24042022-LT-01.qxd 4/24/2022 12:25 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE NO CHECK ON PLYING OF ILLEGALLY PAGE 2 MODIFIED VEHICLES ON HIGHWAYS SHIVAM SHARMA BECOMES THE FIRST FINALIST OF LOCK UPP Illegal modification of vehicles and their rampant use to ferry goods and passengers goes unabated in region. After battling it out, Shivam Sharma has become the first finalist of Kangana Ranaut’s reality show Lock Upp. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 39°C | MIN 21°C | YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 21°C SUNSET SUNDAY 7:00 PM Women cell fails to pay ~10L dues, power supply snapped PAGE 3 SHIBANI GIVES KISHORE KUMAR’S MERE MEHBOOB AN R&B SPIN Shibani collaborated with Saregama music for her latest song, Mere Mehboob, originally sung by Kishore. SUNRISE MONDAY 5:48 AM SUNDAY | 24 APRIL 2022 | LUDHIANA RECOMMENDATION OF FRAUD CASE CANCELLATION Man plays pellet drum at CP office to awaken conscience of police officers Tribune News Service Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 23 Since Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has started taking action against defaulters, who have not cleared their electricity bills, the power supply to the Crime against Women and Children Cell located in Rishi Nagar has also been snapped. The power supply was snapped due to outstanding electricity bill of over Rs 10 lakh. The work at cell is now being managed by hiring a gen set. Interestingly, when yesterday morning PSPCL officials disconnected the power supply to the women cell, cops connected the supply again of their own. Later in the evening, when PSPCL senior officials got to know, they immediately sent their team and the supply was again disconnected. The Chief Engineer, PSPCL, Ludhiana, Jasbir The Crime against Women and Children Cell at Kitchlu Nagar in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN POWER RESTORED IN EVENING: DCP SAUMYA ■ The DCP, Crime against Women, Saumya Mishra, said electricity supply to the women cell was restored by the PSPCL on late Saturday evening. “The police station was started in August 2021 and there is no pendency of bill towards us. In fact the pendency of bill was of previous years when the cell was not established here,” added Mishra. ■ In August 2021, then DGP Dinkar Gupta, along with then Police Commissioner Rakesh Agrawal, had inaugurated the police station. Singh said the women police station had not cleared the dues of over Rs 10 lakh for the past many months, despite repeated notices to the police. The Chief Engineer added that electricity would not be restored until the Police Department clears the dues. Sources said senior police officials are also trying to convince PSPCL officials to restore the power supply, but the latter are reportedly not in a mood to do so. Police Commissioner Dr Kaustubh Sharma told The Tribune that he got to know about the issue and he would talk to the DG office for the allotment of special budget to clear the pending electricity bill as soon as possible. Asked about the pendency of bills of other police stations and cells of the Ludhiana Commissionerate as well, the CP admitted the pendency and said efforts were on to sort out the issue. PAGE 4 Ludhiana, April 23 A property fraud case registered on the recommendation of the special investigation team (SIT), led by a senior IPS officer, was reportedly recommended for cancellation by a PPS officer of the Ludhiana Commissionerate. The complainant in the case today played pellet drum at the Police Commissioner office with the hope that his act will awaken the conscience of police officers. The development has also sparked a row as the complainant had yesterday approached the Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, Dr Kaustubh Sharma, and apprised him of the PPS officer, who contradicted the SIT’s report and the CP had also assured that he would get the facts verified. Complainant Kuldeep Sharma, a businessman of the Gill road area, has also written to the Punjab DGP Kuldeep Sharma plays a pellet drum at the Police Commissioner office in Ludhiana on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO to seek a probe against the PPS officer. The complainant said a case of fraud was registered against three persons, who were colonisers, in May 2021. It involved a property fraud of Rs 18 lakh. The case was registered after the SIT, led by then Joint CP J Elanchezhian, had found the allegations of fraud levelled by Kuldeep true. Prior to the registration of the case, on the complaint of Kuldeep, the SIT, led by then ADCP Surindra Lamba, had also recommended the registration of the case but it was not registered as the coloniser had used his political influence. Hence, the FIR was delayed, alleged the complainant. “Recently, I came to know from the court that the police had filed a cancellation report pertaining to the fraud case registered under Section 420 of the IPC, against the colonisers and an inquiry into the report was done by the PPS officer. I was shocked to know that how a PPS officer could cancel the probe report of the SIT,” the complainant alleged. “Today I played pellet drum at the CP office with the sole purpose to awaken the conscience of the police and seek immediate action against the officer, who recommended the cancellation of the FIR. I also told many visitors about the poor plight of the Ludhiana police by playing pellet drum. Still if the police do not take action, I will play pellet drum outside the DGP office in Chandigarh as well,” said Kuldeep. 