him and defaced the victim so that he could not be identified.

The duo said that Kala came to know about the theft the duo used to commit in a factory unit. He started blackmailing Parvesh and Radhe Sham.

Miffed at the continuous blackmailing, the duo planned to eliminate Kala.

They invited Kala to their quarter where they consumed liquor. When Kala got drunk they murdered him with sharp-edged weapons and dumped his body at a vacant plot in Guru Vihar Colony near the Jodhewal area.

The police has recovered the cycle and the weapon used in the crime.

Ludhiana, February 29
The Noble Foundation, an NGO, has offered to work with the district administration to eradicate beggary from the industrial city of Ludhiana. Though the NGO says that it wishes to impart education to the beggars free of cost, for making the city beggar-free, the administration, too, needs to provide a helping hand.

Rajinder Sharma, chairman of the NGO, said they had already obtained a copy of the proposal for setting up beggary homes and rehabilitation-cum-vocational centres for beggars from the department concerned, wherein the state government had desired to formulate an appropriate scheme for their welfare.

"The government desires to provide financial assistance for setting up beggary homes and rehabilitation-cum-vocational centres for 50 beggars each in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar districts. The budget earmarked for this purpose is approximately Rs 1 lakh per beggar," said Sharma.

The NGO further claimed that despite several meetings with the district administration, the project could not see the light of the day. "We had sent the representations to Deputy Commissioner, Additional Deputy Commissioner and Police Commissioner Ludhiana, but nothing came out of it," he said.

It may be mentioned that beggars belonging to all age groups can be seen outside every religious place in the city and even on roads, causing traffic nuisance at the traffic lights.

Raj Taneja, a businessman at Dandi Swami, said the area residents were fed up with the beggars creating ruckus outside Dandi Swami Temple everyday.

"Not just outside the temple, they create nuisance at every nook and corner. Some even break the windowpanes of cars if people refuse to pay them alms. They need to be rehabilitated, as a majority of them are kids up to the age of 13-14," said Taneja. 

Jagraon, February 29
The Municipal Council, Jagraon, has finally debarred the husbands of the women municipal councilors from representing their wives in the municipal council meetings. The decision was taken during the monthly general house meeting of the local municipal council, held in the committee house here today. During the meeting, a resolution aiming to debar the husbands of women municipal councilors from representing their wives in the general house and other important meetings of the local municipal council was passed anonymously.

Though, the resolution was passed only after strong objections raised by some municipal councilors. As soon as the general house meeting started, today morning, four councilors including Apar Singh, Rachpal Singh, Satish Kumar Pappu and Ranjit Kaur Sidhu objected to the presence of husbands of some of the women municipal councilors in the meeting.

These councilors also declared to boycott all the meetings of municipal council till the husbands of these women municipal councilors were not banned from representing their wives in the municipal council meetings. Following which the municipal council president, Baldev Krishan Dhir, proposed a resolution in the house to ban the entry of husbands of women councilors in the council meetings which was passed anonymously.

It is pertinent to mention here that the husbands of as many as five women municipal councilors, elected from different wards, reserved for women had been representing their wives in all the important meetings of the municipal council since the present council was formed about three and a half years ago.

The women municipal councilors, who were being represented by their husbands in the council meetings, include Daljit Kaur Sivia from ward number 7, Daljeet Kaur from ward number 6, Sarita Katyal from ward number 19, Vimal Kaur Multani from ward number 15 and Ranjit Kaur Sidhu from ward number 3.

Even during the last meeting of the local municipal council some days back, the SDM Jagraon, Isha Kalia, was also surprised to see the women municipal councilors of different wards being represented by their husbands.

Though some municipal councilors had objected to the practice in the past too and demanded to ban the husbands of women councilors from taking part in council meetings yet nobody took their objections seriously and those husbands continued to take part in the council meetings in place of their wives.

However, after the resolution was passed by the municipal council today, the husbands of women municipal councilors will not be able to take part in the MC meetings in the future.

Mandi Ahmedgarh February 29
With the town lacking an efficient sewage disposal system, the residents and visitors are forced to walk through stinking sewage water.

Frequent overflow of sewage and stagnation of stinking water at many places, including at entry roads, residential colonies, main markets and schools; might lead to pathogens breeding in the low-lying areas, if remedial actions are not taken before the rainy season.

Acknowledging that there was need to strengthen and improve the sewerage system, the officials in sanitation department, sewerage and that of the water supply department of the local civic body said damage of certain pipes of disposal system had resulted in present situation. The situation would become normal after the repair work which had already been started, claimed the officials.

Councilors also denied any laxity on behalf of the officials of the civic body and maintained that the problem had persisted due to delay in the execution of work for laying main drains that were supposed to be undertaken by the Punjab Sewerage and Water Supply Board. They claimed that the council had already taken up the issue with the officials concerned and the situation would improve soon.

