Dharamsala, April 17
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today attacked Shanta Kumar while addressing a rally in favour of Congress candidate from Kangra Chander Kumar. Virbhadra alleged that the only achievements of Shanta Kumar, the two-time CM, were his personal properties, Yamini hotel and the Vivekanand trust.

He alleged as the CM, Shanta Kumar used the word "asambhav" (impossible) when people went to him. now the people of Kangra should say "asambhav" to Shanta Kumar when he comes to them for votes.

The CM also alleged that the relations between former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar were that of "kasai’ (butcher) and "bakra" (goat).

He said Shanta Kumar should have retired peacefully from politics. The friends of Shanta Kumar, who had forced him to contest, were his biggest enemies, Virbhadra alleged.

He also said Himachal was created only by the Congress. BJP leaders had opposed the formation of Himachal.

The CM also alleged that it was the Congress that gave the second capital status to Dharamsala. Shanta Kumar opposed the land reforms carried out in Himachal, he alleged. HPCC president Sukhwinder Sukhu said it was strange that Shanta Kumar had again entered the fray.

Asha Kumari, AICC secretary and MLA from Dalhousie, attacked Modi. She said Modi, who did not give respect to his wife, could not do justice with the women.

She said much was being talked about the Gujarat model of development but diesel rate in the state was Rs 63 per litre that was much more than Himachal. The social security pension in Gujarat was also less than what was being given in Himachal, Asha Kumari said.

Vijai Singh Mankotia, senior Congress leader, appealed to voters to vote for Chander Kumar.

Chander Kumar said most of the development work in Kangra district were done by the Congress.

Chander Kumar said if he was elected, he would try to get the narrow gauge railway line from Pathankot to Jogindernagar converted to broad gauge.

Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sudhir Sharma, Chairman of Kangra Cooperative Bank Jagdish Sapiya, Pawan Kajal, Ajay Mahajan and Sanjay Rattan, Congress MLAs, were among the prominent Congress leaders present on the occasion.

Mandi, April 17
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh should not be scared as nobody would topple his government after the parliamentary elections and it would fall due to its own misdeeds.

Addressing a public meeting organised here after the filing of nomination papers by BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma for the Mandi constituency, Dhumal said, “I have never said the state government will be toppled. I have read the Constitution. It was implemented in 1950 and the Congress knows better how many times has the Central Government dismissed state governments by invoking Article 356.”

Dhumal said, “The Congress government had applied it in 1959 first time when the Communist government was dismissed in Kerala and after that several opposition governments were dismissed by the Centre.”

He asked, “What are the achievements of the UPA government? Even the rich are feeling the pinch of price rise. Every section of society such as youth, women and government employees are feeling cheated and will vote against the Congress and elect Modi.”

Attacking the UPA government, Dhumal said, “national security is at risk. Our country’s prestige was lowered after our soldiers were beheaded, scams were exposed during this regime and CM Virbhadra Singh and his wife are under the scanner of the CBI for an alleged scam of Rs 12 crore.”

Dhumal said, “The state government has failed on all fronts and everybody is annoyed with it. It is now framing Opposition leaders to divert public attention from its failures.”

Addressing the rally, Ram Swaroop Sharma said, “The days of kings and queens are over and in this election they will go away as people are now fed up with their failures to address people’s problems.” Former minister Gulab Singh Thakur and former state BJP president Jai Ram Thakur and other leaders also addressed the meeting.

Assets of Ram Swaroop Sharma

Moveable assets

Self: Rs 20,55,514

Spouse: Rs 19,73,316

  Liabilities:

Self: bank loan of Rs 1 lakh

Spouse: Rs 4,71,827

  Immovable assets

Self: Rs 50 lakh

Spouse: Rs 30 lakh

Total about Rs 70 lakh

Mandi, April 17
Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma, BSP candidate Lala Ram and his covering Het Singh filed nomination papers for the Mandi parliamentary constituency here today.

Pratibha Singh was accompanied by Health Minster Kaul Singh Thakur, Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary and her son and state Youth Congress president Vikrmaditya Singh.

Ram Swaroop Sharma was accompanied by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, former ministers Gulab Singh Thakur and Jai Ram Thakur. 

Assets of CM’s wife Pratibha Singh

 Movable assets

Shimla, April 17
The BJP will not only win the maximum number of seats, but also get higher percentage of votes than the Congress which will not be able to maintain its lowest-ever tally of 114 seats, Balbir Punj, in charge of organisational affairs for the Himachal BJP, said today.

