Sonepat, December 9
The police today lathicharged hundreds of residents of Tikola village, when they attempted to block the GT road over the death of a village youth in a road accident.

According to information, Rajesh (32) and his brother, Naresh (28), were on their way to Sonepat on their motorcycle when they were knocked down by a dumper near Tazpur village this morning. Rajesh died on the spot and Naresh sustained serious injuries. The dumper driver managed to escape, leaving the dumper behind.

Family members of the victims and other villagers reached the spot. Angry over the incident, they blocked the Murthal-Tazpur road for many hours and torched three dumpers.

Additional SP Balbir Singh, DSPs Ajit Singh and Satish Kumar, and SDM Virender Lather also reached the spot and tried to pacify the villagers, assuring strict action against the dumper driver. The villagers demanded compensation for the bereaved family. They also refused to hand over the body for postmortem examination.

Later, they placed the body on the GT road, blocking the traffic. Even after assurance from Dhaturi DC Chander Shekhar and SP Arun Singh, villagers did not lift the blockade and the police had to resort to a mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd. The police took the possession of the body and brought it to the civil hospital here for postmortem.

The villagers were somewhat satisfied when the DC and SP assured them that the movement of dumpers would be banned during the daytime.

Karnal, December 9
Alleging fraud by an agent, local residents today staged a dharna outside Syndicate Bank at the Committee Chowk here. The protesters alleged that an agent had taken money from them for the Pigmy Deposit Scheme, but did not deposit the amount in their accounts.

The services at the bank remained disrupted for a few hours due to the dharna.

Shouting slogans against the bank administration, the protesters did not allow customers to enter the bank and threatened to lock it tomorrow if their money was not reimbursed.

Arun and Jasbir of Karnal alleged that an agent duped them on the pretext of depositing their money and when they checked their accounts, they were shocked to see that the amount was far short of the money they had deposited. The fraud came to light after the death of the agent.

Suresh Narang, the bank manager, said he had received 40 to 45 complaints alleging they had given about Rs 25 lakh to the agent, but the entire amount did not reflect in their accounts.

“A four-member committee is looking into the complaints and we have told the depositors that the amount will be reimbursed if they produce the receipts,” he added.

Sirsa, December 9
Nine village of Sirsa have been declared zero power cut villages by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, where consumers have been getting power supply round the clock or as is being given to urban areas of the state.

Eight more villagers are likely to come under this category soon. Normally, villagers get three-phase power for merely eight hours a day and single-phase electricity to light their bulbs for six more hours.

In an effort to arrest theft of power and also to provide better power supply to villagers, the DHBVN had introduced a scheme under which meters were installed in pillar boxes outside houses in villages, where people have been paying their bills regularly and were able to decrease the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses.

VK Chaudhary, Director of the DHBVN, said to give an incentive to farmers who pay their bills regularly, the discoms had decided that those opting for both “one-time settlement scheme” for the payment of arrears and installing pillar-box system would get a rebate of 20 per cent on the bills regularly paid for the last one year.

Chaudhary was speaking to mediapersons at Mithri village in Sirsa after inaugurating the pillar-box system of power distribution at the 11kv feeders covering four villages.

Later, he inaugurated a pillar-box at 11 kv feeder Desujodha, which has five villages connected to it.

He said the discoms had targeted to create the pillar-box system in 1,000 villages connected to 450 feeders in Haryana by December. The work was in progress in 296 villages in the state and the work had already been completed in 81 villages.

Chaudhary said as power supply was being given round the clock in the villages having the pillar-box system of electricity distribution and the system was safe and reliable, it was getting popular among villagers. “Nine villages in the district-- Desu Jodha, Jogiwala, Phullan, Abuana, Panihara Morika, Misri, Tappi, Tingre and Malikpura-- have been declared zero power cut villages,” he said.

Karnal, December 9
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has strongly opposed the proposed amendment in the Electricity Act 2003, incorporating provision 
to grant licensee to the private sector for supply of electricity in a particular area.

