Chandigarh, May 21
The five accused in the Sector 17 firing incident, who were arrested yesterday, were produced in a court today and remanded to a day’s custody.

The police said they had to ascertain the source of the weapon used in the crime and unearth the entire conspiracy, for which they sought police remand of the accused.

The accused included Sunil Singh Gill, a resident of Sector 8 here who had fired shots at a bouncer outside the Buzz discotheque in Sector 17 on Monday evening. The other accused were Jatinder Pal Singh alias Johny (25), a resident of Baltana, Ashwani Sharma (21) of Sangrur, Dilraj Mann (22) of Patti in Tarn Taran district and Harinder Singh of Kishangarh village in Chandigarh.

Gill had opened fire at Rahul Sharma, the bouncer, as he had turned him and his friends out after they were creating ruckus at the discotheque.

Along with the bouncer, one Pardeep, a resident of Ludhiana, was also hurt in the firing.

All the accused had come to the Buzz Lounge to attend the birthday party of Rattan Lubana, a resident of Kishangarh village, Chandigarh. The party started at 4 pm and during the party, the accused, who were drunk, started creating ruckus and also manhandled the bouncer, who stopped them. They were made to leave the discotheque.

They returned in their Tata Safari bearing No. CH01-AS-6728 and fired at the bouncer and another person standing in the parking area. The youngsters fired three shots and sped away from the place after injuring two persons.

Accused fired to avenge insult: Police

Police investigations revealed that the accused had left the discotheque at 7.15 pm and returned at 8.15 pm. Sunil Gill, the prime accused, had gone to his Sector 8 residence where he also changed his clothes and took the weapon. He planned to avenge his insult and thus shot at the bouncer. 

Mohali, May 21
The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), Mohali, today penalised the Janta Land Promoters Limited (JLPL), a local coloniser, for deficiency of services.

The coloniser did not allot a plot to joint applicants, Jasbir Kaur of Phase XI here and Daljit Singh of Sector 51 D, Chandigarh, even after taking the advance money of Rs 7,20,000 towards 30 per cent of the sale price of the plot in 2005.

In its order, the court, headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal, directed the JLPL not only to allot the plot to the applicants but also to pay them Rs 35,000 as compensation and litigation cost.

In their plea, the applicants had stated that they had deposited the advance money on November 4, 2005, with the JLPL to get a 200 sq yd plot in the Mega-II project, Mohali.

"We were never given the plot. However, in 2013, the JLPL sent us a cheque of the deposited amount along with interest," stated the duo while claiming that they returned the cheque to the coloniser.

In its reply, the JLPL stated that the booking amount against the plot was received but the remaining sale price, when demanded, was neither deposited by the applicants nor they agreed to pay the interest.

The court held that the JLPL was bound to allot the plot in its Mega-II project on the rate at which it had received the booking amount from the applicants.

The coloniser has been directed to allot the plot and give possession to the applicants within 30 days. Further, it allowed the applicants to either pay the remaining amount in lump sum or instalments as was being given by the JLPL to its other allottees.

"If the plot is not allotted and possession not given within 30 days, the JLPL would have to pay interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum on Rs 7,20,000 since the date of deposit (November 4, 2005) till the plot is allotted and possession given," held the Permanent Lok Adalat.

Chandigarh, May 21
Devotees returning from Vaishno Devi and on their way to Delhi were allegedly robbed of their belongings after being drugged with a spray.

At the Sector-43 ISBT here, around 40 passengers of a private Volvo sleeper bus claimed that they were robbed. The UT police said since the incident did not took place in the area under their jurisdiction, they informed their counterparts in Pathankot.

The bus embarked on a journey from Katra last night and halted at Pathankot so that passengers could have refreshment.

A passenger said they realised that they were robbed only after they woke up in the morning. They raised an alarm and the bus was stopped about about 15 km away from Chandigarh. On reaching the ISBT, the passengers informed the police. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 21
The UT police today arrested three juveniles and recovered stolen items from their possession.

Ram Narian, a resident of Hallo Majra village, had reported to the police that thieves decamped with an LCD, a mobile phone, a voter I/card and Rs 3,000 in cash.

During the course of investigation, Sector 31 police station SHO Inspector Kirpal Singh along with his team apprehended three juveniles, all residents of Hallo Majra, Chandigarh. Four mobile phones and an LCD were recovered from one of them while eight mobile phones, a gas cylinder and the voter ID card were recovered from the other two. 

Mohali, May 21
United colours of vibrant Punjab turned “red”, the colour of Kings XI Punjab, at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium Mohali.

In the first home game, the Kings XI Punjab side faced tough challengers Mumbai Indians amidst a jam- packed crowd this evening.

Cricket buffs started coming to the stadium well in time before the match. The match was scheduled to start at 8pm.

However, the audience coming to cheer Kings XI was sent back disheartened, well before the end of the match, by Trinidadian Lendl Simmons. In the second innings, Mumbai Indian’s Lendl Simmons disheartened the Punjab Kings XI by raining runs from his wooden willow.

He stole the show by his impressive 100 runs off 61 balls studded with 14 boundaries and two towering sixes.

The Kings XI Punjab faced the first home defeat by 7 wickets.

