R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Death penalty: Dal Khalsa moves UN : The Dal Khalsa has approached the United Nations seeking an end to death penalty. A three-member delegation led by party’s secretary for human rights Prithpal Singh Khalsa met Safir Syed, officer in the Civil Society section of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and submitted a memorandum in this regard. Manmohan Singh from the UK and Dalip Singh from Switzerland accompanied Khalsa.The delegation told the UN officials that 139 countries had already abolished death penalty and 150 nations had put a moratorium on it. 

Bathinda
BFGI to felicitate Maluka today: Baba Farid Group of Institutions is hosting a function on Friday to felicitate Punjab's new Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka. BFGI said the ceremony will be a select gathering. Invitations have been sent to the heads of various government and private education institutions, prominent doctors from Bathinda, Mansa, Malout and Muktsar.

CHANDIGARH

2 injured in accident: Two persons were injured after a military truck rammed into their motorcycles near Sectors 20 - 30 light-point here this afternoon. The injured were identified as Rakesh and his wife and Shiv Charan. Police said the truck driver Udayveer was moving towards Sector 30 when he hit the motorcycles of Rakesh and Shiv Charan. They lost their control on the motorbikes and fell on road. A passerby informed the police, who took the victims to the GMCH-32.

Policeman to be rewarded: The Chandigarh Police constable Satinder Singh today received appreciation, as he returned a bag containing a mobile phone, Rs 610, an ATM card and some documents to Manbir Kaur, a resident of Sector 23, Chandigarh. Satinder Singh found a woman’s purse lying on road in Sector 23 and passed on the information to the PCR, which directed him to deposit it at the police post, Sector 22. After searching the purse, the police contacted the woman and handed over all items to her. DSP/PCR Roshan Lal has recommended Satinder’s name for CC Class-I along with a suitable cash reward.

HARYANA

Kaithal
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association, Kaithal: president - Subhash Chugh; vice- president-Ravinder Tanwar; secretary- Surinder Kundu; joint secretary- Pardeep Dhull; and treasurer- Brijesh Rana.

Rewari
3 gangsters held:The police has arrested three gangsters, including a juvenile offender, who looted Rs 400 and a mobile phone from a tempo operator on Tuesday. The accused were identified as Renu, Akash and Vikky. A local court on Thursday remanded Renu and Akash to 14-day judicial custody while Vikky was sent to a juvenile home.

Sirsa
Judicial custody: Four young couples, who were arrested from a guesthouse on Wednesday, were sent to judicial custody by a local court on Thursday. The police produced them before CJM Naresh Singhal, who remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days. The police had arrested them in a raid on a guesthouse near the railway overbridge.

Bar poll: Randhir Kadodha was elected president of the District Bar Association, defeating his nearest rival, Ajit Solanki, with a thin margin of 11 votes. Besides, Rajesh Yadav, Sarvesh Gehlaut and Chitar Raj Sharma were elected vice-president, secretary and joint secretary, respectively.

Sonepat
Bar association: Rajiv Dahiya was elected president of the Sonepat Bar Association, defeating sitting president Mastan Sharma by 25 votes. Ashok Malik and Roopa Kaushik were elected vice-president and secretary, respectively, of the association. While Sunder Singh was elected joint secretary, Mani Ram was chosen as treasurer. Similarly, Jai Singh Bhanwala was elected president of the Gohana Bar Association. Others elected were Pankaj Jain(vice-president), Hardeep (secretary) and Rajiv Chopra (joint secretary).

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Boy arrested on rape charge: The police at Barmana has arrested Sanjay Kumar of Saai Brahamana village, near here, on charges of kidnapping and raping a minor girl of the same area. The 14-year-old girl’s father had lodged an FIR following the disappearance of his daughter since March 31. The police recovered the girl from Rampur after the accused had left her when he learnt that the police was looking for him. The girl has been medically examined which confirmed the rape charge. 

Crusher owner gets one-year jail: Abhay Mandyal, Judicial Magistrate, at Ghumarwin, has found crusher owner Harsha Kumar guilty of illegal extraction of stones from the Seer khud at Kasohl village near Ghumarwin and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for one year and an additional fine of Rs 5,000. In case of failure to pay the fine, he would have to under go additional imprisonment for other three days. 

