18092025-LT-01.qxd 9/18/2025 12:21 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune SAHNEWAL RESIDENTS PROTEST AGAINST NHAI Residents seek recarpeting of service lanes on Sahnewal-Nandpur and Sahnewal-Kanech stretches. P2 » TRUCK OWNER, DRIVER HELD WITH POPPY HUSK, DRUG MONEY Crime branch nabbed three persons and seized 30-kg poppy husk and ~1.10L from their possession. P2 » SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL TO OPEN WITH TANNISHTHA’S FULL PLATE FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6.24 PM Sydney is poised for a revival of its Indian Film Festival this October, as the event returns after a hiatus. P4 SUNRISE FRIDAY 6:09 AM » THURSDAY | 18 SEPTEMBER 2025 | LUDHIANA city youth Skeletal remains of Indian-origin 25-yr-oldkin write togoes missing in Russia, Central Govt US citizen recovered from drain Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Woman killed by contract killer, hired by would-be groom, in late July; incident came to light recently Mahesh Sharma Ludhiana, September 17 The police have recovered a part of the skeletal remains of 71-year-old US citizen of Indian origin Rupinder Kaur Pandher, who was allegedly murdered by a contract killer hired by her would-be groom over two months ago. The partially burnt skeletal parts of the victim were recovered by a team of police officials, supervised by Assistant Commissioner of Police Harjinder Singh Gill, from a drain near Lehra village, around 7 km from the house, where the murder was committed. The woman was allegedly killed by Sukhjeet Singh Sonu of Kila Raipur village, Ludhiana, on the behest of a 75-year-old UKbased NRI from Mehma Singh Wala village here. The main suspect, Sukhjeet, has confessed to murdering the victim on the night of July 12-13, under instructions from her would-be groom, Charanjit Singh Grewal, according to the police. The police revealed that The suspect shows the spot where he dumped the skeletal remains of the victim in Ludhiana. the victim was lured to Punjab under the pretext of marriage. She had reportedly transferred large amounts of money to accounts linked to Sonu and his brother. Investigators now believe that monetary gain was the primary motive behind the brutal killing. According to ACP Harjinder Singh Gill and SHO Sukhjinder Singh, Sonu confessed to killing Rupinder Kaur and attempting to destroy the evidence by burning her body with diesel inside a storeroom at his residence. He then cooled the body remains with water and disposed of a part of the same in a drain near Lehra village. The police have recovered the skeletal remains, which are being used to confirm the victim’s identity. The case came to light recently after Rupinder Kaur’s sister, Kamal Kaur Khairah, reported her missing sister and alerted the US Embassy in India on July 28, after repeated failed attempts to contact her. The breakthrough came when a friend informed them about Sonu’s detention by the Dehlon police. Investigation has revealed that Charanjit, who resides in England but hails from Mehma Singh Wala village, allegedly plotted the murder and promised Sonu Rs 50 lakh to commit the crime. Police say Rupinder Kaur had transferred funds to both Sonu and his brother prior to her disappearance. Charanjit has been named as the main conspirator and the authorities are working to gather further evidence and pursue his arrest. The police have also seized evidence from Sonu’s property and are continuing forensic analysis. The ACP confirmed ongoing efforts to recover other body remains and documentation as the case moves towards formal charges and potentially international cooperation in apprehending the UK-based suspect. Rupinder Kaur, a native of Butahri village in Ludhiana district, residing in the United States, had arrived in India earlier this year after accepting a marriage proposal from Charanjit. The two reportedly had been in touch for several months and visiting various places of their mutual interest. The police have also recovered a number of photographs exhibiting intimacy between Charanjit and the victim. Ludhiana, September 17 Samarjit Singh (25), who had left the city for Russia in July, is reportedly missing as the family of the boy has lost contact with him for the past about 10 days. Charanjit Singh, father of Samarjit, has been writing to Central Government agencies to help trace his son. They say video shows him wearing Army uniform, urging Central Government to save Indian youths Talking to The Tribune, Sukhdev Singh, the maternal cousin of Samarjit, said the latter had left Ludhiana in July to study medicine in Russia. “He had gone with the support of valid documents to Russia and everything was going well till recently. However, his family was not able to contact the youth for the past about 10 days. His father Charanjit is running a small grocery shop in the Daba area and he told us that he was not able to talk to him. A few days ago, a video went