Jalandhar, July 19
Disappointment at every doorstep and demand for bribe in government offices forced Mandeep Singh, alias Minni, Satwinder Singh, and Saravmeet Singh, all well-qualified youths, to take to crime.

They even approached banks and financial institutions for loan so that they could set up business establishments and earn their livelihood, but the clerical staff here also demanded commission, forcing them to form a gang.

Mandeep Singh, alias Minni, a resident of Ramdas village in Amritsar strict is an MA, LLB from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He was aiming to start his practice and even associated with certain advocates at Chandigarh, but failed to attract clients. Fluent in English, Saravmeet Singh, alias Bawa, a resident of Toot Bangla, in Tarn Taran district, is a BA and postgraduate in computer engineering from Tata Infotech. Satwinder Singh of Gopal Nagar in Amritsar is a graduate in arts. Their agony is the same.

Manni finally formed a gang by roping in Bawa, Satwinder Singh and some other qualified and frustrated youths and opted for robberies, thefts and burglaries as their profession.

The gang was active in Chandigarh, Ropar, Moga, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Anandpur Sahib, Majitha, Amritsar, Pathankot and other parts of the state.

The gang had been actively committing highway robberies and targeting petrol pumps, and snatching luxury vehicles from motorists travelling on highways at the gun-point.

The kingpin of the gang Minni and his aides, , while talking to the Tribune, accused the “corrupt system” and the government “that forced them to take the wrong track”.

The gang landed in police net with the Jalandhar Rural police arresting its six members, Mandeep Singh, alias Minni, Satwinder Singh, Joga Singh, Gurpratap Singh, Gurjinder Singh and Saravmeet Singh - at a naka on the Kartarpur-Bhogpur road in Alampur Bakka village on Wednesday afternoon.

SSP YS Hayer said the accused were involved in 65 cases of robbery, snatching and other petty crime in different police stations.

The police has also recovered Tata Safari (2), Tata Innova (1), Swift (1) and Lancer (1), .32 bore mouser, 315 bore pistol, .32 bore revolver and 7.65 pistol along with 14 live cartridges from their possession. The gang was using the vehicles with fake number plates, the SSP said.

The SSP said a case under Sections 392, 395, 482, 411 and 120-B of the IPC had been registered against them at the Kartarpur police station.

Jalandhar, July 19
Barely had people come to terms with the news of the death of an infant girl in Manjit Nagar that another child has died of diarrhoea in the Basti Gujan area of the city.

Nanhe Kumar (15) died early this morning after suffering from a severe bout of loose motions and vomiting.

The son of a poor daily wage labourer Jawahar Prasad, Nanhe was one of the two sons of Prasad.

A devastated Prasad, who has been living in a run-down shared-quarters compound in Basti Gujan, said, “Nanhe had spent most of his day playing with friends around the Hari Krishna Mandir in the area yesterday. He came home feeling unwell between 8 to 8.30 pm last night. He was vomiting and had loose motions. At about 2 am, we made him take a bath and lie down. But he never got up. At 4 am, we discovered he had died.”

Hailing from Gopalganj in Bihar, Prasad has two sons (one of whom has died) and three daughters (aged 7, 11 and 25).

While his wife lives in his village along with his two daughters (one daughter is married), his other son Gurwinder (18) (also a daily-wage labourer, he quit studies after the 4th standard), was also staying at Jalandhar with him.

Working at Rs 200 a day (that too, not a consistent earning through the month) Prasad and his son barely make ends meet to feed the five-member family.

His economic condition can be gauged from the fact that he did not even have enough money to carry out the last rites of his son.

Neighbourhood do-gooders chipped in with help to complete the last rites of his son.

Sadhu Saran Pandey of Lahoriyan Mohalla, who has been helping the family, said the government and the health department must aptly compensate the labourer.

While an unassertive Prasad did not demand anything, he said even though Nanhe had not eaten or drunk water in the house all day, it was certainly something he drank or ate playing by the locality’s temple that caused his death.

A resident Sadhu Saran Pande said, “Children had been playing near Hari Krishna Mandir and that they might have drunk water from area taps couldn’t be ruled out.”

Even as Nanhe died of symptoms typical to diarrhoea, the medical team in the area was in a denial mode.

Medical Officer Dr Suresh Kumar said, “It wasn’t a diarrhoea death. It was acute abdominal pain that claimed the life of the boy and he had a short period of vomiting and loose motions but it wasn’t diarrhoea.”

Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan also said the child ate something from outside that caused problems for him.

Jalandhar, July 19
A tussle between the owners of two adjacent shops at Panj Peer Chowk took a political turn today with leaders of the SAD and BJP intervening into the matter and calling the police as well as Municipal Corporation officials over the issue.

The petty fight resulted in harassment to the commuters on the congested road as vehicles remained caught in a jam for over one and a half hours.

The issue reportedly started with a BAMS medico Dr Kuldip Behl reportedly getting construction done for erecting a six-foot concrete projection from the first floor of his clinic this morning when his immediate neighbour Bipin Anand, running a plywood and hardware store, objected to it.

