Chandigarh, April 22
Bhupinder Singh Hooda was made Chief Minister of Haryana in 2005 by the Congress leadership to refurbish the party image which had taken a beating after “playing fast and rough with the democratic process in several states."

This was the cable sent by the US Embassy in Delhi to Washington after Hooda pipped Bhajan Lal, who was considered the automatic choice of the Congress to lead Haryana after the 2005 elections, to the top post.

The cable forms part of the documents released by Wikileaks.

Asserting that Hooda, a long-time Congress loyalist and dark horse contender, was chosen (by the party) for his anti-corruption credentials and clean political image, the US Embassy said Hooda’s selection “suggests an effort by the party to do some damage control after the Goa and Jharkhand election missteps and to rebuild its image.

“After the Congress was accused of attempting to impose governments on Goa and Jharkhand, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel and other powerful Congress leaders purportedly urged party president Sonia Gandhi to drop Bhajan Lal, who has been linked with corruption and unethical political practices, and to replace him with Hooda, who has a reputation as a relatively clean politician,” the cable added.

Terming Hooda’s selection as “Dark Horse Victory”, the cable said Hooda “represents a new generation of Haryana political leaders.” The embassy reported to the foreign office that the caste factor also helped tip the scales in Hooda’s favour, with Sonia Gandhi accepting the argument that Hooda’s appointment would expand the party’s base among the crucial Jat electorate in the neighbouring Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (which were being ruled at that time by non-Congress governments).

The cable went on to say that Hooda had carefully cultivated the Jats by encouraging their aspirations to have "one of their own" as Chief Minister, instead of the long-serving Bhajan Lal, “who is from a small, non-Jat caste.”

The embassy quoted Randeep Surjewala (now power minister) as saying that Hooda was not initially considered for the Haryana top post but when it was decided to drop Bhajan Lal, due to his clean image the then Rohtak MP was asked to lead the Haryana Congress Legislature Party. Surjewala’s assessment was confirmed by former Tribune staffer Harish Gupta.

Talking about the challenges ahead of the new Chief Minister, the embassy informed Washington that Hooda, who projected himself as a "crusader against corruption," would have to establish and maintain a clean administration, “a difficult task in a state known for its corrupt politicians. This will be of particular interest to the US in the fast growing Gurgaon corridor, home to many US corporates. Hooda is likely to institute a thorough and impartial investigation into the alleged massive corruption against ousted Chief Minister and rival Jat leader Om Prakash Chautala."

The embassy had expected trouble from Bhajan Lal for the Congress. It said “although the chastened Lal has for now accepted defeat gracefully, there is the potential for the politically astute, ‘old war horse’ to cause trouble in the future. He has a history of cobbling together defectors from other parties, and could play a spoiler role for the Congress down the road.”

The cable also gave a brief biography of Hooda, which, however, contains certain factual mistakes. 

Hisar, April 22
Distressed by the rape and kidnapping of their minor daughter, tormented by the police and loss of livelihood due to frequents visits to courts and police stations allegedly drove a poor Dalit couple along with their three children from Bhairi Akbarpur village in Hisar to consume celphos poison in the early hours today.

The man’s 13-year-old daughter Sandhya (names of the victims have been changed to protect their identity) died on the spot and his 38-year-old wife Sunita died at the General Hospital, Hisar. Family head Mohan (40) and his sons Rajiv (11) and Amit (9) have been shifted to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Rohtak.

The couple’s eldest daughter, aged 15, was allegedly kidnapped by a villager, Rohtash, on May 15, 2012, and raped for two days.

The police had booked Rohtash for kidnapping and rape on May 17.

However, she was again kidnapped on July 6, 2012, and the police registered a case against unknown persons in this connection.

There is no clue to the girl's whereabouts so far.

Mohan eked a living by pulling a rickshaw before the crime against his eldest daughter. However, ever since her disappearance, the family has been totally devastated.

Visiting police stations and courts, Mohan has had to skip pulling the rickshaw and, in the process, has been unable to feed his family.

The family, according to sources, is under debt.

The sources said the family has been under severe stress since their daughter's disappearance. Also, the local police has allegedly been harassing them to find her as it wanted to take her to the court for evidence later this month.

