New Delhi, March 12
The Congress today issued a show-cause notice to Choudhary Dharambir, Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the Hooda Government, to explain why action should not be taken against him for harming the Congress interests in Haryana.

Dharambir, a sitting MLA from Sohna in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency, has been given three days to respond to the notice failing which the high command would proceed against him.

A political rival of Haryana minister Kiran Choudhary and her daughter Shruti, the sitting MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat, Dharambir has been openly challenging the formers’s candidature for the upcoming General Election. Dharambir had been seeking the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh LS ticket but the Congress Central Election Committee headed by party president Sonia Gandhi on March 7 declared Shruti Choudhary as the official candidate.

Dharambir then went ahead and organised a rally in Bhiwani on March 9 to publicly declare that he would not support Shruti Choudhary’s candidature from the seat. On top of that he said he would contest against the Congress candidate.

Dharambir has been angry with Kiran ever since he was made to shift his seat from Tosham to Sohna, with Kiran Choudhary herself representing Tosham in the Assembly.

The show-cause notice issued today by Haryana Congress President Ashok Tanwar on the behalf of the AICC says: “This has been brought to our notice that you have been indulging in anti-party activities for the past few months which has damaged the party beyond measure. The recent incident of announcing your candidature against the party’s nominee Shruti Choudhary from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency despite Shruti’s name being selected on March 7 by the Central Election Committee and officially declared on March 8. Even after that your announcement on March 9 at a public rally in Bhiwani to contest against the party candidate amounts to gross indiscipline. You are asked to send your explanation within three days. Also explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against you as per the constitution of the Indian National Congress.”

The Congress leadership was particularly miffed with Dharambir over his act of holding the March 9 Bhiwani rally under the banner of “Dharma Sena”.

“Indiscipline will not be tolerated. Party discipline is above winning or losing elections,” said top AICC sources.

Dharambir is learnt to be in talks with the INLD and the BJP. 

Ambala, March 12
A day after Congress leaders upped their voices against the fielding of an ‘outsider’ from Ambala, the newly nominated candidate of AAP from the Ambala constituency, SP Singh, today faced hostile party workers on his first visit to the district after his nomination.

SP Singh, a resident of Panchkula, whose name had been included in the party’s forth list as a candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, today reached the Ambala party office, where he had to face a protest by the section of local party members. They also asked him to leave.

The members alleged that SP Singh was an ‘outsider’ and it was for the first time that they had seen him participate in the party activities in Ambala. They demanded the party to reconsider their decision and field a resident from Ambala to contest the elections.

He was here to hold a meeting with the local members of the party for accessing preparations for the elections and to launch a formal campaign. As he was not allowed to speak by the protesters, he left the meeting without interacting with the party men.

As the matter was reported to the police, a team of the Sadar police reached the AAP office and rounded up some of the party workers for violating Section 144. However, no case had been registered against anybody, said the police.

Local spokesperson of the AAP Amar Arya said they had already brought the matter to the notice of the party seniors and efforts were being made to maintain party discipline. 

Kurukshetra, March 12
A warring faction of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opposed to the official candidate would field an independent candidate from the Kurukshetra seat.

They have called a meeting on March 16 to discuss the matter. Sources said they would declare their candidate on the same day.

Sources said three candidates had been short-listed.

The workers have been protesting ever since the candidature of Balwinder Kaur was announced. “The local body will field its own candidate and will not support official candidate Balwinder Kaur at any cost,” said Ramlal, a party activist. — TNS

Jhajjar, March 12
Two-time MP Deepender Hooda would not be able to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections due to a spinal problem.

The Congress candidate from Rohtak, Deepender has been on complete bed rest at his residence in Delhi for the past one month.

Sources said doctors had advised Deepender to keep himself away from canvassing for at least three more weeks. The MP had addressed his last public meeting on February 16.

In the absence of Deepender, his mother Asha Hooda was taking care of his poll campaign and she had addressed several meetings in Rohtak and Jhajjar in the past two days.

Making an emotional appeal to the people, Asha today sought their support and vote for her son.

“Since Deepender is not in a position to travel. Now, you will have to contest his election by assuming yourself as candidate,” said Asha who is also the vice-president of the Child Welfare Council.

She said, “I never participated in politics, but being a mother, I know that Deepender has toiled hard for the development of his constituency. He never took rest and is now lying on a cot.”

