The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Law varsity VC highlights importance of debate
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 8
A national parliamentary debate, Agahi- 2013, was inaugurated today by Prof Paramjit Singh Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Punjab. As many as 53 participants from various universities and colleges are participating in the event. Dr Jaswal, while addressing the gathering, threw light on the importance of debate and also talked about the significance, manner and matter in a debate.

A demo debate for testing the adjudicator’s level of competency was held in the morning. The 1st and the 2nd preliminary rounds were held in the afternoon. Tomorrow a fierce competition between the teams will happen in the quarterfinals and later semifinals and finals will be held in the evening. The teams are competing for prizes worth Rs 75,000 and a trophy.

Women get tips on health
Our Correspondent

Kalka, March 8
Alok Nigam, general manager, HMT Limited, today inaugurated an event to mark the International Women’s Day at the HMT, Pinjore. He said, “Education is the key to women empowerment.”

Ravinder Warikoo, PRO, HMT, said: “Educated women are conscious of their rights and can exercise their rights if they face any injustice.”

During the programme, women employees were given useful tips on raising the quality of life, especially maintaining and improving their health.

Teena Chadha and Chander Mohini, legal officers of the company, educated the female participants on the provisions available in the Indian Constitution to safeguard their interests.

Rs 13.5 crore okayed for link roads

Ropar, March 8
The Punjab Government has approved Rs 13.5 crore for construction and renovation of link roads in the Ropar assembly constituency. This was disclosed by local MLA and secretary and spokesman of Shiromani Akali Dal Dr Daljit Singh Cheema.

Dr Cheema said the state government has approved construction and renovation of all the major link roads in the constituency. He said the work for this project would begin soon. — OC

COURTS

New twist to CA murder case
HC tells trial court not to pass final order till March 22, issues notice of motion to UT
Aneesha Sareen
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
In a new twist to the sensational murder of a Chartered Accountant (CA) Rajesh Goel at his Sector 42 office in 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice of motion to the UT Administration on an application filed by the deceased’s wife seeking summoning of two persons as additional accused in the case. The court has stated that the trial court shall not to pass the final order till March 22. the trial court was set to pronounce the final orders this week.

Sonia Goel, wife of slain Rajesh Goyal, has alleged that the UT police was able to manipulate the murder case and the names of two persons Rajan Jain and Mukul Bansal found no mention in the entire case proceedings.

While issuing the notice, Justice MMS Bedi stated, “The petitioner has stated that Rajan Jain and Mukul Bansal could be arraigned as additional accused in the murder case. The petitioner has submitted that Rajan Jain and Mukul Bansal have been able to manipulate the investigation in both the FIRs and have been able to escape the trial and punishment by getting their employees Shiv Kumar and Kanav Arora involved in both the cases.”

The court also observed that there appears to be a connection with the transaction in the murder related FIR of 2007 and cheating case of embezzlement of shares against the accused in 2008.

The notice of motion has been issued to senior standing counsel of UT for March 22. The petition has been filed by advocate Bhupinder Singh Thind.

Murdered on May 22, 2007

Rajesh Goel was found murdered in his first-floor office in Sector 42 on May 22, 2007. At that time, the police had claimed that Kamlesh, the peon, had told them that he had seen four men with bloodstained clothes coming downstairs and leaving in a car parked behind the office. He became the lone eyewitness. Later on the basis of a PAN card recovered from the spot, the police narrowed down on Kanav Arora and arrested him from his house within hours after the murder.

Shiv Kumar, Maninder Singh, and Ashwinder Singh were also arrested soon after. According to the police, Rajesh had been demanding the return of his money (in crores), which the four had pocketed by selling off his shares. A plan to terminate him was then allegedly hatched.