The Tribune team observed that some low-lying roads and the streets were usually flooded with sewage water. The condition was worse at Dhulkot, Mahavir, Amarpura, Dehliz, Bajrang Akhara Roads, Jagera, Jawahar Nagar, Bank Street and the Railway areas.

Pedestrians, including students, women and labourers were the worst sufferers. Religious places were no exception.

The residents have urged leaders of the social and political organisations to impress upon the authorities to provide them basic amenities.

The situation had also worsened due to unconcern of the higher officials towards administration of the local town on pretext of their preoccupation in jobs related with assembly election. While they remained away from the office on pretext of poll duty, earlier, and now they were waiting for the constitution of new government after March 6.

The residents have urged the higher authorities to impress upon officials at local municipal council to expedite process for strengthening the disposal and sewage system.

Ludhiana, February 29
NIMA, Ludhiana, organised a seminar on gastroenterology under the continued medical education CME project. Dr Rajeev Grover, gastroenterologist, spoke on "recent advances in the medical management of hepatitis B and C".

More than 100 doctors of NIMA, Ludhiana, attended the seminar.

Dr Surinder Gupta while initiating the session said that prevalence of Hepatitis B and C in Punjab has shaken the whole healthcare setup.

Moreover, it is happening despite the disposable syringes being used and stringent blood transfusion regulations in
place. That is why NIMA took this initiative to discuss this issue in the seminar.

Dr Rajeev Grover in his talk said that a lot effective treatment options are available for the management of Hepatitis B and C.

In case of Hepatitis B or C detection, further tests to access viral load should be ordered. Coincidence of Hepatitis A and E should also be ruled out. Antibodies titer to access today's response to infection also have diagnostic and treatment value.

An expectant mother with positive Hepatitis B (but having minimal viral load) can continue with pregnancy, provided the delivery is planned and executed in a super specialty center.

So that baby is saved from infection during the procedure.

While the Hepatitis B can be managed successfully by tablets in
six months, Hepatitis C needs costlier, injection interferran.

If left, untreated patients with treatable condition are likely to lead to incurable liver cirhosis.

Ludhiana, February 29
Sudhir Sahi, a consultant, United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), will soon visit the district for implementing Rural Tourism and Tourism Awareness components of UNWTO-Punjab Tourism Development Master Plan (2008-2023) and preparing the Government of India 12th Plan Scheme for this sector.

The Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, had on February 22 sent a communication (PHTPB/UNWTO/2012/567-90) in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner.

Brig TPS Chaudhry (retd), UNTWO National Project Coordinator, will accompany Sahi. They will meet the Deputy Commissioner and in charges of the culture and education departments for gathering information regarding potential of rural tourism, including arts, crafts, cultural and natural heritage in the district.

The administration has been asked to provide demographic details of the sites and local governance structures as per 2011 Census, state/Central schemes operative in the district and details of NGOs working in the city.

Ludhiana, February 29
In order to improve the environment and make Sarabha Nagar a model locality, Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Sarabha Nagar, is taking an initiative to inspire residents to beautify the area.

The Gurdwara is going to organise a flower show on March 4 in the Gurudwara premises and has invited residents of the area to participate in the show.

The event will have various categories, such as potted flowers, foliage plants, succulents, cacti and bonsai. Apart from this, a painting competition would also be organised on the theme of flowers and trees that find a mention in the Gurbani.

He further said that besides the flower show, a show on chrysanthemum plants would also be held in the month of December from next year. Prizes would also be awarded to the best three lawns in three categories of houses - areas upto 250 sq yards, upto 500 sq yards, and more than 500 sq yards.

The effort, according to Jatinder Singh Sandhu, president of the management committee of the Gurdwara, is to make Sarabha Nagar a model area and to inspire residents and Gurdwaras in other areas to encourage everyone to contribute to the environment. The effort would not only be to plant trees, but also to maintain and inspire everyone to nurture all plantations in the area.

Environment activist HS Chana said that it is a good initiative by the Gurdwara management. Ludhiana has become the most polluted city in the country, but the city administration and Municipal Corporation have not been able to do much to check pollution. He said that therer are 300 gardeners for the upkeep of municipal corporation parks, but they are seldom seen working.

"It’s time residents became conscious about the environment, because without them all efforts would be futile. It is good that an initiative is being taken by Gurdwaras because religious organisations can bring a lot of change," said a resident. 

Ludhiana, February 29
A team from Pennsylvania University, USA, under the education exchange programme, visited GADVASU here today. The team visited the animal hospital and the main building of the veterinary college.

The team also visited all the departments of clinics and school of public health and zoonosis, which is recently established. The team also took a round of the university farms including dairy, poultry and fisheries farms.

