Fatehabad, February 9
A victim of gang rape allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a tree near her house at Ghotru village in Fatehabad in the wee hours today as her rapists had allegedly threatened her of dire consequences on phone last night.

The police has booked three persons, Ashok Mawalia, Sunil Sihag and Kimti Bishnoi, under Sections 376 G (gang rape), 306 (abatement of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (act done in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. The three accused are absconding.

Superintendent of Police Vikas Dhankhar, who went to the village today, said teams had been constituted to nab the culprits.

The victim, a 35-year-old woman, worked as domestic help with two families of the village to eke out a living for her family comprising her mentally unsound husband and three children. They live in a “dhani” constructed on a small piece of land outside the village.

Last Saturday, her husband had gone to the village and did not return till night.

The woman went to the village in search of her husband, when the three accused allegedly overpowered her and dragged her to the village “chaupal” by gagging her mouth and allegedly raped her.

The woman narrated the incident to some women members of the families where she worked, who in turn told the men of their families.

Instead of informing the matter to the police, villagers held a “trial” at the panchayat level.

Yesterday, one of the three accused, Sunil, was “summoned” before the panchayat, where he reportedly confessed to his crime.

He also revealed the names of Ashok Mawalia and Kimti Bishnoi as his accomplices in the crime.

Last night, the woman received a call on her mobile from Ashok, who allegedly threatened her of dire consequences.

Some villagers alleged that Ashok threatened the victim that he would make her obscene video public if she did not come to the “chaupal” in the night.

However, the SP said the police inquiries have revealed that Ashok threatened her, if she revealed the matter to anyone or approached the police.

Hisar, February 9
A minor girl, who was allegedly first gang-raped by five youths in Rajli village of Hisar on Tuesday and then forced to leave the village along with her mother and two sisters due to threats from members of the majority community to which the accused belonged, was today shifted to hospital after her condition worsened.

Taking up the cause of the victim’s family, the Human Rights Cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

RP Malhotra, state convener of the Human Rights Cell of the BJP, has attached a clipping of a news item “Hisar gang rape victim, 2 sister, mother “forced” to leave village” published in The Tribune today with his letter to the Chairman of the NHRC, requesting him to take suo motu cognisance of the news.

He said it was a clear case of violation human rights of the family.

The victim, along with her two sisters and mother had to leave the village due to pressures from the panchayat as well as members of the majority community.

She was today shifted to the General Hospital, Hisar, as her condition worsened in the night.

The girl, according to the family, had been complaining of severe pain in the abdomen after the incident, and pain had become unbearable in the night.

The IG, Hisar Range, Arshinder Singh Chawla, the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Hisar, Rahul Sharma, and the SDM, Mahabir Singh, went to the village and met the victim’s father.

“We have promised the victim’s father that the police will file a challan in the case within a week and the matter will be tried in a fast track court. The IG has also issued a warning to the sarpanch as well as the villagers that anyone found intimidating the family will be dealt with sternly,” ASP Rahul Sharma said after returning from the village.

Sharma said a PCR van has been deployed in the village, though the victim’s family has not demanded any security for them.

Five youths, including two student of a village school, had allegedly raped the victim on Tuesday.

First, one of the accused Sonu waylaid her 15 days back and forced the victim to satisfy his carnal desire on pistolpoint.

The victim brought the matter to the notice of her family, but her father did not take the matter to the police for the fear of ignominy and rather took up the matter with Sonu’s family.

Emboldened at the lack of action, Sonu, along with four others Sombir, Vikas, Naveen and Kuldeep overpowered her, when she was going to her house on Tuesday night and dragged her to Naveen’s house, where they allegedly raped her after drugging her.

The matter was reported to the police on the next day and the police arrested all the accused on the same day.

Karnal, February 9
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would contests all Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in future to rid the common man of corruption, said party leader Arvind Kejriwal here today.

He said corruption in the country was responsible for inflation and unbridled hike in prices of essential commodities.

Kejriwal, who was here to address the first state level convention of his party, dubbed both the BJP and Congress as equally corrupt and said both the parties were “unconcerned” about the miserable plight of the common man and playing petty politics to meet their political ends.

Lashing out at the Congress for following the policy of “divide and rule”, Kejriwal alleged that while the Congress was politicising “Hindu terrorism”, the BJP was exploiting the Ram temple issue to derive electoral mileage.

Calling upon the party activists to set up offices in every block and appoint a 10-member team in each office for launching membership drive on a large scale, Kejriwal said the next step would be to appoint honest and dedicated people to take the fight against corruption to masses.

On conviction of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala in the JBT recruitment scam, Kejriwal said it did not imply that leaders of the Congress and other parties were not corrupt.

People joining the AAP should be clear in their mind that they were not joining the party for any personal gain but for the people to fight against corruption and anti-national forces, he added.

Hitting out at the Delhi Government for hike in water and power tariff, Kejriwal said it was unfortunate that poor people were being made to pay for corruption and inefficiency in the government and exhorted the people to give a befitting reply to both the BJP and Congress in the coming assembly elections.

