Ludhiana, July 30
Buyers and investors are staying away from the sale of commercial sites and built-up properties of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) through public auction. In an action replay of the auction conducted on July 23, no bidders turned up for yet another offer for the sale of commercial properties by the LIT today.

Two flopped auctions for the sale of commercial sites and properties in quick succession have upset the applecart of the LIT authorities who had intended to rake up more than Rs 75 crore from these offers.

In the auction scheduled for today, the LIT had made an offer for the sale of 22 commercial sites and properties with a total floor price of around Rs 32.22 crore. The sites and properties proposed to be put under the hammer included five SCOs, a coal depot and four built-up booths in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, a school site in Kidwai Nagar, five built-up booths in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, four built-up booths and two booth sites in Maharishi Valmiki Nagar.

Executive officer of the LIT Paramjit Singh and other officials kept on waiting for the bidders at the auction site for more than three hours. However, with no bidder turning up or showing interest in depositing the earnest money, the auction was called off.

Officials of the LIT had faced a similar situation on July 23 when 106 commercial sites and properties, with a total reserve price of Rs 43.68 crore, were to be auctioned. The officials attributed the poor response to the sale offers to overall slowdown in the economy and the recessionary trends in the real estate sector. 

Ludhiana, July 30
The oath-taking ceremony of as many as 7,000 sarpanches and panchayat members will be held at the Grain Market on August 4 and the officials have been asked to ensure the smooth conduct of the function.

Over 10,000 visitors are expected to be present during the ceremony, but no funds have been released by the government so far to arrange the event.

If the officials are to be believed then this time, too, the function will not cost less than about Rs 30 lakh. The last state-level function of oath-administering ceremony of the Zila Parishad members had cost the government Rs 40 lakh. This time, it may be a district-level function, still arrangements will be the same as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, along with several other Cabinet Ministers, will grace the occasion.

An official of the district administration said arrangements were on for the function.

When asked if the state government had released the funds for organising the event, the official said, "We have not received the funds so far. The funds for the last function were inadequate as the total expenditure was Rs 40 lakh and the government had released Rs 30 lakh. We are yet to make payments to service providers, still they are cooperating with us."

The official said they were still not clear as to how much money was being sent on the event. "We have been asked to make preparations and we are doing so," said the official.

In the last oath-taking ceremony, where Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal was the chief guest, for organising a two-hour function, the government had spent Rs 40 lakh (excluding the publicity advertisements in various sections of media). 

Ludhiana, July 30
Vehicles remained stuck in a long traffic jam at Ghumar Mandi and Rani Jhansi Road as a truck belonging to A to Z company was vertically parked on the road. The harried commuters were seen urging the driver to remove the truck, but to no avail.

"As if the humid weather was not enough, we were forced to inhale poisonous fumes emanating from the vehicles. The garbage should not be lifted during the peak hours,” said Ramesh Kumar, a commuter.

The situation turned from bad to worse when students of two colleges in the vicinity were heading home. The policemen deployed outside the colleges failed to regulate the traffic.

Raj Kumar, SHO (Traffic), said no heavy vehicle was allowed to ply inside the city during peak hours.

"The company has violated rules. Strict action will be taken against the company," said the SHO.

Jagraon, July 30
A newlywed woman reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at the house of her in-laws at Sherpur Khurd village near Jagraon last night.

The incident came to light this morning when her in-laws broke open the door of her room, which was locked from inside, after she did not respond to their repeated calls.

The deceased was identified as 25-year-old Kuldeep Kaur, wife of Gurpreet Singh of Sherpur Khurd village. The deceased, who hailed from Kanuke Kalan village, was married to Gurpreet Singh three months ago. Gurpreet is an Army man and is on leave.

Sources said when the deceased’s in-laws entered her room, they found her hanging from the ceiling fan. They informed the victim’s parents.

The police reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem. The deceased’s parents blamed her in-laws for her death. In his complaint to the police, deceased’s father Hardial Singh alleged that the members of Kuldeep's in-laws family had been demanding a car as dowry from them and when they failed to fulfil their demand, they started torturing her.

"On Monday evening, my son-in-law called me to inform that Kuldeep had locked herself in the room and asked me to come. Later, we came to know about her death,” said Hardial Singh.

"My daughter was forced to commit suicide only because of the physical and mental torture by her in-laws,” he alleged

Investigating officer ASI Balwant Singh said the police had registered a case under Section 304-B of the IPC against Kuldeep’s husband Gurrpreet, his father Jaswinder Singh and mother Rajwinder Kaur. "None of the accused has been arrested so far. The police is conducting raids to arrest the accused,” said the ASI. 