Dr PD Juyal, registrar, of the varsity said that such types of exchange programmes develop the atmosphere of mutual understanding between the two countries.

"It also inculcates world health mission of the globalisation. We may develop dual relationship in a number of terms like trans-boundary diseases, zoonosis and other prevailing difficulties in livestock and animal husbandry," said Dr Juyal.

To make the team aware with the field condition viz-a-viz the university efforts of technology dissemination, a field visit was also arranged to Gureh village, the adopted village of the university under institute-village linkage programme for technology dissemination.

Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU and Dr PD Juyal, registrar, apprised them about the university future vision, functioning, strength and extension activities.

Ludhiana, February 29
In a fire incident reported from a “Gujjar Dera” in Jaspal Bangar village, late last night, 11 heads of buffalo died, while 12 received serious burn injuries. ASI Rampal Singh from Sadar Police Station informed that Roshan Deen was sleeping in a room, with his buffaloes tied there, when the incident took place .

“While he escaped unhurt, 11 of his buffaloes died. The mishap seems to have taken place due to a bonfire. A team from the veterinary department was called on the spot, who started treatment of the buffaloes,” informed ASI Rampal Singh.

Ludhiana, February 29
The health department today raided National Plaza in Pindi Street here and seized drugs worth Rs 3.84 lakh.

Civil Surgeon Ludhiana Dr Subhash Batta said,"Today a health department team conducted a raid in Pindi Street and found 12 lakh tablets of Phinotil, which are habit-forming tablets. The tablets were lying on the top floor of National Plaza in Pindi Street and none came to collect these. So we seized these drugs in the presence of Gurbaksh Singh, general secretary of the Chemist Association of Pindi Street, and have started the required action."

The health department team included drug inspector Sanjeev Garg, Ikant Priya Singla, Gurbaksh Singh, Sukhbeer Chand and Sukhdeep Singh.

Ludhiana, February 29
A weeklong art exhibition was inaugurated at MS Randhawa Art Gallery of Punjab Agricultural University for art aficionados today. The exhibition, jointly organised by the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi and Punjab Agricultural University, features selected works of 124 artists from Punjab.

Works of both categories, including that of professionals and students, were exhibited. About 10 award-winning paintings, sculptures and photography besides simple black and white pencil works have been featured in the exhibition.

“The quality of work is good,” said Ranjodh Singh, President, Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi. “The exhibition has been organised for the second time in the city. The trend has changed; people are getting attracted to modern and abstract art. But, realistic art is here to stay,” he added.

Selected works of a few city-based artists like Amita Gupta, Meenu Ahuja, Himanshu Mahajan, Hapleen Kaur, Harminder Boparai, Meenakshi, Harpreet Kaur, Gurjinder Kaur, Hardeep Singh, Kiran Matharoo, Manpreet Kaur and Balbir Singh were also exhibited in the gallery.

Harminder Singh Boparai’s sculpture of a dog made out of discarded cycle parts and a wooden butterfly by Balbir Singh was also displayed on the occasion.

Jasleen, a student of fine arts, Government College for Women, said such exhibitions would give a good fillip to art and inspire budding artists in the city. The exhibition was inaugurated by Kahan Singh Pannu, IAS, Chief Administrator, GLADA.

Ludhiana, February 29
City-based children prefer gorging burgers, munching pizzas, patties, grilled sandwiches and guzzling cold drinks instead of home-cooked food and fruits. They have not only started liking an unhealthy diet but are putting on weight due to the sudden change in the lifestyle.

With Rajasthan government banning junk food in colleges, people are espousing the move for banning the same in the city. Principals of a few schools admit that there is a need to become more conscious towards the health of children.

“We don’t have a canteen in our school. Students are encouraged to bring home-cooked food. There is an empanelled nutritionist who guides the students about nutritious eating habits,” says Paramjit Kaur, Principal, BCM Arya Model School.

Col DB Sharma, Director, Sat Paul Mittal School, says their school, too, has no canteen. “Only milk and juices are available in the school. Students have been told to bring home-cooked food for lunch,” he added.

Principal of KVM School Navita Puri said “fruit period” is especially held to inculcate good food habits among children. This should be followed at homes as well. TL Joshi, Principal, Arya College, said youngsters need to be educated towards ill effects of having junk food. Turning away from junk food would not help because it is here for good, he says. Due to the changing work-culture and professional demands, they should not be alien to such food but aware of its ill effects.

Students, however, say that there aren’t any good options available that are delicious enough. “Burgers and pizzas have become part of everyday food. These are yummy and why should they be banned,” says Varun, who studies in Class IX. Arushi Goyal, another student, said she understood the importance of reducing the intake of such food after she fell ill.

Ludhiana, February 29
The Rotary Club, Ludhiana Greater, gifted a public address system to Government Girls High School, Gujarwal village, as a part of the Rural Schools Project.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sanjeev Uppal, president of the club, stressed upon the need for families to understand that the daughters should be treated at par with sons as far as the education and bringing up is concerned.

