NEIGHBOURHOOD

Man dies under mysterious circumstances
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, October 10
Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of khrajpur village near Rajpura, died under mysterious circumstances at his in-laws house at Behra Village today. On the complaint of Surjeet Singh, brother of the victim, the police had registered a case against Simran, wife of the victim, Joginder Singh, father-in-law of the victim and Mehal Singh. All the accused are the residents of Behra village. They are booked under Section 306 of the IPC.

The body of the victim had been handed over to relatives after conducting post-mortem. According to sources Laknwinder and his wife Simram had dispute over some issue and Simran had left her husband's house and was living with her parents for some time. The victim had gone to Behara village to take her wife back but he died there under mysterious conditions. The police had started investigation.

Dera Bassi, October 10
The ATM of State Bank of Patiala, situated on Ambala-Chandigarh highway, Dera Bassi, was found broken today. The ATM counter contains two machines and one of those was found broken.

According to sources a youth entered the counter and managed to open the lower front chamber of the machine with the help of srew drivers, hammer and other equipments but failed to take away the cash. Although high security was deployed inside the bank, yet none of the guards could notice the incident. The pictures of the youth, who was trying to loot the ATM, were captured in the machine cameras.

The bank manager said no loss was reported but machine went out of order. The police has started the investigation.

Panchkula, October 10
In a major breakthrough in the first of its kind ATM theft case that shook the city recently, two persons were arrested by the Panchkula police. Interestingly, in the revelation it has come to be known that one of them, Randhir Singh, was an emigrant to United Kingdom (UK) for about eight years, while the other, Rajeev Shukla, was an ATM cash loader with some Mohali-based company.

While Shukla is a resident of Sector 19, Chandigarh, Singh who had come back from UK in 2009 was residing in Sector 34, Chandigarh, with his family.

It was in the wee hours on September 30 when the two accused cut the ATM cash box open of Axis Bank at Sector-12A, Panchkula, with a gas cutter and stole around Rs 8.31 lakh from it. While retrieving the booty from the ATM, the thieves pasted leaves on the lens of the CCTV cameras installed in the room and put a board “ATM not in service” to ensure that no one entered the room.

“In fact, this idea had struck Rajeev seven to eight months ago that a gas cutter can help them open the ATM cash box. But Randhir was not convinced and he tried to use the same formula with another friend at two ATMs in Dera Bassi,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Adarshdeep Singh.

He further added, “The idea worked and they managed to steal around Rs 20,000 from one ATM cash box.”

Randhir and his accomplice could not be arrested by the Mohali police. Randhir and Rajesh then planned to rob the ATM cash box of Axis bank.

The duo tried to commit the crime on September 26 but could not be successful as they felt that still a number of shops around the ATM were open. The duo had come in a Honda city car to commit the crime.

“Randhir had moved to UK in 2001 and was working at a bakery shop there. But he came back to India in 2009. Lure of easy money urged him to the commit crime,” said another police official.

The accused were produced in the court today and have been sent to police remand of six days.

Mohali, October 10
The police arrested two more accused for the rape of a minor at Teur village today. The accused have been identified as Simranvir Singh, alias Sunny (19), and Rajveer Singh, alias Samy (21). Both the accused are class XII students and residents of Desumajra village. Both were among the five youngsters who had allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl after taking her to a tubewell store in a field at Teur village.

The police had already arrested Jaspreet Singh and Jagpreet Singh, both residents of Mundi Kharar, on Saturday. The fifth accused, Maninder Singh, who is also a student of class XII is still at large. Notably, one of the youngsters had taken the victim to the tubewell store where he along with his four friends raped the girl.

The victim alleged that she was on her way to school when Jaspreet Singh had offered her lift on his motorcycle. She alleged that she was forcibly taken to the village where she was detained for over six hours by the accused. A case under Sections 376 G, 363 and 366 A has been registered against the accused at the Kharar Police Station (sadar).

Chandigarh, October 10
Three more cases of eve-teasing and outraging the modesty of a girl were reported last night.

In the first case, a girl hailing from Punjab alleged that driver of an Alto car number CH-01-AL-4439, sped away after eve-teasing her near ISBT-17, on October 9. The alleged accused Jaspal of Dera Bassi was arrested and later on released on bail. A case of eve teasing was registered at Sector 17 police station.

In another incident, a woman resident alleged that an unknown person threatened on a mobile phone and outraging her modesty. A case of criminal intimidation (506) (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (509) of IPC was registered at Sector-26 police station on October 9. Meanwhile, a city girl alleged that three boys, occupants of motorcycle number HR-08J-5327, sped away after trying to outrage her modesty near the Sector-32-33 and 45-46 roundabout. A case was registered at Sector-34 police station.

Chandigarh, October 10
Four months after four tourists staying at a guesthouse in Sector 22 were found drugged and robbed, the UT police has arrested an accused in the case of robbery and cheating under Sections 328,380 and 420 of the IPC.

The police arrested Talwinder Singh, a resident of Jalandhar, in the case. He was brought on production warrants and was taken by the Delhi Police where he committed a similar crime.

The case was registered on June 3 when four tourists, including two women, from Bengaluru, were found in an unconscious state at Star guest house in Sector 22. They were identified as Anna Malia, Anna Natarajan, John Dash and Muthu Malai.

