Mohali, July 24
A local court today sent Gurdip Singh, one of the key accused in the Brig Nawab Singh Heer (retd) plot grab case, to three-day remand under the police custody.

Today, the police produced Gurdip Singh and another accused Harjinder Singh in the court. Harjinder Singh, who had completed his three-day police remand, was sent to judicial custody today.

Notably, Gurdip Singh was arrested yesterday from Nawanshahr, where he had come to attend a court hearing in an abduction case.

The police said Gurdip had played the main role in preparing fake documents and opening fake account in the name of Brig Nawab Singh Heer in the State Bank of India branch at Phase 10 here. It is also suspected that Gurdip Singh was the person, who had withdrawn Rs 25 lakh (showed as advance money in Heer’s plot transaction) from the fake bank account by impersonating himself as one Rajbir Singh.

Mohali, July 24
The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), Mohali (PLA), headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal, dismissed an application filed by UCO Bank, Khizrabad, against Jagmohan Singh and directed the bank to pay him Rs 5,000 towards cost of litigation.

The lok adalat (PUS) also directed the bank to recover the amount of loan, interest and cost from its official who, instead of releasing the loan amount to Jagmohan Singh of Khizrabad village in Kharar tehsil, paid it to one Ram Lal. UCO Bank had filed the case alleging that Jagmohan Singh was granted a loan of Rs 39,000 for the purchase of buffaloes from Ram Lal and he had not so far paid the amount and Rs 39,024 was due from him. When a notice was issued to Jagmohan Singh, he denied having received any loan amount.

During conciliation proceedings, it was found that the bank had delivered the cheque of Rs 39,000 to Ram Lal from whom Jagmohan Singh was alleged to have purchased the buffaloes. The bank did not hand over the cheque to Jagmohan Singh to ensure the delivery of the buffaloes to him from Ram Lal. The loan amount was not deposited in the bank account of Jagmohan Singh nor did the bank ensure that the cheque was given to Ram Lal only after the buffaloes were delivered to Jagmohan.

Jagmohan Singh’s contention was that he had neither got the loan amount from the bank nor had Ram Lal sold any buffaloes to him and it was a transaction between Ram Lal and the bank to defraud him by obtaining his signatures on certain papers. Even the subsidy amount, though reported to have been released, was never paid or deposited in the account of Jagmohan Singh.

Jagmohan Singh had reported the matter to the police, upon which a criminal case was registered in which the challan had been submitted in the court and charges had been framed against Ram Lal and Sham Lal.

Keeping these facts in view, the PLA (PUS) held that the bank had not proved if any loan was advanced to Jagmohan Singh and, therefore, dismissed its application with litigation cost of Rs 5,000. The bank was held entitled to recover the loan amount with interest and cost from those bank officials who had released the loan to Ram Lal instead of Jagmohan Singh.

Chandigarh, July 24
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked UK Homes Private Limited to refund Rs 2.25 lakh and pay Rs 20,000 compensation for delaying possession of plot in Zirakpur to complainant. The forum has also directed the company to pay Rs 7,000 as cost of litigation to the complainant.

The complainant, Swati Sharma, alleged that she was offered a plot measuring 150 square yards by the opposite party in its future project at Zirakpur, to which the complainant agreed.

Accordingly, the complainant applied for the allotment of plot and deposited an amount of Rs 2.25 lakh in cash.

The complainant alleged that the company had promised that the possession would be granted within 12 months of registration. The complainant kept on waiting for the allotment letter/possession to be issued by the opposite party, but it was not done.

The complainant asked for the refund of booking amount of Rs 2.25 lakh, along with interest, but to no avail.

The opposite party had filed the reply and admitted the receipt of an amount of Rs 2.25 lakh from the complainant towards the advance booking of plot of 150 sq yards. It is stated that the complainant did not fill any registration form, rather submitted an application for the registration of a plot in the new project, the opposite party said.

“If the opposite party was not fully prepared for such a project, then it would not have promised the allotment of plot within 12 months. We feel that the opposite part is deficient in service by not allotting the plot in question till date,” the forum ruled.

Chandigarh, July 24
Another investor, who has allegedly been duped of his money in the ‘Cossets multi-level marketing scam’ of 2003, today filed an application in the court seeking his statements to be recorded and he be made a witness in the case. The court has now adjourned the case to July 30 when the defence counsel will file their reply on the application.

According to sources, the applicant had deposited Rs 1.2 lakh with the company and was promised returns. But, the company owners failed to fulfil their promise and duped him. He got to know of the pendency of the trial and, hence, filed the application.

Meanwhile, scrutiny of the case record revealed that it was not the prosecution but the court that had closed the recording of the evidence in the case on the last date of hearing. The court had closed the evidence without examining the rest of the witnesses.

The evidence was closed without examining the rest of the witnesses, which include many police officials, too. Giving the prosecution no further opportunity, the court had closed the evidence keeping in view the matter is about 10-year-old and specific directions of the High Court on early disposal of cases.