Party sources said Asha along with political adviser to CM Prof Virender would seek votes in Rohtak district, while Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, Deepender's cousin Sukhinder Hooda and youth leader Vikas Ahlawat would jointly run the campaign in Jhajjar district.

Besides, MLAs of all nine Assembly segments in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency -- Rohtak, Kiloi-Garhi Sampla, Meham, Kalanaur, Jhajjar, Beri, Badli, Bahadurgarh and Kosli -- had been roped in to canvass for Deepender.

Faridabad, March 12
Major political parties still shy of fielding women candidates from this Lok Sabha constituency as most of them have already announced their candidates for the April 10 elections.

Swaraj Lamba, the only woman candidate who dared to contest from here in 1998, could poll only 26,000 votes.

The Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency came into being in 1976 and the first elections were held in 1977. Dharambir Vashist of the Bhartiya Lok Party was the first MP.

So far, none of the leading political parties has named a woman candidate. While the Congress party has named its outgoing MP Avtar Singh Bhadana for the third time, the AAP has also announced the candidature of a 32-year-old engineer. The HJC is not expected to field its candidate due to its alliance with the BJP and the latter is tipped to field Krishan Pal Gujjar or Ram Chander Bainda. While Gujjar is a sitting MLA from the district, Bainda is a former MP who represented the constituency for three times. The INLD is also expected to field a male candidate if it fails to forge an alliance with the BJP. The BSP has fielded Rajender Sharma from the constituency.

Sources said Swaraj Lamba was the only woman candidate who had contested from this seat. She was fielded by the Janata Party.

“The male dominated politics and political system has perhaps been the reason why female candidates could not find adequate opportunities in this field and the situation continues to remain so despite tall claims made by leaders of various parties,'' said Yogesh Sharma, a former MLA. Only two female MLAs had been elected from the district in the past 48 years.

Kurukshetra, March 12
Nikhil Gajraj, Deputy Commissioner, said here today that the district had 104 hypersensitive and 124 sensitive polling booths.

Nine committees hade been formed and shadow observers would keep a close vigil on the election-related expenses of candidates. The Nagar Parishad had started removing all political posters, bill boards and hoardings from the district.

The district police had formed two special teams to deal with crowds. Each team comprised 105 trained and fully-equipped police officers.

The police had asked all gun licence holders to deposit their arms and ammunition in the police station concerned to ensure peaceful elections, said Y Puran Kumar, SP, Kurukshetra.

The Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency comprises nine Vidhan Sabha constituencies, four in Kurukshetra district (Thanesar, Ladwa, Pehowa and Shahabad), four in Kaithal district (Pundri, Kalayat, Kaithal and Gulha) and one (Radaur) in Yamunanagar district. Radaur and Shahabad are reserved constituencies.

As many as 14,60,521 electors will cast votes at 1,534 polling stations against 11,68,405 in 2009.

Gurgaon, March 12
AAP candidate Yogendra Yadav has set out on a whirlwind tour of nine Assembly segments falling under the Gurgaon parliamentary seat.

Starting with Rewari, Yadav will visit Ferozepur Jhirka, Nuh, Punhana, Sohna, Gurgaon, Badshahpur, Pataudi and conclude the tour at Bawal on March 19. During the nine-day mass contact programme, Yadav will hold meetings and road shows. The main objective of the programme is to talk to the masses about their problems and expectations and give them an opportunity to know the candidate. "We wish to reach out to the public and know their problems," said Dr Sanjay Kumar, media in charge, AAP, Gurgaon.

"Under 'Kraanti', an initiative by city-based AAP supporters, we are selling T-shirts, coffee mugs, wristbands, badges and key chains with Kejriwal's name on them. It will help create an AAP wave in the region," said Vibha Singh, an IITian, who quit her job as a marketing and strategy development officer to join the AAP movement.

Panipat, March 12
As many as 10,000 new voters were registered during a special national drive in Panipat district on Sunday. All the four Assembly segments of Panipat district fall under Karnal parliamentary segment.

Ajit Balaji Joshi, DC-cum-District Election Officer (DEO) of Panipat, stated this while launching a special signature campaign today at a toll plaza to spread awareness among voters to use their right to franchise. Replying to a query, he said 15 BLOs were suspended for dereliction of their poll duties. A number of hoardings establishing the significance of casting votes have been put up at the toll plaza. Accompanied by SP B Satheesh Balan and awareness observer JMR Pawar, Joshi said “These hoardings will spread awareness among voters of various states as about 30,000 vehicles of different states cross this toll plaza, located on National Highway-1, daily.”

