NEIGHBOURHOOD

Three booked for illegal sand mining

Dera Bassi, November 30
The Lalru police booked three persons for illegal sand mining today. All the accused were sent to 14 day judicial custody by the local court. Tractor and trolleys, loaded with sand, were seized by the police. 

The accused were identified as Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Fatehgarh Jatwar, Ambala district, Daljeet Singh, a resident of Raiwali village, Ambala district, Surjeet Singh, a resident of Raiwali village, Ambala, Haryana. The accused were booked under Section 379 and the Mining Act. They were bringing sand from the Tangri river in Haryana. They were nabbed near a check post in Lalru. — OC

Chandigarh, November 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the operation of a letter dated November 14 asking Punjab IAS officer BK Srivastava to vacate a government house in Sector 24, here.

The letter was issued by the Secretary, House Allotment Committee, canceling the allotment of the government house with effect from November 1, with direction to the IAS officer to vacate it.

Challenging the order, Srivastava had sought the High Court’s intervention to stay the operation of the order during the pendency of his matter before a Division Bench of the High Court. He had added that the house was allotted to him in 2000 and he was staying in it ever since then.

Srivastava was the chairman of the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training, but the Punjab Government decided to take charge of the post from him. The state government had, in fact, vide its order dated April 20, directed Srivastva to take over as financial commissioner, appeals. However, Srivastva approached the high court.

The 1977-batch IAS officer had submitted that as per Section 21 of the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training Act, 1992, the minimum tenure of posting of a director was three years. However, he had been transferred just a month after taking charge as the board chairman.

Chandigarh, November 30
A gang of six robbers, busted by the UT police two days back, can provide vital clues into the sensational murder case of the owner of Sham Fashion Mall. The murder took place in 2009. With the robbers reportedly confessing before the police that they were involved in the killing of Amarjeet Singh, owner of Sham Fashion Mall, the CBI is all set to take over the custody of the robbers for further investigation.

In 2009, two robbers had shot Amarjeet Singh dead outside his residence in Sector 35. After the UT police failed to make any headway, the CBI took over investigation in 2010 and the victim’s family had also announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh for providing clue against the killers.

Earlier, On November 28, the UT police had arrested six members of a roaming gang for involvement in over 100 cases of snatching and robbery across the country.

During their questioning two of the gang members, identified as Manu Gawala and Rahul Gawala, revealed that they killed Amarjeet Singh while the other four robbers conducted a recce of the house. They tried to snatch his bag but Amarjeet resisted and they shot him dead, they told the police. However, both the CBI and the UT police said the robbers' confession need to be corroborated with strong evidence.

“We will take them into our custody once the investigation regarding the murder by the UT police is over. Only then we can confirm if they are the real culprits,” said Mahesh Aggarwal, DIG, Mahesh Aggarwal.

DSP Vijay Kumar stated that the gang had committed a number of robberies across the country. “Nothing can be said until we corroborate the statements of the robbers with evidence. We need to establish that they were present in city at the time of the murder. We are investigating whether they are actually involved or not,” Kumar said.

In 2010, the murder case was handed over to the CBI on the directions of the High Court. The CBI had registered a fresh FIR under Section 302 of the IPC and the Arms Act against the unidentified persons. The UT police had arrested the six gang members from Makhan Majra when they were planning a dacoity in the city.

Chandigarh, November 30
The trials of the badminton players from Panchkula district in various categories from 35 to 60 age group (both men and women sections) will be held on December 8 to 9 in the Badminton Hall of the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, Panchkula.

Selected players will represent Panchkula District in the forth coming Haryana State Veteran’s Badminton Championships scheduled to be held at Fardiabad from December 23 to 25.

Maximum 6 players will be selected in each category. Winners in Fardiabad will represent Haryana in the Veteran Badminton National Championships to be held at Mumbai in January/February 2013.