Ludhiana, July 30
The Excise and Taxation Department has extended the last date to file VAT return. The return can now be filed till August 6. The date was extended as the server of the department collapsed yesterday.

The industry has already been raising hue and cry over the e-trip system and has been maintaining that the Excise and Taxation Department needs to improve its infrastructure before asking the industrialists to provide their details.

Officials of the department claim that they were not aware of the development. However, the website of the department mentions that the date has been extended.

An official of the department said the server was giving problems for the past four-five days. It took three-four hours to file a VAT return. “Not even a single VAT return was filed yesterday. Many taxpayers could not file the return on the last day (July 30),” said the official.

There are around 2.5 lakh taxpayers in Punjab who file VAT return. The quarterly returns from April to June had to be filed till July 30 and online filing started from July 10, but due to the problem in the server, the date had to be extended till August 6.

Jatinder Khurana, president of the Young Lawyers’ Association, said it was a relief for the taxpayers as majority of them file returns on the last date. "Now they will get about a week more to file the return,” said Khurana.

Residents who have to file their income tax return are also facing the similar problem. The return for the financial year 2012-13 has to be filed till July 31. 

Ludhiana, July 30
High drama was witnessed at the District Transport Office today when a police team entered the clerical branch and took Gurmeet Singh, a contractual clerk, into custody.

It was learnt that Gurmeet Singh was arrested by the Vigilance Department.

But soon the confusion was over and the department employees were told that Gurmeet Singh was taken to the Sadar police station for questioning.

Speaking to The Tribune, Sadar SHO Amandeep Singh said Gurmeet was called for routine investigation.

Sources said the District Transport Officer's driver was also picked up by police for questioning last evening.

An insider said the police was zeroing in on persons involved in issuing special cards which helped bus and truck operators evade challans.

It is learnt that driver of mini-trucks and mini-buses, who do not have the requisite documents, were issued special cards.

The bus and tempo drivers show these card to escape challans. Recently, the police had booked five persons in different parts of the city for issuing the cards.

Sources said the accused had formed tempo and mini-bus unions and opened offices in Transport Nagar and at Gill Road. 

Controversial past

It is not the first time that Gurmeet Singh's name has been associated with a controversy. Gurmeet Singh, who retired last year, was recruited on a contractual basis. The then transport minister, Master Mohan Lal, had reprimanded Gurmeet Singh following a flurry of complaints against him.

Special cards

It is learnt that driver of mini-trucks and mini-buses, who do not have the requisite documents, were issued special cards. The bus and tempo drivers show these card to escape challans. Recently, the police had booked five persons in different parts of the city for issuing the cards.

Ludhiana, July 30
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation's General House meeting scheduled for August 2 is likely to be a stormy affair. The last meeting was held on March 12. The Congress councillors as well as the Independents had been demanding that the meeting should be convened. They had even staged a dharna in front of the Mayor's office.

It was after the Mayor's assurance that the councillors lifted the dharna.

The MC house was formed last year. Since then only one General House meeting has taken place which led to resentment among the councillors who feel that the issues related to residents are not being discussed.

A group of the Congress councillors and some Independents had demanded that the Mayor should convene the meeting at the earliest so that the development works did not suffer.

They had even submitted a memorandum carrying signatures of 29 councillors because as per rules, if one third of the councillors demand that a meeting should be convened, the body has to do it. The MC house consists of 75 councillors. A confidant of Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria stated that the General House Meeting was delayed as the councillors were issuing statements in the media and were not submitting agendas for development works.

"A meeting can only be held if we have ample agendas in hand. There are only a few agendas, but still the Mayor has decided to hold the meeting," he claimed.

Ludhiana, July 30
Sixteen agendas will be discussed during the General House meeting on August 2. The agenda items include transfer of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust schemes to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, transfer of staff working under LIT schemes to the MC, clearance of ‘Saral’ scheme under which building plans are approved in a simpler way, besides others.A senior MC official said the number of agendas was far less as compared to agendas which were passed and cleared in other General House meetings.

“This time a few councillors submitted their agendas to the MC," claimed a senior MC official.During the meeting, an agenda for availing a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), will be tabled. The amount will be spent on the overall development of the city. An approval for the final report of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan will also be sought.

The MC is mulling over changing the land use of Shingar Cinema Road and Kashmir Nagar Road from residential to mixed land use. A proposal to convert Hambran Road into mixed land use will also be tabled.