Virender Kashyap, candidate for Shimla seat (BJP), files his nomination at the DC’s office in Shimla on Thursday. Photo: Amit Kanwar

Punj, who was here to accompany BJP candidate Virender Kashyap for filing his nominations from the Shimla (reserved) constituency, accused the Congress of criminalising the elections and diverting the attention of the people from corruption, price rise, development and internal and external security. Punj said character assassination and mudslinging had become the main thrust of the Congress campaign.

Endorsing the statement of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal that the Virbhadra government would go after the declaration of election results on May 16, he said Virbhadra was facing serious charges of corruption and the nDA government would expedite the CBI probe against him, forcing him to quit.

Balbir Punj, in charge, state BJP, addresses mediapersons in Shimla on Thursday. Photo: Amit Kanwar

Virbhadra would not be able to stay in power if the present government also put the investigations on fast-track, he added. The corruption cases against Virbhadra were "open and shut" cases and any independent probe into the charges would lead to framing of charges against Virbhadra and natural corollary would be his ouster from the office.

Taking a dig at the UPA government, he said even after a clean chit to narendra Modi from the Supreme Court in Godhra, the Congress was raking up the old issue to polarise voters on communal lines.

Congress leaders had been holding secret meetings with Muslim leaders to seek minority votes and trying to exploit the Muslims. At the same time, they accused BJP president Rajnath Singh of playing communal card when he tried to reach out to Muslims to seek their votes in Lucknow, he said.

Quoting the claims made by former Coal Secretary PC Parakh in his book that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had no say in the policies formulated by his government, he stated that had the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi allowed freewill to the PM, the performance of the UPA government would have been better.

Punj said no regional party was willing to forge an alliance with the Congress in the four major southern states, especially in Tamil nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while the BJP had build strong alliance in the South which was an indication that the Congress had lost the mandate of the people and even their allies were apprehensive about the poll prospects of the UPA government.

Assets of Virender Kashyap

Sitting BJP MP from Shimla (Reserve) has declared movable and immovable assets worth about Rs 70 lakh but these did not include 1555 sq feet flat in Solan. The flat has been shown as inherited property.

There has not been much increase in the assets as compared to 2009 and the total immovable property and other assets, including a Scorpio vehicle, were Rs 25.88 lakh which included the deposits and jewellery (Rs 3 lakh) of his wife Dayawati also.

The agricultural lands, including the inherited property, valued Rs 17.22 lakh while the current value of other properties has been pegged at Rs 26.39 lakh.The income shown by Kashyap and his wife in tax returns for 2012-13 was Rs 6.21 lakh and Rs 3.10 lakh, respectively. He has not acquired any property and the number of vehicles has reduced from two to one.

Kullu, April 17
Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, was accorded a warm welcome by members of the Kullu Jila Sadak Parivahan Janhit Vikas Samiti at Bhutti colony here today.

She arrived here after addressing a public gathering at Gusheni of Banjar subdivision of this district. Satya Prakash Thakur, chairman of the samiti and former Congress minister, highlighted various development activities initiated by the Congress government.

The Congress MP had to address party workers later in the evening.

Una, April 17
BJP candidate from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur today accused the Congress of diverting public attention from real issues that affect the common man and trying to mislead voters.

BJP Hamirpur candidate Anurag Thakur addresses an election meeting at Ispur village of Haroli on Thursday. Photo: Rajesh Sharma

Addressing a series of meetings in the Haroli Assembly segment, he said the party in power was going to the masses on issues such as the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Academy, Baba Ramdev and the personal life of narendra Modi, while it was silent over the non-performance and misrule of the decade-long UPA government.

Anurag said he had allocated 100 per cent of his discretionary grant, which was Rs 19.5 crore during his five-year term. He said he had done nothing wrong by sprucing up the sporting infrastructure. "Everything will remain in the state and the local players benefit from it," he said.

The BJP leader said the Congress was silent on corruption, price rise and unemployment. "The poor and the middle class are the worst hit," he said, adding that, "The performance of the state government during the past 15 years has also been dismal and the promises made to the jobless regarding provision of unemployment allowance has remained unfulfilled."

At Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri’s ancestral village Gondpur Jaichand, Anurag questioned why the rates of cement had not been reduced despite announcements that the Congress government would bring down the rates of cement. He also demanded to know why Rs 1.5 lakh, sanctioned by him for construction of a community hall in the minister’s home panchayat, had not been spent.

Dharamsala, April 17
Reacting to allegations by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that cricket had been reduced to ‘satta’ in the state, HPCA spokesperson Sanjay Sharma today said it seemed the CM’s allegation was directed at senior Congress leader and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla.

Addressing a press conference at the international cricket stadium in Dharamsala, Sanjay Sharma said since Rajiv Shukla, who was a minister in the UPA government and was now in charge of the Himachal Congress, had also remained IPL chairman, Virbhadra Singh should clarify if he was making 'satta' allegations against him too.

He alleged that the Dharamsala tourist circuit had lost business worth about Rs 200 crore this year due to IPL matches not being hosted in Dharamsala. He said the hoteliers association of the region had estimated a decline of about 45 per cent in business this year due to IPL matches not being hosted in the state. There are about 8,000 hotel rooms in the Dharamsala tourist circuit. Most of these rooms went for premium rates for about a fortnight due to hosting of IPL cricket matches here.

Besides, the state government had lost revenue of about Rs 30 crore in the form of entry and other direct and indirect taxes due to this, he alleged.

Sharma said the HPCA was a sporting body and had nothing to do with politics. The organisation was being forced to defend itself due to wild allegations being made against it by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he added.

The way the HPCA was being targeted, it seemed cricket was the main poll plank of the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll, he said.

He further alleged that the state government had sabotaged hosting of the IPL matches. The letter for permission to hold matches was given to the Himachal DGP, he added. He further sent it to the Kangra SP despite the fact that the district police had no control over the reserve force that was to be deployed for security during matches, he said. The letter was deliberately kept moving around in government offices for about 10 days till the final schedule of IPL matches was chalked out, he said.

Sharma said, "Congress leaders have been asking me to apologise to the state Governor for writing against her to the President of India. I have every right to question the conduct of the Governor for her conduct. In fact, the Governor should apologise to the state's people for granting permission for prosecution of former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal," he said.

The HPCC spokesperson reiterated that three retired IAS officers in the CM’s office were abusing their position to influence the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll. He said the recent incident in which Himachal Pradesh University had written to the Election Commission seeking permission for appointing an administrator in SVSD College, Bhatoli, in Una district was clear illustration of the fact. The move was meant to benefit kin of the retired IAS officer in question, he said.

Shimla, April 17
With the wavering weather playing a spoilsport to the apple bloom which already began in the lower apple belt, farmers resent that the Horticulture Department and Chandigarh-based insurance companies have not paid the insurance claims of 2013 to farmers. They say despite nod by the Election Commission and the Finance Department, a fresh notification has not been issued for the weather-based crop insurance scheme (WBCIS).

Farmers have been facing a wavering weather and the fear of hailstorm looms large as the intermittent spell of rain continues to lash apple belts in April as well.

Agricultural Insurance Company of India (AICI), which covered 21 blocks and HDFC and ICICI Lombard, which covered three blocks each, had not settled claims for the 2013 insurance scheme and yet to avail the new policy, said Laxman Thakur, chairman, Ecohorts, nandpur. “The bloom time has begun and weather parameters are adverse. We fail to understand why the Horticulture Department is sleeping,” he asserted.

The farmers said the companies were running their operations from Chandigarh and never bother to contact farmers, despite repeated requests. "They waste their time and energy making rounds of offices to get claims and submit documents time and again," they rued.

“We have given our approval to the WBCIS and the matter must be notified to the Horticulture Department,” said Srikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance.

On the other hand, Principal Secretary, Horticulture, Vineet Chaudhary said, “It has not reached the department so far.

The farmers seek more weather stations in the Shimla-Mandi-Kullu-Chamba apple belts and mango belt of the lower parts of state. The government has extended the scheme to cover 77 development blocks -- 35 blocks for apple crop and 42 blocks for mango crop -- in the state this year.

“About 41,333 farmers have availed the WBCIS last year involving about Rs 9.5 crore. We have asked the companies to speed up the payment process,” said officials of the Horticulture Department.