“The issue should be discussed threadbare with the representatives of AIPEF, which is a major stakeholder in this issue, before arriving at the final decision. We request the Union Minister of state for a power to grant audience to the federation,” VK Gupta, the AIPEF spokesperson, said.

“As per the proposal, the licensee will not require any license to undertake trading in electricity and can further appoint any number of franchisees to distribute electricity within his area of supply, which is a matter of serious consideration and concern,” he said.

Chairperson of AIPEF Padamjit Singh, in his letter addressed to the minister, argued that supply licensees would sell power to large supply consumers, industries, shopping malls etc, which would impact the revenue of the state discoms and make them financially sick.

Further, the system of a supplier arranging power from the outside to a large number of scattered consumers was not compatible with the prevailing scheduling system, wherein every generator/supplier has to give power supply to the discoms, a day ahead of the schedule, he said.

Moreover, the energy accounting and losses has not yet been developed by the state discoms as being done in the 
USA and Australia to handle the work of licensee supply using network of discoms.

In case supplier’s source trips the unscheduled overdraws, it would impact the state discoms and how this unscheduled overdrawl will be loaded on to supplier, he questioned and said, “The discoms are supposed to apply power cuts as per the guidelines of regional load dispatch centres and in applying power cuts, the consumers getting supplier licensee power will also get cut, which could lead to disputes," he said.

Consumer will have to deal with two agencies-- the network owner and the supplier-- and the ownership of metering equipment/meters would create problems, as the supplier may not agree to meters of discoms and vice versa.

Karnal, December 9
Unlicensed arms, mostly countrymade pistols, are used for committing murder in a majority of cases while the percentage of licensed firearms used for committing the crime is only 10.5 per cent.

As many as 10,212 murders were committed in the country with the use of firearms from 2010 to 2012 and 9,145 (89.5 per cent) were committed with unlicensed arms while licensed firearms were used only in 1,067 cases.

As per information gathered by RTI activist Rajesh Sharma, the number of murders with unlicensed arms was gradually rising and out of 3,063 murders committed in 2010, unlicensed arms were used in 2723 cases.

In 2011, the number of murders committed with unlicensed arms rose to 2,964 and total number of murders by shooting also increased to 3,368.

In 2012, the number of murders by shooting rose to 3,781 and the number of murders committed with unlicensed arms increased to 3,458. Licensed arms were used only in 323 cases, compared to 404 in 2011 and 340 in 2012.

The highest number of 3,800 cases of shooting was reported from Uttar Pradesh and unlicensed arms were used in 3,402 cases in the last three years.

The number of cases increased from 892 in 2010 to 1,724 in 2012. Bihar was second with 1,892 cases reported during the same period and unlicensed arms were used in 1,866 cases.

In Naxal-affected Jharkhand, 231 cases were reported in 2010, which increased to 448 in 2011 and then dropped to 271 in 2012.

In West Bengal, the number of cases increased from 307 in 2010 to 311 in 2011 and then dropped significantly to 271 in 2012.

In Madhya Pradesh, the number of cases increased from 191 in 2010 to 209 in 2011 and then dropped to 204 in 2012.

Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of 123 cases in which licensed guns were used. The incidents of shooting were nil or insignificant in Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim.

Among union territories, Delhi topped the chart with 199 cases of shooting in the last three years. Unlicensed arms were used in 189 cases while the number of incidents was insignificant in other union territories.

In Punjab, licensed guns were used in 181 out of 214 cases of murder. Haryana presented a contrast, with the use of unlicensed arms in 345 out of 389 cases.

Chandigarh, December 9
With anti-incumbency and Opposition challenge, specially the AAP factor-staring the Hooda Government in the face, the Congress is set for serious introspection and organisational changes ahead of the parliamentary and state assembly poll next year.

As a first step, Phool Chand Mullana, HPCC acting president and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s protege, may be on his way out with the party high command set to install a more “acceptable and effective” face as the state Congress chief, sources told The Tribune here today.

Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi yesterday hinted at ‘transforming the organisation and leaders of the Congress’. The drubbing in the four assembly elections has provided the Congress high command with an opportunity to effect the change in the state Congress leadership. The names of several leaders, including MP Ashok Tanwar, Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, minister Geeta Bhukkal and Rajya Sabha members Ishwar Singh and Ram Prakash are doing rounds for the post.

A senior party leader asserted that ‘unprecendented development’ (like Delhi) and pre-poll sops (like Rajasthan) would not be enough for incumbent Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to romp home victorious for the third time. “The party organisations needs a surgical operation rather than mere cosmetic changes to beat anti-incumbency and Opposition onslaught to stay in the race for next year’s elections,” he stated.

However, discounting the role of AAP and effect of recent asssembly elections in Haryana, Rann Singh Mann, Congress general secretary(media), claimed that the party would emerge stronger after introspection and would be battle-ready by the time next year’s elections were held.

Hooda will have to fight on several fronts. Besides the combined opposition and dissidence within the Congress, he would have to face the newly emerged AAP, whose chief Arvind Kajeriwal traces his roots to Hisar. In fact, it was Kajeriwal, who had first flagged the issue of land deals between UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty major DLF in Haryana and the Hooda Government’s alleged questionable role therein in October last year.

The questionable land deals, particularly the cancellation of mutation of the Vadra-DLF land deal in Gurgaon by whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka brought a lot of embarrassement for the Hooda Government. 

Karnal, December 9
Buoyed by the victory in the four states, the Haryana BJP said today that the rout in the semi-finals was just a trailer and the next target was to capture the Centre after 2014 Lok Sabha poll.

“A strong anti-Congress wave is sweeping the country and people are eager to oust the Congress from the Centre and bring the NDA headed by BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to power", state BJP spokesman Jagmohan Anand said here today.

However, cautious of the spectacular debut of the Aam Adami Party, Anand termed the AAP as a regional party confined to Delhi. "It would not make any difference to the BJP in Haryana as the issues, politics and ground realities are different," he added.

The topography of the state was quite diverse so was the mindset and voting pattern. Moreover, the 'door-to-door' canvassing adopted by the AAP would not be successful in Haryana as the party did not even have functional units in all districts and blocks in the state.

Claiming that the BJP had made deep inroads into rural areas also, Anand said corruption, lawlessness, price rise and regionalism were the major issues in the state but the Congress government had failed on all fronts. The disillusioned masses were looking towards the BJP-HJC alliance as a credible and viable alternative,Jagmohan Anand said.

Rohtak, December 9
The BJP, which was not being considered a political force to reckon with in Haryana till recently, suddenly seems to have become the apple of every opposition party’s eye.

The turnaround may be attributed to the emergence of the saffron party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on the national political scenario in a big way, coupled with the favourable outcome of the Assembly elections in four of the five states which went to the polls recently.

Upbeat over the said political trends and indicators, the Haryana BJP senses an impressive show in the state as well. In this perspective, the party leadership is tempted to look for viable political partners other than its existing ally, the HJC.

Hence, while the HJC leadership is trying hard to keep its alliance with the BJP intact, the INLD is also wooing the saffron party to forget the bitter experience(s) of the past and start a new innings together with a clean slate.

The impressive show of strength put up by HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi at Hisar notwithstanding, the talk of an umbrella coalition in the state involving the BJP and the INLD has started gaining ground.

The BJP leadership understands full well that the Modi factor may be a craze amongst Haryana electors, especially the youth, but the party still has a long way to go to translate this mass frenzy into a decisive vote-share.

The challenge seems tougher in view of the fact that ever since the demise of prominent leader Dr Mangal Sain, the saffron party has failed to build a strong leadership or network of grassroot workers in the state.