Charges were framed in the case in 2010 and there are as many as 42 challans in the case. The multi-level marketing company with 3 lakh members and 40 centres across the country got trapped in the police net in 2003 after several complaints were made by members against the company of large-scale fraud.

The Economic Offences Wing had booked Puneet Nanda, Mohit Nanda, Rajiv Dugala and Rakesh Nandan Bhalla in the scam of cheating thousands of investors of their money. They were accused of failing to pay Rs 67 crore to the members and were first booked under the Prize Chit and Money Circulation Banning Act on the request of the Reserve Bank of India on November 23, 2002.

The investigation was then handed over to the UT police and charges of fraud, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy were then added to the FIR.

Mohali, July 24
A local court today pronounced 20-year term for two accused in a rape case of minor girl.

The court of Mohali Additional District and Sessions Judge Jaswinder Shimar pronounced the term to Jagdish Deesha and Manjit Singh alias Mani, both residents of Jalandhar for raping a 14-year-old girl last year.

The incident occurred on July 15, 2013. The victim’s father, a resident of Naya Gaon village, had complained to the police that his daughter was raped by the accused after alluring her from the gate of a school at Naya Gaon. The father alleged that he had dropped the victim at the school gate on the fateful day. “When she (the victim) did not return home, he was told by the teachers that she did not come to the school that day.”

During the police investigations, it came to light that the accused had allured the victim and raped her. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 24
The Chandigarh Police arrested a resident of Raipur Khurd village, Chandigarh, with one pistol and a live cartridge.

A police party that was posted at a naka near the CTU workshop, Phase I, Industrial Area, arrested the accused identified as Shoney.

The police said Shoney who was walking down the road got scared on seeing the naka and began walking in the opposite direction.

Policemen on duty at the naka got suspicious and asked him to stop, however, the accused began running after which one of the policemen intercepted him.

The police said that a pistol and a cartridge were recovered from his possession.

The accused could not produce the licence of the weapon, following which a case under the Arms Act has been registered against him at the Industrial Area police station. 

Panchkula, July 24
A gang of vehicle-lifters reportedly struck at two houses in Sector 4 here and took away two vehicles last night.

The thieves took away a Honda City car, owned by Varun Chadha, a resident of Sector 4, late last night. In a complaint to the police, Chadha said he parked the vehicle in front of his house at 1 am and found it missing in the morning.

The police said the thieves also took away a Scorpio vehicle from the same locality last night.

Cases have been registered in this regard at the Sector 2 police station.

Zirakpur, July 24
A woman domestic help of a property dealer was found dead under mysterious circumstance at her master’s house located in Friends Enclave, here late last night.

Suspecting a foul play, Ram Lal, father of the girl, alleged that the property dealer sexually assaulted and murdered his daughter.

Acting on the complaint of Ram Lal, the police have booked Kamal Bhalla and his wife Mohita Bhalla, and a case under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the couple at the Zirakpur police station.

The investigating officer, Anoop Singh, said that Mamta , a teenager girl, allegedly committed suicide by handing herself from a ceiling fan in a room of Kamal Bhalla’s house late last night.

Kamal Bhalla informed Ram Lal about the incident and called him to his house. Ram Lal along with his family members visited the crime scene and alleged that his daughter was forced by her masters to take the step. He also alleged that the girl was sexually assaulted, the IO said.

Meanwhile, the body was handed over to the family after a postmortem examination at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi.

Mohali, July 24
Punjab Vigilance Bureau sleuths nabbed a naib tehsildar red-handed from his office at Dharamkot while receiving a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a person here today.

Sources said the accused, Bachiter Singh Thadde, has demanded Rs 4 lakh from the complainant, Harpreet Singh, a resident of Krishanpura Kalan village for registration of two acres.

“Today, the accused has called the complainant for paying the first installment”, said sources in the department.

Following the complaint of Harpreet, the vigilance team, led by inspector Sanjiv Bhatt, laid a trap and nabbed Bachiter red-handed.

The accused was brought to the Vigilance Police Station at Mohali where a corruption case has been registered against him. 

Chandigarh, July 24
The crime branch of the UT police arrested a person who posed as an employee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and duped a person by promising his kin jobs in the high court by demanding a sum of Rs 5 lakh.

Jagtar Singh, a resident of Chatbir village in Mohali district and an auto mechanic, lodged a complaint with the police.

He alleged that about three months ago, Amritpal Singh came to get his car repaired at his place and told him that he was serving as PA in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh.

He further alleged that Amritpal allured him on the pretext of providing jobs (for the posts of clerk) to his nephews Jaspreet Singh and Ravinder Pal Singh in the high court and demanded Rs 5 lakh for it.

The complainant initially paid Rs 1.5 lakh to Amritpal and the balance amount was to be paid after obtaining joining letters.

