J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Robbers’ gang busted, 6 arrested
Phagwara, August 22
The police busted an inter-district gang of the robbers and arrested six members of the gang near Guru Nanak Nagar on Tuesday night. The police has seized two country-made pistols, two live cartridges and sharp-edged weapons from them.

SHO suspended as criminals escape from police lockup
Phagwara, August 22
After suspending Sub-Inspector Sukhjinder Singh, Head Constable Rajpal Singh and santri Harmesh Lal of Rawalpindi Police Station, Kapurthala SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar has suspended SHO Rawalpindi Police Shiv Kamal Dev Singh for the negligence in performing his duty, which led to the escape of two accused, identified as Suresh Kumar Yadav and Chhata Nishant, from the police lockup at Rawalpindi Police Station on August 10.

Two die of electrocution
Tarn Taran, August 22
Two persons died of electrocution in the district. In the first incident, a farm labourer, identified as Jagtar Singh Kala (35) of Biharipur village, died of electrocution. He was working as assistant with former sarpanch Amarjit Singh.

Rs 1.2 lakh snatched
Hoshiarpur, August 22
Three persons snatched Rs 1.20 lakh and 10 mobile phones from Gurpreet Singh of Khudda on Tuesday night.

Three injured in group clash
Hoshiarpur, August 22
Three persons belonging to two groups were injured in a clash that took place over a dispute over money at Tanda Urmur town on Tuesday evening.

Tax row: Railway, excise officials meet
Bathinda, August 22
Following allegations of non-cooperation levelled by excise officials against the railway authorities, a meeting was held today to sort out the matter. The meeting was attended by the Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) of Ambala and Ferozepur and the Excise and Taxation Commissioner of Punjab.

Revenue Minister lashes out at Congress MP
Amritsar, August 22
Punjab Revenue and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today lashed out at Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa for sympathising and expressing concern for the farmers of the Majha belt and termed it as a mere “political stunt”.

Robbers’ gang busted, 6 arrested

  SHO suspended as criminals escape from police lockup

Phagwara, August 22
After suspending Sub-Inspector Sukhjinder Singh, Head Constable Rajpal Singh and santri Harmesh Lal of Rawalpindi Police Station, Kapurthala SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar has suspended SHO Rawalpindi Police Shiv Kamal Dev Singh for the negligence in performing his duty, which led to the escape of two accused, identified as Suresh Kumar Yadav and Chhata Nishant, from the police lockup at Rawalpindi Police Station on August 10.

Phagwara SP Harkamalprert Singh Khakh said that a departmental enquiry had been ordered in the case.

Two accused were arrested with fake currency of Rs 49,500 near Rawalpindi on August 9. But they escaped from the police lockup of Rawalpindi Police Station in the wee hours on on August 10. It was learnt Surinder Yadav, who was a mason by profession, uprooted a tap and few bricks inside the lockup and managed to escape under the cover of darkness. — OC

  Two die of electrocution

Tarn Taran, August 22
Two persons died of electrocution in the district. In the first incident, a farm labourer, identified as Jagtar Singh Kala (35) of Biharipur village, died of electrocution. He was working as assistant with former sarpanch Amarjit Singh.

He had just switched on the tubewell when he touched a live wire. He died on the spot. The post-mortem examination was conducted at the local Civil Hospital today.In the second incident, Jassa Singh of Dhun Dhai Wala village, under the jurisdiction of Chohla Sahib police station, died when he was connecting his mobile phone with the charger. — OC

  Rs 1.2 lakh snatched

Hoshiarpur, August 22
Three persons snatched Rs 1.20 lakh and 10 mobile phones from Gurpreet Singh of Khudda on Tuesday night.

Police sources said Gurpreet Singh, who was running a money changer shop at Adda Alampur, and his brother, who had a mobile repair shop, were returning to their house after closing their shops. On the way, three persons appeared before them and snatched the cash and valuables at weapon point. The Dasuya police has registered a case under sections 382 and 34 of the IPC. — OC

  Three injured in group clash
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, August 22
Three persons belonging to two groups were injured in a clash that took place over a dispute over money at Tanda Urmur town on Tuesday evening.