Farmers a worried lot

Fear of hailstorm looms large as intermittent spell of rain continues to lash apple belts in April

Say insurance companies running operations from Chandigarh, but never bothered to contact, despite repeated requests

Seek more weather stations in the Shimla-Mandi-Kullu-Chamba apple belts and mango belt of lower parts of the state

Palampur, April 17
Chander Kumar, Congress candidate from Kangra, today alleged that BJP leader Shanta Kumar was deliberately hiding details of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh with Congress candidate Chander Kumar and party workers in Dharamsala on Thursday. Photo by Kamaljeet

Talking to mediapersons at Gopalpur, 10 km from here, Chander said Shanta Kumar, during his six years tenure as a member of the Rajya Sabha, had received over Rs 10 crore, but nobody in the state knew where he incurred this amount and who were the beneficiaries.

He said it was a matter of concern and Shanta must give details to the public. He said other MPs of the state had already declared their details.

Chander Kumar said the BJP was misleading people that only narendra Modi could provide a stable government at the Centre. He said the UPA which had been in power for the past 10 years had provided a number of statutes for the benefit of a common man. He said the Food Security Bill and MGnREGA had guaranteed food and employment for the people.

He said out of the 17 Assembly segments in the Kangra Chamba parliamentary seat, 14 were being represented by the Congress in the state Assembly while the BJP had only four MLAs. He said Shanta remained MP for two terms from Kangra, but did nothing for the welfare of a common man.

"Shanta had left the electoral politics ten years back, then what circumstances compelled him to come back," he quipped. 

Dharamsala, April 17
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Kangra Rajan Sushant today filed his nomination papers. The sitting BJP MP, who switched over to AAP in this elections, came with just a few party supporters without much fanfare.

Talking to newsmen after filing the papers, Rajan Sushant said AAP had silent support of the people and the BJP and the Congress were fighting for second and third positions.

Rajan Sushant’s assets

His age: 58 years

Income in last income tax return: Rs 18,72,170

Cash in hand: Rs 50,000

Moveable assets - self: Rs 20,77,124 Spouse: Rs 48,00,719

Immovable assets - self : Rs 1,51,62,000 Spouse: none children:Rs 5.5 lakh

Decrease in moveable assets since last election in 2009: Rs 2 lakh

Increase in immovable assets since last election in 2009: Rs 55 lakh

Shimla, April 17
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today refuted the oft-repeated charges of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that he was the patron-in-chief of the HPCA and stated that he had never attended any meeting of the association or gave any undue benefits to the cricket body.

“The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had also made a query in the six-point questionnaire given to me in February this year and I had said I was never the patron of the HPCA,” Dhumal said in a statement issued here.

Accusing the Chief Minister of misleading the public by issuing false statements, he said Singh’s charge that property worth Rs 250 crore was given on lease at Re 1 was not based on facts and he need to understand that the property belonged to the HPCA and not to any individual or family.

Virbhadra Singh was also misleading the people by making statement that the land was given for Pavilion Hotel on lease of Re 1 which was untrue as the HPCA was paying lease money amounting to Rs 27 lakh per annum, he added.

Shimla, April 17
CPM candidate from Shimla constituency (reserved) Jagat Ram filed his nomination papers today. Addressing a rally, Jagat Ram said he would take the voice of people to Parliament as the BJP and Congress had failed to protect the interests of farmers, workers and unemployed youth due to wrong policies. BJP and Congress leaders were engaged in war of words while problems and issued that plague the poor remained unaddressed, he claimed.

Rakesh Singha alleged the Congress and the BJP had swept burning issues such as agricultural crisis, unemployment and lack of teachers in schools and pharmacists and doctors in hospitals.

Singha said more than 88 per cent people depend upon agriculture for their survival, but today, farmers, unemployed youth and contractual staff were facing an insecure future as most of the assets of the state had been outsourced, Singha said.

Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said the state was getting funds from the Centre with a condition being imposed at the behest of the bi-corporate to implement the hidden agenda of outsourcing and privatisation of IPH schemes, health services and education. 

Solan, April 17
The much-awaited reorganisation of wildlife sanctuaries has been delayed in the state. The Forest Department is yet to work out the modalities of bifurcation work despite issuing a notification in June last year.

As per the rationalisation exercise, the existing boundaries of various wildlife sanctuaries have been redrawn and areas inhabited by humans have been excluded. Those abounding in wildlife remain part of wildlife divisions.

The exercise has also brought about a change in the number of wildlife sanctuaries, conservation of reserves and national parks. Their boundaries have been redrawn and the total number of wildlife sanctuaries is now 24.

