B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Friend held for man’s murder in Moga village
Moga, March 30
A 46-year-old man has allegedly been murdered by his friend by hitting a glass bottle in his head at Himmatpura village in the Nihalsinghwala sub-division of the Moga district on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

Investigating agency changed for 6th time
Moga, March 30
At a time when the investigation in the infamous `8-crore paddy scam, which was unearthed in December 2009 in Ferozepur district, was nearing completion, the government has changed the probing agency for the sixth time. From the crime branch of the Punjab police, the investigation is now back with Ferozepur police.

Mansa girl cracks PCS (J) exam
Mansa, March 30
Rajvir Kaur of village Khaira Kalan in Sardoolgarh sub-division of Mansa district has cracked the PCS judicial exam by securing fifth place in the merit list of SC candidates, released by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

Friend held for man’s murder in Moga village
Kulwinder Sandhu 
Tribune News Service

Moga, March 30
A 46-year-old man has allegedly been murdered by his friend by hitting a glass bottle in his head at Himmatpura village in the Nihalsinghwala sub-division of the Moga district on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Jagjit Singh, son of Gurdev Singh.

As per the details available, Jagjit Singh had drinks with his friend Swaranjit Singh at his residence. During the sitting, they argued over an issue, which led to the murder.

Jagjit’s brother Kanwaljit Singh told mediapersons that since music was being played at a high pitch in a nearby house, they could not hear the arguments or the altercation that took place between the duo. The incident could have taken place at about 2 am, he said.

Kanwaljit informed the local police about the crime. The police recovered the body from the rooftop of Swaranjit’s house in the wee hours today and sent it to the district hospital here for conducting the post-mortem examination.

Harwinder Singh, SHO of the Nihalsinghwala police station, told mediapersons that the accused has been arrested by the police and investigation was in progress.

During preliminary findings, it has come to light that the accused was already facing charges of murder in Haryana and was presently out of jail on bail.

A criminal case of murder had been registered against him, the SHO added.

Paddy scam
Investigating agency changed for 6th time
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS

Moga, March 30
At a time when the investigation in the infamous `8-crore paddy scam, which was unearthed in December 2009 in Ferozepur district, was nearing completion, the government has changed the probing agency for the sixth time. From the crime branch of the Punjab police, the investigation is now back with Ferozepur police.

Even as two years have passed since as many as 1,92,973 bags of paddy belonging to the Pungrain were reportedly sold to rice millers in Ferozepur, Moga and Faridkot districts by kingpins of the scam, the probing agencies have failed to recover it.

One of the kingpins, Gurbhej Singh, who was arrested by investigating officer Jaipal Singh SP (Crime), Patiala Range, appeared before former DGP Anil Kaushik on February 28 and demanded transfer of the probe. Reacting to the office memo of the DGP, the ADGP (Crime) has ordered ‘the investigation of the case be got conducted from SP (D) of Ferozepur district.

After registering the FIR at the police station (Rural) in Ferozepur, the investigation was handed over to the CIA staff, Ferozepur. On January 11, 2010, the chief secretary ordered to conduct the investigation by the vigilance department but on January 22, 2010, the chief secretary issued orders to conduct the probe by the crime branch of the state police. But the local police did not hand over the case file to the crime branch and continued with the probe.

The then District Food and Civil Supplies Controller (DFSC) of Ferozepur Sukhdev Singh, who exposed the scam and lodged the FIR, was arrested along with many other officials of the department. The police presented the challan in the case on February 26, 2010, which was approved by the district attorney but the DIG of Bathinda Range in its report found 12 flaws in the challan and sought permission from the trial court for reinvestigation. Thereafter, a three-member special investigation team headed by the SP (H) of Moga was constituted. Later, the investigation was handed over to the IG, Bathinda Range, and then to the crime branch.

The crime branch arrested many bigwigs of the area, including Jora Singh, a member of the Ferozepur Cantonment Board, Gurbhej Singh, sarpanch of Bahadur Wala village, Sukhdev Singh, a rice miller, and many others and submitted a challan against them in the court so that the trial could begin. However, the DGP has now again changed the investigations. 

The then DFSC Sukhdev Singh claimed that the crime branch has already given a clean chit to him and the application to discharge him from the charges was pending before the trial court.

The change in investigation was likely to hamper the trial of this case, he added.

Mansa girl cracks PCS (J) exam

Mansa, March 30
Rajvir Kaur of village Khaira Kalan in Sardoolgarh sub-division of Mansa district has cracked the PCS judicial exam by securing fifth place in the merit list of SC candidates, released by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

Talking to TNS, 26-year-old Rajvir Kaur said it was her first attempt. She did her graduation from a local private college and then got enrolled with the law department at the Punjabi University, Patiala, for the LLB programme.

“I always wanted to study and make my family proud,” added Rajvir, none of whose family members has studied beyond matric. “In our village where female education is unheard of, my mother and brother motivated me to study and rise higher,” says Rajvir who wants to pursue LLM.

Rajvir used to study for 10 to 12 hours daily and did not opt for any additional coaching classes. — TNS