Besides, the MC also plans to auction two of its properties located in the Dhandari Khurd area.

It will auction 4,500 sq yard land in khasra number 22//4, 4 and 22//5/1. The reserve price has been fixed at Rs 15,600 per sq yard.

The reserve price for 6,500 sq yard land in khasra number 34 is Rs 3,000 per sq yard.

Ludhiana, July 30
The Congress as well as the SAD-BJP councillors have been for long demanding that the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) should be constituted. The F&CC is one of the most prestigious committees of the civic body. Even a year after the MC house was formed, the committee has not been constituted.

The committee consists of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayor, two councillors as members and MC Commissioner as ex-officio member. Any development work to be carried out in the city or allocation of funds for any project need to be sanctioned by the F&CC. As per rules, the committee is constituted during the MC General House meeting.

During the first General House meeting on March 12, the issue pertaining to the formation of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) had rocked the MC house when Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Akali MLA Simarjit Singh Bains had told MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma and Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria that the panel had not been formed.

"Instead of tabling the proposal of clearing the F&CC decisions, the Mayor should have written 'in anticipation of MC house' as the F&CC has not been formed," said Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

In his reply, the MC Commissioner had stated that the MC house did not have the power to decide on the formation of the F&CC.

Following which Ashu and Bains stated, "This has been going on for years and we are not novice in the MC. If you think that you can function this way, you are highly mistaken Mr Verma."

The councillors are expecting that the F&CC would be formed this time.

Akali MLA Simarjit Singh Bains, who is also a member of the MC house, claimed that the F&CC was a statuary body and it had to be formed with the approval of MC general house.

"All agendas put up before the MC house should have word 'in anticipation' instead of approved by the F&CC because to date no F&CC has been formed," he stated.Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Khanna, July 30
Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal today inaugurated the Trauma centre at the Civil Hospital amid protests by Congress and ASHA workers. Patients remained at the receiving end as the OPD remained closed and they had to wait for long in scorching heat.

The minister claimed that the Punjab Government would provide all facilities to patients in government hospitals.

He said all medicines were available at the medical stores in the hospital and action would be taken against those doctors who would force patients to buy medicines from outside.

Congress workers led by block president Anil Shukla and Youth Congress president Gurmukh Singh Chahal staged a protest after they were not allowed to submit a memorandum to the minister. They were carrying placards. The protesters were taken into custody by the police, said Anil Shukla.They alleged that the grant for the Trauma centre was sanctioned by the Central Government but the state government was taking the credit for it. He demanded that the hospital should be equipped with latest equipment and more doctors should be recruited.

Some ASHA workers who tried to enter the venue to submit a memorandum to the minister were taken into custody by the police.

SMO of the Civil Hospital Dr NK Singla said the Trauma Centre had the requisite equipment. He said the centre came up at a cost of Rs 1.2 crore and the equipment was provided by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation. Khanna SSP said the Congress workers and some ASHA workers were taken into police custody in order to prevent any untoward incident during the function. They were later let off, 
he added. ` 

Ludhiana, July 30
Though a delegation of the Knitwear Club and Plywood Industry has gone to Chandigarh to hold a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on the burning issue of e-trip today, the All-Industry Trade Forum, which represents about a dozen associations, has boycotted the meeting with the DCM. The forum, which represents 28 associations, maintains that there could be no dialogue on e-trip as the industry wants the rollback of the decision.

Badish Jindal, national president, Federtion of Association of Small Industries of India, said that the Revenue of the Excise and Taxation Department had increased from Rs 6,000 crore in 2008 to Rs 14,000 crore recently. By paying the excise duty on liquor and filing VAT returns, it shows that the industry is paying the taxes.

"Through e-trip, the government wants to get all the information, to which we are not opposed. But when we ask them if bogus billing is done by some industrialists, will the authorities consider it as genuine? They have no answer to such queries. Besides, the department is conducting regular raids, the mobile wing is too active, scrutiny of documents is properly done and four-stage verification is regular by the department officials, then where is any need for e-trip?", asked Jindal adding that the forum had boycotted meeting with the DCM as the industry had just one-point agenda of not agreeing on the e-trip.

On the issue of e-trip, the members of Vyopar Mandal too had expressed their anger to the Minister for Industries, Anil Joshi, here yesterday. Some of the office-bearers of the BJP vyopar cell had categorically told the minister if government did not roll-back its decision, former would support the agitation of industrialists. Following this, Joshi had openly asked the industrialists not to believe in the strategy of the Vyopar Mandal, as the issue was being discussed at the higher-level in detail.

