Ludhiana, May 4
In a gruesome broad daylight robbery, armed assailant barged into a house in the Bazigar Basti area and killed a 50-year-old woman here today. They fled with Rs 1.25 lakh that was lying in the house.

The victim has been identified as Mahinder Kaur, wife of Amarjit Singh. She was living in the house along with her husband and son.The family had recently sold a property and kept the money in the house.

The incident took place when victim Mahinder Kaur was alone at home.

Amarjit said that he along with his son had left for work, while his daughter-in-law had gone out to buy medicine.

Two rooms in the house have been rented out. The police is verifying if the tenants were present in the house at the time of murder.

According to available information, two youths came on a motorcycle and bragged into the house. They stabbed Mahinder Kaur several times in the abdomen. The victim bled to death on the spot and the robbers fled with the cash.

However, the police has not ruled out the involvement of an insider behind the killing. The police suspects that the murder was well planned and the killer were aware that the cash was kept inside the house.

The incident came to light when the daughter-in-law of the victim entered the house and raised the alarm when she saw the body of Mahinder Kaur lying in a pool of blood.

Dharampal, SHO, Salem Tabri police station, immediately rushed to the spot and started the investigation. 

Ludhiana, May 4
Two unidentified persons posing as policemen fled with car by duping the driver.

The car belongs to Bhushan Kumar, a resident of Patel Nagar, who owns a hosiery unit at Sunder Nagar.

Bhushan Kumar said Kamaljit Singh, a resident of Bhattian, was working as a driver for the past two and a half years.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening. Kamaljit Singh, as usual drove Bhusan’s wife Rita to Rose Garden for an evening walk. She came out from the Rose Garden and asked Kamaljit to take her to a showroom situated on the Mall Road.

When they reached the showroom, she went inside. While Kamaljit was parking the car outside, two unidentified turbaned men posing as policemen asked him to produce the documents of the car.

When Kamaljit was about the show the documents, the policemen asked him to drive down to the police station.

Once they sat in the car, the men posing as policemen pointed a pistol at Kamaljit and asked him to take the vehicle towards Shimlapuri. Once they reached near the Gill Canal Bridge, they told him to come out of the car and fled with it.

The police has registered a case after recording the statement of Kamaljit.

Ludhiana, May 4
The Division No 2 police has booked a tantrik for duping two brothers of Rs 6.15 lakh. The accused has been identified as Babbal Chowdhary, a resident of Jassian. Babbal was caught by the police here last evening and some cash was also recovered from him.

Monu Sharma, a property dealer and a resident of Alamgir, said he was suffering from prolonged illness and someone had told him about Babbal Chowdhary.

The accused came to Monu's house and told him that his house was in the grip of an evil spirit. He took Rs two lakh for treating Monu through black magic.

He also took Naresh Chandan, Monu's brother, in confidence and convinced him that there was a hidden treasure in their house. He took Rs 4.15 lakh from Naresh and assured that he would be a millionaire in a few days.

Naresh started dreaming of becoming rich and gave Rs 4 lakh to the tantrik. But, the tantrik fled after duping them. Soon, they came to know that the accused was living at Gopal Nagar. They informed the police immediately. Later, the police nabbed the accused.

Ludhiana, May 4
The District Revenue Officer, Balraj Kaur, has submitted her detailed report on the ownership of Hub (the restaurant-cum-pub at Ghumar Mandi, which was embroiled in controversies a few months ago) to the Deputy Commissioner, Rahul Tiwari.

Besides, the DRO in her detailed report has recommended that the Financial Commissioner (Appeals) should be requested to decide the ownership case quickly to settle the dispute. The Deputy Commissioner has reportedly accepted the recommendations of the DRO and these have also been forwarded to the NRI Commission.

Balraj Kaur said that she had submitted the detailed enquiry report with her recommendations a couple of days ago to the DC.

An official in the Revenue Department, who was instrumental in getting all the records/details on the issue, on the condition of anonymity, said that the DRO had recommended an FIR against one Karamjit Kaur, a relative of the complainant, for manipulating the record.

Meanwhile, Sunny Goodwill's lawyer has said that there was no one by the name of Hundal (the complainant), so the DRO had recommended that he should put his claim before the FC (Appeals) in whose court, the case was pending for final adjudication as to whether Sunny or Hundals were the owners.