Motive

Iqbal Singh Subherwal, a client of Goel, had purchased 77,300 shares of HCL Technologies through Kanav, who was the broker. At the end of the closing year, the company gave bonus of 1:1. Shiv Kumar, who worked for Arora transferred the shares into his account by making use of the deposit inspection slip of Iqbal Singh. He further invested the amount and incurred a loss of Rs 25 lakh. Rajesh Goel was asking them to return the bonus share money in crores by selling the shares. A plan to terminate him was then hatched so that the three could pocket the money easily and recover the loss. Goel was murdered in the process as ideally it was Iqbal Singh whose shares the accused had embezzled.

The petition

In his statements before the trial court, Iqbal Singh stated that Mukul Jain and Rajan Jain had connived with their employees Shiv Kumar and Kanav Arora as they would directly benefit from his murder.

Long wait for justice

Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled the day her husband was found brutally murdered at his Sector-42 office. For Sonia Goel, the six years long wait has been painful and exhausting. In 2010, she had moved an application in the court of district and Sessions Judge Kewal Krishna Garg for collecting additional evidence in the case and for summoning the magistrate who recorded the statements of the lone eyewitness in the case, which was then accepted. “It has been a real struggle for me, but I am determined to fight till the end to see the killers punished,” she says. “The UT police has since beginning trying their best to manipulate the case. The financial transaction used to take place as per the directions of Rajan Jain. He along with Mukul Bansal are the real accused, but the police never touched them,” she said.

Man gets 5-yr jail for rape bid
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Shalini Nagpal, today sentenced a man to five years imprisonment for rape bid. The evidence in this case was recorded in an hour making a record of one of the fastest trials in the history of district courts.

The case was registered in September last year and charges were framed in the case on December 4.

The court sentenced Gurvinder Singh, alias Bindri, for an attempt to rape and kidnapping of a girl in Khuda Ali Sher and imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on him. Initially, there was no eyewitness in this case and was termed as a blind case till the police got the footage of the CCTV, which was installed at the rooftop of a house.

In the absence of any eyewitness it was the CCTV camera footage, which helped the police to nab Gurvinder, who was accused of attempting abduction and rape of 19-year-old complainant in the case.

In the CCTV footage, a well-built man was shown over-powering a girl and taking her to a nearby isolated plot. Later, he allegedly forced himself upon her but ran away after she resisted and raised an alarm.

CRIME

Narcotics worth Rs 1.25 crore seized, three held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
The Operations Cell of the UT police busted an international drug trafficking racket and seized narcotics worth approximately Rs 1.25 crore (price as per international market) from the possession of three Nepalese nationals today.

A quick reaction team of the Operations Cell headed by Sub Inspector Rohtash was conducting a routine checking at the ISBT-43 in the wee hours today, in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Hyderabad.

At the ISBT-43, three persons were detained for checking. While checking, the police team searched their belongings and found narcotics weighing around 14 kilograms.

The contraband was checked with the narcotics test kits and it was identified as a high-potency drug - charas. The three suspects were arrested on charges of possessing and smuggling narcotics. A case was registered against them at the Sector 36 police station. The three identified themselves as Raju, Jog Bahadur and Sher Bahadur. A case was registered against the three accused under Sections 20 NDPS Act.

DSP Jagbir Singh said that in their preliminary interrogation, the accused said that they were paid Rs 10,000 each by their kingpin, another Nepalese national (identity withheld for investigation reasons), for delivering the consignment to members of the Indian drug mafia, active in tourist destinations like Kullu, Manali, Shimla, Dharamsala and Dalhousie etc of Himachal Pradesh. On delivery of the consignment, they would again be paid Rs 10,000 each. “We will soon get to the source from where the drugs were being supplied,” said Jagbir Singh.