Format to be changed

Following a complaint made by the Vyopar Mandal on the password being hacked by someone, the Excise and Taxation Department has decided to change the format. Talking to The Tribune, Anurag Verma, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, said that in a few days time, instead of the PAN number, some other option would be provided so that passwords were not hacked.

Ludhiana, July 30
Davinder Kumar knows the meaning of stagnation and what it means to get a promotion. Davinder Kumar, who joined the police force over 23 years ago was today made Assistant Sub- Inspector.

Davinder had got a job of a Punjab Police constable on humanitarian grounds after his father, a police officer, sacrificed his live on the line of duty.

Chaman Lal, Davinder father, was killed while fighting with a terrorist on Janaury 16, 1986.

While Davinder's colleagues rose above the ranks Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Inspectors, he merely got promoted to the rank of a head- constable (HC) after [putting in 23 years of service.

He said that after completing his graduation in 1990, Davinder was appointed as a constable. "I have no words to thank DGP SS Saini for considering my case," said Davinder Kumar.

Narrating the raw deal, Davinder said, "Instead of being recruited as an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), I was given the rank of a constable. The then senior officials assured me that I would soon be promoted, but after spending nearly 22- years in service, I was given just one promotion. On the other hand, my contemporaries have been raised to the ranks of DSPs," said Davinder Kumar. 

Ludhiana, July 30
Suman Paul, alias Parul Gupta, who was booked by the police for fraud, extortion and filing of false rape charges against a city resident was arrested and presented in court and later let- off after furnishing a bail bond.

ASI Karampal Singh of Sarabha Nagar police station said that Suman was arrested and produced before the court, as the challan was to be presented in the case.

It is learnt that Karampal had earlier filed a challan in the court pertaining to a case of fraud. He had stated in the court that various remainders were sent to Suman Paul, but she was untraceable.

But the council of the victim's side prayed to the court that the accused would appear in person in court.

The court then directed the ASI to produce Suman Paul.

Besides being booked by the police for falsely implicating a youth in a rape case, Suman Paul was also booked for conning a Delhi-based woman, Seema Sehgal, and for committing theft at a house in Haibowal. 

Ludhiana, July 30
The controversy surrounding former DGP (prison) Shashi Kant's claim that drug mafia is operating in prisons across the state refuses to die down.

Shashi Kant, who was in the city to convene a meeting with the members of his anti-drug organisation, retreated that he still had the list of those who were involved in the alleged drug nexus.The former DGP was replying to Principal Secretary Home DS Bains's question that if the retired DGP (prison) had proof then why he was shying away from handing over the list.

Bains had stated that the government had made it clear that they had never received any such list from the former officer.

Shashi Kant had recently created a stir by claiming that a nexus involving jail officers, drug peddlers and politicians was involved in supplying drugs to the prisoners inside the jail.

He said that his anti-drug organisatgion had received encouraging response from the religious bodies.

Shashi Kant said that he had handed over the list to the then Jail Minister and left a copy of the list in his office. "There is a threat to my life. If I will make the name public I will be sued for defamation. All proofs were lying with the then state jail minister. If DS Bains has any doubts then he can get a probe conducted through a ADGP-level officer and he will get to know who all are involved," said Shashi Kant.Shashi Kant nominated Kuldeep Sharma as the district coordinator of his organisation today.

Ludhiana, July 30
A one- day workshop on "Whitefly as a vector of begomoviruses: An emerging threat to vegetable crops and cotton," was jointly organised by the Department of Vegetable Science, and the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics (PBG) of the Punjab Agricultural University. Farm experts from USA, and various departments of the university participated in the workshop.

In his presidential remarks, the Director of Research of PAU, Dr SS Gosal highlighted the research achievements of the PAU. Observing that climate change, depleting water resources, and farm sustainability are the major concerns, he said that the PAU was open to collaboration that was aimed at sustainable and enhanced crop production. Another agriculture expert from USA, Dr Kater Hake presented his exhaustive talk on the cotton and possibilities of collaboration.

Ludhiana, July 30
Two suspected cases of dengue have been reported from DMC, Ludhiana, today. One male patient belongs to Ludhiana city and one female patient is from Dhuri (Sangrur).