Karnal, March 12
The newly launched Haryana Janshakti Party has decided to join hands with non-Congress parties in the Lok Sabha elections.

Party chief Didar Singh Nalvi said he had been pursuing for a separate gurdwara prabandhak committee. “We will wait for the response of anti-Congress parties till March 18. Otherwise, we will field our candidates from Sirsa and Kurukshetra seats,” he said. — TNS

Sutana (Panipat), March 12
While less than a month is left for voting, residents of Sutana village in the Israna Assembly segment of Karnal have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha elections.

The indifferent attitude of the departments concerned has failed to find out any permanent solution to the problem of the villagers caused by fly ash from the Panipat thermal power station.

Talking to The Tribune, Raj Singh Sutana, a farmer, said, “While the 5,000 odd voters of this village have already decided to boycott the elections, a formal decision in this regard will be taken at a meeting of the villagers on Sunday.”

Ram Karan, sarpanch, said, “While fly ash has been causing a lot of problem to the villagers ever since the installation of the thermal station decades ago, nearly 400 acres of fertile land of over 100 farmers has gradually turned barren. Water logging caused by continuous seepage of toxic effluents from the bottom ash disposal pond built adjacent to their fields has worsened the situation.”

Karan further said, “We have met Israna MLA Krishan Panwar, Karnal MP Arvind Sharma and even Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on several occasions, but to no avail.

Sonu, a villager, said, “The thermal stations has contaminated the air and it has becomes difficult to even breathe.”

Karambir, another village, said, “Our infertile land should be acquired at market rate so that we can purchase land at some other place.”

“We are left with no option but to boycott the elections to let our voices be heard,” said Nakli Ram, a villager.

Chandigarh, March 12
The Election Commission has issued instructions to monitor election expenditure of the candidates contesting elections to ensure a free and fair Lok Sabha poll.

Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said flying squads had been operational from the date of announcement of the elections and would look into all complaints about violations of the model code of conduct , election expenditure of political parties and candidates, complaints of intimidation, movement of anti-social elements, liquor, arms and large sum of cash etc.

The squads would also videograph all major rallies, public meetings and other expenses. He said state surveillance teams would set up checkposts to monitor the election process. He said the accounting team would monitor the expenditure of political parties. After nominations were filed, the candidates' accounts would be maintained by the team. 

Fatehabad, March 12
Haryana’s first nuclear power project coming up at Gorakhpur is becoming a major issue in these parliamentary elections.

The Parmanu Virodhi Morcha, a coalition of organisations opposed to the setting up of nuclear power projects, is asking political parties contesting the parliamentary elections to make their stand clear on the issue of setting up of the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna (GHAVP), a nuclear power project coming up at Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad.

So far, INLD and AAP leaders have met the morcha and told them that they were opposed to the project and would not allow it to come up if they came to power.

“Political parties should clear their stand on the issue before the start of the election process. The organisations associated with the Parmanu Virodhi Morcha will oppose the parties that do not make their stand clear,” said Somya Dutta, an anti-nuclear energy activist after the end of the Jan Chetna Yatra of Parmanu Virodhi Morcha here today.

The morcha had started its yatra from Delhi on March 9 to observe the third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s son Karan Singh Chautala, who has been given the charge of the party’s campaign in the Sirsa parliamentary constituency, visited morcha activists in the Arorwansh dharamshala here and pledged INLD’s support to the cause.

“Our party has been opposing the project ever since its announcement. The government has forced farmers to part with their prime land for a pittance for a project that is hazardous for the people living in the area,” Karan Singh Chautala said after meeting the morcha activists.

Poonam Chand Ratti, AAP candidate from Sirsa also supported the morcha’s campaign and said the project should be immediately abandoned. Though the HJC is not contesting from Sirsa, as the seat has gone in the BJP’s share, party chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has already been lending support to farmers opposed to the project.

The BJP, on the other hand, is yet to make its stand clear.

Jind, March 12
Last month when he left home with a promise to return in November, no one would have imagined that it was Subhash Chander Dalal’s last visit to his native village Nagura, 20 km away from Jind. Dalal was killed in a Maoist ambush in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.

Though both his sons, Viraaj and Deepak, are aware about the martyrdom of their father, they have not conveyed this news to their mother Veermati, who was busy cleaning her courtyard when The Tribune team visited their house today.

