Chandigarh, December 17
The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Nazar Singh today acquitted former Deputy Director with Punjab Technical Education Department NS Bhatia in a case of corruption.

The case was registered on September 2005, when the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested the Deputy Director for accepting a bribe of Rs 65,000 to allow re-affiliation to Malwa Arts and Crafts College, Sangrur. The Vigilance Bureau claimed to have recovered National Savings Certificates and FDRs amounting to Rs 3.86 lakh, 28 tolas of gold, Rs 15,000 and a bank locker key during a search operation conducted at his residence. — TNS

Mohali, December 17
The police have got a breakthrough in the blind murder case of a security guard deployed at an ATM in Dera Bassi.

The police have arrested two youths, who, during an attempt to loot the ATM murdered the guard on duty. The accused have been identified as Anirudh Kumar Tiwari (19), alias Jigra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, and Raj Kumar (20), alias Raja, a resident of Lalpura in Nurpur Bedi. Tiwari and Bedi both were presently residing in Moloya village.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Inder Mohan Singh said on the complaint made by the manager of the Indian Bank, Dera Bassi, Mohan Lal Garg, a case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC was registered against some unidentified persons.

The bank manager told the police that on November 10 he received a phone call informing him about the blood-soaked body of the guard lying in the nearby lane. The caller also stated that the door of the ATM was open.

The SSP said the permanent guard, Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Himachal Pradesh, had gone on leave for two days and had asked his neighbour, Alam Khan, a substitute, to guard the ATM till the time he was on leave.

The case was investigated by SP (D) Balwinder Singh and his team, who worked on various angles to reach a conclusion in the case.

The two accused were arrested on the Kheri Gujran road in Dera Bassi during a police naka set up in the area. The accused were caught riding a stolen motorcycle, which was recently stolen from Sector 39 in Chandigarh.

The police claimed that the two arrested youths have confessed to have committed the crime. “The accused said that when the guard resisted to the attack, they assaulted him and abandoned the body. Later, they tried to break open the ATM, but by mistake they happened to touch the alarm instead and fled from the spot,” said the police.

The SSP said the two youths used to take drugs and were into committing crimes. According to sources, the accused had actually planned to loot a shop, but changed their plan after they saw the ATM.

“More cases were likely to be solved with the arrest of these two youths,” said
the SSP.

Chandigarh, December 17
Thefts are on a rise in city with as many as four cases registered in the last 24 hours.

Thakur Singh, a resident of Sector 10, alleged that some miscreants had stolen laptop from his residence. The police said the theft occurred when the house occupants were not at their residence. In a separate incident, Sarwan Singh of Industrial Area, Phase I, reported that four quintals of iron were stolen from his plot on November 15.

Parwinder Singh Gulati of Sector 38-B alleged that his car (CH-01-P-5555) parked outside his house was stolen on December 9.

The police have registered separate cases of thefts in this regard.

According to information, thieves decamped with items from a house in Sector 51 for the third consecutive time. Simranjit Singh, a resident of Sector 51, said thieves had struck for the third time at his residence in past few months. The thieves decamped with phone, cylinder and branded clothes from the house on Monday. Simranjit said his phone had been tracked down to Kajheri, but to no avail.

According to sources, a case has been registered and efforts were on to nab the culprits.

Meanwhile, Kajal Singh, a resident of Sector 15, reported that an unidentified pedestrian ran away after snatching her mobile phone on December 16.

The police have registered a case of snatching at Sector 11 police station.

In a separate incident, a resident of Mani Majra alleged that he was robbed off his wallet on Monday. Udaybir of Mani Majra alleged that Rajesh and Sanjay of the Mauli complex thrashed him and took away his wallet from near his house on Monday evening. His purse contained Rs 200, ATM card, pan card and voter card.

Chandigarh, December 17
Humanity and discipline seems to stand nowhere if the functioning of the Education Department is to be considered.

The UT Education Department made the players wait for three hours (9 am to 12 pm) before they postponed the selection trails as the senior coach was off to Delhi.