SPORTS

Aussie players spend quality time in City Beautiful
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
At 7 am, the Australian opener David Warner, right-arm off break bowler Gleen Maxwell and coach Mickey Arthur headed towards the Chandigarh Golf Club and spent over 5 hours at the greens of the club. In afternoon around 2 pm, right-arm-medium pacer and left-hand-batsman Usman Khawaja, wicketkeeper Mathew Wade, right-arm-fast bowler Peter Siddle along with team’s physiotherapist, went to St. John's High School, Sector 26, to play basketball. Enjoying their stay, the Australian players had a relaxing day at the City Beautiful. While a few opted to play golf and basketball, others remained in closed doors of the hotel, here.

During their surprise visit to the St. John's School, the players also interacted with the young budding players. The students were seen clicking pictures and taking autographs of their favourite cricketing stars. “Their visit will suddenly boost the confidence level of these budding players. It was a brilliant opportunity for the budding cricketers to interact with their favourite players and gain some tips from them”, said Sumandeep Singh, cricket coach.

The Australian players opted to play a two-versus-two basket game to sweat-hard and then left the school after 3.30 pm. “It was a great experience to see these players playing here. I was here for my usual practice session and it turned about to be a memorable one for me. It was a nice interactive session with them”, said Sikander, 9-year-old bowler.

“We will buy tickets to see this test match. It was for the first when we interacted with these international players. Although they are cricket players, they are also good at basketball”, said Sahil and Angad Bhatia.

Another pair of young players added, "They advised us to play with confidence besides we also got a chance to click photographs and get their autographs”, said Raj Kanwar and Paritosh.

Skipper to join on Sunday

Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty and opening batsman ED Cowan also joined the squad, here today. According to sources, Australian skipper Michael Clarke will join the squad on Sunday and the same day, the team will attend their first practice session.

Focus on adaptability

The Australians are scheduled to face the Indian team on March 14. With six days in hand, Aussies are adapting themselves to the environment here. “They are having usual diets along with other guests at the hotel. We are yet to receive any special order from the team members. Till now, they have been served with usual food.", said Pallav, head chef of the hotel JW Marriott.

Sale of tickets begins

A normal response was seen on the first day of sale of tickets for the upcoming 3rd Test Match between India and Australia. The match will be played at PCA Stadium, Mohali, from March 14 to 18. The tickets are available in categories, including AC Lounge: Rs 4,000, enclosure level- II: Rs 5,000, pavilion terrace: Rs 2,500, VIP block: Rs 750, chair block: Rs 250, student ticket: Rs 150.

Rajasthan rout local team in cricket tourney
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
The visually impaired cricket players of Rajasthan continued their winning streak and defeated Chandigarh in the 3-match cricket series organised by the Shri Bharat Manchan Trust, at the cricket grounds of Panjab University.

Batting first, the local team posted 321 runs on the board with Chandan Lal contributing 226-runs, including 45 boundaries.

In reply, the visiting team achieved the target of 194 runs by Fazal Khani.

ONGC cagers outplay Indian Army
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
In the first match of 1st All-India Invitational Basketball Tournament, the team of the ONGC defeated Indian Army by 86-73. The match was held at the Basketball Courts of Sports Complex, Sector 46, this evening.

For the winning side, Sardeep Rai contributed 31 baskets while for the loosing side the Gopal Ram contributed 21 points.

In another match, the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) team defeated the CRPF team by 97-67.

For winners, Shabad Khan scored 33 points while Vijender Kumar (25 points) and Rajan Sharma (11 points) were the other main scorers for the team. For the CRPF team, Mahinder Kumar (26 points) and Ashfaq Ahmed (9 points) reduced the margin.

Over 250 take part in PU marathon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8
The prelude to the annual cultural fest Goonj of University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), the PU marathon was held in and around the campus. The pre-event of the fest, to be held from March 15 to 17 is a clear indicator of the enthusiasm with which the preparations of the event are going on.

The marathon took off from the Student Centre in PU campus and spanned over both the north and south campuses of PU.

Over 250 students participated in the event. Cash prizes and bicycles, were given away to the winners. One of the organisers of the event said that their main motive was to inspire the girls to come out and participate.