2 test positive in district Garbage put on fire at Dana Mandi; Boy ‘fails’ in IELTS exam, ends life COVID-19 FIGURES NGO seeks FIR against officials Ludhiana, April 23 Two fresh Covid cases were reported, while there was no death due to the disease in the district today. A total of 1,09,838 persons have tested positive for the virus since March 2020, while 2,280 persons from the district have succumbed to the virus till now. The recovery rate of Covid19 patients was 97.90 per cent today. There were 32 active cases in the district and 30 patients were asked to isolate themselves at their homes by the Health Department. At present there are two Covid patients admitted to Tribune News Service SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 34,79,621 1,09,838 32 2 2,280 For info Contact: 0161-2444193 & 4622276 private hospitals in Ludhiana. Till date, a total of 34,79,621 samples for Covid test have been taken, of which 33,55,031 were found negative. The samples of 3,321 suspected patients were sent for testing today, the results of which are expected shortly — TNS. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 23 There seems to be no stopping on burning of waste in the city. On Saturday, the garbage in bulk was put on fire at New Dana Mandi on Bahadurke Road, leaving the nearby people to suffer due to the smoke. Following the incident, the Fire Brigade was called to douse the burning waste. Meanwhile, the Council of Engineers complained to the Chief Minister and Chief Sec- retary Punjab and others concerned against the staff/officials of the Punjab Mandi Board and others for allegedly burning the organic waste and garbage at Dana Mandi. Kapil Arora of the council said it is a well-known fact that the burning of waste in the open causes severe air pollution. He said such illegal burning of garbage causes severe damage to the environment, thus it is against environmental norms as established by the Supreme Court as well as National Green Tribunal. Arora demanded from the CM and other authorities concerned to take action against those who put the waste on fire. He said, “An FIR under Section 270 of the IPC must be registered against the staff/officials concerned of the Mandi Board and others of New Dana Mandi for causing health problems to the public at large by burning the waste in bulk and further challan may please be issued against them as per law.” Man booked for raping divorced woman 65-yr-old farmer dies in accident Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 23 A man allegedly made physical relations with a divorced woman on the pretext of solemnising marriage with her. When the woman got pregnant, he dumped her. The Tibba police yesterday registered a rape case against the man, identified as Arun Behal of Ajit Nagar. The victim complained to the police that her husband had divorced her in 2016. Two year later she developed friendship with Arun Behal. Arun promised that he would solemnise marriage with her. “For the past over two years, Arun Behal had been having sexual relationship with me. Now when I got pregnant, I asked him to solemnise marriage with me but he refused. He forced me to abort the child and also issued me life threats,” alleged the woman. Investigating officer ASI Baldev Raj said the accused is yet to be arrested and raids are being conducted to nab him. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 23 A 65-year-old farmer died in a road mishap at Machhiwara Sahib on Saturday morning. The deceased was identified as Gyan Chand of Chakki village. He was going to the Machhiwara grain market along with his son on a motorcy- c m y b cle to collect the payment of his wheat crop. A rashly driven truck hit their motorcycle from behind and killed Gyan on the spot. The deceased’s son Vijay suffered minor injuries in the accident. The truck driver fled from the spot. The police registered a case against the unknown truck driver. Ludhiana, April 23 A boy allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Mundian Kalan. The incident came to fore on Friday. The boy took the extreme step after he failed to get the expected bands in the IELTS. The deceased was identified as Joy Rana. Investigating officer ASI Dhanwant Singh said after completing Class XII, the boy wanted to go abroad for further studies. He had recently appeared for the IELTS exam but he failed to get the desired result. The ASI said on Thursday night Joy after having dinner went to sleep in his room. The next day when he didn’t wake up, his father Tilak Rana went to his room and he saw the body of his son hanging from the ceiling fan. The boy was immediately taken to hospital but doctors declared him brought dead. The police said this was the fourth attempt of the deceased to clear the IELTS exam but he remained unsuccessful. Due to this he went into depression and took the extreme step. Inquest proceedings were initiated by the police.