The INLD, on the other hand, has a well-defined network of grassroot party workers across Haryana, but faces a leadership crisis as its top leaders - party president Om Prakash Chautala and second-in-command Ajay Singh Chautala.

According to political pundits, the two parties can complement each other if these decide to go together in the next elections in the state.

In the given circumstances, every Lok Sabha seat is significant for the BJP while the INLD cannot afford to lose the next elections to the state Assembly.

As far as the leadership crisis in the green as well as saffron parties is concerned, rebel Congress MP and veteran Ahirwal leader Rao Inderjit Singh has offered to fit in to provide the missing link in the proposed umbrella coalition.

The call to crown Modi as Prime Minister at the recent Hisar rally of the HJC as well as INSO student convention of the INLD has left the people of the state guessing about the final political equation even as HJC leader Kuldeep Bishnoi keeps his fingers crossed.

Sirsa, December 9
Will Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) be able to replicate their performance in the Delhi elections in the parliamentary and state Assembly elections in Haryana?

Political observers believe that the popularity of the AAP as a party of the 'aam aadmi' will be put to its real test in Haryana, where elections are contested on the basis of caste and local issues instead of real issues affecting the common man.

The emergence of the AAP on the political arena by winning 28 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly is being considered a watershed moment in politics, with people fed up of corruption and lack of governance.

Even as election results were pouring in on Sunday, AAP supporters started claiming that the party would replicate its Delhi experiment in other parts of the country in the 2014 general election.

Kejriwal made his intentions clear later by saying, "The country can be saved only by the common man." Given that Kejriwal has his roots in Haryana, the AAP is likely to make incursions when the state goes to the polls around October.

"Delhi provided perfect laboratory like conditions to the AAP as it could woo voters, fed up with corruption and rising prices, with issues concerning the people," said a political observer.

"Unlike in Haryana or any other state, people from different states and cultures live in various Delhi localities. The people have little cultural connect with each other except daily issues concerning them," he said.

There was a huge educated middle class in Delhi, longing for the arrival of someone who could cleanse politics, which Kejriwal and his team did commendably with the broom, their poll symbol, said another observer.

In the last two years, Delhi had witnessed much public anger at the time of the Nirbhaya gang rape and at the time of the agitation for a Jan Lokpal led by Anna Hazare.

While Delhi provided a suitable location for the kind of experiment Kejriwal and the AAP successfully did in these elections, the same will not necessarily be true in case of Haryana.

Kejriwal had indirect intervention in the bypoll to the Hisar parliamentary seat in October 2011, when he launched an aggressive campaign against the Congress, calling the bypoll a referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The Congress candidate lost the security deposit in the bypoll, which was won by Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi by defeating Ajay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal by 6,323 votes.

That the Hisar bypoll result had little to do with Kejriwal's campaign was proved within three months when the Congress won the Ratia Assembly byelection in Fatehabad in December 2011 by winning the seat that had remained with opposition parties for 29 years.

Only time will tell whether Kejriwal and the AAP will have any impact in Haryana when they decide to participate directly in elections in the state.

Kurukshetra, December 9
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), state president and local MLA, Ashok Arora said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be defeated from Kiloi in the forthcoming Assembly elections, scheduled to be held next year, like Sheela Dixit.

Arora said people, who were fed up with the rampant corruption, had defeated the Congress party and similarly it will also be defeated in the forthcoming Haryana Assembly elections.

“The INLD will come to power in Haryana as it is the main opposition party in the state,” he added. 

Rohtak, December 9
With a view to uniting the members of Punjabi brotherhood and putting up a concerted fight to attain a substantial socio-political presence in the state, the Akhil Bharatiya Punjabi Jagriti Manch has launched a state-wide campaign.

After holding a series of public meetings in different parts of the state to garner support for the drive, the manch has decided to hold a state-level convention at Rohtak on December 15.

Former minister and manch leader Subhash Batra said Rajya Sabha MP KD Singh, former Army chief Gen VK Singh and several other prominent personalities from the region had backed the movement and would attend the convention.