Tantrik accused of kidnapping girl: A tantrik is said to have kidnapped and fled with a girl whom he was “treating” for for her psychological condition for the past some months. Reports said the Shah Talai police was searching for tantric Shravan Singh of Theh village in Dhar Kot as he too was be missing since the day the girl (21) was missing. The mother suspected that she might have been lured by the tantric. 

SHIMLA
Inquiry panel gets more time: The state government has extended the term of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to enquire into benami land transactions and issuance of essentiality certificates with respect to land transactions. An official spokesman said here on Tuesday that the term of the Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice (retd) DP Sood, has been extended from April 1 to May 31, 2012. However, the terms and conditions of the Commission of Inquiry will remain the same. 

SOLAN
Chinese in Chail school curriculum: Rashtriya Military School (RMS), Chail, is introducing Chinese in its curriculum from the current academic session as a foreign language subject.Col AS Paul and Principal Lt-Col Arun Kulkarni said the RMS, Chail, which was spread across a 1,550-acre campus, was introducing this language as a pilot project. The officials said the school was using technology to aid education with digitalisation of classrooms with state-of-the-art interactive smart boards. The RMS, Chail, is also the oldest English medium military residential school in the Asia. 

DEHRADUN

Exams deferred: Due to the ongoing agitation by the teaching and non-teaching staff and students of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, the annual examinations of the university have been postponed till further orders. According to officials, the examinations which were postponed till April 7 have now been postponed till further orders.

Gold chain snatched near Badripur Colony:Two motorcycle-borne boys snatched a gold chain of 70-year Kamla Devi, resident of Nehru Colony, on Thursday near Badripur Colony. She had gone to see her married daughter at Raipur and was returning home with her son. It was on the way near Badripur Colony when two boys whizzed past on a motorcycle and snatched the chain of Kamla Devi. Later she and her son raised the alarm but the boys had already disappeared from the scene.

Cop's wife booked in murder case: Panuli Devi, sister of Inspector Ram Lal Arya who was burnt to death by his wife Radha Arya on April 1, has filed an FIR against Radha for allegedly killing his brother. She and brothers of Ram Lal Arya had been cursing Radha when she had gone to attend the cremation of her husband in Delhi where he succumbed to burn injuries at Safdarjung Hospital.

Skeleton found at Raipur: A skeleton was found at Raipur while digging up a ground on a road side for a drain. The police has conducted the ‘panchnama’ of the skeleton and is investigating into the matter. The people of the area were shocked when the skeleton was found. The police covered it with a piece of cloth. SHO Ravi Kumar said he would consult experts to assess about the period when the body was buried.

Kumaon Briefs
Man crushed to death by elephants:An old man was crushed to death by a group of rampaging elephants in Khatima area of Udham Singh Nagar district. It is learnt that 62-year-old Amar Singh of Majhaula village was collecting firewood in the forest along with his wife when he was attacked by a group of pachyderms. His wife managed to escape while the elephants went on to kill him after repeatedly lifting him with their trunks and throwing him down on the ground. The villagers managed to retrieve his body late on Wednsday evening.

Rape of minor:A case of alleged rape of a minor has come to light from Ladfoda village of the remote Dhari block of Nainital district. It has been alleged that three brothers from the village had been sexually exploiting a 17-year-old girl. It has been charged that one of the brothers had an affair with the victim and had promised to marry her after having established physical relations with her. However, he evaded the issue whenever she confronted him. Meanwhile, his two brothers, too, went on to exploit her sexually. The suspects in the matter are Ratan Prakash, Suresh Chandra and Dinesh Chandra. The matter is being probed by the Revenue Police.

2 killed in accidents:Two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in separate accidents reported from Sitarganj area of Udham Singh Nagar district. In the first instance, 12-year-old Irfan of Puranpur locality of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh was killed when he was run over by a bus near Navin Mandi. The boy had come to Sitarganj along with his mother Kamarjahan to visit some relatives. In the second instance a truck driver identified as Bhuvan Chandra Pande of Rampur Road area of Haldwani was killed when the truck that he was driving collided with a trawler. The accident took place on Khatima-Panipat national highway.

Two shops destroyed in fire:Two shops located in Sanjay Nagar area of Rudrapur were gutted when a fire broke out in the area. While one of the gutted shops functioned as a photo studio, the second was a medical clinic. The cause of the fire is being assumed to be a short circuit. The neighbouring shopkeepers tried to retrieve some of the equipment for the two shops but failed. The losses are being tabulated.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)