Police investigations revealed that they were summoned to the city by Talwinder who made false promises of their easy migration to Canada. He offered them coffee laced with sedative and after they became unconscious he robbed them of lakhs. Sub Inspector Ram Rattan, in-charge, Sector 22 police post, said the accused had committed similar crimes by duping tourists in Kharar and Delhi as well.

Mohali, October 10
The Mohali police today arrested three persons from Moga for allegedly abducting an employee of an immigration consultancy service.

The police arrested accused Bhagwan Singh, Mohan and Beant Singh for kidnapping Dilbagh Singh, an employee with Gagandeep Singh, an immigration consultant at Phase III-B 2 here.

All the accused were arrested from Tapa Mandi (Sangrur). Dilbagh Singh was found from their Santro car.

Chandigarh, October 10
Panjab University’s apathy towards its players was witnessed when its tennis players received substandard T-shirts and shorts without any stockings or shoes during the Inter-College Tennis Competition for Women (A-division). Making matter worse, the department has distributed men’s kit to the female players.

“The officials have only one answer for us, ‘everything is out of stock’. We received substandard T-shirts and shorts and on the top of it, they have provided us men’s attire. When we asked for the medium-sized kits, they said the only size available is extra-large. No stockings or shoes have been given to us and now that the tournament is over,” said a tennis player seeking anonymity.

Another player said, “The material is not up to the mark. Our sports attire should bear the institution’s name. It is the sole identity.”

Not only this, the soccer team of the university is still waiting for stockings, shin-guards and studs. The team is also waiting for its awarded camp-diet money. Notably, the tournament was conducted last month and it was reported in the same columns that the kits provided to the team was without jersey and short numbers. Sources said the department is yet to receive the purchased stock, which is leading to the delay in providing.

A soccer player said, “The team is yet to receive stockings, shin-guards and studs. The officials provided us with substandard studs while the shin guards and stockings were said to be out-of-stock. Later, our coach added that they have ordered a new stock of studs and other material and that we should wait for it. Till date, we have not received our camp-diet money.”

On other hand, passing the buck on Director Sports, PU, said he has nothing to do with it and that the Assistant Director Physical Education, PU campus, is the person who is suppose to look into the matter.

“The kits and diet department is with Rakesh Malik (Assistant Director, PU campus),” said Gurmeet Singh, director sports (Additional Charge).

When contacted, Rakesh Malik said, “I am not authorised to give any comment on any issue. It is the director sports, who will comment on the issue.”

Short of officiating staff

After drawing flake for providing substandard kits to the player, the Directorate of Sports also faced criticism in organising the tennis tournament for women.

Allegation is that the matches are on without adequate officiating staff. There is only one chair umpire heading the matches. There is no ball boys appointed to help the players. Many parents also opposed the approach of the officials.

When asked, the director sports said, “Nothing of that sought is happening. The capable staff is there. It might have happened that officiating staff has left the ground once or twice for some reason.”

According to rules, an umpire is appointed along with other assistants, including lines persons, net-cord judges, foot-fault judges and five more judges, to judge the matches.

Chandigarh, October 10
The Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) has started off well against Punjab during the final match of 2nd All India Invitational Cricket (U-19) Tournament for Dhruv Pandove Trophy being held here today.

The MPCA scored a total of 257 runs after losing 4 wickets on the first day of the final. Openers Mukul Raghav and Atul Tiwari notched up 44 runs for the first wicket when Amritpal Singh had Mukul for 36 off 38. Atul was joined by skipper Shubham Sharma and the duo put on 52 runs for the 2nd wicket before Amritpal struck again and took Atul for 27 off 58, inclusive of 3 boundaries and a six.

Medium pacer Amritpal took the third wicket after grabbing Abhishek (0). Ashutosh Singh and Shubham Sharma added 66 runs for the 4th wicket before Shubham was caught by spinner Abhilash Sharma for 64 runs. Later, Ashutosh Singh and Anuj Kumar stabled team’s innings and added 93 runs for the unbroken 5th wicket stand. Ashutosh (77) and Anuj (48) will open team’s innings tomorrow.

Brief scores

MPCA-257 for 4 in 93 overs (Mukul Raghav 36, Atul Tiwari 27, Shubham Sharma 64, Ashutosh Singh 77 not out, Anuj Kumar 48 not out Amritpal Singh 3 for 98, Abhilash Sharma 1 for 53).

Chandigarh, October 10
The handball team of Panjab University won the Inter-College Handball (Men) Championship held here today. In the final of the tourney, the team defeated SGGS College, Sector 26. The team of GGD SD College, Sector 32, finished second while SGGS College, Chandigarh, and Govind National College, Narangwal, secured third and fourth positions respectively.

Results

PU Campus, Chandigarh bt SGGS College, Chandigarh (Score:27-21 ); GGD SD College, Chandigarh, bt GN College, Narangwal (Score:29-20 )

Chandigarh, October 10
The soccer team of St Anne's School, Sector 32, defeated Shishu Nikaten School by 3-2 during the ongoing St Xavier’s Six ‘a’ Side Soccer Tournament for Boys (U-14) being held here today.

In another match, the St Soldier’s School, Sector 28, defeated St Xavier's, Mohali, by 3-2. Results: Strawberry Fields-26 bt Chitkara International; Shishu Niketan-43 bt St Xavier’s High School, Panchkula by 3-1. –– TNS