On the other hand, Hundal's Power of Attorney has complained that despite the stay orders, Hub was constructed on the land. Regarding this, Balraj Kaur, the DRO, has concluded that they (Hundals) had not been able to prove that they showed the stay documents to the corporation officials, hence there was no fault on the part of the corporation, but if someone violated the stay orders, then complainants should lodge a complaint in the court of FC (Appeals).

Ludhiana, May 4
A few days after The Tribune highlighted commuters' grievance regarding the Sidhwan Canal expressway on the Pakhowal Road, the contractor has opened the road properly for smooth flow of the traffic. Earlier, the contractor had provided just a few feet wide opening on the Pakhowal Road towards Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar.

Motorists had complained that they had a tough time crossing the stretch as 90 per cent of the road was covered with huge slabs. After the matter was reported in The Tribune, the contractor ensured that the slabs were removed. If the road was not opened fully, a slight error on a driver's part could have been fatal on this narrow stretch as the vehicle could have fallen into the Sidhwan Canal, which is just a few feet from the road.

Pardeep Kumar, project manager, Supreme Infrastructure, said after he came to know about the problem being faced by residents, the company decided to remove the slabs and open the road fully.

"We are yet to receive the drawings of the railway over bridge to be constructed on the canal and so, we decided to open the road. We had provided an alternative route from Vikas Nagar but residents don’t use it. We can't close this particular road because it would then restrict the movement of our own vehicles, which ferry construction material. So now, the road has been opened for traffic but the residents should drive safely as the construction is still going on," he said.

Jagraon, May 4
The Supreme Welfare Society, Jagraon, organised a road show here today to create awareness against social evils among public. The road show started from Geeta Bhawan in the morning. Jagraon MLA SR Kaler, accompanied by former Jagraon MLA Bhag Singh Mallha, flagged off the expedition.

Several volunteers of the Supreme Welfare Society and a large number of students from various schools took part in the event. The road show passed through Old Sabzi Mandi Road, Lajpat Rai Road, Nehru Market, Railway Road, Link Road, Tehsil Road, Rani Jhansi Chowk and Kamal Chowk before concluding at Geeta Bhawan.

The participants carried placards and distributed pamphlets carrying messages against social evils such as female foeticide, eve teasing, dowry, drug addiction etc.

Office-bearers of the society appealed to shopkeepers to remove encroachments from outside their shops to reduce traffic jams. The shopkeepers were also asked to not allow roadside vendors to stall their 'rehris' in front of their shops.

Earlier, members of the Supreme Welfare Society held a meeting in which they vowed to cooperate with the local administration to eliminate crime and drug addiction and reduce traffic jams and pollution in the town.

Society president Sudarshan Sharma said their organisation had chalked out a plan to check roadside encroachments and to keep the town clean.

"We have divided the town in four zones, which will be taken care of by teams of society members. These teams have been given the task of getting roadside encroachments removed and maintaining cleanliness. Once the encroachments are removed, the team members will keep a regular check in their zones to prevent shopkeepers from encroaching again," said Sharma.

Society general secretary Naresh Verma, coordinator Raj Kumar Bhalla, zonal in charge Dr Rajinder Sharma, joint secretary Tony Verma were among those present on the occasion. 

Ludhiana, May 4
A day after a strayed leopard attacked two persons at a farmhouse in Sangowal village, it has come to the light that the wild cat might be a tamed animal.

The forest officials have also not ruled out the possibility. District Forrest Officer (DFO) Daljit Singh Brar said, "I have spoken to the wildlife officers in the Chattbir Zoo this morning. The leopard, which was caught yesterday, is fine and healthy. The wildlife officers have suspected that the behaviour of the cat is similar to that of a tamed animal."

However, The incident has again brought to the fore the perennial problem of shrinking forest cover in the state. According to wildlife experts, the axing of trees in Ropar and Nangal area has ruined the natural habitat of the wild cat.

The forest guards said the leopard strayed into the area in search of food. The wildlife experts suspect that the cat might have come from Ropar forest area.

It is not the first time that a leopard had entered the city. Earlier, on November 11, a leopard had strayed into the Ladhowal area and fell into a bore well.

The leopard had escaped after injuring a forest guard. "Many things contribute to it. The rising temperature, scarcity of food and the axing of trees in the forest lead to such incidents," said DFO Daljit Singh Brar.