A few days ago, the Health Department team found dengue larvae at different places in the city. The larvae were found at Aman Nagar, Islam Ganj, Guru Nanak Pura, BRS Nagar, J Block, Railway Colony, Jammu Colony, Field Ganj, Saroop Nagar, Salem Tabri, New Shimla Puri and Shiv Puri. Temephos spray was used to destroy them. Residents were imparted health education and pamphlets were distributed.

The Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, has been informed regarding thise and has been asked to conduct intensive fogging and resurvey of the areas so that the steps are taken well within time. 

Ludhiana, July 30
The star cast of the upcoming movie ‘Naughty Jatts’ was in the city for the promotion of the film today. Actor Neeru Bajwa along with Binnu Dhillon, Aarya Babbar, and Roshan Prince visited several places and performed on some numbers from the movie at a local college and a mall.

Neeru Bajwa said the story of ‘Naughty Jatts’focused on the naughty rural boys who shift to a city. The movie is a comedy and people will enjoy it.

Meanwhile, Beenu Dhillon said he loved doing negative roles but filmmakers often offered him comedy roles. He said he did not want to be typecast.—TNS

Doraha, July 30
Students of BSc (nursing) and their parents have alleged the institute, where their students completed the degrees, of not refunding their security even after the completion of a year after passing out.

Major Singh, a resident of Doraha, whose daughter Ravneet Kaur completed her BSc (nursing) in the year 2012 from Swift Institute of Nursing, being run under Swift Fundamental Research and Education Society, situated at Ghaggar Sarai, Rajpura, has complained that at the time of admission in the year 2009, the college had charged Rs 25,000 as security from 50 such students who took admission along with his daughter, the same year.

“After the completion of the degree we demanded the security back to which they said that it would take time. Now, we have been to the institute at least 5 times claiming for the security but to no avail,” alleged Major Singh.

“We last met the principal on July 23 and rang him up yesterday, still he said the case was with the management and they would decide on it,” he said.

Parents of another student said, “The amount should have been refunded to us immediately after our students got out of the institute. We were astonished when the authorities showed such unconcern towards us.”

“The dilly-dallying attitude of the authorities is highly objectionable. The total security amounts to Rs 12, 50,000 which the college has failed to return till date. We have now given an ultimatum to them that if they fail to give our security within 15 days, we shall sit on dharna in front of the institute and raise slogans against the system and the authorities. We shall also bring it to the notice of the Punjab Government and Baba Farid University Faridkot,” said the parents of Navdeep Kaur and Punit Kaur, ex-students of the institute.

“The refund is expected anytime now,” assured the dean.

A delegation of Ludhiana Property Dealers Welfare Association met Pawan Dewan, president of District Congress (Urban), here on Tuesday. Property dealers discussed their problems. Sahdi Lal, a property dealer, said the Punjab Government had been overcharging the fee for legalising the unauthorised colonies and the bad affects of government's decision. Pawan Dewan condemned the policies of the Akali-BJP government.

Power shutdown

Punjab State Power Corporation limited informed that the power will be shutdown at 66kv sub-station, DC Complex, and PAU sub-station due to the maintenance of feeders on July 31. The power corporation employees will work on the feeder at Sant Nagar, Khalsa college feeder, Ghumar Mandi feeder, Feroz Gandhi Market feeder, Stock Exchange feeder, National road feeder, Maian Nagar feeder, Gobind Nagar feeder, Tagore Nagar feeder and Telephone Exchange feeder. The areas of Rani Jhansi road, College road and HIG flats will be shutdown from 9 am.

Honoured

Surinder Singh Kang, who retired as chief sanitary inspector, MC Ludhiana, was honoured by Municipal Sanitary Inspectors Association, Punjab, at a function held here on Tuesday. Former health minister Satpal Gosain, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, BJP district president Parveen Bansal, deputy mayor RD Sharma and Ashwani Sahota, nodal officer, MC Ludhiana, were also present on the occasion.

Overbridge construction

Manish Tewari, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, has called for early completion of the railway overbridge at Lakkar-pull. Tewari also visited the spot to assess the progress on the work. A number of people who met the minister urged him to take up the matter with the railway ministry since it had been lying incomplete for a long time now. Expressing his concern over the delay, Tewari asked the Divisional Railway Manager to submit the status report at the earliest. Tewari assured that efforts would be made to complete the overbridge at the earliest.

Eye check-up camp

Nishkam Sewa Ashram in association with Sankara Eye Hospital organised a free eye check-up and operation camp here at Nishkam Sewa Hospital, Jhujhar Nagar, near Shimla Puri, on Tuesday. More than 250 patients were checked and out of them 25 who required surgery were taken to the hospital for performing surgeries. Nishkam Sewa Ashram, which is engaged in service to society is running an old-age home, orphanage and several schools for slum children, has decided to organise more such camps in future so that needy and poor people can get quality health care.

