Chandigarh, March 5
The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal today acquitted a person in an 11-year- old murder case.

Manpreet Singh, a Kharar resident, was exonerated after the prosecution failed to prove the charge.

The accused was absconding since 2003 and had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the court. The police had arrested Manpreet six months ago.

Two other accused in the case, Sunny Kumar alias Chikna and a Mohali-resident Harish, were arrested in November 2005 and were sentenced to life imprisonment by the court in January 2008.

The incident dates back to October 2003 when a Sector 37 resident Umant Singh Walia had complained to the police that his brother Gunwant Singh Walia (47), a resident of Sector 37, was murdered at the Sector 41/42/36/37 roundabout by the three accused.

Panchkula, March 5
The Panchkula police have caught a snatcher for allegedly snatching the purse of a doctor in Sector 16 here.

The accused, identified as Pradeep Kumar, had earlier swallowed a stolen gold chain. He was, however, overpowered by public in Mohali.

The court has awarded a two-day police remand to Pradeep. The police said he may have committed more snatchings in the area.

Chandigarh, March 5
The Selvel Media Services today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and other respondents once again; this time for quashing the demand of more than Rs75, 00,000 towards advertisement fee.

Taking up the matter, Justice Rajan Gupta of the High Court today issued notice of motion. Notice regarding stay was also issued. In its petition filed through authorised representative Bishwadeep Dutta, the company claimed that the MC issued a tender for operation and maintenance of already renovated public toilets in city markets on operation and transfer basis.

The company submitted its conditional tender, along with a forwarding letter, intimating the authorities concerned that the toilets were not “advertisement friendly” and could not generate enough revenue to sustain the operation and maintenance cost.

The company made it clear that they were ready to work only if the MC paid the cost of Rs 9,800 per month for one toilet. Exemption from licence fee and advertisement taxes was also sought, along with an escalation of 15 per cent per annum for five years.

The petitioner was declared successful. After holding negotiations with the authorities, it agreed to reduce the quoted monthly amount to Rs.8, 800 per toilet, with an annual increase of 10 per cent for the next four years. The offer was then referred to and approved by the Finance and Contract Committee before the contracts were allotted vide letter dated September 10, 2007.

But later, an Executive Engineer vide letter dated December 6, 2007, asked the company to pay the advertisement tax.

Panchkula, March 5
In a major breakthrough in the murder of a 25-year-old youth, the police have arrested a trolley driver from Delhi in this regard.

The police have found that the victim, Sanjay, was murdered over a petty brawl.

The accused identified as Asif, who works in Baddi, confessed to the police that the victim had taken some diesel from his trolley following which they had a brawl.

“After the brawl, Asif along with two other accused stopped Sanjay. They first threw chilly powder in his eyes and then hit him, after which they manually strangulated him. The accused then took away the diesel. They also took away his cash,” said a police official.

According to the postmortem reports, five injury marks were found on the body of the victim. “Chilli powder was also found in the eyes of the deceased. It seems that the accused first threw chilli powder and then strangulated him to death,” said Dr Sunil Gambhir.

Raids are being conducted to ascertain the whereabouts of the other two accused.

Station house officer of the Raipurrani Police Station Deepak Kumar, said, “The victim was murdered over a minor issue. It was a plain revenge.”

According to the information, Sanjay, who was a resident of Barreily in Uttar Pradesh, was found dead on a highway in Barwala. Sanjay was to return to Barreily after delivering some goods.

The police have registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the local police station.

Chandigarh, March 5
The CBI today filed chargesheet against a Municipal Corporation (MC) employee in a graft case.

Sudhir Kumar, a clerk in the MC office, was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 at the MC office in Sector 17 in October last year.

Kumar dealt with medical bills of the Fire Department staff.

The complainant in the case, Kulwinder Singh, stated that his mother had got a cataract operation from the PGIMER and the treatment cost him Rs 17,000. Kulwinder applied for reimbursement of the medical bills.

As the application reached Sudhir Kumar, he demanded Rs 3,000 for clearing the bills. The deal was, however, settled for Rs 2,000.

Meanwhile, Kulwinder approached the CBI to catch the clerk while accepting graft.

Panchkula, March 5
Thieves decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 6 lakh from the house of a bank official in Sector 21 here today. The official, Devinder, and his wife were away to work when the theft took place. When the official returned home in the evening, he found the lock of the house broken.