The Education Department was scheduled to take the trials to select boys for the (U-19) local cricket team. However, the officials present at the trial venue were informed after three hours about the absence of Bhupinder Singh (senior coach). He went to Delhi accompanying a cricket team of Punjab and due to his unavailability the trails were postponed.

Notably, even after knowing it well in time, the officials delayed sharing the information with the players. “This is not a right approach of the officials. They should have informed us on time. We are sitting here since morning,” said a player of a private school.

Seconding him, another player said, “If the officials were aware that the senior coach is off to Delhi, they shouldn’t have called us here.”

Now, that they have postponed the trials, they at least should have the courtesy to provide us with refreshments, he said.

Interestingly, the department has appointed a coach from UT Sports Department, a senior coach representing Education Department and teachers of various schools as the members of selection committee. But except a single coach, no one was present since 9 am till the trails were declared postponed. A source added, “The department was well aware of the absence of coach, but was expecting him to be in the city. As he could not turn up and was not even available on phone, the department then took the final decision after three hours.”

The players should not be harassed like this, he said.

Chandigarh, December 17
PML SD Public School, Sector 32, defeated Vivek High School, Sector 38, by 86-41, in the opening match of the Inter-School Basketball Tournament for (U-19) boys and girls here today.

For the winning side, Harkirat Singh contributed 22 points whereas Deepak collected 21 points. For the losing side, Mahesh reduced the margin by contributing 20 points while Pranjal helped him with 9 points.

In the second match, Doon International, Mohali, defeated Ram Arya School, Sector 27, by 51-49. For the winning side, Prabhjot hogged the limelight by collecting 30 points while Harman added another 17 to the total. For the losing side, Abhinav collected 20 points whereas Rohit and Jayesh collected 13 and 10 points, respectively.

In the girls’ category, Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, blanked Gurukul World, Mohali, by 85-00. Varanpreet (17 points), Amrinder (14 points) and Mehak (10 points) contributed for the winning side.

Chandigarh, December 17
Making a noble gesture, SP Singh Oberoi, a Dubai-based renowned businessman, has donated a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Parul Gupta, a Patiala-based tennis player, who recently represented the country in the Special Olympics Games.

The businessman donated the amount to help Parul , the deaf player, in her preparation for the Deaf Open World Championship to be held in the USA from July 14 to 19, 2014. The donation was made in favour of the Harvest Tennis Academy, Jassowal, where Parul is preparing for her upcoming championship. “I am happy to get the aid. He is quite helpful for players with special disabilities. I will return the honour by bagging a medal in the upcoming championship,” said Parul.

On the other hand, Oberoi said, “I am happy to help the girl. It’s a noble gesture from my side and hopefully she will win a medal in the international championship.” Oberoi was recently honoured in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on October 30 and is also heading a Dubai-based NGO ‘Sarbhat Da Bhala’. Earlier, he hogged the limelight, by saving life of 51 boys from penalty and life imprisonment in Arab jails.

Chandigarh, December 17
St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, defeated St Joseph’s School, Sector 44, by 7 wickets in the first semi-final of 10th Molly Carver Memorial Cricket Cup, here today.

Batting first, the losing side, scored 146-runs all out in 29.3 overs. Joravar Singh (45 runs), Divyansh (24 runs) and Ankit (20 runs) scored a lion’s share. Abhishek Lio took 3 for 14 runs whereas Prashant Sharma claimed 2 for 38. Bhupinder Pratap claimed 2 for 17.

In reply, St Stephen’s chased down the target in 26.3 overs. Khushleen Singh (39 runs), Saksham Katoch (30 runs), Anshul Chaudhary (27 runs) and Bhupinder Pratap (26 runs) guided the team to victory. Divansh took 2 wickets for 35 runs.

Chandigarh, December 17
CHART trainee Vikrant Dahiya and Digvijay Pratap Singh moved to the final four stage of the ongoing CLTA-AITA Championship Series Tennis Tournament, to be played tomorrow.