Sources say that Mohan had informed his family about his intention to commit suicide as he was unable to take the pressure. The others too reportedly expressed their desire to end their lives with him.

He allegedly mixed celphos tablets in a bottle of water and offered it to all members in the early hours today.

Sandhya, a student of class VIII in the village school, was found dead in the house.

Villagers rushed the family to the General Hospital, Hisar, where Sunita died.

However, the hospital authorities expressed their helplessness to provide treatment to the victims and referred them to the PGIMS, Rohtak. Civil surgeon Ashok Chaudhary said the hospital did not have an intensive care unit.

The condition of Mohan and his two sons Rajiv, a student of class V, and Amit, a student of class III, is stated to be critical. The incident has sent shockwaves across the district.

Ram Bilas Sharma, president of the state unit of the BJP, alleged that while on the one hand a poor Dalit family had been forced to commit suicide due to poverty and highhandedness of the police, the Haryana government was spending crores of rupees on advertisements, projecting the state as the best in the country.

A police spokesperson, however, denied any excesses by the police.

Hisar, April 22
The poor Dalit family from Bhairi Akbarpur village of Hisar, whose all five members consumed celphos to end their lives in the early hours today, had not eaten a grain for the past two days.

Mohan (all names changed to protest identity of the family) told media persons in the General Hospital here in the morning that there was nothing to eat in his house for the past two days.

“Two days back, my wife brought some milk by borrowing from some villagers and fed my three children. Since, then they have not eaten a grain,” he said with tears rolling down his cheeks.

He said he could not see his children die in front of his eyes almost daily, and when he decided to end his life, his wife and children too said they would prefer to kill themselves than lead this “hopeless” life.

“I used to earn Rs 100 to 125 per day by pulling my rickshaw and was providing frugal meals to my family. But the incident of rape and then kidnapping of my eldest daughter came as a severe blow to my little world,” Mohan sobbed.

He said in the past almost one year, he had had to visit police stations and courts umpteen number of times in connection with the case.

He said while the police had so far failed to find his daughter or even identify her kidnappers, he was being pressured to produce the girl for her evidence in the court.

All this had hit his family hard, as he was not able to work and earn a livelihood for his children regularly.

“Every time we received a court summons or a message from the police, our nightmare began,” he said.

The man said the family had received summons for evidence of his daughter for April 30 and the local police was constantly pressuring him to find the girl.

Chandigarh, April 22
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given justice to another judicial officer after nearly two decades. Taking up a petition filed in 1992 by judicial officer Parkash Chand Nariala, a Division Bench of the high court has allowed his plea for counting the period spent at the Bar for calculating qualifying service for pension.

He is the second judicial officer in the recent past to get justice after nearly two decades. Acting on a petition filed in 1994 by judicial officer OP Garg, another Bench had given him the relief of an annual increment from 1973.

The two matters are just a few of the 2-lakh cases pending before the high court.

In his petition against Haryana and other respondents, Nariala had earlier claimed that he retired as Additional District and Sessions Judge. But before his appointment as a judicial officer, he practised as a pleader from August,1959, to July, 1961. He was also appointed stamp auditor in the Punjab Financial Commissioner’s office till he joined the Punjab Civil Services (Judicial Branch) in December, 1966. After putting in almost 33 years of government service, he retired in September, 1991.

In an attempt to substantiate his contentions, the petitioner relied upon the Single Bench judgment in the HS Maunder versus Punjab case. The Judge had held that the period at the Bar was required to be added to the qualifying service since the essential qualification for appointment to the state judicial services was graduation in law, which was a professional qualification.

After the case was placed Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ritu Bahri, the Bench also referred to Maunder’s case to say that the period spent by the petitioner at the Bar was required to be taken into consideration for the purposes of qualifying service. “Consequently, the writ petition is allowed. The respondents are directed to consider the period spent by the petitioner at the Bar for the purposes of qualifying service.”

Chandigarh, April 22
Accusing Haryana PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and other government functionaries of allegedly violating the criteria for promotions has cost a Superintending Engineer dear.