viral on social media in which Samarjit was seen wearing army uniform, urging the Indian A video grab of Samarjit Singh (C) in which he was asking for help from the Central Government. Government to save Indian youths, who were forcibly asked to join the Russian army during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. We don’t know about the reality of the video clip and how he landed himself in trouble. The entire family has lost contact with Samarjit and we have been writing to the authorities in Delhi to intervene in the matter,” he said. Charanjit told The Tribune that the video of his son showed him dressed in an army uniform and there were other boys too, who were saying that they 3-year-old raped Gun house owner threatens ACP Mayor writes to CP, seeks removal of impounded by minor boy for refusing to sign arms licence file vehicles from roadsides Incident occurred on May 7, case filed after over four months Tribune News Service Nikhil Bhardwaj Ludhiana, September 17 A nine-year-old boy was booked by the city police on the charges of raping a threeyear-old girl. The police acted on a statement given by the victim’s mother. SHO, Police Division 3 inspector Pawan Kumar said after registering a case, further investigation was launched in the matter. The girl would also undergo a medical examination. The girl’s mother said she moved from her village to stay with her husband about four months ago. Her daughter was sleeping next to her and Tribune News Service when she noticed she was not in the bed, she started looking for the girl. While searching, she went to her neighbour’s house and heard her daughter’s cries. When she went inside, she saw that the suspect was violating her daughter. She raised the alarm and by the time residents came to the place, the boy fled the scene. The complainant said afterwards, she lodged a police complaint following which a case was registered. Ludhiana, September 17 A gun house owner entered the office of Assistant Commissioner of Police (licensing) Rajesh Sharma on the Police Commissionerate’s premises and threatened him of dire consequences for not signing the arms licence file of some applicant. The ACP had refused to sign the file as the applicant, whose file the gun house owner was carrying, was not present. Following this, the suspect started arguments and issued threats to the official. The incident occurred on May 7 and the city police reg- istered a case after over four months. The suspect was identified as Sudarshan Sharma, a resident of Haibowal and owner of Akshit Gun House, Ghumar Mandi . ACP Rajesh Sharma in a complaint submitted to the police stated that on May 7 around 1:30 pm, the suspect tried to meet him by sending his gun house ID card through his office staff. When he asked him to wait outside the office, the suspect started shouting loudly and created a scene. Later, when he called the suspect inside his office, he presented an arms licence file and asked for his signature. “I told him I would not sign a file without an applicant. Afterwards, the suspect began arguing loudly. He told me in front of my office staff that I am deliberately not signing his file. If the file is not marked (signed), he would file a writ against me in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, and warned that then I have to face the consequences,” Sharma said. He said he then reported the incident to the police. The police registered a case against the suspect and registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Ludhiana, September 17 Taking another initiative to streamline movement of traffic across the city, Mayor Inderjit Kaur has written to Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma, seeking removal of impounded vehicles from roadsides or civic body’s land situated in different parts of the city. The move aims to streamline movement of traffic and save residents from vectorborne diseases as water accumulation at these sites might result in mosquito breeding. The Mayor said it had come to their notice that there were a number of places in the city, including the site outside Basti Jodhewal police station, Division Number 5 police station, etc, where the Police Department had kept impounded vehicles on roadsides. Keeping the impounded vehicles on roadsides had been creating hurdles in smooth movement of traffic. Also, it was important to remove these vehicles as water accumulation at such sites might also results in mosquito breeding. The Mayor said steps were being taken to decongest city roads and ensure smooth traffic movement. The Police Department had been asked to remove the impounded vehicles from roadsides at the earliest.