23082024-LT-01.qxd 23-08-2024 00:04 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune AGRI VARSITY HOCKEY FACILITY WITNESSES UNDERUTILISATION NETFLIX DOCUSERIES ON FASHION DESIGNER VICTORIA Netflix announced that series promises an intimate look at Beckham’s life, right from her fashion ventures to family life.P4 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 27°C DHILLON COLLABORATES WITH NIGERIAN SINGER AYRA Despite pedigree, fewer students are training at AstroTurf as most are opting for more popular sports. P2 FORECAST The Punjabi music star has collaborated with Nigerian singer Ayra Starr for his upcoming play The Brownprint. P4 » » SUNSET FRIDAY 6.55 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5:55 AM » FRIDAY | 23 AUGUST 2024 | LUDHIANA Man gets 10-yr jail in drug case Ludhiana, August 22 The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Dr Gurpreet Kaur has sentenced Manpreet Singh, alias Mantu, of Boothgarh, Khanna, to 10 years’ imprisonment for smuggling intoxicating tablets. Besides, the convict has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh. A case was registered against the accused on June 21, 2021, by Sadar Khanna police on the accusations of possession of drugs. According to the prosecution, when the police were patrolling, they saw the accused coming from under a bridge holding a plastic bag in his hand. He got panicked on seeing the police and threw away the bag. When the bag was searched, 85 strips each containing 10 tablets of Tramadol Hydrochloride tablets were recovered from it. When asked, he could not give any satisfactory answer or produce valid licence. During trial, he pleaded not guilty but failed to produce any concrete evidence in his favour. After appreciating the evidence on record, the court found him guilty. — OC With mounting debt, 3 of farmer’s family jump in front of train, die Mahesh Sharma Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 22 Three members of a family of Ghungran village in Ludhiana district, including a nine-year-old boy, died by suicide by jumping in front of a train near Ahmedgarh on Wednesday night. The deceased were identified as Sukhpal Singh (35), his wife Sukhdeep Kaur (32) and their only child Baljot Singh (9). According to family sources, the couple took the drastic step due to a fastmounting debt burden. Having failed to live a dignified life with the income from around two acres of farmland, Sukhpal had started fabricating elevators at a small scale by availing loans from various sources. Though the exact amount of loans was yet to be ascertained, the gap between A file photo of the deceased. SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS Having failed to live a dignified life with the income from around two acres of farmland, Sukhpal had started fabricating elevators at a small scale by availing loans from various sources. assets and liabilities of the family seemed to have widened to an extent where persistent pressure from lending agencies abetted the couple to take the extreme step on Wednesday night. Jatinder Pal Singh Babbu, Sukhpal’s cousin, said the news about the tragedy had come as a shock for the family. “What was more shocking for us is how my cousin and his wife dared to take their son along for the most tragic step,” he said. Robby Dhand, a passenger travelling from Ludhiana to Ahmedgarh in the train, said the driver had tried to save the trio by braking hard but in vain. The family had parked their car near the railway crossing before jumping in front of the train. Village residents said the family had waited at the Kila Raipur railway station earlier to wait for the train but later decided to move to a deserted place on finding some passengers there. Ahmedgarh railway police chowki in-charge Gurmail Singh said the authorities at the GRP Ludhiana, had initi, ated inquest proceedings under Section 194 of the BNS and the bodies would be handed over to the next of kin after the autopsy. Dumping garbage in open? Get ready to face action Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 22 The Municipal Corporation (MC) is in a upbeat mood to make the city garbage-free and be careful next time when you try to throw garbage in vacant plots or roadside as somebody could possibly click your pictures and sent the same to the MC. When you throw trash in vacant plots or roadsides someone can click your pictures and sent these to the MC Hoardings with warnings have been installed that if residents are caught dumping Garbage dumped on a road at Scooter Market in Ludhiana. FILE waste/garbage at such sites again, strict action will be taken against them. Besides, contact numbers of supervisors and sanitary inspectors of the wards concerned have been given to residents of that ward so that they can inform them about anyone dumping garbage in the open. “People can click the picture of the person, along with the vehicle on which he/she came for dumping garbage, and then after getting address through the vehicle registration number, a challan will be issued to the person and fine will be imposed,” said an official from the MC. Joint Commissioner Inderpal said hoardings were also being installed at GVP points to stop residents from dumping garbage at such sites again. The residents were being warned that action would be taken against them for violation under solid waste management rules. Civic body teams had been directed to submit a daily report with senior officials regarding activities conducted in their respective areas and that report would then be submitted with the state government. MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi appealed to residents to participate in the drive and support the authorities in solid waste management by not dumping waste at vacant areas/plots. He also urged the residents to hand over segregated dry and wet waste to garbage collectors. Daily 21 lakh metric tonnes of garbage is collected from 95 wards of the city. Meanwhile, the garbage dump at Jainpur will be cleared and the process for the same has already been started. Tender worth Rs 11 crore has been floated for processing 2.18 lakh metric tonnes of garbage. The company which will be allotted the tender will be given one years’ time to clear the site. Earlier, garbage was dumped here but in 2012, a ban was imposed on dumping garbage after which the MC started dumping refuse at the Tajpur dump. TEMPLE DESECRATION, THEFT CASE 60 men