28122022-ATR-01.qxd 12/28/2022 12:27 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE NAGAR KIRTAN TAKEN OUT WITH RELIGIOUS FERVOUR The nagar kirtan began from Akal Takht. Large number of devotees participated in the colourful religious procession. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY Youth ends life, three booked Amritsar, December 27 A resident of Lahori Gate ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling fan here yesterday. Had borrowed ~ 60K from accused owing to financial crunch Following the statement of his family, the police have booked a man identified as Varun of Valmiki Mohalla along with his two unknown accomplices on the charge of abetment to suicide while no arrest was made till now. After the post-mortem examination, the police handed over the body of Harish (28) to the family. According to the police, the deceased had borrowed around Rs 60,000 from the accused who was allegedly harassing him for returning the amount. Saroj, mother of the deceased, told the police that she had two sons, Harish and Gaurav. She said a few days ago, Harish borrowed Rs 60,000 from Varun due to some financial crisis. She said Harish could not return the money. She said continued on page 2 PAGE 2 SSR FILE TO REOPEN? ACTOR’S SISTER SEEKS FAIR PROBE PAGE 3 ACTOR TAPESHWARI SHARMA TURNS PROFESSIONAL DJ Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti has demanded a fair probe in his brother’s death case. MAX 15°C | MIN 6°C | YESTERDAY MAX 13°C | MIN 5°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5:34 PM PAGE 4 Tapeshwari Sharma, who started her career with TV show Kasautii Zindagi Kay, has now turned a professional DJ. SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:29 AM WEDNESDAY | 28 DECEMBER 2022 | AMRITSAR Hotel manager among two Firing on Queens Road, 3 nabbed held after video goes viral Tribune News Service Hoteliers condemn incident, seek action against those involved Tribune News Service 21 DETAINED Amritsar, December 27 Day after a video went viral on the social media in which a Kashmir-based travel blogger was being offered ‘girls’ by an agent, the police today tightened its noose around the hotel authorities and arrested two persons, including the accused in the video grab. The incident had led to great resentment among various Sikh organisations who demanded an end to this and stern action against the hotels involved in such act. They decried the prevalence of such immoral practices near the shrine. The owners of various hotels also condemned the incident while adding that this brought a bad name to the industry and demanded strict action against those involved. Taking cognisance, the police booked the staff of two hotels and arrested two The city police have taken preventive action against 21 persons for allegedly harassing tourists on pretext of providing the ‘cheap and best’ rooms in hotels located in the vicinity of the Golden Temple. The accused were roaming on the Heritage Street looking for potential customers. Commissioner of Police Jaskaran Singh said if anyone is found involved in such practice, strict legal action would be taken against them. The suspects in the custody of police in Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTO persons including the suspect in the video, identified as Amardeep Singh alias Jackie of Tarn Taran road. Hotel manager Shubham Verma of Lucknow was also arrested while the hotel owner Gusewak Singh of Tarn Taran was named in the FIR. The police also took action against another hotel located near Darbar Sahib. Later, another video surfaced in which the suspect Amardeep was seen apolo- gising for his ‘mistake’ saying he could never realise its repercussions. Sikh leader Paramjit Singh Akali said earlier it was the shops and kiosks selling tobacco products near the shrine and now this immoral practice was being adopted by unscrupulous agents moving around in the heritage street leading to the shrine. “It is a shame on the part of the police and the adminis- tration that such practice could flourish near the Golden Temple openly. What message and impression would it convey to the pilgrims who come from all over the world to pay obeisance. Now, Sikh organisations have taken a stand to deal with this and if any untoward incident takes place, it would be the administration and the police department who would be held responsible,” he said. Amritsar, December 27 The city police arrested three persons in connection with a firing incident outside a hotel on Queens Road on December 8. A person identified as Lovepreet Singh was injured in the firing. He had come to drop some tourists from Airport when the incident took place. Those arrested were identified as Harbhajan Singh, alias Sabi, of Bank Avenue on Ram Tirath Road, Gurjant Singh of Sur Singh village in Jhabal and Gurbhinder Singh of Pahuwind village of Tarn Taran. The have recovered the weapon used in the crime. Varinder Singh Khosa, Assistant Commissioner of Police (North), said Harbhajan was arrested on Sunday and the police recovered a .32 bore pistol used in the crime. He said investigations revealed that he had taken the weapon from Gurjant Singh. Accordingly, Gurjant was arrested in the case. His interrogation revealed that he had borrowed the weapon from his relative Gurbhinder Cops with the arrested accused in Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTO Singh and that it was a licensed pistol. He was also arrested in the case. Khosa said that Harbhajan Singh had a murder bid case registered against him by the Dera Baba Nanak police in January this year. Lovepreet had sustained bullet injuries on his head and leg. He said he worked as a taxi driver with Maan travels. He said he wen to Queens Road for dropping tourists in a mini-bus. He said while reversing his vehicle, the vehicle came in contact with power cables. The onlookers called him to stop the vehicle. He said when he came out of the vehicle, four unknown persons came from inside a hotel located on the road and started thrashing him with a baseball. They were armed with pistol and also fired around seven gun shots at him. Aerial acrobatics Delimitation exercise to equalise population of all wards officers have deployed in the ❝All the 10 blockthe population been85 wards in the city. task of equalising of all Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 27 The Delimitation Board in its first meeting has asked for uniformity in the number of voters in all the wards. According to the Board, there should be around 13,000 voters in each municipal ward. A meeting of the Board was held in Chandigarh on Monday. Director, Department of Local Government, Punjab