Chandigarh, Feburary 9
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today dared Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to go in for mid-term poll to test his “self-proclaimed” popularity in Haryana.

Throwing a challenge to the Chief Minister, Abhey Chautala, MLA and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s younger son, said the INLD would form the next government whenever elections were held.

Hooda had been claiming that the Congress would perform a hat-trick and form the government again after the next year’s Assembly elections against the backdrop of unprecedented development in the state.

Picking holes in Hooda’s claims that the inquiry against the Chautalas in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam was initiated during the NDA’s time in 2003, Abhey said names of Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Chautala were not there in the original FIR registered on December 12, 2003. “However, when the Congress-led UPA Government came to power at the Centre on March 22, 2004, the names of Chautala senior and Ajay were added to falsely implicate them through the CBI,” he said.

Targeting the Hooda Government for its various acts of omission and commission, the Ellenabad MLA said the wrongdoings of the Congress-led government would be exposed during the forthcoming Assembly session starting from February 22 during the Governor's address, Budget discussions and also outside the Assembly. A statewide ‘oust-Hooda’ campaign against the government would be launched from Panchkula from February 15, he added.

State INLD president Ashok Arora said issues ranging from illegal land allotments, lopsided development, the SYL canal, swine flu cases and Vadra-DLF land deal would be taken up in the Assembly session.

On the issue of Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma issuing a press statement on Hisar MP and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, Arora said, "Whatever Haryana Speaker spoke about Bishnoi was true. But, a person occupying high post of Speaker should not issue such statements.”

Chandigarh, February 9
Clearly on the back foot for its failure to check the outbreak of swine flu, which claimed highest number of lives with 24 deaths (99 confirmed cases) in the region, the Haryana Government today went into a damage-control mode.

Even as the health authorities are trying to put their act together to combat the deadly diseases spreading its tentacles in the state, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Health) Ram Kishan Fouji came out with a rather innocuous explanation claiming that 18 of the 23, who died due to swine flu were also suffering from other ailments.

The remarks by the CPS are a part of the strategy by the Hooda government to bring down the swine flu death figures, which had brought a lot of embarrassment at the national level, sources said.

“Adequate arrangements have been made to check the spread of swine flu and 44,000 tablets for its treatment have already been supplied to government hospitals in the state. “The Health Department has sought 1.5 lakh more such tablets from the Central Government,” he asserted.

The state government had asked the government hospitals where the facility of ventilator was not available, to empanel private hospitals for the benefit of the patients.

Health officials said people should not panic about any major swine flu outbreak on account of a change in genes of the causative H1N1 virus, which was being feared on account of a higher death rate this year as compared to the last year. The National Centre for Disease, New Delhi, has already issued a clarification regarding this, the officials highlighted.

Meanwhile, the INLD has decided to raise the issue of high number of swine flu deaths in the forthcoming session of the Vidhan Sabha beginning February 22. “The high swine flu death toll has put a question mark over claims of the CM of providing state-of-the-art health facilities to residents. Surprisingly, Haryana fares poorly on several health indicators as compared to certain backward states in the country,” he alleged.

Hisar/Sirsa, February 9
With the death of a Sirsa resident in a Hisar hospital last night, number of deaths due to H1N1 virus has gone up to five in Sirsa, while six new suspected cases, five in Hisar and one in Sirsa, have come to light today.

A 55-year-old farmer from Chautala village of Sirsa district died of swine flu in a private hospital in Hisar last evening.

The victim was admitted to the hospital with complaints of chest pain, cold and fever on January 31.

The victim’s samples sent to a laboratory have tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

Meanwhile, six new suspected cases of swine flu have come to light in Hisar and Sirsa.

While the health authorities in Hisar have sent five new samples, one sample was taken in Sirsa today.

“In Hisar, we have so far taken 83 samples out of which reports have been received in 72 cases. 27 of these have tested positive for the H1N1 virus. Eight patients have so far died in Hisar hospitals.

Rewari, February 9
A widow woman Geeta Devi (50), her son Ajay Kumar (20) and a girl Khushboo (19), who was living with Ajay, all three committed suicide by hanging themselves at Rampura village today.

Geeta Devi of Mokalwas village in Gurgaon, who had been living in a rented house at Rampura village for the past 15 days,  committed suicide by hanging herself.

After some time when Ajay, who had been living with Khushboo in a separate rented house at Rampura for about a fortnight, visited his mother’s house, found her mother hanging from a hook, he somehow took his mother to a private hospital where doctors declared her dead.

Leaving her body there, he dashed back to his house, revealed things to Khushboo, prepared suicide notes and then both of them committed suicide by hanging themselves.

The police, which took possession of the suicide notes which stated that they were committing suicide of their own will, sent the three bodies to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Ajay, who was employed in a private company at Bawal, was a Dalit while the girl was Jat by caste and a resident of the Ateli area of Mahendargarh district.

A senior police official said it seemed that Geeta Devi was not happy about her son’s affair with the girl.