Though both of them have also not informed their 90-year-old grandfather Maman Singh, an ex-serviceman and former sarpanch of the village, Singh has got suspicious and has been trying to find the reason behind the somber mood of his family members since morning.

“I got to know about the killing of my father, who was posted as commandant of CRPF, from the internet this morning. We have not received any information from the CRPF or Jind administration,” said Dalal’s elder son Viraaj, who works in an MNC.

The deceased had shifted all his family to the village two months ago as he wanted to marry both his sons. Both of them had got engaged last month before Dalal left for his duty on February 20.

After retirement he wanted to settle either in his native village or in some adjoining cities. He had purchased another house near his ancestral home in the village.

“He had got both his sons engaged and wanted to marry them in November. He was a very lively man and with his hard work he rose to the rank of company commander after joining as constable in 1981,” said Badan Singh, an uncle of the deceased. Subhash was a former wrestler and had won many competitions.

“He spoke to all family members on Monday evening and was happy. But no one knew about plans of destiny,” said Sajjan Singh, deceased’s younger brother.

Sonepat, March 12
Standing wheat, green fodder and vegetable crops were damaged when hailstorm hit several villages in the district late last evening.

Reports said 30 to 70 per cent of the crops were damaged. Farmers from Kilorad, Badwasni and other villages today reached at the Deputy Commissioner's office here with a tractor-trailer loaded with hails collected from fields.

Led by state vice-president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, SN Solanki, the farmers demanded immediate 'girdawari' of the damaged crops and suitable compensation.

Deputy Commissioner Samir Pal Srow assured them that he had already directed the Revenue Department to conduct special 'girdawari' and the report about would be sent to the government.

Jind: Many farmers have suffered 30 to 40 per cent losses in the district while many said their standing crop had been flattened.

"The hailstorm has completely destroyed crop on three acres of my land," said Ravinder, a farmer of Ahirka village.

Many farmers feared that now the production of their crop would come down to 20-25 quintals per acre. A majority of the farmers have suffered 30 to 40 per cent losses, but there are many, who have suffered 100 per cent losses.

"My all crop ob two acres has been destroyed. The government should pay compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre," said Balwan Singh, another farmer.

"Preliminary reports suggest 20 per cent losses. We would conduct assessment of the damage and recommend at least Rs 10,000 per acre compensation," said Deputy Director, Agriculture, RP Sihag.

Karnal: Dr Indu Sharma, Director, Wheat Research Institute, said it was a very crucial time for wheat production in relation to climate variation. Rain at this stage was not desirable. She appealed to farmers to drain out excessive water stagnant in fields.

She further said the weather conditions were conducive for yellow rust and appealed to farmers to spray propiconazole, tebuconazole or tridemephome wherever yellow rust occurred.

"If the weather condition remains the same, it can delay the maturity of crops," she said.

"The government should order the Revenue Department for a special survey to access the damage to crops. The farmers should be compensated for the loss," Sewa Singh Arya, state president, BKU, demanded.

Jhajjar, March 12
Several months ago the Haryana Government launched an ambitious scheme to educate children of brick-kiln labourers but authorities show no interest in implementing it. Leave aside starting classes, so far no government teachers have visited the kilns here to motivate labourers to send their children to school.

The scheme provides the children transportation to school but district officials say no bus is available.

Earlier, teachers were deputed to conduct classes at the kilns. That scheme was replaced by the present one to provide free education to labourers’ children at government schools.

“Under the scheme, government school teachers were to visit nearby brick-kilns to ensure that every child of the labourers was admitted in their school. A District Education Department official said that if the school was at a distance, the children were to get bus transport.

Astonishingly, a visit to six brick-kilns located at Jahangirpur and its nearby villages presented a dismal picture.

“Last year, two teachers used to come here to teach our children but so far no one has contacted us about this scheme. The school is far-away and we fear to send our children to school as they don’t know how to cross the road,” said Umesh of Nalanda (Bihar), a labourer at RBC brick-kiln in Jahangirpur village here.

Another labourer, Krishan, a resident of Navada District (Bihar), said no brick-kiln labourer is aware of the government’s free education scheme for their children. All of them would send their children to schools if there was a free school bus.

Shiv Charan, a labourer at BS brick-kiln in Vaajitpur village explained: “Forty-six children of 10 families live at the kiln and none of them go to school because we have no way to send them. We work from morning to night and have no time to take them to school and bring them back. Health workers come at regular intervals to administer polio drops to the children but so far no teacher has approached us about admitting our children in school.”