In the quarter-finals category of (U-16) boys, top seed Param Pun defeated Himanshu while second seed Vikrant Dahiya defeated Eklavya Singh. Param defeated his rival by 4-1, 4-0 while Vikrant thrashed Eklavya 4-1 and 4-1.

In the girls (U-16) event, top seed Bani Singh beat Muskan 4-2, 4-1 whereas eighth seed Pious Mudgil upset fourth seed Seerat Pannu 4-2, 4-1.

Results

(U-16) boys’ singles quarter-finals: Vikrant bt Eklavya 4-1, 4-1; Digvijay bt Mritunjay 4-3, 4-2; Nihit Rawal bt Saurav Kalkal 4-1, 5-3; Param Pun bt Himanshu 4-1, 4-0

(U-16) girls’ singles quarter-finals: Baani bt Muskan 4-2, 4-2; Pious Mudgil bt Seerat Pannu 4-2, 4-1; Tanya Batra bt Arti Nayan 4-1, 4-1; Gurneek bt Jahnavi Shivran 4-2, 4-0

(U-16) boys’ doubles semi-finals: Nihit and Param bt Eklavya and Rohit 6-3, 7-6; Vikrant and Digvijay bt Rishabh and Himanshu 6-3, 6-2

(U-16) girls’ doubles semi-finals: Baani and Seerat bt Deepshikha and Reet Malik 6-0, 6-0; Pious and Gayatri bt Jahnavi and Ashpreet 6-1, 6-1.

Chandigarh, December 17
In a noble initiative, the Chandigarh Golf Association (CGA) has expanded the horizons in Janta Colony and Adarsh Nagar by launching a junior caddy programme, here today.

Young girls and boys from an underprivileged community are being trained to work as caddies. The CGA and DIR are focussing on skill development, income generation and gender equality in an underprivileged community in the project.

The programme has been named under its KSR programme (Kids Social Responsibility). The CGA has started motivating children coming to learn golf to share their skills with the less privileged and in due course will launch a green keeper programme that will further provide employment opportunities for youngsters. The innovative junior caddy programme will provide opportunities for children of different social and economic backgrounds. The programme will help these kids to meet and interact with golf players and learn the basics of the game.

Chandigarh, December 17
The Sports Department, Chandigarh Administration, will conduct the selection trials for the selection of Chandigarh women team for participation in the 39th National Women Sports Competitions (Group-II) at the Gachibowli Stadium, Hyderabad (AP), from January 27 to 30, 2014.

All the interested sportspersons are advised to appear for the trials along with 3 photographs, proof of age (age should be below 25 years as on December 31).

Trials date and venue

Handball (12 girls and 1 official): On December 24 at 4 pm at the Sports Complex, Sector-42.

Hockey (16 girls and 1 official): On December 24 at 4 pm at the Sports Complex, Sector-18.

Lawn Tennis (4 girls and 1 official): On December 24 at 4 pm the Sports Complex, Sector-42.

Chandigarh, December 17
GMSSS, Sector 26, defeated Mount Carmel School in a match of the ongoing Edmund Rice Cricket Championship.

The winning side posted 107 runs in 20 overs. Arun played a sensible innings of 32 runs while Ankit scored 24 runs. For the bowling team, Jashanpreet and Anish claimed two wickets each for 11 nad 20 runs, respectively. In reply, Mount Carmel bundled out on a mere total of 48 runs with Sarab (12 runs) scoring the most runs.

For the bowling side, Arun hogged the limelight by claiming 4 wickets for 9 runs while Sahil claimed 2 for 7.

In the second match, St John’s came over Ryan International School by 116 runs. Angad Singh Bhatia, for St John’s side, scored 73 runs of 40 balls and helped his team to score 157 runs in 20 overs. He was equally supported by Paritosh Bhatt, who scored 21 runs and Adilpreet, who contributed 16 runs. Chasing the target,

Ryanites bundled out for 41 runs with Gursahaj contributing 12 runs. For the bowling side, Arjun Sharma and Ratish claimed three wickets each giving away 5 and 9 runs, respectively, while Sahil Kapoor claimed 2 for 20. — TNS