Conveners of the forum said despite having played a significant role in the progress of Haryana, the members of the Punjabi brotherhood had not got their due in jobs, socio-economic and political spheres.

“The underlying motive behind the move is to bring the scattered members of the Punjabi brotherhood under one umbrella and work together for attaining the common goals of having due political representation, adequate job share and emphatic social presence,” said Batra.

“Several big shots from the media and corporate sectors are also slated to participate in the convention,” he claimed, adding that Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan would present a musical concert on the occasion. 

Chandigarh, December 9
Standing by his commitment of reining in the unbridled bureaucracy, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is set to roll out the time-bound Right to Services Act after the Cabinet gives its nod to the Act tomorrow.

While the government need not bring in hikes announced by Hooda under various schemes of social security at the November 10 rally at Gohana, including a raise in old-age pension and disability pension, the Cabinet is expected to give its nod to the interim relief of Rs 2,000 per month to Class III and Class IV employees and the risk allowance of Rs 5,000 per month to police personnel.

Sources say the Right to Services Act, to be promulgated as an Ordinance since the Assembly is not in session, will cover 36 services, including issuing ration cards, registering vehicles and licensing. Already implemented in Bihar, Punjab, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, the Haryana “version” will shortly notify the services, the timelines and officers designated.

The sources say a first and second grievance redressal authority will be above the officers designated. The highest authority will be a five-member commission headed by a Chief Commissioner and with four Commissioners. The upper age limit is 65 years for Commissioner and reappointment is not possible.

The sources say while only the announcements made at Gohana are on the Cabinet agenda so far, the government can bring in last-minute supplementary agenda items. The sources in say the role of the Cabinet has been diluted as the items are brought in after the announcements are made.

“Successive Chief Ministers have brought in announcements as agenda items after everything is over only to get the stamp of the Cabinet. The system of consulting the Cabinet and taking the opinion of colleagues has been given the go-by every time. Our job is confined to approve what comes before us,” a minister has said.

The sources add that the tradition of bringing in important issues as supplementary agenda items is not a healthy practice and ministers have no time to weigh the pros and cons of various initiatives. Asked why such issues are not raised during Cabinet meetings, the sources say there is no likelihood of effecting a change in the way the government is being run, which is why they approve whatever comes before them.

Karnal, December 9
The Rs 650 crore Kalpana Chawla medical college is unlikely to be functional before 2016 as construction and setting up facilities will take 25 months.

Additional Chief Secretary Shiv Raman Gaur, also Principal Secretary for Medical Education, who reviewed the progress of work, said it would take another 25 months to make the college fully functional.

Laying the foundation stone on November 18, 2012, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that buildings and other infrastructure would be completed in 25 months.

Gaur said 28.5 acres was required as per norms of the Medical Council of India, but the medical college was coming up on 48.5 acres, which was enough.

Hoping that admission to the first MBBS batch would start next year, he said faculty buildings, library, girls' hostel and teachers' residences would be constructed in the first phase.

Stating that a substantial portion of the existing hospital building had been pulled down, he said the Police Lines had been shifted to Kaithal road.

The panchayats of Kutel and Anjanthali villages in the vicinity of Karnal had offered 100 acres to the government for expeditious execution of the project.

The medical college project is a dream project of the people of Karnal. It will provide specialised medical services to the people of Karnal and adjoining districts and contiguous districts of Uttar Pradesh. 

Gurgaon, December 9
The police launched a special cell to attend exclusively to complaints of serving and retired armed forces personnel and their families here today.

The cell, established at the Police Headquarters, was provided four personnel under the charge of an inspector. Police Commissioner Alok Mittal said complaints of armed forces' personnel could be acted upon promptly.

Hisar, December 9
When it comes to sexual assault on women, the maximum danger lurks just nearby victims. This has come as a shocking revelation in five districts of Hisar. Out of around 180 cases of rape registered this year, known persons or relatives were found guilty of the crime in six cases.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shatrujeet Kapoor presented these figures here recently while analysing the social and financial background of the women complainants in the cases of domestic violence and dowry harassment.