The number of national parks has gone up from two to five and there are three conservation reserves now.

Several issues relating to change of jurisdiction have created what are perceived as complications for the officials. This is said to have delayed the exercise though it was slated to be completed by April 1.

Issues like the transfer of guards, who have inter-circle seniority, are yet to be settled as their transfer outside a circle will create issues. Other issues like location of offices of the range officers have also become a concern for people who have to seek all kinds of permission from them for their day-to-day work.

The sanctuary areas are under the control of the wildlife wing of the Forest Department and the remaining under the jurisdiction of the territorial divisions.

Earlier, all the areas were looked after by the wildlife authorities, but now, in keeping with the reorganisation, the nearest office of the range officers of the territorial wings is located far away.

This is illustrated by the case of the Chail Wildlife Sanctuary where people are now compelled to visit the range office at Kandaghat, which is about 40 km from the place of their routine work. After the reorganisation of the Chail Wildlife Sanctuary, the total area will now be looked after by three forest divisions. Following this exercise, the sanctuary area has been reduced to 16 sq km. The remaining 92.53 sq km has been denotified and it has been decided to hand over 975 hectares of demarcated protected forest (DPF) and undemarcated protected forest along with private lands and other areas to the Koti range of Shimla Forest Division falling in the Shimla circle, and the remaining reserve forest, unprotected forest and DPF along with private land, which inhabit major species of wild animals, to the Solan forest division falling in the nahan circle.

Such problems are coming to the fore in other areas too, confide officials of the Forest Department, saying this is adding to the delay. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RK Gupta, when quizzed, said he was personally monitoring the process. Since it involved an elaborate exercise involving notifications at various levels including beat, block, range etc, the process was taking time, he said. He added it would be completed soon.

Kangra, April 17
Ramdev is to visit Kangra and Chamba on April 28 and 29. Rajnesh Kumar, coordinator, Patanjali Yoga Samiti, Kangra district, along with Deepak Chug and Promila Sharma, said here at a press conference that Swami Ramdev would hold a yoga sabha in Kangra on April 28 from 1 pm to 3.30 pm at the local municipal ground.

Earlier, he said he would visit Palampur and the next day, Chamba. He said the yoga sabha was being organised to raise awareness regarding contribution of yoga in building better health. He said he would speak on national reconstruction in the prevailing political scenario. He claimed the sabha would be a non-political programme.

Deepak Chug, in charge of the sabha, said 475 yoga teachers and 1,250 activists of the Patanjali Yog Samiti had fanned out in different parts of Kangra and Chamba districts for inviting people to attend the programme.

The visit was scheduled despite certain restrictions by the Election Commission that he should not use the yoga shivirs for political campaigning and Ramdev being restrained from visiting Bhopal. Meanwhile, C Palrasu, District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, said there was no restriction on Swami Ramdev holding the programme at the Kangra municipal ground as the ground was provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

Palrasu said if Ramdev used the platform for campaigning for any political party or candidate, the expenditure on the sabha would be added to the poll expenditure of the candidate concerned.

The programme

Ramdev will hold a yoga sabha in Kangra on April 28 from 1 pm to 3.30 pm at Kangra’s municipal ground

Deepak Chug, in charge of the sabha, said 475 yoga teachers and 1,250 activists of the Patanjali Yog Samiti had fanned out in different parts of Kangra and Chamba districts for inviting people to attend the programme

.

Chamba, April 17
Chamba Welfare Association, Chamba District Progressive Council and Senior Citizens’ Welfare Society of the district have urged the state government to refund the "excess" amount which the electricity consumers of this region have deposited by way of hefty bills accrued. The "excess" bills are deemed to be a sequel to the new hypersensitive electronic meters replacing the old electromechanical meters.

In representations to the state government and its top brass recently, these registered non-governmental organisations (nGOs) of the region have categorically stated that the functioning of the new electronic meters is questionable.

Chamba Welfare Association president RK Mahajan, Chamba District Progressive Council president Hari Ram Puri and Senior Citizens’ Welfare Society president PC Oberoi demanded replacement of these hypersensitive electronic meters with the old ones in the interest of power consumers.

These organisations have also sought revision in the slab of the domestic power supply category and other consumers besides provision of more rational and liberalised subsidy to electricity consumers of the backward district.

Solan, April 17
nabbing illegal arms in the crime-torn industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-nalagarh (BBn) has become a tough task for the police. Efforts are being made to collect arms from licence holders to ensure smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.