The issue of ill-equipped and ill- trained forest guards again caught the attention of forest officials. The forest guards became a laughing stock when they were trying to nab the leopard with bathroom sleepers and were seen throwing boulders to the cat.

"As leopards are venturing into the city, we are seriously contemplating to increase equipments, so that we could tackle such a situation," said the DFO.

Narinder Singh, a forest guard, and Parmod Kumar, a labourer, were injured when they were attacked by the leopard yesterday.

The farmhouse, where the leopard was hiding, is owned by Tajinder and Harvinder Bansal. MP Singh and John, both veterinarian from the Chattbir Zoo, who were called by the Forest Department to catch the strayed leopard, said three tranquilisers were fired at the wild cat as the leopard was going from one room to another on the first floor of the farmhouse. 

Ludhiana, May 4
Employees of Punjab Agricultural University, who are serving as block level officers (BLOs), are annoyed over the new orders about the election duties by the district election officer. According to the employees, the cadre, which is working as BLOs, has been deputed for the the Zila Parishad elections.

A number of employees are now in a fix as both the duties are ordered by the same officer.

While working as BLOs these employees will have to register new voters and make corrections in the voters' list by visiting houses.

Now, the same employees will perform rehearsals for the Zila Parishad election, which is scheduled to be held on May 19. Moreover, the employees will have to work at the university while performing the election duty.

Dr Gulzar Singh Pander, general secretary of the PAU Employees' Union said," We have no objections to do any election duty as we consider it as the service of the nation. But the duties should be viable. How one can perform three separate tasks simultaneously?

Paramjit Singh Gill, president of the PAU Employees' Union also demanded to revise the duty criteria.

Paramjit Singh Gill said, "A huge number of PAU employees have been deputed on the election duty, which will disrupt the research and official work of the university. The district administration also deputed the women employees on election duties in the far-flung areas. So, the officials should look into the decisions." 

Ludhiana, May 4
Parents of Durgi Ryan School's students had heated arguments with the principal over increase in the fee structure and non-affiliation of the school with the CBSE.

Jaspreet Singh, president, Feed Foundation, said the school authorities were not giving the parents a patient hearing.

He said the parents and certain members of the management had detailed discussions over the issue but no conclusion came out of the exercise.

"The management is increasing the fees but they do not even have the affiliation with the CBSE. We have been told that they will reply on the issue after two or three months," said Jaspreet, adding that each student had to pay about Rs 5,000 per month as fees, which was exorbitant.

In a telephonic conversation, School principal Parveena John said they were in the process of getting the affiliation for the middle classes (6th to 8th) and only a few parents were raising a hue and cry. Rest of them are satisfied, she said.

When asked whether the school had the CBSE affiliation for the primary classes, John disconnected the phone.

Despite repeated efforts, she did not respond to the calls. 

Ludhiana, May 4
When students of KVM School reached their school today, they were surprised to know that the school authorities had declared a holiday for the day. The decision was taken as the management wanted to solve their row with class IV employees, which started four days ago.

The matter has been resolved for the time being as all the six suspended employees have been reinstated. Both the management and the class IV employees have shot a letter to the CBSE over the issue.

The employees were asking for annual increment, which the management was not giving. "We get an annual increment of 20 per cent at the beginning of the financial year but this year, no increment was given to us despite it been given to the teachers. When we questioned the authorities, they bluntly told us that the non-teaching staff would not be given increments from this year onward," said Rajesh Kumar, secretary, KVM Class IV Employees' Union.

"We have written a letter to the CBSE from our side and the class IV employees have written a letter from their side. Now whatever the CBSE will decide will be the final verdict," said KVM School principal Namita Puri.

"The school was closed today because we wanted to solve the matter peacefully and did not want the students to be disturbed due to this," she said.

Ludhiana, May 4
Students of MCom have been left worried as their examination date is clashing with one of the company secretary examinations, to be held on June 3. The date sheet was announced by Panjab University, Chandigarh, yesterday . Several students from different colleges are appearing for both the examinations.

A student of MCom of SCD Government College said, "One of our examinations is clashing with a company secretary examination on June 3. We are putting in a lot of efforts to appear for both the exams, but if the date clashes, we will be at the receiving end.” — TNS

Ludhiana, May 4
"I always enjoy participating in competitions as it makes me stronger. Today, I am very happy to participate in these games," said Sandip, a 14-year-old physically challenged students, who took part in the Viklang Khed Mela, held for physically challenged children at Ramgarhia School here today.