On July 14, Amritpal called the complainant at the parking lot of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and handed over two joining letters to him. After taking the letters, the complainant handed over the balance amount of Rs 3.5 lakh to him. Thereafter, he verified about the joining letters at his own and found these fake.

During the course of investigation, a police party of the crime branch, headed by SI Sushil Kumar, conducted a search around the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, and apprehended the accused, Amritpal, a resident of Kharar, Punjab, from near the Rock Garden parking lot in Chandigarh. A rubber stamp on which “Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh”, is engraved, one stamp pad and a pen used for preparing the fake documents have been recovered from his possession. Further, investigation in the case is in progress. He will be produced before the court tomorrow for obtaining his police remand in order to ascertain his other such illegal activities and his associates.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Branch, Chandigarh, today arrested Rajinder Jassi, a doctor (Medical Officer) of the District Jail, Ropar (Punjab), for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000.

On the basis of a written complaint, a case was registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against the doctor of District Jail, Ropar, on the allegation of having demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a complainant.

The complainant is the mother of a prisoner lodged in the District Jail, Ropar. The doctor demanded the amount from her in lieu of referring her son to the PGI, Chandigarh.

The demand was subsequently reduced to Rs 4,000.

The CBI laid a trap and arrested the accused doctor red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 4000 from the complainant in the market of Sector 40. The accused will be produced in the court tomorrow. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 24
The girls’ football team of Saupin’s School, Sector 32, brought laurels for their school by defeating Chitkara International School, Sector 25, 4-0 in the final of Pre-Subroto International Football Tournament (U-17) held at Government Model Senior Secondary School, 22.

The tournament was organised by the UT Education Department. Young footballers

Inderpreet, Pranjal, Tanya and Gagneet propelled their team towards victory by scoring one goal each.

The team earned appreciation for their strong defence line and good ball possession. The students were honoured with gold medals for their scintillating performance.

Principal Surita Sharma congratulated the girls for their excellent performance.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) trainee Sumit Pal Singh of Jammu & Kashmir bagged the singles title of AITA Talent Series Tournament defeating Himanshu Mor in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

Sumit faced some resistance in the first set but he used his attacking forehand to win important points and won the first set 7-5. In the second set Sumit raised his level once again and dominated with his strong ground strokes and variations to close out the set 6-3.

Earlier, he had partnered another CLTA trainee Daksh Manglick to win the doubles title by defeating Mayank Yadav and Harshit Yadav in a one sided doubles final 4-1, 4-0.

Panchkula, July 24
Skater B Pranay Goud, a Class V student of Hallmark Public School, Panchkula, added another feather to his cap by getting selected for the best skater boys under-10 years award to be bestowed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for his achievements in sports.

Kavita Wadhwa, principal, Hallmark Public School, said, “We have received a letter from the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government Of India, mentioning the selection of B Pranay Goud for a felicitation ceremony to honour him for his extraordinary commitment and achievements in sports in 2013-14.”

She further stated that the ceremonial event— Celebration of Excellence— organised by the CBSE is to be held from August 13 to 15, in Delhi.

Elated with his selection the young skater said, “It’s a big honour for me, I am glad that my hard work has paid off.”

While stating his long list of medals the young achiever said, “Last year, I bagged one gold and one silver medal at CBSE National Games, along with a bronze medal at Roller Skating Federation of India games and a silver medal at School Games Federation of India tourney.”

Moreover, he stated that he had also clinched two gold medals at the CBSE Inter-School Sports and Games Competition 2013-14 and a gold medal at the CBSE North Zone-1, Skating Championship in 2012.

Director of the school Jivtesh Garg said “The school devised such a training time table which did not hinder B. Pranay’s studies. So while his practice regimen took place, academics remained undisturbed.”

The school authorities stated that apart from the honour ceremony, B Pranay will also participate in Independence Day Celebrations at the Red Fort. 

Chandigarh, July 24
The Choi-Kwang-Do Martial Art School of Education, Sector-16, Panchkula, will organise a free self- defence two-day camp for women in Sector-16 Panchkula and Peer Muchulla at Nurtuary Preschool, on July 26 and 27.

The organisers stated that during the camp, self defence techniques will be taught to women.

Meanwhile CKD master Bikram SThapa said, “The crime against women is increasing in the society, women of any age group don’t feel secure when they go out of their homes. So it is necessary for every woman to be aware and to be prepare for her own safety, hence we are organising this camp.”

Chandigarh, July 24
The Rock Rover Hockey Chandigarh Club will organise the 13th edition of ONGC SN Vohra Memorial Sub-Junior (under-14) Hockey Tournament from August 23 to 30.

The organisers stated that the tournament will be held on league-cum-knockout basis.

Anil Vohra, joint secretary, Chandigarh Hockey Association, said, “The tournament is being organised to give budding players an opportunity to exhibit their skills at grassroots levels. The tournament aims to promote hockey among youngsters in the region.”