The area has a high crime rate where illegal country-made weapons are often used by the miscreants. Their detection seems to be a tall order for the police force.

Admitting there was the probability of such weapons being in possession of anti-social elements in the BBn area, SP S Arul said they were conducting surprise checks with the help of static surveillance teams and various flying squads to nab such weapons though they had not detected any country-made weapon after the model code of conduct was enforced.

He said surprise checks were also being conducted in various jhuggis as such weapons were known to be used by inhabitants of slum areas. After indulging in criminal activities, some apparently flee the area.

Though the Deputy Commissioner has appealed to all licence holders to surrender their arms till the model code of conduct is in force, it has been stated that there is little the police can do to nab illegal arms including country-made pistols.

Use of such weapons has been coming to the fore in various heinous crimes like robbery, murder, looting etc. The SP said, as per an estimate, about 3,500 licence holders were in possession of licensed arms which were supposed to be surrendered and there were 11 hypersensitive and about 35 sensitive booths in the BBn area which housed the constituencies of Doon and nalagarh.

He said the administration would soon direct those with a history of being involved in criminal activities or those who were out on bail to furnish a bound to ensure that there was no misuse of such weapons in the polls.

Since polls in the adjoining Haryana are already over and in Punjab, these would be conducted on April 30, the police will request the administration in these two states to ensure wine shops remain closed 48 hours before the state goes to polls on May 7. Since the area is known for large-scale use of liquor to allure the voters during the polls, the administration has stepped up its drive to check its misuse, the SP confided.

As an added precaution, the police has requisitioned deployment of three companies of Central Industrial Security Force for the polls so that adequate police force is available at least a week before the polling.

Una, April 17
The Amb police, on the complaint of a woman, have registered a case against Vijay Jaswal of Lower Bhadsali for abducting, enticing her into marriage and raping her.

Amb DSP Sagar Chander said the woman in her complaint had stated that she was already married. In 2010-11, she met Vijay, who befriended her, won her confidence and promised to marry her.

The victim stated that Vijay abducted her and kept her in Ambala for two years where she was repeatedly raped by him. Later, Vijay married her in Chandigarh, after which he took away Rs 2 lakh and gold jewellery from her and went abroad without intimation. A case has been registered under Sections 366, 376 and 506 of the IPC. — OC

Shimla, April 17
Leakage of FIR and disclosing of the identity of the victim who had lodged a complaint against former BJP MLA from Badsar Baldev Sharma accusing him of sexual assault and intent to outrage her modesty was not subject to Section 228-A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Superintendent of Police (SP) Shimla Abhishek Dullar said today.

Section 228-A prohibits revealing of identity of victim of sexual assault under Section 376 of IPC, but in this case, the first information report (FIR) was registered under sections 354 and 377 of the IPC, he stated.

The SP said investigation in the case had been expedited and both the complainant and the accused had been questioned. The case was on top priority and the status reported would be submitted soon, he added.

no inquiry had so far been ordered regarding the alleged leakage of the FIR as the victim had not lodged any complaint with the police, he said.

The state Women Commission has taken serious note of leakage of the FIR and asked how the copy of the FIR was leaked and reportedly distributed to the media and public.

Chairperson of Women Commission J Chandel said, "We have asked the police to submit the report on the case proceedings as well as the leakage of the FIR. The FIR's copy is sent to eight places including the victim, the police station concerned, investigation officer, DSP, SP, DG office and CID."

The victim had alleged that the accused, who was then a sitting BJP MLA, sexually assaulted her on March 25, 2012 at his residence in the Vidhan Sabha complex in Shimla when she approached him for her husband's transfer.

Kangra, April 17
Three persons were injured, one of them seriously, when two motorcycles collided head-on near Gurkhari on the Kangra-Shimla highway here today, the police said.

The police said Akshey Kumar (20) was driving the bike (HP-37-B-5991). While overtaking a bus near Gurkhari, he hit another motorcycle (HP-40-B-8867) coming from the opposite direction.

The injured were identified as Pawan Kumar (43) and Ajay Kumar (32), both residents of Rehalpura. Akshey was a student of the polytechnic college.

Akshey was seriously injured and admitted to the DRPGMC, Tanda. The other two injured too were under treatment in the same hospital.

The police have registered a case under Sections 279 and 337, IPC, and 183, MV Act.