The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

2 youths die in road mishap
Our Correspondent

Banur, October 10
Two youths of Himachal Pradesh were killed in a road accident near Banur. This accident occurred when the motorcycle of victims was hit by a four wheeler on Zirakpur-Rajpura road in morning.

Deceased have been identified as 19 year old Anil Kumar Goldy and 20 year old Sandeep Kumar Chauhan, both residents of Hamirpur (HP). They were the student of an engineering college. As per information they had come here to meet their friend Rakesh Kumar who studies in Dr. IT College Banur. One of them was killed on the spot and other succumbed to his injuries at Giansagar Hospital. The police has registered a case against the absconding driver.

5 drug peddlers held
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10
The district police has arrested 5 drug peddlers and recovered 4 Kgs of poppy husk, 20gm smack, 262 gms narcotic powder and 118 bottles of whisky from their possession.

The police said they had succeeded in unearthing a gang of drug peddlers with the arrest of one Ankush Kumar, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh and recovered 262 gms narcotic powders from his custody.

Another peddler identified as Gurwinder Singh was arrested and 4 kg poppy husk was seized from him. The police also arrested Deepak Kumar resident of Kurukshetra and recovered 20 gm smack from him. Police arrested Sunder Lal Masiah resident of Sirhind and recovered 118 bottles of illicit liquor. All accused were booked under the NDPS Act.

Couple booked for harassing minor
Our Correspondent

Ambala, October 10
The police has registered a case against a resident of Sector 7 and his wife for allegedly torturing their 15 years old domestic help. The police also booked a placement agency of Gurgaon, Triveni Placement Service, which placed the girl in the house of accused.

Police said on the complaint of child welfare council a case was registered against Sandeep Kumar and his wife on charge of harassing a minor girl. He said action would be taken against the couple if they were found guilty in the investigation.

Child protection department, labour department and police in a joint operation had rescued the minor girl from the house of Sandeep a few days back. When the team raided, she was sleeping on the floor of the balcony and her health was in very bad condition. She was quite panicky and hesitating to disclose any anything.

Later, she told the child protection officer Megha Singla that she was treated in a bad manner and the accused don’t provide her proper food and lodging. However, Sandeep refuted all allegations and said he hired her in a legal manner from a placement agency.

7 booked for assault
Tribune News Service

Ropar, October 10
The district police today booked seven accused for assaulting a former sarpanch and his son of Ghanauli village. Complainant Gurmeet Singh alleged that the accused attacked him and his son Gurmail when a committee from the court was in the village to visit a disputed site. The accused, however, termed it as a political vendetta against them.

Gurmeet Singh said that a local resident Balbir Singh had lodged a complaint against the panchayat regarding the drainage near his house. A 3-member committee from the district court had visited the spot. At 6 pm when the committee was investigating the case in the presence of both the parties, the accused Shambu, Kaka, Balwinder, Raj Kumar, Amarjit, Binder and Ajay hit them with rods.

Holiday special trains for Shimla
Our Correspondent

Kalka, October 10
Keeping in view, the heavy rush of passengers in trains plying on Kalka-Shimla rail section due to festival season, the department of railways, Ambala Division, has decided to start two special holiday trains for Shimla from tomorrow.

The Official sources of Kalka railway station told The Tribune that to cope up with the heavy rush, two special holiday trains have been started .The first train “duplicate shivalik” would depart at 6:30 am and the second holiday special train would depart at 12:45pm. Notably, the toy trains on the heritage Kalka -Shimla section has become a favourite mode of transportation for the tourists these days , subsequently due to the heavy rush all the five trains and a rail car plying on the Kalka-Shimla section are running jam packed, added the sources.

COURTS

Rape charges framed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
A local court today framed rape charges against Gaganpreet, a Sangrur resident. The case was reported on May 6 when a 30-year-old city-based model was allegedly raped by a Sangrur resident on the pretext of giving her the lead role in a Punjabi film. The woman, who is married and has a child, was allegedly raped in a car near Sukhna Lake. She was made to consume liquor.

In her complaint to the police, the model who has done a few modelling assignments in Mumbai, stated that she was staying as a paying guest in Sector 23 and had an ongoing dispute with her husband. She met Gaganpreet two months prior to the incident, who claimed to be in touch with some movie directors. Gaganpreet took her in a Fortunner car to Sector 15 where both of them consumed beer. Both Gaganpreet and the woman then went to Sukhna Lake where the accused allegedly raped her by parking the car in a deserted place in the forest area behind the lake. The girl was then dropped home by the accused. When she gained consciousness, she realised that she had been raped. She then went to the police station and filed a complaint stating that she could not resist as she was under the influence of liquor.