Demonstration

Activists of BSNL Employees Union and National Federation of Telecom BSNL Employees Ludhiana staged a massive demonstration in front of the GMT office BSNL, Ludhiana. The nation-wide call for demonstration was given by the united forum of unions, demanding immediate settlement of long pending staff issues. Balbir Singh, circle secretary of BSNLEU Punjab, said the management of BSNL is deliberately denying their justified demands. The worse effected cadre is regular mazdoors of BSNL. All most all the regular mazdoors have reached a stagnation point and their increments have stopped, hence, causing heavy monetary losses. The wages of staff members recruited after January 1, 2007 have been reduced since the time of wage revision in January 1, 2007. The Management is curtailing the various facilities extended to the staff one-by-one. Leaves and travel concessions have been stopped and the facility of fix medical allowance has been withdrawn. He demanded immediate restoration of LTC and medical facilities. Balwinder Singh, district secretary of BSNLEU Ludhiana, said they would intensify the struggle if the demands were not accepted. They would organise three days Dharna starting from August 21 to August 23, 2013 and a strike on September 4, 2013.—TNS

Sahnewal, July 30
A motorcyclist died on the spot as his vehicle slipped all of a suddennear Highway factory, Nanadpur, Sahnewal, on NHA-1 this evening.

The deceased has been identified as Hardeep Singh (30), son of Karnail Singh, a resident of Narayangarh, Khanna. He was coming fromLudhiana to Doraha when his motocycle slipped all of a sudden and fellon one side, thus injuring Hardeep on the head.

The police informed therelatives of the youth, who reached the accident sight after some time.

Ludhiana, July 30
A 35- year- old ailing woman committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree in Punjab Mata Nagar here today. The deceased has been identified as Shanti Devi (35). She was spotted hanging from a tree this morning. Her husband Jia Prasad, a mason, was the first one to spot her. He raised the alarm. 

In the meantime, Shanti's two sons and a daughter also rushed to the spot. It is suspected that she woke up in the wee hours and went to a park in the back yard of the house where she allegedly committed suicide by using a piece of cloth. The police sent the body to Sarabha Nagar for further investigation. Her husband said that Shanti was suffering from prolonged ailment due to which she was under depression and committed suicide.

Boy booked on rape charge

A 22- year- old youth from Mansa, who was presently staying in BRS Nagar, was booked for rape and abetment to suicide after a 20-year old woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at a house in BRS Nagar. The victim, a resident of Faridkot, was living in the city along with her elder sister. She was in love with the youth identified as Manpreet Singh, alias Rubal. Victim's elder sister said, both (her sister and the boy) of them had developed physical relationship, but whenever the girl asked Manpreet to marry her, he would evade the question. The victim recently came to know that Manpreet Singh had started seeing another girl, said the victim's sister. Last night, both had a heated argument over the phone following which she committed suicide, the sister said. The Sarabha Nagar police has registered a case under Sections 306 and 376 of the IPC for abetment to suicide and rape charge on the statement of the victim's sister.

‘Mysterious’ explosion sends cops in a tizzy

A mysterious "explosion", which triggered all sorts of rumours in the city, was actually a sonic boom caused by a fighter jet when it broke the sound barrier. Panic gripped residents who rushed outside their houses and many were seen perching atop their house to spot the cloud of smoke caused by the explosion. The residents were seen frantically calling their friends and relatives to enquire about the blast that shattered even the windows. To them it seemed that it was a bomb blast.

The rumour of explosion kept pouring in till the evening. While some said that the explosion took place near the Shaheed Sukhdev Inter-State Bus Terminus, there were others who claimed that that the explosion took place at Aarti Chowk, Ghumar Mandi, Model Town, Jalandhar Bypass and the BRS Nagar area. But the police too was clueless about the phenomenon and was trying to solve the riddle. It was later during the evening that police sources said that the explosion was a resultant of a sonic boom, caused by the fighter jet when it broke the sound barrier.

What is a sonic boom?

A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object travelling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion.

Man dies after falling in quagmire

A 35-year-old man died after falling in a quagmire at Haibowal here today. The deceased has been identified as Bholla, of Churpur village. The incident took place when he was heading towards a barren land to answer natures call. Suddenly he fell in a quagmire and died.