Alaudin and Ashrudin of Assam, also kiln workers, confirm Shiv Charan’s remarks.

Chalitra, Sunari Devi, Shyam Lal and Banke Lal, labourers at the HB brick-kiln near Kot village here, said their children went to school last year when they were living in Bihar but since coming to Haryana in July last year they had left studies. They were unaware of the government’s scheme.

Karnal, March 12
Aiming at welfare of advocates of the state,'Advocate Welfare Fund-2014' was launched today by RS Badhran, chairman, Bar Council of Haryana and Punjab.

Badhran said there were many policies for advocates in the fund. It would benefit as many as 27,000 advocates.

He said an advocate's family would be compensated after his or her death and would also be given financial aid in case of hospitalisation of the advocate.— TNS

Rohtak, March 12
Dr Surender Singh Dahiya of Department of Law and Dr Vijay Kumari Dangi of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) have been elected president and secretary of the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers' Association (MDUTA), respectively, in a re-election held here yesterday.

Dr Dahiya polled 187 votes, while his nearest rival Dr Gulshan Taneja got 169 votes.

In the election for the post of secretary, Dr Vijay Kumari Dangi defeated Dr Ashwini Dhingra by a slim margin of three votes. Dr Vijay got 179 votes, while Dr Ashwini polled 176. 

Chandigarh, March 12
The Shivalik Vikas Manch (SVM) today organised a 'swabhiman padyatra' from Kalka to Chandigarh to highlight discrimination with residents of the Shivalik region comprising Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Ambala districts with regard to government jobs and development.

Led by Vijay Bansal, manch president, scores of activists assembled at Kalka this morning and started a march to Haryana Raj Bhavan here. The padyatra passed through Pinjore, Surajpur, Chandimandir and Sectors 2, 6 and 7 of Panchkula.

In a memorandum to the Governor, the manch demanded a judicial probe into skewed development and nepotism in government jobs in Haryana.

Besides demanding a special economic package for the Shivalik region, the memorandum also demanded a medical college, upgradation of Raipur Rani as a sub-tehsil, a mini-secretariat at Kalka, four-laning of the Panchkula-Yamunanagar highway and setting of an IIT and an IIM in the Shivalik region. 

Fatehabad, March 12
Over a 100 protestors trying to proceed towards railway station to stop trains against grant of OBC status to Jats in the Centre were rounded up by the police at Tohana in Fatehabad today.

The police allegedly used force against those who resisted arrest and in the process seven women were injured.

Four of them, Krishna, Ginna, Hardevi and Reshma, have been admitted to General Hospital, Tohana.

SP Shiv Charan Attri said the police did not use any force against the protestors and even those rounded up were let off in the evening.

He said the women admitted to the hospital might have hurt themselves by falling during the confrontation.

Rajinder Tanwar, president, and Surya Prakash, vice-president of the Shoshit Samaj, however, alleged that the police beat up women protestors mercilessly without any provocation and two of them are unable to move now.

Surya Prakash alleged that the police even tried to influence the doctors and asked them to discharge the injured women without issuing any medico-legal reports, but the doctors did not pay heed to them and performed their duties honestly.

Shoshit Samaj, Haryana, a coalition of several organisations of people belonging to backward classes, had given a call to stop rail traffic today against the government’s move to include Jats in OBCs in the Centre.

The authorities had made elaborate arrangements to stop the protestors from taking law into their hands.

Hundreds of protestors assembled in the Ravidass Dharamshala of Tohana in the morning. Addressing the protestors, Rajinder Tanwar and Surya Prakash said once Jats were included in the OBC list in the Centre, they would no longer remain confined to their 10 per cent special backward classes quota in Haryana but would be entitled to the OBC quota too.

Tanwar said the members of their organisation would gherao the CM’s house at Rohtak on March 22.

Hisar, March 12
Despite Election Commission's commitment to facilitate voting by all voters, the police personnel on election duty are seldom able to exercise their franchise.
The Haryana Police Sangathan (HPS) had approached the state Election Commission at Chandigarh and the ECI, New Delhi, in February, urging the commission to provide hassle-free opportunity to police personnel to exercise their franchise.

Dilawar Singh, president of the HPS who led a delegation, said they had demanded that the process to cast ballot be completed one week before the polling date.