— TNS were being ill-treated and the Indian Government should do the needful to evacuate youths trapped in Russia. Sukhdev, who works with a local firm, said the youth’s family did not know anything about Samarjit being in the army or being part of the war-zone as he had gone there to study only. “We don’t know if he landed himself in trouble or was forcibly asked to join the Russian army. We can only approach Indian Government agencies to help find the youth,” he said. MC acts against four illegal constructions Ludhiana, September 17 The Municipal Corporation (MC) took action against four illegal constructions in Model Town and the Kochar market area here on Tuesday. Working on the directions of MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal, action has been taken by the building branch of MC’s Zone D office. While two illegal commercial buildings have been sealed on the road adjoining GTB Hospital in Model Town, the civic body team demolished two illegal commercial constructions in the Kochar market area and on the road adjoining GTB Hospital in Model Town. The officials said the drive against illegal constructions would continue in coming days. — TNS Marshals outside schools: Top cop’s orders implemented in right spirit 2-yr-old kidnapped from railway station Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 17 After Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma had directed various schools to ensure deployment of volunteers/traffic marshals outside their premises during the morning and afternoon hours to prevent traffic jams, the traffic police have effectively implemented the directions by ensuring compliance from the school managements. ACP Bansal conducts inspections, finds volunteers managing traffic On Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Jatin Bansal visited several schools to check the compliance of directions of the top cop and expressed satisfaction that schools deployed volunteers. Cops interact with volunteers deployed by a school on the Chandigarh road in Ludhiana. In July, the CP along with DCP Law & Order and Traf, fic, Parminder Singh Bhandal, ADCP (Traffic) Gurpreet Purewal and ACPs (Traffic) Jatin Bansal and Gurpreet Singh had held a meeting of representatives of prominent schools where traffic snarls were reported. Then the school authorities were given clear instructions to deploy 10 marshals/volunteers to assist in traffic management. These marshals would be hired by the schools and would operate in coordination with the traffic/PCR offi- c m y b cials deployed by the Ludhiana police. Talking to The Tribune here on Wednesday, ACP (Traffic) Jatin Bansal said today, he visited a school at Sector 39, Chandigarh road, for a surprise inspection and was impressed to see that several volunteers were managing the traffic. They were even wearing reflective jackets. “Though traffic remains at ease during opening hours outside the schools as parents come and leave immediately by dropping their wards but roads outside the schools witness sudden load of cars and two-wheelers during closing hours. Earlier, vehicles used to get stuck outside several schools mainly during send off time but now with the implementation of directions of the CP by school authorities and by deploying traffic marshals, traffic is found to be going smooth. Despite traffic jam rarely witness during morning hours, traffic marshals still remain present to man traffic,” asserted the ACP (traffic). Raman Arora, a parent, who went to pick his child from Greenland School, near Jalandhar bypass, said: “Deployment of traffic marshals outside the schools is the best decision. Now, at least traffic keeps moving. I beleive if all parents who come to drop or pick their children from schools follow the traffic rules and ensure parking in proper manner, traffic issues can be resolved”. Ankur Batra, another parent, said traffic jam was obvious during closing hours as due to lack of parking space inside schools, parents have to park vehicles wherever they find space outside the schools. Still, if parents park responsibly, half of the traffic issues could be resolved. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 17 A child was kidnapped from a railway station in Ludhiana on Wednesday. A woman was sleeping with her child near the booking window and when she woke up in the morning, her son was missing. When she raised the alarm, people gathered at the spot and informed the GRP. Lalti Devi, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, said she arrived at the Ludhiana railway station by train with her two children, Raj Singh and Sanskar Singh. It was late at night, so she laid out her bed near the booking window and slept in the open sky. A man and a woman were also sleeping nearby. When she Victim was sleeping with his mother when incident occurred woke up around 6 am, her two-year-old son, Raj, was missing. She suspects that a man and woman lying nearby had abducted her child. The GRP registered a case and begun probe. Station House Officer (SHO) GRP Palwinder Singh said an investigation was initiated after registering the victim’s complaint. CCTV footage was also being examined. The child would be recovered soon by the police.