Amritsar
South African held from Pak border: BSF jawans on Thursday arrested a South African national from the Rorawala border out post when he was allegedly trying to cross over to Pakistan. The accused, identified as Malend J Richard (26), was studying in Banglore. His visa was due to expire in August. Sources said since he did not have funds to get his visa extended, he decided to go to Iran after crossing over to Pakistan. The BSF did not find anything objectionable from his possession. He was later handed over to the Gharinda police. A case has been registered.
Chandigarh
146 samitis to elect chairpersons: Elected members of panchayat samitis will elect their chairpersons and vice-chairpersons from July 27. Surjit Singh Rakhra, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, said the department had instructed all the deputy commissioners to complete the process by August 5. He said the election would be done according to the reservation notification whose copy had been sent to the deputy commissioners.
Moga
Woman held for passport fraud: The police has arrested a woman on the charges of getting two passports issued using different names and forged documents. A case has been registered against Harpal Kaur, wife of Pritam Singh of Nihalsinghwala. Two others who had attested her antecedents, Jasmel Singh and Gurpreet Singh, have also been booked. Sources said the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, had issued two passports to the woman. One in the name of Harpal Kaur (passport No: F-3769743) issued in 2005 and the other in the name of Raj Kaur (passport No: N-57595) issued in 2011.
Nangal
Water at Bhakra dam up by only 7 ft: A mere 7 ft rise in the water level at the Bhakra dam in the past one week has come as a relief to the Bhakra Beas Management Board. The water level at the dam touched ,645.34 ft on Friday. The BBMB was to decide over controlled release of water if it touched the 1,650 ft mark on or before July 31.
Tarn
Taran
Woman set ablaze succumbs to burns: Balbir Kaur (45) of Mallhia village, who was allegedly set ablaze four days ago, succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in Amritsar on Thursday night. Married to Balwinder Singh, Balbir had received 96% burn injuries. Sukhwinder Singh (Balwinder’s brother), his wife Surjit Kaur and their son Manmohan Singh Sonu have been booked under Section 302 of the IPC. Balbir had recorded her statement before Shilpi Gupta, Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar, at the hospital.
Police fails to trace missing school boy: The police has failed to trace the 12-year-old schoolboy, who was abducted while he was on his way to Adarsh School, Balehar, yesterday. However, the Bhikhwind police has registered a case against a resident of Vegepur village, 35 km from here. Pardeeep Dhawan, the victim’s father, in his complaint to the police alleged that his son failed to return home from school. The Station House Officer said the boy would be found soon.
presented a memento to CM Vijay Bahuguna, which is based on the ‘Operation Rahat’ undertaken to rescue stranded pilgrims and tourists following the natural disaster last month. A meeting was held at the Secretariat, where he also presented the CM with his book ‘The Purple Legacy’, on the history of helicopters in the Indian Air Force (IAF). The CM appreciated the efforts of the IAF during the rescue