3 vehicle thieves held

The UT police today claimed to have cracked eight cases of theft with the arrest of three members of a vehicle thieves gang. The accused have been identified as Vikas, a 26-year-old resident of Ram Darbar, Dalip Sawan, a resident of Ram Darbar, and Samdarsh, alias Joseph, a resident of Patiala.

CRIME

Prime accused in Sec 22 kidnapping held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
Nine months after a three-year-old girl was kidnapped from a hotel in Sector 22, the UT police today arrested the prime accused, Jagpal Beniwal. Sources said the accused had surrendered but the police was claiming to have arrested Beniwal from the ISBT, Sector 17, late last night.

He was produced in a local court which remanded him in a four-day police custody. Harmeini, alias Eddu, was kidnapped by her father's business partner Jagpal Beniwal on January 14 this year. The accused had been evading arrest for the past nine months. The police had traced the child to a village in Haryana on January 20. It had arrested a woman, Chinar Dutt, then. Another accomplice of Beniwal, Raju, who is also the brother-in-law of the prime accused, was brought on production warrants from Fatehabad on October 3. The accused was also wanted in an attempt to murder case in Tohana, Fatehabad, Haryana.

The police had recovered the girl a week after her kidnapping from her relative's place near Jind where the accused Beniwal had dropped her after negotiations with the girl's parents, Harish Arora and Priya Arora, whom he was blackmailing to pay a ransom.

The police said the girl's parents had assured the accused of withdrawing the complaint against them in writing following which the girl was released. Investigations revealed that Hairsh Arora and Priya Arora owed an amount of Rs 60 lakh to the accused and they had also given him some cheques, which were dishonoured. This had irked the accused who kidnapped the girl and demanded the ransom.

Harmieini was kidnapped from Hotel Royal Inn in Sector 22 on January 15 and her mother Priya Arora had received a ransom call from the accused, Jagpal, demanding an amount of Rs 60 lakh for her release. Harish Arora, his wife Priya Arora, son Hridev and daughter Harmeini had come to the city on January 12. The accused who was Harish's business partner and knew their family for 18 months had then joined them and later fled with their daughter.

Mobile phone, car yet to be recovered

While pleading for police custody of the accused, the police told the court that it was yet to recover the mobile phone used for making ransom calls and the car that was used for kidnapping the child. The accused spent time with his relatives in remote villages of Haryana all this while, the police said.

Timeline

January 15: Harmeini's father Harish Arora reports to the police that his three-year-old daughter has been kidnapped from a hotel and that he has received a ransom call of ~1 crore from his business partner Jagpal Beniwal.

January 16: The accused calls again and threatens to fly to Dubai if ransom amount is not paid. Reduces amount from Rs 1 crore to ~60 lakh. Teams dispatched to Delhi, Karnal, Kaithal and Jind where tower locations were traced. Teams also sent to Haryana and Delhi, the native places of the accused, Jagpal and Chinar, respectively.

January 17: The police rounds up suspects, a team sent to Hisar.

January 18: Another team leaves for Panipat where the accused spent a night.

January 19: The accused calls and threatens to shoot the girl if ransom is not paid and the complaint is not taken back.

January 20: The police traces the girl to a village near Jind.

October 3: Co-accused Raju arrested

October 9: Prime accused Jagpal Beniwal arrested

Man booked in cheating case
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
A resident of Punjab reported to the police that her brother-in-law possessed three fake passports and had fraudulently purchased her husband’s plot at a cheap price. The police has registered a case and begun investigations.

Manpreet Kaur, a resident of Amloh, Fatehgarh Sahib district, reported to the police that her brother-in-law Gur Parminder Singh impersonated himself as Gurmeet Singh and went to the USA on a fake passport. She had also moved an application to the Consulate General of India in New York and an inquiry was marked to the Sector 39 police station.

Manpreet stated that Gur Parminder Singh had forcibly purchased the complainant’s husband’s property at Shahpur village, Sector 38. She alleged that the plot was purchased for Rs 45 lakh while the market price was

Rs 4-5 crore. Manpreet claimed that her brother-in-law had three fake passports.