Vice-president of the club emphasised that the girls have an equal role in the development of the nation. On the occasion, the girl students presented a cultural show depicting the plight of girl child. — TNS

Jagraon, February 29
A woman was allegedly killed by her husband for objecting to his illicit relationship with his sister-in-law. The accused, Manjit Singh, was reportedly assisted by his sister-in-law, Satwinder Kaur, in the heinous crime.

As per the information, the incident took place at Bhaini Arayian village near Sidhwan Bet yesterday morning. The deceased woman has been identified as Surinder Kaur.

According to sources, after killing his wife, the accused hid the body in the house. After keeping the body hidden in the house for the whole day, he falsely told the villagers and the relatives of the deceased that she had died due to a heart attack.

He even tried to cremate her in order to conceal the issue. But someone from the village informed the police, following which a team of senior police officials, including SP (D) Ludhiana (Rural) Harjit Singh Pannu, DSP Mullanpur Dakha Joginder Singh, and SHO Sidhwan Bet police station Gurpreet Singh reached the village and stopped the cremation. The police took the dead body and sent it for postmortem.

According to SHO Gurpreet Singh, initial investigations revealed signs of strangulation on the throat of the deceased which made the police suspicious. Following this both Manjit Singh and Sarabjit Kaur were arrested. He further said that Manjit Singh confessed to his crime during interrogation. He also revealed that he has been living at the house of his in-laws at Bhaini Arayian village for last many years. After the death of Satwinder’s husband some time back, Manjit developed illicit relations with Satwinder due to which his relationship with his wife got bitter.

“Surinder Kaur was asking her husband to end his relationship with his sister-in-law, but Manjit was not ready for that. As a result they often had fights. After this Manjit Singh and Satwinder Kaur conspired to eliminate Surinder Kaur and finally killed her yesterday,” said SHO Gurpreet Singh. The police have registered a case against Manjit Singh and Satwinder Kaur for killing Surinder Kaur. 

Ludhiana, February 29
To recognise his contribution in the field of bodybuilding, the Punjab State Amateur Bodybuilding Association (PSABBA) will honour Padma Shri awardee and former world champion, Prem Chand Degra of Hoshiarpur.

This was announced by Ramesh Bangar, chairman, North Zone Bodybuilding Association, at a press conference here today. “The former champion will be given a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh during the upcoming Federation Cup 2012 Bodybuilding Championship slated to be held at Guru Nanak Bhawan, Ludhiana, on March 2 and March 3,” 
he added.

Giving details of this mega event, Bangar said arrangements had been made those taking part in the event and officials.

A few committees had been formed for the smooth conduct of the event.

At least 350 participants would shrug their shoulders to finish at the podium. A cash prize of 4 lakh would be at stake.

Navneet Singh, Kiran Preet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Shibbu, Ajay Kapoor, Sukhminder Singh, Charanjit Singh, Manpreet Manak and Sumit Puri were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, February 29
Continuing its winning streak, the current champions (men), Ludhiana Basketball Academy (LBA) stormed into the semifinal league on the penultimate day of the 62nd Punjab State Basketball Championship (women and men) being played at Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today.

In the men’s section, Ludhiana district along with the Amritsar and Kapurthala districts secured their berths in the last four leagues.

Last year’s winners in the women’s section, Kapurthala district besides the Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar districts completed the entered in the semifinal league. The semifinal matches in both sections will be played on round-robin league system.

Today, the LBA players faced stiff challenge from the Kapurthala district, which gave some tough time before going down 24-37.

In the second encounter, Amritsar men proved too good for the hosts, Ludhiana district as the former came out triumphant 85-69.

The match (men) was played between the Ludhiana Basketball Academy and the Amritsar district in which the former recorded a thumping 69-35 victory to top the point’s table.

Amritsar district with three points followed at second place while the Ludhiana and Kapurthala districts with one point each were tied at third and fourth places, respectively. In the women’s section, Jalandhar district defeated the reigning champions, Kapurthala district 62-30.

Karamjit Kaur and Surbhi accounted for 17 and 13 points, respectively, for the winning side while Rajwinder Kaur fought well for the losers with 14 points.

In another match, Ludhiana district survived a scare before emerging victorious 46-34 against Amritsar district. The current champions (women) Kapurthala had a dismal day as they went down fighting in their second match also. They lost a battle of nerves 46-49 against Ludhiana to suffer second defeat.

Surjit Singh Sandhu, District Sports Officer, Ludhiana, along with Vijay Chopra, vice-president, Ludhiana District Basketball Association, Yashveer Walia, finance secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, and Dr S Subramanian, former director, NIS, Patiala, were present on the occasion.