Taking up Gulab Singh Narwal’s petition, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed it with exemplary cost of Rs 1 lakh. Currently posted as Director, Water Resources, in the Irrigation Department at Panchkula, Narwal had alleged that he was having higher educational qualifications and was also senior to Surjewala’ brother-in-law, Arun Malik. As such, he fulfilled all eligibility conditions required for promotion. But his promotion was ignored to provide benefit to influential officers under political pressure by making changing promotion rules.

Chandigarh, April 22
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today paved the way for HCS (judicial branch) candidates to apply for the main examinations. A Division Bench directed the Haryana Public Service Commission to publish an advertisement in newspapers, extending the period for receiving application forms for the main examinations at least up to April 30.

The development is significant as today was otherwise the last date for submission of forms. As the plea came up for hearing before Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ritu Bahri, the Bench also issued notice of motion for April 30.

The petitioners were otherwise seeking the quashing the result of the HCS (judicial) preliminary examination held on March 17. Directions were also sought for re-issuance of results after rectification of the erroneous answer keys

The directions for issuance of an ad in newspapers came after the petitioners told the Bench that today was the last date for submission of application forms. But the forms were not supplied to them for the reason that they had not obtained the cut-off marks.

“We direct the HPSC to publish an advertisement in newspapers and extend the period for receipt of application forms at least up to April 30,” the Bench ordered . The Bench also made it clear that the forms were to be issued to all candidates. But the applicants would abide by the final decision on the writ petition.

Already, the High Court has decided to constitute a committee to examine the "alleged wrong answer keys" in the preliminary examination. The result will also be re-generated. On a previous date of hearing, Registrar (recruitment) K.K Kareer, had appeared before the Bench and submitted that the re-generation of result "may provide opportunity to the eligible candidates to apply for the main examination as per the revised result".

At least nine questions in the examination allegedly have wrong answer keys. Following the examination, a petition was filed by three candidates alleging "large-scale irregularities".

The Bench had then issued notice to the High Court on the administrative side, along with the commission. 

Rohtak, April 22
Members of the Rohtak IDC industries Association staged a demonstration in protest against the levying of additional charges on power supply which have led to a steep hike in the power bills of the Industrial units here. Demanding the withdrawal of the additional charges, they threatened to stop paying bills and take the matter to court if the problem was not resolved soon.

The protesters submitted a memorandum to the state government through the office of the superintendent engineer here.

"Rohtak is a hub of manufacturers of nuts and bolts in the country and the Industrial Development Colony (IDC) is the leading industrial zone of the district, with around 250 units. The move of the power department to issue notices and inflated bills to the tune of several lakhs has come as a setback to the industry already mired in several problems," said S.K.Khator, general secretary of the association.

He said each industrial unit had been served additional bills ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1.60 lakh for two months following the move. He said though the authorities were tightlipped over the details, the charges thrust on them included sundry charges, additional security charge and the conversion of billing from KW to KVA, resulting in 25 per cent more amount in the bills.

Claiming to have received highly inflated bills recently, Surender Sahnewal of Sahnewal Auto Industry alleged that the entrepreneurs were being made a scapegoat for the "corruption and losses" of the department since the new charges were unjustified as they had been paying bills on time, despite heavy cuts in power supply.

S. Mahendru of Sunrise Chemicals said the IDC here had been paying a handsome revenue of over Rs 300 crore per year, but it had failed to get any relief, including power supply.

Jitender Kumar, another affected industrialist, said the response of the authorities who were given the memorandum was non-cooperative and the association might be forced to stop payment of bills and file a PIL in the high court if the problem persisted. He said while there was no water supply for at least 40 units, senior officials of the HSIDC had hardly interacted with the association regarding the problem of civic amenities in the IDC.

Karnal/Kurukshetra, April 22
Workers of the INLD today came out on roads and staged demonstrations and dharnas to press the demand for bonus of Rs 300 per quintal on wheat and lodge a protest against non-lifting of the wheat brought by farmers in various mandis.

In Kurukshetra, the irate demonstrators, who were raising anti-government slogans, locked the office of the secretary of the market committee at the new grain market. Prior to this, they also submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Haryana Governor, to the secretary market committee.

The party workers led by national general secretary Brij Sharma and district president Satpal Gupta led the farmers in staging a demonstration and dharna in front of office of the marketing committee of Karnal and alleged that the wheat brought to the mandis by the farmers was not being lifted and farmers were not getting the payments.