A complaint was filed in 2011 at the Sector 39 police station. The police forwarded the same to the vigilance department and then to the Sector 34 police station.

A case of cheating and forgery has been registered along with Section12(1)(B) of the Passport Act, 1960.

Minor girl kidnapped

A minor girl was allegedly kidnapped from outside her house today. Kailash of Kajheri reported to the police that his five-year-old daughter Anjali was kidnapped from a park in front of his house. A case has been registered.

6 held on charges of housebreaking, theft

Mohali, October 10
The police has arrested six persons on charges of housebreaking and theft. Gurpreet Singh, SSP, said here today that the police arrested Sandeep Kumar (21) and Roshan Kumar (22) at a naka laid near Basan wali chungi in Kharar on getting secret information.

Stolen items were also allegedly recovered from them. He said that on questioning the two, the police got to know that they used to pass on the stolen items to their accomplice, Harjinder Singh, resident of Phase VII, who used to sell the stolen goods and the three then divided the money among them. Bhullar said that after investigating the matter the police was also able to arrest Harjinder Singh ( 43) and other accomplices, Harpreet Singh (21), Hardeep Singh ( 21) , both residents of Ranjit Colony, Kharar, and Jasveer Singh ( 23) , resident of Lakhnour.

During questioning Harjinder Singh revealed that when a jeweller refused to buy stolen gold ornaments from him, he allegedly approached the offices of the Muthoot Finance Pvt Ltd in Sector 70 and Phase VII and allegedly gave 21 tolas of gold ornaments there for Rs 4.18 lakh without any bill or verification. He said that the police had also recovered two LCDs, a gas cylinder, watches, one motor cycle and Rs 3.5 lakh. — OC

SPORTS

An apology for a handball arena
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
For the past one year, the local handball players have been demanding a good approach road, water cooler and changing room facilities at the handball arena of the sports complex in Sector 42.

The condition of the arena is such that the players had a tough time performing in the recently held handball championship for boys and girls. Nothing has changed in the past one year. The players have to cover a distance of 100 metres to get to their rooms. The players do not even get potable water.

In the absence of a changing room, women players face a harrowing time.

"The authorities think that we do not need a restroom. The construction work leaves the ground slushy. As organisers of the inter-school games are short of manpower, they fail to provide water to the players after the match. Left with no other option, the players have to make alternative arrangements. Match officials, too, face a lot of problems," said a coach of a private school. A woman player said, "A water cooler should be installed near the arena. The players have to go to the AstroTurf to fill water bottles," she said. The situation worsens during rainy season. It becomes difficult for the players to walk on the stretch leading to the handball courts as water gets accumulated on it. Wild growth aggravates the problem. "The work has begun. The authorities are aware of the problem and the stretch will be repaired at the earliest," said a supervisor of the engineering department.

The engineering wing of UT Administration has undertaken the construction work.

Volleyball: St Soldier School register victory
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 10
St Soldier School, Sector 28, defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, 2-1 (20-25, 25-18 and 25-21) in the boys U-14 category during the ongoing Inter-School Volleyball Tournament. In the second game, Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, beat Moti Ram School, Sector 27, 2-0 (25-14,25-20).

Results

Boys (U-17): Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, beat Government Senior Secondary School, Kaimbwala, 25-13,25-18; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, Government High School, Colony No. 4, 25-8,25-12; DAV School, Sector 8, beat Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, 25-20 ,25-10; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, beat Government Model High School, Sector 38, 25-21,25-14; boys (U-19): GN Khalsa School, Sector 30, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, 25-18,25-11;DAV-8 beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 20, 25-15,25-17; girls (U-14): Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, beat Government Model High School, Dhanas, 25-13,25-17; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, beat Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, 23-25,24-23,25-12; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, 25-19,25-14; Government Model High School, Sector 34, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, 25-23,25-23; girls (U-17): St Stephen's School, Sector 45, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 47, 25-21,25-18; Government High School, Sector 32, beat Government Model High School, Sector 34, 25-10,25-15; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, beat Government Model High School, Sector 39, 25-9,25-15; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, 25-20,25-17; girls (U-19): Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, 25-16,25-14; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, 25-14,25-17; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 20, beat DAV School-15, 25-19,25-5; Government Model Senior Secondary School-27, beat GSSS, Dhanas, 25-8,25-12.