Mohali, April 11
A local court today extended the police remand of Ranjit Singh Rode for two more days. Ranjit Singh Rode is the key accused in the bloody group clash between two factions of the Shiromani Akali Dal during the Panchayat and Zila Parishad elections at Mauli Baidwan last year.

Rode was arrested on April 9. The court had sent him to a three-day remand, which came to an end today.

Ranjit Singh Rode was today again produced before the court, which extended his police remand by two more days.

Notably, Rode was detained immediately after the clash on July 5 and was shifted to the Government Multi Speciality Hospital at Sector 16 from where he had fled. He had been on the run since then.

The post-election group clash, in which Rode and his accomplices had opened fire and injured at least five persons, took place between the groups of BS Ramoowalia and Kiranbir Singh Kang

Chandigarh, April 11
A local court today sentenced a man to seven-year imprisonment in an attempt to rape case involving a two-year-old girl.

The court sentenced 45-year-old Babu Lal, a native of Bihar, to seven-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 26,000 on him. He has been convicted for attempt to rape and under various Sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).

The incident was reported on January 21, 2013. The accused had attempted to rape the victim inside a room near a tubewell in Sector 56.

However, the girl’s grandmother caught the accused and raised an alarm.

Following this, Lal was brutally thrashed by area residents and passers-by, including a woman bouncer, resulting in critical injuries to him. The accused was thrashed for more than half-an-hour before the police arrived at the spot.

The accused sustained a head injury and his right hand forefinger was broken. He was admitted to the PGI in a critical condition.

The accused had been working as a tubewell operator at the same place for the past nine years. His wife and children are in Bihar.

The girl’s family resided nearby to the tubewell.

He had also attempted to rape the victim a day before the incident. At that time, the girl’s mother had come to her rescue.

Panchkula, April 11
In the murder case of a woman of Raipur Rani, the local court today acquitted three persons, including her husband.

The woman was found murdered on June 6 last year and the police had arrested Pradeep, the deceased's husband, and his cousins Sandeep and Kamal for the crime.

However, since no circumstantial evidence was found against the accused, the local court today acquitted the trio.

Panchkula, April 11
The court today sentenced a former technical advisor with the state sugar federation here to two years of imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.

In 2006, the state Vigilance Bureau had lodged a complaint against Ashok Nanda stating that when the accused joined the position in 1996, he did not have any asset but in the time gap of ten years, he amassed assets worth crores.

An enquiry was conducted and finally an FIR was lodged after the investigating agency found that the annual expenditure and income of the officer was in lakhs.

The court had held the official guilty recently. 

Panchkula, April 11
Under the aegis of Haryana State Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, the District Legal Services Authority will organise a mega Lok Adalat at the District Courts here tomorrow.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM)-cum-DLSA secretary Hem Raj Mittal said cases pertaining to civil matters, matrimonial disputes and Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) besides criminal compoundable cases and summary cases like traffic challans would be taken up at the Lok Adalat.

Initially, the Legal Services Authority had decided to have a national Lok Adalat but due to elections, Lok Adalat would take place only in the state of Haryana.

Mittal said there were many benefits of getting cases disposed of in a Lok Adalat.

“Cases are disposed of after a mutual compromise. It is a quicker way to end the legal battle as the cases are settled then and there. Any court fee deposited while filing lawsuit is refunded,” said Mittal.

The decision of a Lok Adalat is final and there is no protracted procedure for appeals.

Lok Adalats also reduce the burden on regular courts by reducing the pendency of cases.

Mittal urged that more and more litigants should participate in the mega Lok Adalat and get their disputes settled amicably.

Chandigarh, April 11
The Team Chandigarh Adventure Sports (TCAS) will organise the fourth edition of Sprint motorsport here on Baisakhi i.e. April 13.

Gulpreet Aulakh, founder of the TCAS, said Baisakhi Sprint would be organised at Sarangpur village opposite the Chandigarh Police Indian Reserve Battalion complex and the Botanical Garden.

Aulakh said a total of 240 races would be held during the day. The event would be held over a track of 8.5 km.

He said: “This is the longest-ever track for sprint motorsport races in the country. The track is highly technical, with 22 turns and three long stretches”.

He said top motorsport champions competing in the event include city bloke Sunny Sidhu, winner of Desert Storm 2014, Sandeep Sharma of Delhi, winner of SJOBA Rally 2014, city bloke Harpreet Bawa, who bagged second position at Raid De Himalaya 2013 Xtreme category, along with India’s most successful precision driver Rahul Kanthraj and many other prominent rallyists.

Nikhil Jaspal, cofounder of the TCAS, said: “We have even received entries from women, which include Dr Maninder Sharma, Vaneeta Kang and Sarika Sherwat Vohra.”

He said the event would be held in three categories. The first category is for any four-wheeler of any make, second one is for rally-prepared vehicles only, with anti-roll cages and modified engines and the last category is for motorcycles.

Aulakh said Baisakhi Sprint was the only single-stage one-day motorsport event of the country to have a combination of tarmac, dirt and gravel track.

Chandigarh, April 11
Three finals of the CLTA-AITA Super Series Tennis Tournament, which were held here today, were decided in straight sets.

However, top seed Aarushi Kakkar defeated third seed Urmi Pandya of Gujarat in the final. Aarushi won by 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Earlier, top seed Param Pun defeated sixth seed Digvijay Pratap Singh of CLTA in the boys’ U-16 singles final. Mahesh Mohapatra of Orissa upset second seed Neel Garud.

Top seed Shreya Gulia of Haryana defeated Mubashira Shaik of Andhra Pradesh by 6-2, 6-3.

Results:

Boys’ U-12 singles final: Mahesh Mohapatra beat Neel Garud 7-5, 6-3

Girls’ U-12 singles final: Shreya Gulia defeated Mubashira Sheik 6-2, 6-3

Boys’ U-16 singles final: Param Pun defeated Digvijay Pratap Singh 
6-3, 6-2

Girls’ U-16 singles final: Aarushi Kakkar beat Urmi Pandya 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Chandigarh, April 11
After eight months of intense cricketing action covering 820 schools in 66 districts across 10 states and involving the participation of close to 12,500 young cricketers, 10 of India’s top school cricket teams have now qualified for the Inter-State Challenge of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup for Boys (U-16).

The talented players will now pit their skills against each other in the inter-state challenge of one of the country’s largest inter-school cricket championships, which will be played across seven venues in Mumbai from April 14.

The commencement of the inter-state leg was announced in the city on Friday by Dilip Jayram, CEO, Procam International, in the presence of Shrikant Tigdi, MCA, and PN Sankaran, Procam International.

Al Barkat Malik MI English School, which emerged champion from Mumbai, will open its campaign against DAV Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, at Hindu Gymkhana ground on April 14.

The other schools in the fray are Sports College, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), St Johns Junior College, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Salwan Boys Senior Secondary School, Rajendra Nagar (Delhi), Shreyas Samarpan Vidyalaya, Baroda (Gujarat), AVR E Techno School, Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), Debinagar KCR Vidyapith, Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal), Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai (Tamil Nadu), and Kiddys Corner Higher Secondary School, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh).

The 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five each and league matches will be played till April 20 at Hindu Gymkhana, Islam Gymkhana, Mahalaxhmi Ground (WR), Trombay, HPCL Ground, Police Gymkhana and RCF. The top two teams of each group will play the semi-finals on April 19, followed by the final on April 20.