The police were informed who reached the spot. Devinder informed the police that the thieves also took away Rs 50,000, besides the jewellery.

A forensic team was called to the spot. The police have registered a case at the Sector 5 police station.

Yesterday, thieves had decamped with 12 tolas of gold and cash from a house in Sector 11 here.

Chandigarh, March 5
Thieves decamped with gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh from a house at Issapur village in Dera Bassi today.

Harman Singh (60), along with his family members, had gone to another village to attend a bhog ceremony when the theft took place. The family had left the house at around 11 am.

They bolted the door from outside, but did not lock the house as Harman’s grandson was to return from school.

When the grandson returned home, he found household items scattered all over the place.

He informed his neighbour, Ravinder, about the theft, who in turn informed Harman Singh.

The thieves entered the house by jumping its rear wall.

The police have started investigation. A team of forensic experts visited the spot and collected samples.

Chandigarh, March 5
The Finance-cum-Sports Secretary has asked the UT Sports Department to rethink its proposal to close the state-run Chandigarh Cricket Academy here.

In its proposal, the UT Sports Department had recently sought recommendation of the Finance-cum-Sports Secretary to shut down the academy. However, the secretary has asked the officials to drop the idea and think about an ‘alternative idea’ to run the academy.

“No, we are not shutting down the academy. I have asked the officials of the Sports Department to think about some steps to continue running the academy rather than shutting it down straightaway,” said Sarvjit Singh, Finance-cum-Sports Secretary.

The UT Administration started the cricket academy in 2007 following the success of the Chandigarh Football and Hockey Academy.

A player signs a seven-year stay agreement with these academies and after every three years, new players are inducted. However, the UT Sports Department has not conducted any fresh cricket trails to recruit a new batch. The new batch should have been recruited in 2010. In 2014, when the contract of the players recruited in 2007 is coming to an end, the Sports Department has proposed to shut down the cricket academy.

Sources said the Sports Department mentioned that since the city was not directly affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), players at the academy did not have adequate facilities nor were they eligible for tournaments. Also, there are many cricket academies running in Chandigarh that attract local players.

“Our proposal has not been rejected but we have been asked to rethink. I cannot say anything on the recruitment of a new batch. The things will become clear after we will meet the Finance Secretary and submit new ideas,” said Sunil Bhatia, Director, Sports, UT.

A coach said, “What was the basis of opening the academy in 2007? If officials knew all the facts, what was the need of spending crores of rupees over the years to run the academy? This is a sheer wastage of money and the department is taking decisions without any proper planning. Of late, the department’s decision-making is drawing a lot of criticism.”

Chandigarh, March 5
Local cricket fans witnessed an exclusive preview of the ICC World Cup T20 trophy at Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium, Panchkula, on Tuesday.

The event was a part of the exclusive road show being organised throughout the country. Cricket fans got themselves photographed with the glittering trophy.

The trophy will be awarded to the winner of the ICC T-20 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6. Reliance Communications, the global partner of the tournament since its inception, organised the event here.

India will be facing Pakistan in its opening game of the tournament on March 21.

Chandigarh, March 5
Chandigarh’s Digvijay Pratap Singh had a mixed day at the ongoing HTA-AITA Super Series Tennis Championship being held on the courts of Harvest Tennis Academy, Jassowal, Ludhiana.

Singh, a trainee at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA), won a match in the U-14 category while tasted defeat in the U-16 match held today.

In the U-14 quarterfinals, Digvijay outclassed Sacchitt Sharma of Delhi in straight sets 6-3 and 6-4. However, in the U-16 category, he went down fighting against his rival Adil Kalyanpur from Andhra Pradesh. Adil beat Digvijay 2-6, 6-3 and 7-5.

After losing the first set by 2-6, Digvijay bounced back and displayed his calibre to win the next set by 6-3. In the final set, he put up a fight but lost to his opponent by 7-5.

Chandigarh, March 5
Jaivir Sandhu, Dakshmeet Singh and Kartikayan Pant won the top three positions in the 100-metre race organised for students of Class IV during the ongoing annual sports meet of Yadvindra Public School, Mohali, today. In the girls category, Asees Cheema, Gurnoor Kaur and Ustat K Jatana claimed the top three positions in that order.