The INLD workers raised slogans and demanded that a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal be paid and the produce of the farmers be lifted at once and payments released immediately.

Sharma said while Chief Minister BS Hooda had announced that the payments would be made to farmers within 72 hours, Food and Supplies Minister Mahender Pratap Singh had been saying that the payments would be made only after the wheat was staked in godowns.

The contradictory statements of the Chief Minister and the minister had created a piquant situation and the farmers, whose wheat produce was rotting in the mandis, were suffering, he said.

The INLD workers also staged a demonstration at Indri to protest against the non-lifting of wheat in the mandis and raised slogans against the administration. The farmers alleged that there was no space in the mandis and they were waiting with their produce for 10-12 days, but the government was totally unconcerned and insensitive towards their plight.

Meanwhile, state president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Gurnam singh has also demanded bonus of Rs 300 per quintal on wheat. He said a kisan mahapanchayat had been convened on May 8 at Gohana to decide the future course of action for getting the demand for Rs 300 per quintal as bonus on wheat accepted.

He said the Rajasthan government had announced Rs 150 per quintal as bonus but even then it was not getting the wheat from the farmers, as private parties were paying Rs 1,650 per quintal as bonus.

Gurnam Singh, who inspected the Kurkushetra mandi, said the mandi was packed with wheat bags and farmers were not getting the payment. He said wheat was not reaching the godowns and said a mandatory provision should be made for the release of payment within 24 hours.

Faridabad: A wave of protests over wheat procurement was also seen in Faridabad where INLD activists visited mandis and expressed solidarity with the agitating farmers and commission agents. 

Karnal, April 22
The BJP state president would take the final call on fighting the municipal elections on symbol or not, Karnal BJP president Ashok Sukheja said today.

“We have been fighting the municipal elections on the party symbol in the past and the workers want the same practice to continue. However, the decision would be taken by the state leadership, as six other corporations are also going to the poll and we have an alliance with the HJC,” he said.

Referring to the preparations for the corporation elections, he said there was great enthusiasm among the workers and the process of selection had been set in motion and two committees had been constituted for screening the candidates and drafting the manifesto.

The candidates with clean image, public acceptance and winning prospects will be given thn ticket and to ensure that the BJP-HJC sweeps the poll.

He said more than 500 workers of other parties had joined the BJP since March and a strong anti-Congress wave was sweeping the region, while the INLD was grappling with its own problems.

Panchkula, April 22
A local court today reserved its order on the National Investigating Agency's plea regarding the extension of time in filing the charge sheet to 180 days in the Samjhauta blast case.

During the last hearing, a defence lawyer had sought bail for Swami Aseemanand and other accused — Lokesh Sharma, Rajinder Chaudhary Dashrath and Kamal Chauhan — following the request by the NIA to the court regarding the extension of time to 180 days for presenting a charge sheet in the case. The NIA had failed to file the charge sheet in 90 days earlier.

“If the extension of time in question is not be allowed by the court, the accused will get bail,” said an advocate.

Earlier today, the four accused were produced in the court of Panchkula Additional and Sessions Judge Sanjay Sandhir.

Defence lawyer Padam Kant Dewedi said the plea regarding the extension of time in presenting the charge sheet was challenged by him and he sought bail for the accused under Section 167 of the CrPC.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor said the NIA has a right to seek the extension of time under Section 43 D (2) of the UAP Act.

The court has reserved its decision on the matter for April 27.

Chandigarh, April 22
The battle royale for the seven municipal corporations(MCs) is set to take place in June

In fact, the process to conduct the elections in the cities of Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Karnal, Rohtak and Hisar is in advanced stage with the state election commission(SEC) preparing the draft electoral rolls of these municipalities. Once the final electoral rolls are ready, the commission would announce the detailed programme for the conduct of the elections, official sources told The Tribune today.

The election to these civic bodies assumes importance in view of the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Haryana Assembly next year. In fact, these elections are seen as the semifinal by the political parties to the parliamentary and assembly elections.

The recent Budget Session of the Haryana Assembly had put off the elections by three months as the electoral rolls were not ready. Besides, the elections were also postponed as schools, which are used as polling stations, would not have been available in April due to teaching work.

