NEIGHBOURHOOD

Woman commits suicide
Our Correspondent

Davinder Puri, a brother of victim, had alleged that Neetu’s in-laws used to harass her and they demanded dowry. She had informed him that she would end her life soon.

Two killed, one hurt in accident

Two persons were killed and one seriously injured when an ambulance rammed into a parked truck on the Ambala- Chandigarh highway, near Lalru, in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Deceased were identified as Iftkhar Ahmed and Isha Begam, residents of Sharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

They were heading for Chandigarh from Sharanpur Isha Begam was taking treatment from PGI. She died on the spot. Her body had been kept at the civil hospital, Dera Bassi. Other victim Ifthkar Ahmed today succumbed to injuries in GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh.

Driver of the ambulance was being treated in GMCH but his condition was also stated to be serious. The police had registered a case against unidentified truck driver who fled from the spot.

Ropar, November 7
A government doctor running a private clinic today had a lucky escape when he left the place before Punjab Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Health) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu could catch him red-handed, here.

She told mediapersons that she was in the town to conduct a raid to catch government doctors, who are illegally running private clinics.

Mediapersons accompanied her and moved towards the old town to catch one of such doctors. She remained in touch with her sources on the phone. But she failed to catch the doctor red-handed. She, however, left the town without divulging the name of the doctor under the scanner.

On August 31, Sidhu posed as a patient named “Nafisa” and caught Dr Sameer Kaushal, who was running a private hospital in Mohali while he was supposed to be officially posted in Sangrur district.

Kalka, November 7
Taking a serious note of mushrooming of unauthorised colonies on agricultural lands (which falls under the Periphery Act) in the recent years, the department of Town and Country Planning has decided to conduct a check on the registries in case of sale of agricultural land of less than 2.5 acres.

District Town Planner Hitesh Sharma said the department has recently sent a proposal in this context to the higher authorities.

After getting the approval for it from the authorities concerned, a notification regarding this would be sent to Kalka Tehsil.

Experts opined that the entries of sale of agricultural land should be entered with the Revenue Department on the basis of Khasra numbers. — OC

Chandigarh, November 7
Within 48 hours after a hotel manager from Bangaluru, Dhiresh Shah, was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 20 lakh, the UT Police rescued the manager from a hotel in Ambala and arrested three persons in the case while the other three, including a girl, are absconding.

The police said a girl employed as a dancer at his hotel along with her husband hatched the entire conspiracy to kidnap the manager.

The police arrested Ajay Verma, Ashok Kumar and manager of an Ambala-based hotel Devki Nandan while the remaining three, including Kajal, her husband Vijay and Amit, are yet to be arrested. The prime accused Kajal and Vijay, who are members of a dance troupe, had a dispute with the hotel manager over a deal of Rs 3 lakh following which they planned to kidnap him. They called the manager to Chandigarh for selecting dancers for his hotel.

Giving details, DSP Satbir Singh said 50-year-old Dhiresh Shah, manager of Nandi Hotel in Damlur, Bangaluru, came to Chandigarh by air on November 4 for a business deal.

"He reached Chandigarh airport at around noon on that day. At 8 pm he made a distress call to his assistant manager Mohan at Bangaluru from his mobile phone and told him that he was in trouble as he was detained by some persons who were demanding a sum of Rs 20 lakh from him for his release," he said.

The police added that at 11 pm then, owner of the hotel Thimma Reddy Gouda received a call from Dhiresh's mobile and he was told by the person not to disclose it to the police or any other persons and asked to arrange money for his manager's release.

One Amit also called up another hotel manager Gobind informing him about Dhiresh's detention.

Thimma then reached Chandigarh on November 6 and lodged a complaint with the police.

The crime branch of the UT Police began investigation into the case and the location of the mobile phones being used by the callers was traced to Ambala Cantonment.

The police team reached Ambala and found that the kidnappers had detained Dhiresh Shah in Abhinandan Hotel situated in Ambala Cantt.

The accused, Ajay Verma and Ashok Kumar, were arrested. The manager of Abhinandan Hotel Devki Nandan was also arrested.

Chandigarh, November 7
The Vigilance Cell of the UT Police today registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy against a former president of the sweeper union of MoH (Medical Officer of Health) of the Chandigarh municipal corporation. The union members are in the dock for duping a large number of dependants of dead employees on the pretext of providing jobs.

The police arrested a sweeper (safai sewak), Seva Singh Bedi, who was assistant to former president of the Sweeper Union Zile Singh. The police said Zile Singh was also an accused in the case and was yet to be arrested.

A case under Sections 420, 120-B of the IPC and Section 13 (i) d and 13 (ii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the sweeper union of MoH.

The police said the union leaders used to contact immediate dependants after the death of the MC employees and lure them into providing jobs. They used to take Rs 50,000.

However, they never provided them with jobs and a large number of complaints against the union members were received at the Vigilance Cell.

Inspector Dulip Rattan said more members of the sweeper union would be arrested in the case.

Panchkula, November 7
In another case of theft, a boy stole a bag, containing jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh, from an engagement party at Peninsula Hotel, Sector VIII, last night. "The CCTV footage revealed that a boy, who was a teenager, was going out of the hotel with the bag," sources said.

The police has registered a case under Section 380 of the IPC . According to sources, the engagement ceremony of Sector 10 resident Punit Goswami was going on when the incident occurred. Punit's mother, Madhu Goswami was talking to someone when she found that the bag had gone missing. Later, the CCTV footage revealed that the boy had stolen the bag.

Chandigarh, November 7
The two-day 45th Central Revenue Sports Meet (North Zone) was held at various venues in Chandigarh. Parmod Tiwary and Suman Devi of Kanpur/ Allahabad sub-zone were adjudged best athletes in the men and women categories, respectively.

In cricket, Central Excise, Chandigarh, beat Central Excise, Indore, by 57 runs.

Gurinder Singh scored 50 runs and Bhupinder Singh was named man of the match who made 30 runs and took two wickets. In hockey, Central Excise, Chandigarh, beat Customs, Delhi, 3-1.

In football, Central Excise, Chandigarh, beat Income Tax, Delhi, 3-0. In volleyball, Customs, Delhi, beat Central Excise, Chandigarh. In kabaddi, Income Tax, Delhi, beat Central Excise, Chandigarh, 24-21. In basketball, Central Excise, Jaipur, emerged winners. Besides, four International players, Gurdish Pal Singh (hockey), Kewal Krishan (gymnastics), Chanranjit Lal (football) and Bhupinder Singh (cricket) were given lifetime achievement award. Jaspal Singh, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, NWR, Chandigarh, was the chief guest.