Karnal, February 9
The Army is eyeing the “cream” for recruitment and making earnest efforts to ensure that only best of lot get selected to the armed forces.

Major Gen Sandeep Singh, GOC Core 2, who was here at Karan Stadium to inspect the ongoing Army recruitment drive for the general category for Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra districts, said corporate houses and the MNCs could never match men in uniform, as the dedication, enthusiasm, spirit of adventure and risk-taking capabilities of Armymen was unparallel and guided strong feeling of patriotism.

He said these boys who had come for the recruitment were guided by patriotism and spirit to serve the nation.

However, he expressed concern over decline in physical fitness among youth in Haryana and said this trend should be reversed.

Brig Ajay Kumar, Deputy Director General (Headquarters) and Col Udayan Mukerjee, Director, Area Recruitment Officer, Ambala, briefed Sandeep Singh about the recruitment process who also flagged off the race. As many as 4,937 youth participated in the physical fitness test.

Karnal, February 9
A 26-year-old married woman was allegedly raped by her brother-in-law at Sambhi village under Bhutana police station in the district on August 9 last year.

The woman, who got married on February 24, 2012, was alone in the house when her 23-year-old brother-in-law barged into her room and allegedly raped her.

On the complaint of the victim’s mother, the police registered a case under Sections 294, 354, 376 and 506 of the IPC and arrested the accused, identified as Rajesh.

The complainant said the victim was too scared to tell anybody about the incident at that time as the accused had threatened her with dire consequences.

The victim was medically examined at the government hospital, Tarauri.

The police said investigations of the case were in progress and the accused would be produced in a court tomorrow.

Karnal, February 9
The All-Haryana Roadways Workers Joint Action Committee will go ahead with its agitation and resort to "chakka jam" on February 13, following failure of talks with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on their major demands.

The roadways employees held a massive demonstration on the call of the Joint Action Committee and Union leaders, Hari Narain and Dalbir Kirmara, who participated in the talks and blamed the officers for failure of talks.

They said the Chief Minister was positive and sympathetic towards main demands of the Joint Action Committee, which included cancellation of 3,519 private route permits, regularisation of daily wage workers and regularisation of drivers and conductors selected through the SSC from date of appointment and Punjab pay scales and grade to all other categories of employees, but the officers put their foot down and the talks failed, forcing the employees to go ahead with their agitation plans, they added.

They said Hooda partially accepted some of the demands, which was a welcome step, but it was not sufficient to call off the agitation.

They appealed to the public to support the demands and said the government would be responsible for any inconvenience caused to commuters.

Kaithal, February 9
A woman and a four-month-old child were killed and 12 others, including women and children, were injured in a road accident near Rajound village in the district today.

Sources said all the injured were rushed to a hospital in Kaithal.

The accident took place when members of a family from Bhatian village under Guhla subdivision were going to Tharra village near Rajound in a Tavera to bring back their newlywed daughter, who got married on February 6. However, a truck laden with fodder and coming from the opposite direction hit their vehicle. Due to the impact of the accident, the Tavera overturned, resulting in injuries to all the passengers. Passersby rushed to help the injured and the police also reached the spot with ambulance.

The truck driver, who was alleged to be under the influence of liquor, fled the spot.

Sources said Paramjeet Kaur (36) and Sehajpreet succumbed to their injuries on reaching the hospital, while Tavera driver Jassi (30) and Gurmeet Kaur (25) were referred to the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The other injured have been identified as Karamjit (22), Daljit (40), Bhupinder (25), Gurmeet (19) Inderjit (35), Gurdeep Kaur ((25), Gurvinder Kaur (30), Balvinder (50), Gurtej (4) and Harman (7).

Sub-Inspector Raspal Singh, Rajound police station, said a case had been registered and efforts were on to arrest the truck driver.

Jhajjar, February 9
A 25-year-old vegetable vendor was gunned down by unknown persons in Yadav Colony near Silani Gate here last evening.

The deceased has been identified as Gajraj alias Gajju of Sunder Nagar locality here.

On the complaint of the victim’s cousin, the police has registered a case in this regard.

The incident took place when Gajraj was going to his house on his motorcycle. When he reached near Silani Gate, a group of youths reportedly waylaid him and fired five rounds at him from a close range after a verbal duel. Gajraj reportedly died on the spot. On getting information, the police rushed to the spot and sent the body to the civil hospital for post-mortem examination.

Later, a team of forensic experts also visited the scene of crime and collected blood samples.

“No clue has so far been found about the killers. We are investigating the case from all angles,” said Sombir Singh, SHO of the Jhajjar Police Station.

He said statements of the deceased's kin and friends were being recorded.

Sirsa, February 9
A man died after his bedding caught fire at Darewala village in Sirsa last night.

The incident took place when Jagtar Singh (80) was sleeping and his grandson, Amir, was sitting near a fire in his room. Amir suffered an epileptic fit and fell in the fire. His parents took him to another room unmindful of the fact that flickers from the fire had fallen on the elderly person’s bed. When they came back, they found the victim crying for help. He was rushed to a hospital, but could not be saved due to severe burn injuries.