R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandigarh
BJP executive meet on May 6:Bharatiya Janata Party state unit president and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma has convened a two-day meeting of the state executive on May 6 and 7 at Ludhiana. BJP general secretary Kamal Sharma said party president Nitin Gadkari would be the chief guest at the Karyakarta Abhinandan Sammelan to be held on the concluding day. 

HARYANA

Kurukshetra
Man arrested: The police has arrested Pragat Singh of Kumhar Majra near Pratapgarh on the GT Road under the Arms Act for possessing fire arms. A country-made pistol and a cartridge have been recovered from his possession. The district police chief said he was produced in a court and remanded to three-day police custody. 

Four held: Four persons have been arrested under the Gambling Act. Around Rs 17,150 has been recovered from their possession. They have been identified as Suresh Kumar, Ranjeet Singh, Ravi and Neeraj, all residents of Ismailabad, according to a police spokesman.

Rewari
Cheques given: Shyam Yadav, chairman of the Nahar Block Samiti, distributed cheques worth Rs 33.60 lakh among 96 beneficiaries, all belonging to the Scheduled Castes of the Indira Awas Yojna, at Nahar village on Monday. He said it was the first instalment of Rs 35,000 each for the construction of their houses and a second instalment of Rs 10,000 each would be made available to them in due course.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Batote
Soldier falls into gorge, dies: A soldier of the Rashtriya Rifles died when he slipped into a deep gorge in Kishtwar last evening. Sources in the police said after receiving the information about the presence of militants in the Cherji jungle in Kishtwar, an ambush was laid by a joint column of the Rashtriya Rifles and the police. During the ambush naik Rajesh Kumar slipped down the hill into a gorge and died.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Ex-Army man  held for rape: An exserviceman, Arvind, 35, of Ogal Bhatta at Clement Town was arrested for raping 22-year daughter of his tenant on Sunday. He is married and has two children. It was on Sunday at 7 in the evening when the girl came out of her room, he dragged her to a room at the top floor and raped her. He was drunk at that time. The girl then disclosed the matter to his parents who called the police which arrested Arvind on the spot. Later, the girl was also made to undergo medical examination. The accused refused from raping her.

The victim is working at a factory in Selaqui. Her father is a labour at a factory of woollen items in Rishikesh. Her 27-year brother Surender also works at a grocery store on Subhash Road. After this incident, the neighbours too gathered at the house and demanded for the immediate arrest of the accused.

Engg student ends life: A youth Vijit committed suicide by hanging himself with a fan on Sunday night in his rented room at Bhood village. He was a student of B.Tech-III at University of Petroleum. It came to light when his tiffinwala came to hand over his tiffin. He knocked at several times at the door but Vijit did not open. Then he called the owner of the house. They called the police who broke open the door and found Vijit hanging from a fan with the help of a bedsheet. He did not leave any suicide note. His friends too could not tell much except this that he was keeping to himself for last few days. His father had reached from  Ram Nagar. 

Kumaon Briefs

2 youths drowned: Two youths lost their lives by drowning in separate instances reported from Kumaon. In the first instance reported from Jhulaghat area of Pithoragarh district, 25-year-old Dinesh Kumar, who was a student pursuing a course in technology, was drowned in the waters of the Kali river at Ghopataya. He was bathing in the river along with some other students who had gone there in a group. His body is yet to be found. In the second instance 25-year-old Umesh Kumar of Padli village was drowned in the waters of Shipra river near Garampani in Nainital district. Both the instances took place on Sunday afternoon.

Taxi driver was found murdered: A taxi driver was found murdered in Majhkhali area of Almora district. According to sources, the body of 28-year-old Vijay Singh Bisht was found dumped in a culvert. It is learnt that he was returning home with some passengers after visiting his ailing father at a hospital in Haldwani. His body was recovered by the Revenue Police on Sunday. Postmortem analysis has revealed that he was hit by a sharp-edged weapon. His vehicle was found near the spot. Police investigations are on in the matter.

One held after encounter: The police in Kashipur area of Udham Singh Nagar has arrested a member of local municipal body after an encounter on late Saturday night. The police claims to have recovered two countrymade pistols and some cartridges from Satish alias Mintu Chaudhary. Sources say that the police had conducted a raid at his house in Vijay Nagar locality following a tip-off that several antisocial elements had gathered there. Chaudhary allegedly fired at the police party before he was nabbed. A case has been registered against him.

Two killed in accident: Two persons were killed when the motorcycle on which they were traveling was hit by a trawler in Gadarpur area of Udham Singh Nagar district. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon. The deceased have been identified as Jogendra Singh of BIlaspur and and his mother-in-law Kanti Devi of Tejfauja locality of Gadarpur. The two along with Kanti Devi's daughter Neelam had gone to the market for purchasing medicines. Neelam sustained injuries in the incident. The driver of the trawler fled from the spot after the accident.

Body recovered: A dead body of a youth has been recovered from near the Sharda barrage in Tanakpur area of Champawat district. The body was found on Sunday on the road going to Brahmdev in Nepal. The deceased is yet to be identified. He is said to be in his mid-twenties and appears to be hailing from the hill areas. Further investigations are on in the matter.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna).