Amritsar, December 27
A man killed his wife and later committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan. The incident took place in Dera Dhayan Singh, Indira Colony, Kot Khalsa, at about 5 pm today.

The deceased has been identified as Jaswinder Singh (26) and Mandeep Kaur (23). According to preliminary investigations, the incident took place after a minor dispute between the couple as the woman wanted to go to her parents' home located in Dhakka Colony. The couple had been indulging in altercations since morning. Jaswinder first slit the throat of his wife with a kirpan, found near the bed, and later hanged himself from a ceiling fan.

Senior police officers, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Kaustubh Sharma, reached the spot and started investigations.

Darshan Kaur, mother of deceased Jaswinder Singh, said she had gone to a clinic when the incident took place.

"As soon as I reached the clinic at Indira Colony I received a call from a relative that a two-month-old baby was crying lying on a bench in the verandah, while there is nobody around him and repeated knocks at the iron gate evinced no response from inside. I immediately returned and found the main gate bolted from inside," said Darshan Kaur.

She said today Jaswinder did not go to the factory, a screw manufacturing unit in the Putlighar area where he worked, as he had a quarrel with his wife Mandeep Kaur.

Another relative Amarjit Singh said a neighbour jumped over the wall to get inside the house and opened the door.

"As the room of the couple was locked from inside, the people pushed open the window only to find Jaswinder hanging from the ceiling fan," he said. Later, the police reached the spot, broke open the door and found Mandeep lying in a pool of blood on the floor.

Dr Kaustubh Sharma said it seemed that Jaswinder first slit the throat of his wife and then committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan. He said necessary action would be taken after the completion of the probe.

Amritsar, December 27
The Rambagh police has booked Jodha Singh of Rasulpur Kallar village for allegedly raping a girl.

The victim in her complaint to the police stated that about two years ago Jodha Singh on the pretext of marrying her took her to different places and forced her to make physical relations with him.

She said now she came to know that he was already married and had a girl. He had left his first wife.

However, she said when she questioned him about this, he started threatening her that he would eliminate her family if she told anybody about it.

She didn't tell this to her family, but Jodha Singh continued trying to meet her. Fed up of all this, she told her mother and relatives about him.

Nishan Singh, investigating officer, said a case under Sections 376, 506 and 341 of the IPC was registered against Jodha Singh, while no arrest had been made so far as the accused was absconding. He said raids were being conducted to nab him and investigation was under progress.

Amritsar, December 27
New Year, like every year, is a special time to celebrate and be good hosts. Saying a warm welcome to the coming year in the December chill is fun when spirits are high and the party is on. So, gearing up for the New Year with all their best party wear and party gear are Amritsaris, who have a lot on their plate this time.

With hot and happening parties being organised by prominent hotels, restro-bars and clubs, the party animals have a lot to choose from. Also keeping the option of a private theme party open, a lot is happening on the New Year's Eve. Here’s an itinerary.

HK Clarks Inn

This New Year’s Eve gala dinner is set to surpass last year’s super party. Blue and warm colours-lit venue, celebrity female DJ Enam from Chandigarh, chance to groove in with Punjabi and western dance groups, open bar and spread of international and traditional cuisine are all the ingredients needed to usher in the New Year.

This year's theme is Las Vegas. And you can enjoy the extravaganza as the charges per couple is Rs 4,500. Entry is restricted to couples only.

Radisson Blu

The ingredients are almost same here as well, with slight improvements. Dj Daman will be playing live music with international dancers performing along with some special Bollywood dance groups. An extravagant buffet with unlimited beverages at Rs 10,000 per couple, Radisson Blu is sure having a party to remember. While the grand celebrations will happen at Grand Ballroom, a mellowed version of the party will be hosted at Tovolo Mondo. The passes for that come at Rs 4,000 per couple.

Private parties in hotels, resorts and farmhouses

Now, for those who don’t want to be a part of the crowd on the New Year’s Eve, private party is the way to go. With umpteen number of private parties happening on the day, the city party hubs are full to the brim. “We have all our halls booked for private parties and so this time we will not have a in-house celebration,” informs Atul Pandey, general manager, Best Western Merrion. Similarly, Country Inn, too, has a houseful on New Year. “Since New Year also brings some safety concern along with high spirits, this time most people have booked our banquets space and halls for private parties. Our bookings were sold out two weeks in advance,” said Shashikant Ghosal, F&B manager, Country Inn.

Same is the case with Sky Lounge at Golden Tulip, which is hosting a private bash on New Year.

Farmhouses and resorts on the city outskirts are also booked for private theme-based parties. Bonfires, buffet spreads and bhangra beats are how Amritsaris are going to welcome the New Year!

Amritsar, December 27
Members of the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD), which is running various Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public Schools, paid tributes to Sahibjada Jorawar Singh and Sahibjada Fateh Singh on their martyrdom day today.

CKD president Charanjit Singh Chadha said the CKD would ensure in its schools that the apostate Sikh students, who had cut their hairs, would be encouraged to adopt Sikhs “swarup”.

Religious teacher Sukhjit Kaur narrated the sacrifice of the Sahibjadas, who did not falter in front of life-threatening crisis.

Meanwhile, CKD's Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School, situated at Nawan Pind, observed its annual Sports Day for primary wing today.

With a view to make the students physically active and develop love for games, competitions in sack race, frog race, cycle race, three-legged race, lemon and spoon race, obstacle race and others were held.

Earlier, the contests commenced after delivering of Shabad by the students, followed by a cultural programme. Principal Hardev Singh welcomed the guests and read the school's progress report. After Flag hoisting ceremony, the students presented a march past.

Among the others present on the occasion were Chief Khalsa Diwan Charitable Society Honorary Secretary and Joint Secretary Santokh Singh Sethi and Harminder Singh, respectively.

Amritsar, December 27
Dr Vasudha, director, Astha Centre for Therapeutic Intervention, Mohali, today delivered a lecture on 'Sensory Integration Therapy and Behaviour Management for Autism' on second day of the IERT multi-category training at Khalsa College Senior Secondary School.

In her address, she taught sensory and behaviour strategies for autism, mental retardation and teaching disabled kids.

Upadhyaye, former principal of Red Cross School for special children, Jalandhar, also shared his experiences with participating 54 inclusive education teachers for differently-abled children at the eight-day multi-category training of resource teachers.

The teachers had been drawn from Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Taran Tarn and Amritsar.

Dharminder Singh, district coordinator, SSA Amritsar, said the teachers gained vital inputs and guidelines to teach special children.

Amritsar, December 27
Even as the local airport witnessed a boost in domestic connectivity this year and took strides in incorporating more hi-tech apparatus, withdrawal of an international flight by a reputed global aviation company was a jolt to the Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport.

The Amritsar Airport became the first international airport in the North India in providing a free baggage weighing facility on February 19. Inaugurated by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) DIG Northern region Airports KN Tripathy, it offered assistance to passengers to weigh the baggage, and carry that much of the luggage which was permitted by the airlines.

With a view to beef up the security of the international airport, a dog squad comprising four dogs was deployed. All the dogs had undergone training in detecting explosives.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had installed an imported mechanism procured from various countries, including a six-shot launcher imported from Germany, a laser gun-cum-torch from Canada and LPG cylinder fired 10-zone gun procured from Netherlands, to keep away birds from the airport but the stray dog menace continued at the ground. Its impact was visible as hardly any bird-hit was reported after its installation over four months ago.

Budget airline career SpiceJet commenced its maiden operation from the Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport on July 12 as it introduced a flight on the Amritsar-Delhi route thrice a day. It was made possible after cash strapped Kingfisher exited from the route. Besides, the budget airline introduced the flight on Amritsar-Srinagar route on the same day. Four days a week to and fro service between Amritsar and Srinagar restored the air connectivity between the two cities after many decades and linked the holy city with a high potential tourist circuit.

Meanwhile, Air India’s Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight was temporarily suspended because of the strike by pilots of national carrier Air-India in June. Though the National Carrier gradually resumed flights on international routes but there was no official word to restart this flight.

The three per cent hike in the Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) rates on August 18 affected the passengers flying from the airlines. The hike was the third straight increase in the ATF since July.

Newly floated airline Mantra introduced twice a day flight between Amritsar and Chandigarh while Jet linked the holy city with the country's commercial capital Mumbai. Armavia, a leading airline of Armenia, East-European country, linked Amritsar with its National capital Yerevan as it started two flights a week on Wednesday and Thursday.

The British Midland International (BMI) Airlines withdrew its operations between Amritsar and London from October 27. With this the holy city lost its only direct air link with the city which has a large number of Punjabi's population in general and Sikhs in particular.

This also snapped its export of fresh agriculture produce from the temporary Perishable Cargo Centre at Amritsar Airport to Europe. The Perishable Cargo has been handling the export of baby corn, snow pea, sugar snap, okra and other vegetables to London since July 2006.

Earlier, the export was suspended for a year, following a dry spell and Air India had withdrawn its Amritsar-London-Toronto flight on October 30, 2010. The exporters had then shifted their base to the Delhi airport. The export of fresh cargo has resumed only after the introduction of thrice-a-week to and fro direct service by the BMI on the London-Almaty-Amritsar section from October 14, 2011.

However, a tragic incident of three-year-old ailing baby Jasmeet Kaur traveling in Jet Airways Milan - New Delhi flight could not be saved despite the aircraft making an emergency landing here on August 29.

The non-availability of mass transportation connecting the airport with the city is still a major glitch. Barring a free bus facility being extended by the SGPC, there is no other mass transport which drops passengers at the Airport complex.