Police sources said Kahan Singh and his nephew Paramjit Singh of Ward 2, Tanda Urmur, sustained bullet injuries in the clash and were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur. Dr Anil Mohindra, Senior Medical Officer of the Civil Hospital, said the condition of both the injured was under control.

From the other group, Naresh Puri of Ward 2, Ahiyapur, was wounded and was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Tanda.

It was reported that Paramjit Singh and Neeraj Puri jointly made a deal for a piece of land. Paramjit Singh allegedly gave money to Neeraj Puri and told him to hand it over to the land owner to get the deal finalised in their favour. Instead of getting the deal finalised in favour of Paramjit Singh, Neeraj Puri got it made in his name. When Paramjit Singh and his uncle Kahan Singh came to know about this fact, they went to Neeraj Puri to get their money back. When they reached there, a scuffle took place between uncle-nephew duo and Neeraj Puri’s group. The groups fired gunshots against each other.

The Tanda police has booked Neeraj Puri, Jassa Pandit, Sunny Pandit, Bagga, of Ward 7, Tanda, under Section 307 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.

  Tax row: Railway, excise officials meet

Bathinda, August 22
Following allegations of non-cooperation levelled by excise officials against the railway authorities, a meeting was held today to sort out the matter. The meeting was attended by the Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) of Ambala and Ferozepur and the Excise and Taxation Commissioner of Punjab.

Providing respite to the DRMs, the court of the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Joint Director, Investigation, Faridkot and Ferozepur Divisions, ordered the release of their salary.

Rs 500 each from the salary of the DRMs and two other senior railway functionaries was attached by the commissioner's court a few days ago.

The railway officials also submitted an affidavit wherein they assured every possible help and cooperation to the excise officials as per the prescribed rules and regulations.

"We have been relieved from the orders of salary attachment following the assurance to cooperate with the excise officials. Now the matter stands resolved. All the pending issues too would be sorted out," said Naresh Goyal, DRM, Ferozepur Division, after attending the meeting.

He said railway officials agreed to provide the documents pertaining to the import of taxable goods through various trains at different railway stations. "Though we cannot provide the details of the past seven years, we did agree on giving the details of the goods imported since January 2012," Goyal said. — TNS

Revenue Minister lashes out at Congress MP
Terms his sympathy for Majha belt farmers a political stunt
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 22
Punjab Revenue and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today lashed out at Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa for sympathising and expressing concern for the farmers of the Majha belt and termed it as a mere “political stunt”.

In a release issued here, Majithia said the utterances of Bajwa were aimed at grabbing the presidentship of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Had he been genuinely concerned with the welfare of the farming community of the border areas of Majha, he would have raised his voice in the Parliament where he was the elected representative.

Youth Akali Dal president also pointed out that the Congress-led UPA government had already been accused of being involved in a series of scams causing loss to the tunes of thousands of crores to the country.

Questioning the intention of the UPA government for accusing the Punjab government of misappropriation of funds, he said the government, which was responsible for the loot of natural resources like coal mines and gas fields, could never make direct payment to the suffering farming community in an honest way.

He said the government was making desperate attempts to compensate its agents financially.

Criticising Punjab Congress leaders for their criminal silence on the issue of ignoring Punjab from the already announced Rs 1,900-crore Central drought relief package, Majithia ridiculed their latest outcry for direct payment to farmers.

He said it was the Punjab government which has led the nation in providing free power for the farming sector and due to deficit rains in the ongoing monsoon session it has spent Rs 7,000 crore from its own kitty to purchase power for further supplying it to farmers.

He said the people of Punjab were intelligent enough to understand the anti-Punjab stance of Punjab Congress leader and they had made their intentions clear by voting in favour of the SAD-BJP in Punjab Vidhan Sabha and then in Municipal Corporation elections.