"The booths should be set up in the returning officers' (RO) offices at all the district headquarters where the policemen will be able to cast their votes in presence of the agents of contesting candidates. It would ensure complete fairness and secrecy of voting and maximum number of police personnel would be able to exercise their franchise", he said. Form No 12, meant for postal ballot, should be attached to each vote and later it could be sent to the respective constituencies, he added.

He argued that police remained on various kinds of duties like law and order, booth duty, VIP duty etc, so they were unable to procure postal ballot by reaching out to the appropriate authority. “We have urged the commission to get our votes casted a week ago by setting up special booths by the returning officers,” he said.

A number of police personnel said they had never cast their vote or even heard about any procedure for them to exercise their voting right. "It would be a great feeling if I get to cast my vote. But so far, I have not heard of any such thing from my seniors", said a sub-inspector at Hisar.

The HPS had filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court last year against the Union Government and others, seeking directions to provide the police personnel an opportunity to cast their votes during election duty.

The EC had filed a reply stating that the police officials who remained on poll duty had been provided the right to cast vote through postal ballots. In its reply, it stated, "In pursuance of the order dated August 22, 2012 of the High Court of Judicature at Madras…all police officials, except those who are on leave during the election period, are treated as on deputation to the EC under Section 28A of RP Act 1951 and are extended the facility of postal ballot paper by treating them as voters on election duty. The police officials who wish to avail the facility have to apply to the RO of the constituency in Form 12 for issue of postal ballot paper".

Hisar, March 12
The district administration has served a show-cause notice on former Hisar Divisional Commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, who jumped to a fray as the AAP nominee from the Hisar parliamentary over staying in a government accommodation after retirement.

The INLD and the Congress have complained to the Deputy Commissioner-cum-district electoral officer that Khyalia had allegedly violated the code of conduct by staying in an official residence even after retirement. Deputy Commissioner JP Kaushik confirmed that the notice had been served to him. The AAP nominee, however, maintained that he had not violated the poll code and he could stay in the government accommodation for four months after retirement as per the government rules.

Khyalia said he had decided to move out of the government accommodation to avoid any controversy. "I have taken a house on rent in Hisar and will be shifting to the new accommodation before filing the nomination papers. I got the notice and have replied to it," he stated.

Khyalia, who was posted as the Divisional Commissioner here before taking voluntary retirement on February 3, became an AAP member soon after leaving the job. He then got the party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections after which Congress district chief Jai Prakash and INLD leader Dushyant Chautala raised an objection over his staying in the Commissioner's residence. They complained to the EC, alleging that Khyalia had violated the model code.

Hisar, March 12
The bodies of a woman and her four minor daughters were found in a tank of a government water supply scheme in Dhani Premnagar village of the district today. They had allegedly jumped into the tank due to harassment by the victim's in-laws.

The mother and her daughters had gone missing from their house in the village on Monday. The victim's family started looking for them. After some villagers spotted slippers near the waterworks in the village today, the police were informed.

The police fished out the bodies from the waterworks.

The deceased had been identified as Seema(32) and her daughters-- Sunita(11), Manisha(9), Bharti(6) and two-year-old Bindu.

Seema's father, Sohanlal, a resident of Buna in Fatehabad district, complained to the police that he had married his daughter to Joginder Singh of Dhani Premnagar about 13 years ago. The husband and other in-laws started harassing Seema soon after the marriage, forcing her to take the extreme step, the complainant alleged. The police had booked the husband and other family members.

Rewari, March 12
With the arrest of 14 persons, the local police claimed to have busted a gang involved in gambling through an online casino here today. The accused were arrested from different cyber cafés located on Bhadawas road, Brass Market and Kutubpur area.

The police have also recovered 10 mobile phones, 11 computers and Rs 200 from their possession. A case under Section-66 of the IT Act and Gambling Act has been registered against them.

“We had got a tip-off that some people were gambling through an online casino at the cyber cafes. Taking a swift action, a special police team raided all the three cyber cafes and nabbed the accused while gambling,” said a police spokesman.

The accused have been identified as Sanjit of Bithwana, Rahul of Kutubpur, Praveen of Rampura, Pyare Lal of Bithwana, Unnat Singh and Om Prakash of Gokalgarh, Manoj Kumar of Chet Ram Colony, Rahul of Bolni, Naveen of Ganpat Nagar, Sanjay of Bithwana, Naresh Kumar of Nangal Choudhary, Pawan Kumar of Masit, Monu of Kutubpur and Vikas Kumar of Nangla.