headed the meeting. Amritsar Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Rishi submitted the report of the delimitation survey conducted by the Municipal Corporation. However, there is no Along with block officers, officials of the MTP dept and drawing branch staff would work on the assignment. ❞ Sandeep Rishi, MC COMMISSIONER proposal to increase the number of civic wards. At present, there are a total of 85 wards in the city and the number would remain the same even after delimitation. In the Board meeting, the population in some wards was found to be between 13,000 to 15,000 while some wards had a population of only 4,000 to 8,000. Upon this, it was decided that the population of all 85 wards of the city should be approximately equalised which means that each ward should have a population of around 13,000. To equalise the population of 85 wards, the area of large wards would be reduced and attached to the smaller wards. MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi stated that all the 10 block officers have been deployed in the task of equalising the population of all 85 wards in the city. Along with block officers, officials of the MTP department and drawing branch staff would work to equalise the population in all the wards. After this, a final report of the delimitation would be submitted to the Board at the Department of Local Government, Chandigarh. The Board would then reserve the wards for various categories such as women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and backward classes. A boy perfoms gatka during a nagar kirtan procession ahead of the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR MORE ON PAGE 2 28-year-old shot dead, brother injured Meeting nixed, farmers fume Amritsar, December 27 A man identified as Kulwinder Singh (28) of the Wadali Dogra village was shot dead by three unknown persons while his brother Parminder Singh was injured in the attack. The incident occurred late last night when the duo was returning home from work. The police have started a probe after taking the body into custody. The victim suf- fered bullet injury in his chest that led to his death. Parminder suffered a bullet injury in his leg. He was out of danger. SSP (Rural) Swapan Sharma said the police have vital clues in the case. He added that further investigations were under progress. The police were scanning the CCTV cameras in the area to find clues about the perpetrators, while a case has been registered against Insanitary conditions irk vendors, seek amenities at old sabzi mandi Two arrested with illicit liquor Police issue guidelines to organisers from the main road. According to Suresh, several vendors from the area migrated to their home state after the shifting as most of them, nearly 80 per cent, were migrants. Avtar Singh Billa, a resident of Pandori Warraich village, said he resumed work at his vend only a couple of days ago. Before this, he did not earn even a penny for at least a fortnight. He said rehrees were asked to shift to the City Centre where insanitary conditions prevailed. Mahesh Verma, president Tarn Taran, December 27 The police arrested two persosn from Muradpur locality and seized 12,000 ML of illicit liquor. The accused had been identified as Ravisher Singh Ravi and Sukhdial Singh Sabi, Resident of Palasaur Colony. A case under Sections 61,1,14 of the Excise Act has been registered. unknown persons. Kulwinder Singh and his brother used to work as mechanic of the textile machinery and they usually return their house late in the evenings. Yesterday, they were returning home on their bike and reached near Manawala Government Hospital when three persons intercepted them. The accused entered into a scuf- fle with the victim and later one of them took out a pistol and shot them. Kulwinder was shot in the chest while Parminder suffered bullet injury in his leg. The accused fled away the scene. Parminder somehow called his family who rushed them to hospital. Doctors declared Kulwinder dead while Parminder was admitted for treatment. — TNS Tarn Taran, December 27 Satnam Singh Pannu, president, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab, condemned CM Bhagwant Mann for cancelling the December 28 meeting with the KMSC. He was addressing a gathering at the District Administrative Complex on the 32nd day of the pucca morcha. — OC IN A SHAMBLES Vegetable sellers at old sabzi mandi in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 27 Shifted from Rambagh area, rehri wallahs, who sell farm fresh fruits and vegetables on carts, demand improvement in basic amenities at old sabzi mandi. Suresh, a migrant, said removed from the main stretch between Rambagh to the Hall Gate, they keep waiting for customers on the roads passing inside the abandoned old sabzi mandi. Most of the ground is under waste. He said their sale nosedived after shifting of Punjab Rehri Phari Union, said there were about 16,000 rehris that sell merchandise on carts, and farhi, that sell while sitting on the roadside, in the city. He said the government was supposed to implement the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 which guards the rights of vendors. He said the initiation of shifting them before their relocation instilled uncertainty about their livelihood and a good number of them migrated to their native places. Our Correspondent c m y b NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS Amritsar, December 27 The police on Tuesday held a meeting with clubs, bar and restaurant owners of Civil lines and Ranjit Avenue area in view of the upcoming New Year celebrations and issued guidelines for maintaining law and order during the celebrations. The police asked them to install CCTV cameras while ensuring compliance of guidelines issued in this connection. Non-compliance would invite stern police action against them, said Police officials hold a meeting with the hotel and restaurant owners in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Assistant Commissioner of Police, Varinder Singh Khosa, during the meeting. He asked the owners to ensure that visitors don’t carry any weapon on their premises and also not to use hukkah. “Proper frisking should be done at the entrance besides making adequate security arrangements during the celebration programmes in their complexes,” he said. He also asked them to desist from serving liquor in vehicles. He said they should also have bar licence for serving liquor. He said the restaurants must shut operations before 11pm and bars could remain open till 1am. He also told them to make proper arrangements and check fire services, besides taking care of parking outside their premises. — TNS