The PCA stadium witnessed both teams playing a ball-to-ball fight.

Earlier, after putting to bat first, the batting line up of Kings XI Punjab side entertained the audiences with Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, George Bailey and Rishi Dhawan scoring quick-fire runs. The Punjab innings witnessed 12 boundaries and 7 sixes.

The Kings XI 
Punjab will now face Rajasthan Royals in their second home game on Friday (8pm).

Traffic chaos outside stadium

Roads leading to the PCA Stadium witnessed heavy rush in the evening. Police personnel deployed outside the stadium faced a tough time in handling the situation. Inadequate parking facilities made residents, living nearby, suffer. People parked their vehicles in a haphazard manner in front of houses making the situation worse. The parking in and around the stadium remains a real cause of worry during such tournaments.

Fans from Himachal and Punjab

With the PCA Stadium hosting three home matches, people from different parts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh visited the stadium to witness the first match. In previous editions, the Kings XI Punjab had played matches at the cricket stadium of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. However, in this edition, owing to the tight IPL schedule, all home matches are being hosted by the PCA Stadium. A group of stage actors, wearing Ravana’s outfit, from Jalandhar, said: “Kings XI Punjab is in a good form and we are here to cheer for them. We just wish that the Kings XI side wins the title this time”.

Sidelights

* Blackmarketeers had a field day with cops in civil dress deployed outside the stadium.

* Local lad Manan Vohra entertained the audience by scoring 36 runs off 34 balls studded with four boundaries and a six.

* Traffic chaos outside Gate No 4, 11 and 10.

The schedule

The Kings XI Punjab will now face Rajasthan Royals in their second home game on Friday (8pm).

Chandigarh, May 21
Former Indonesian badminton star Hariyanto Arbi feels that Indian players need more exposure to figure among the leading nations in Badminton.

During his visit to the badminton hall of Panjab University here, the 32-year-old former world champion maintained that India was still a “developing” country when it comes to achieving success in badminton.

“There is no doubt that Indian players are performing well at the international level. However, they fail to give their best being in pressure. So, there is a dire need to increase the level of the game. Even in the ongoing Thomas Cup, being held in New Delhi, the Indian men made an early exit. In my opinion, playing under pressure and performing well is the area where Indian players are lacking," said Arbi.

The Indonesian team has won most titles (13) in the Thomas Cup and Arbi won three gold medals in the team championships. He is supervising the Indonesian team in the ongoing Thomas Cup and he is also visiting various academies and clubs with a plan to provide his services to them.

“Though there are no foolproof plans to open any academy in India. However, the idea is to see the interest at the grass-roots level towards badminton,” he said.

Arbi said: “Indian kids do take interest and have potential to perform well. Need is to guide them in a right manner. Coaches should tell children to play under worst conditions. Their stamina, approach and technique should get developed with the latest technique, exercises and exposures. There is no success mantra but only hard work that makes a player successful," he said. Arbi feels that Indian Srikant Kidambi was a upcoming budding player.

"He is a player to watch, especially when it comes to technique and power in his game. Hopefully, he will carry forward his game and make improvements to take Indian badminton to new heights. Youths should also admire such players, said Arbi. 

Chandigarh, May 21
Women’s pair of Namita Bal and Nupur Kaul defeated Harsimran Kaur and Aarushi Kakkar in a quarter final match of women's doubles category during the ongoing CLTA-AITA Men's and Women's Rs 1 lakh Tennis Tournament being held at the CLTA tennis courts here today.

The winning pair overpowered their rivals in the straight sets (6-2 and 6-2). In another match of the same category, Vineeta Singh and Aashima Garg beat Bhavya Wadhawan and Gayatri Kumaraiah in a three-set clash (2-6, 7-6 and 10-3) while Rajbir Kaur and Pooja Mourya defeated Sharvani Shivpuri and Rashi Shukla (7-5 and 6-1).

In the last match of the category, Sanya Madan and Victoria Chahal beat Kanishka Chawla and Anjali Thakur (6-3, 7-5).

In the men’s single category quarterfinals, CHART trainee Ranjeet Singh defeated his practice partner Vikrant Dahiya in a closely contested match that lasted for 2 hours and 55 minutes. Both players displayed a good game. Ranjeet won the game (6-4, 1-6, 6-4). He took an early break in the 1st set to lead 3-1.

Vikrant fought back to level the games. However, in the 10th game, Ranjeet sealed the set. In the 2nd set, Vikrant used variations that forced Ranjeet to do errors and the latter only won one game. In the final set, Ranjeet took a commanding 3-0 lead but Vikrant rallied down to level (3-3). Moving a step ahead, Ranjeet got a break in the 8th game when he was serving 5-3 and had three match points but Vikrant saved all three match points and broke Ranjeet's serve.

In the 10th game Ranjeet on his 4th match point broke Vikrant's serve to close out the match.

Chandigarh, May 21
Table soccer players of Oakridge International School won four gold and two silver medals in the Indian Open table Soccer Championship (U-10) category, held here. Schools from 13 states participated in the event. 

Madhvi and Mehak won gold medals in the girls’ category while Matthew and Harsh claimed the top honours in the boys’ category. Abhayveer and Kanav secured silver medals in the men’s category. — TNS