The rape offenders’ phenomenon is similar to the figures of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) which has revealed that offenders were known to the victim in 24,470 rape cases out of 24,923.

Besides, the analysis of women who have been at the receiving end of the marital discord indicates poor education and low literacy rate among women in five districts of the Hisar police range.

The IGP has analysed the complaint filed with the women cells in Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Jind districts from January to October.

The study also pointed out that a majority of the aggrieved women belong to the low-income group, while middle income and higher-income group complaints comprise 35 per cent and 7 per cent of the total complainants. Women below the age of 30 comprised 83 per cent of the complainants. Of this, 5 per cent were below 18 years of age.

“It indicates that women with low education are more prone to domestic violence after marriages than the educated lot. Thus, there is a need to focus on the education of women. It would not only improve the condition of women in houses, but would also ensure their financial empowerment, which is also equally important for their uplift,” he said.

Besides, only 11 cases pertained to inter-caste marriages, which reinforces the fact that women who take their own decisions regarding marriage were better settled in their lives and handled their domestic problems more efficiently.

Shakuntala Jakhar, the state president of All India Democratic Women

Association, said the government had been responsible for the poor condition of women, as these five districts had low female literacy rate. “An educated and financially independent woman is in a better position to handle the incidents of domestic violence and other kinds of harassment. Lack of education and poor background makes a woman more vulnerable to the crime,” she maintained, while stressing the need for immediate attention towards the women issues.

Yamunanagar, December 9
Protesting against the demand for advance fees, students of a private engineering institute today blocked the Jathland-Radaur road. The traffic on the busy road remained disrupted for hours. The protesting students lifted the jam after the police reached the spot and persuaded them to solve the issue through reconciliation.

The protesting students, including Vikas Kumar, Yash Khurana, Nikhil, Amit, Narinder Singh and Amit Kumar, accused the management of the Global Research Institute of Management and Technology, Nachraun, of forcing them to deposit the fees for the next semester in advance.

They said most of the students were poor and they were not in a position to pay the fees in advance. They said no other engineering institution in the district was charging fees in advance.

“There is no provision of charging fees in advance from the students as per the norms laid by the state Education Department and the university. However, the institution is charging fees in advance, violating the rules and regulations. They will not tolerate this illegal step of the institution,” said the agitating students.

They alleged the institute passed new rules everyday to humiliate the students. “We were forced to go on a strike and our agitation will continue till the management rolls back the decision,” threatened the agitating students.

On the other hand, Chanchal Bhardwaj, the Director of the institute, said only 10 to 15 students of the electronics department had a problem with the institute, as they have been irregular in attending classes and depositing fees.

Kurukshetra, December 9
Dr Pawan K Sharma, a professsor of chemistry at Kurukshetra University, was presented Professor DP Chakraborty 60th Birth Anniversary Commemoration Award 2012 at the Chemists Golden Jubilee Convention recently. 

The ceremony was organised by the Indian Chemical Society at PU, Chandigarh. Prof Brajesh Sawhney, Director, PR, KU, said Dr Sharma had received the award in recognition of his contribution in the field of chemistry. —OC

Chandigarh, December 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has summoned the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) Managing Director and the Haryana Principal Secretary (Power) after taking cognizance of the increasing trend of issuing assessment orders on printed proforma without the application of mind.

The directions came on a petition filed by Karnail Singh against Haryana and other respondents. Challenging the order of assessment alleging theft under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, counsel Sukhvinder Singh Nara contended that the assessing officer “glaringly violated the mandatory provisions of law”.

Nara asserted neither a provisional order of assessment was passed nor was any opportunity of filing objections or hearing granted to the petitioner as provided for under Section 126 of the Act. Nara added this had caused serious prejudice to the petitioner, resulting in civil and criminal liability on the petitioner.

Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik asserted: “It has come to the notice of this court in the recent past that such cases have been increasing wherein the assessment orders are being issued on printed proforma, which prima facie shows non-application of mind”.

Justice Malik added that no improvement of any kind was visible in the working of the UHBVN and other similar power corporations of the state despite unambiguous provisions of law contained in Section 126 of the Act and numerous judgments on the subject.

Justice Malik added even genuine consumers were being subjected to wholly unwarranted harassment in many cases. Referring to the case in hand, Justice Malik asserted glaring illegality had not been pointed out by the assessing officer while issuing the impugned order

Issuing notice of motion for December 18, the Bench added: “The Managing Director and also the Principal Secretary (Power) are directed to be present before this court on the next date of hearing to explain as to what mechanism has been put in place to ensure smooth functioning under the Act”.

Rewari, December 9
Following the escape of an undertrial and a hardcore criminal from the police custody, five police officials — Exemptee Sub-Inspector (ESI ) Kehar Singh, ESI Mahender Singh, ASI Ved Mitra, EHC Mahabir and EHC Dharmender — have been placed under suspension by Sanjay Singh, District Jail Superintendent, Narnaul.

Sunder Lal, lodged in the district jail at Nasibpur in a case of murder, was brought for a medical checkup to the Civil Hospital, Narnaul, on Saturday after he complained of chest pain.

When the accused was being taken back after the checkup, he freed himself from the official’s grip and managed to flee. A senior police official said efforts were on to nab him. — OC

Kaithal, December 9
The police have arrested Vikram, Balwinder and Binder of Patti Afgan in Kaithal on the charge of trying to extort money from a local youth by forcing him to sign some documents and sign blank cheques.

A police spokesman said the three youths were in two-day police remand. They had reportedly told the victim to pay them Rs 4 lakh, claiming that he had lost the money while betting on cricket matches about six months ago.

The spokesman said the accused had lured Rahul Garg of HUDA Estate to indulge in cricket betting. They had told him that he lost Rs 4 lakh in cricket betting.

On July 19, they forced him to sign two blank cheques and documents mentioning that he had taken a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from them.

The police also found that the three youths had extracted money in the same manner from Mohan Lal of Radhasoami Colony here.

Sirsa, December 9
Three persons were killed and five others were injured when a canter in which they were travelling rammed into a tree near Bajekan Mor in Sirsa late last night.

Most of the victims were returning to Sukhchain village in Abohar tehsil of Ferozepur in Punjab after attending a wedding, in the canter loaded with dowry items.

The deceased have been identified as Sunil (35), a resident of Sukhchain, Dungar Ram (50), a resident of Rohidawali and Om Prakash (55), a resident of Ayalkhera, all in Punjab.

Krishan Kumar of Dhabi Kalan village, who was driving the canter, said he lost control over the vehicle due to the headlights of another vehicle approaching from the opposite side and hit against a tree.

Krishan, who himself sustained injuries, said his brother Pawan, who was also sitting on the front seat with him, was critically injured.

Three other persons, Bhup Ram, Banta Ram and Kanwar Bhan, who were sitting on the furniture lying in the vehicle, were also injured.

Fatehabad, December 9
A man gunned down his brother after a dispute over a passage to their fields at Ladhuwas village here today.

Rajinder Singh, the accused, escaped after killing Ladhu Ram.

Police teams have been sent to arrest him. Several panchayats had been held to resolve the dispute between the two, but to no avail.

Reports said Ladhu Ram’s married daughter had come to meet her parents some days ago. Today, her in-laws had come to get her back to their village.

However, Rajinder allegedly blocked the passage by laying a cot on the way and Ladhu Ram’s guests had to take a long route to reach his house made on his fields.

Ladhu Ram went to Rajinder’s house on a tractor to object to his behaviour.

An altercation ensued and Rajinder fired at Ladhu Ram. He died while being taken to the hospital.