As the duo exchanged heated arguments over the matter, former Mayor and Akali leader Suresh Sehgal reached the spot in favour of the doctor. Sehgal also is the brother-in-law of recently elected BJP councillor Suman Sehgal from Ward 18, in which the area falls.

At this, the matter got flared up. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Viney Bublani sent his team, led by Municipal Town Planner (MTP) Tejpreet Singh. Naresh Dogra, ACP, too reached the spot with his police team. Two other recently elected BJP councillors Minta Kochhar and Ram Gopal Gupta, too, reached the spot to patch things up, but to no avail as the twosome went about fighting.

During the entire episode, there remained much chaos on the road outside with vehicles of councillors, MC team and the police further blocking the road. Traffic police cops, too, were called to handle the vehicle movement.

The MTP said he had got the 6-foot extension pulled down with just 2 feet remaining. “Even as any extension of the sort is illegal, the situation had turned sensitive and required to be handled safely. All the shops in the old market have extensions. It became a very difficult situation convincing them to pull down 4 feet of extension for the time being,” he explained.

Jalandhar, July 19
On the directions of the Civil Surgeon, Dr RL Bassan, a team of health officials, comprising District Welfare Officer Dr Aruna and Epidemiologist Dr Satish Kumar, among others, carried out checks at various scanning centres across the city today.

District Welfare Officer Dr Aruna said checks were conducted at Chitra Hospital, Jalandhar Cantt; Kapil Gupta Hospital; Lyle Clinic; Rajkamal Eye Hospital, Rama Mandi; Ashirwaad Hospital, Ladhewali; Goodwill Hospital and Maternity Home, Rama Mandi.

During the checks, the hopitals’ records were checked and irregularities were found in some of the hospitals. Show-cause notices will be issued to hospitals with irregularities.

Jalandhar, July 19
A mere mention of hit Bollywood movies “Maine Pyar Kiya” and “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” by one of the Egyptians was enough to break the ice and start a conversation among a group of foreign nationals and Indian students in the city.

Not only the movies, but also the interest of the foreign nationals in the Indian traditions and culture left them asking for more and exploring them during their visit to the city.

The foreign nationals, around 24 of them, are presently at the CT Group of Institutions on a six-week “One World” programme under the Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), a global youth organisation working for international student exchange and internship programmes.

Students-cum-faculty from countries like Poland, Russia, Denmark, China, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Hungary and Czech Republic would participate in workshops, teach personality development and leadership qualities. The programme started this week.

Sharing her experience of India, Salama from Egypt said more than anything else, she had been fascinated by the zeal and commitment of Indian people as they value relations. “I really want to explore and understand that how people in India, despite differences during their lifetime continue to stay together in families, as friends and as a society. In our country, we don’t have such a close-knit system and everybody grows individually and stays aloof even as a family. Somehow the loving bond of relations is missing there and India is an example to follow,” she added.

She said her understanding of the Indian culture was courtesy her fascination for Bollywood movies. “I wanted to watch the recently released film ‘Cocktail’, but could not go. Apart from this, I also want to celebrate the upcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan as probably there is no such festival across the globe, which celebrates the brother-sister relation,” she added.

Nora Yusri El Falaki, also an Egyptian was gaga over her recent visit to the Golden Temple, Wagah border and the congested old bazaars of Amritsar. “It was amazing to watch people pray as early as 3 am at the temple. We were left spellbound by the beauty and the architecture of the Golden Temple. Moreover the country sides of India and Egypt are very similar,” she said.

Among the foreign nationals was a Poland citizen, Marlena Westfal, who was studying Indology (a subject on Indian history and culture) and has been learning Hindi and Tamil languages. “Mai thodi thodi Hindi janti hu,” she said, when asked about how well versed she was in Hindi.

Although the foreign nationals were excited about their next programme, but they complained of the humid weather, which they termed as “unbearable” and the traffic system in India. “Firstly, the weather has been pretty humid, secondly it was strange to see how people drive in India. The traffic system is actually a chaos,” said Olesia, a faculty member from Russia.

There were some faculty members, who had already visited India, especially major tourist destinations in Delhi, Mumbai and Rajasthan. “It is for the first time that I am visiting this city and I would love to explore every street, bazaars and malls here,” maintained, Alisher, also from Russia, said.

Campus Director Dr PP Singh said the students would be taking regular classes of the college students every day and a module of their daily discussions has also been made. “Our students and the foreign faculty would share and explore each other’s experience during these discussions,” he added.

Jalandhar, July 19
The Anti-Gangster Cell of the city police arrested a person and recovered intoxicating capsules from him.

The accused was identified as Genesh Singh, a resident of New Baldev Nagar. Sukhjit Singh, in charge of the cell, said they had received information that the said person was roaming in the city and carrying some drugs. Acting on a tip-off, a naka was laid at a specific location and after intercepting him, cops nabbed the accused with 800 intoxicating capsules.

The police said the accused was on his way to sell drugs to his client in the city.