Till now, the BJP is the only party which contested the election on its symbol.On the other hand, other political parties supported like-minded candidates. However, in the elections of MC presidents and vice-presidents, various parties tried their best to get a candidate of their choice elected. 

Chandigarh, April 22
A portrait of well-known freedom fighter Lala Kedarnath Saigal was installed in the gallery of freedom fighters in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.

Lala Kedarnath Saigal was born in October, 1898, at Lahore and breathed his last on February 25, 1963.

His son, Ashok, who was present on the occasion, said that his father had played a vital role in the fight against the British, especially in Lahore and Meerut.

Lalaji went to jail for active participation in the Quit India movement and the non-cooperation movement. 

Gurgaon, April 22
Gurgaon woke up to a different Monday morning today. Contrary to the usual sight of madly honking posh cars struggling to move, it was 500 senior company executives walking to their offices.

The executives had chosen to walk to their offices to mark Earth Day and pay their little bit towards making the city pedestrian-friendly and free of congestion.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Regional Council for Haryana had organised the ‘CEOs Walk to Work’ initiative.

The walk started at 8:45 am and passed though four routes - Gateway Tower to Cybercity, Gateway Towers to Udyog Vihar, the Huda City Centre Metro station to Unitech Cyber Park and the Moulsari Avenue metro station to Ambience Complex.

Senior officials of the state government and Rapid Metro also took part in the event.

Sirsa, April 22
Amid protests in Sirsa against the brutal rape of a 5-year-old girl in Delhi, some unidentified persons painted former Haryana minister Gopal Kandal’s face in black on a hoarding installed outside the family’s Tareshwar Dham (Tara Baba Kutiya) on the Rania road here.

The incident occurred in the night and Kandal supporters removed the hoarding after noticing the defacement in the hoarding.

Handwritten posters against Kanda, who is presently in judicial custody in the Delhi Tihar Jail in connection with the Geetika Sharma suicide case, were also found pasted near the hoarding.

The Kandal supporters have described this as a handiwork of his political opponents.

Last year, after the Delhi police arrested Kanda in connection with the Geetika Sharma suicide case, his posters were defaced in Sirsa.

Gurgaon, April 22
While the anger over brutal rape of 5-year old in Delhi is yet to subside, another incident has left NCR ashamed. A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped today by her cousin who was later arrested.

The incident occurred this evening when the girl's father was away on duty and her mother had gone to a neighbour's house. The girl's paternal aunt's son Ajay went to her home at that time and allegedly raped her.

The victim's mother claimed that she was just outside her house when she heard her daughter scream. She ran inside and found her daughter bleeding and her clothes lying torn next to Ajay.

"I took her in my arms and ran outside and bolted the house. I cried for help and neighbours and passersby called the police," she said.

The police took the accused in custody and booked him for rape.

The girl had fainted and was taken to hospital.

The doctors reportedly claimed that the victim was in a bad condition and nothing could be said for several hours.

Meanwhile, as the news spread across the city, people came on the roads, protesting against the police. Many people gathered at the hospital and police station, threatening to stone the accused to death.

The officials in charge refused to say anything.

Faridabad, April 22
A man allegedly sodomised a four-year-old son of his tenant at Badauli village in this district last evening.

The tenant, a labourer, had shifted to the dwelling along with his family recently.

The boy was victimised when his parent had gone out. An FIR was registered on the complaint of the victim’s parents.

The medical investigation of the victim confirmed the sodomy, said the police. The accused, identified as Rahul (23), has allegedly absconded. The police has constituted two teams to nab him. 

Sonepat, April 22
A drug addict was found allegedly murdered by another drug addict in the Nasha Mukti Kendra at Saidpur village under Kharkhoda police station this morning. The police has arrested the accused, Rajbir of Mandothi village in Jhajjar district.

Victim Rakesh’ body (40) of Karala village in Delhi has been handed over to his family members after a postmortem examination in the Civil Hospital here.

After receiving information from the kendra, the police reached the spot and arrested the accused. He allegedly confessed to have hammered at the victim’s head with a stone while he was asleep at night. The two had been admitted in the kendra by their family members for their rehabilitation from drug addiction. — OC