worked for 72 hours without sleep to crack case Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 22 It was kind a temple run for the Khanna police as to chase down the suspects who committed theft and desecration at the Shivpuri temple in Khanna, the police personnel kept running in different states, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, for the past three days without sleep or proper rest. Since the case was sensitive, they did not want to give any chance to the religious community for agitation, hence, worked day and night and tasted success. DIG, Ludhiana Range, Dhanpreet Kaur, was directly supervising the investigation. Talking to The Tribune here on Tuesday about challenges the police faced in cracking the case, SSP Khanna, Ashwini , Gotyal, said the police worked on various theories and angles to reach out to the suspects. In the initial probe, the police were confirmed that the suspects were professional thieves and not drug addicts or inexperienced as thieves first broke the window installed at 25-ft height and tied a rope with window and climbed down the sanctum santorum where Shivling and other idols are installed. After the theft, the suspects, Ravi and Mohit, again climbed up through the rope and fled the scene. The third suspect, Resham, was keeping a tab around the temple while their fourth accomplice, Honey, was present at the bus stand. It was a well-planned theft. Rajeev, a jeweller, was also booked in the case. The SSP said while climbing down, Ravi suffered injury and his blood drops fell on the floor which were collected from the temple by the forensic team and the DNA test of blood samples would The suspects in custody of the Khanna police on Thursday. TEMPLES FAVOURITE TARGET Though the gang has also targeted other religious places such as a gurdwara in Delhi, temples were their favourite ones as their main aim was to steal silver ornaments only. The gang’s kingpin, Resham, had 10 cases of thefts at religious places, mostly temples, registered against him, Mohit also has five theft cases against him while Rajeev is facing cases registered in UP. Honey has no criminal past. easily confirm the identity of the suspect. Even fingerprints of the two suspects found in the window and inside the temple were matched, which confirmed their role. “We questioned and physically verified over 100 persons at the initial stage of investigation, including workers engaged at some work in the temple, new tenants staying in the area, people who did lighting work at the temple or those who started new works near the temple,” Gotyal said. On Monday after the police got CCTV images of the suspects, the real challenge started for the police, SSP Gotyal said, adding that “Since Monday, our 60 men continuously worked for 72 hours shunning their sleep and visited prisons in the state to get any clue by showing the images to inmates, checked hundreds of CCTV cameras, met police officials of different states to match images of the suspects involved in theft cases at temples or religious places reported in the past”. The SSP said the police got a major lead when in temple theft cases reported at Chandi- garh in 2018 and Lucknow in 2020, they got the image of a suspect in that cases, resembling one of the suspects in the case, Resham Singh. Afterwards, the police leads continued to pour in and the suspects were arrested, she said. With the arrest of four suspects, except Mohit, a temple theft committed in Bengaluru by the gang in 2024, which was lying unsolved, has also been cracked now. Were planning to target temples in southern states Interestingly, the suspects would look for religious places on Google and fix their targets. After the Khanna temple incident, the gang had planned to commit thefts in temples at Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Gang members Ravi and Mohit had to board a train for Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, from Delhi on Wednesday night at 9 pm as they had chosen a temple to commit theft but the police foiled their plan. Resham was not accompanying them as he had a court hearing pertaining to a temple theft case he was facing. 17-year-old girl dies by suicide Patient’s attendant booked for attacking docs Ludhiana, August 22 A 17-year-old girl committed suicide by consuming napthalene balls at her house in Kaonke Kalan village, Jagraon. She took the extreme step after a village youth made her to sit on his motorcycle and took her around in the village. The girl felt insulted as she thought that village residents had seen her with the youth. He has been identified as Gursewak Singh of the village. The complainant, Darshan Singh, told the police that his daughter studies in Class XII. On August 20 morning, his daughter left home, saying that she was going to school. After sometime, he got to know from the school that his daughter failed to reach the school. He searched for her in the village but in vain. Around 1.30 pm, a village youth, Gursewak, dropped his daughter outside the house and left the place. “When I asked my daughter why she was with Gursewak and did not attend the school, she said he had forced her to sit on his motorcycle on the pretext that he would drop her at the school but he kept roaming in the village. Residents also saw her with him which brought disrepute and insult to her. She said she would die by suicide but I calmed her. Later, she consumed napthalene balls. She was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved,” the deceased’s father said. — TNS CIVIL HOSPITAL Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 22 The Jagraon police yesterday registered a case against the attendant of a patient who created ruckus at the Civil Hospital and attacked doctors. The suspect was identified as Jasvir Singh of Rajaona Khurd, at present staying in City Enclave, Jagraon. The complainant, Dr Prince Janagill, who is posted as a medical officer at the Civil Hospital, Jagraon, in a statement to the police stated that on August 20 when he was present at the hospital, a patient, along with his attendant, came. “As we started the treatment of the patient, his attendant started abusing me, staff nurse Ramandeep Kaur, ward attendant Gurdeep Singh, cleaner Paramjit Kaur, security guards Akashdeep Singh and Gagandeep Singh. The suspect also tried to throw an oxygen cylinder lying in the minor operation theatre of the hospital at us. Had the cylinder got burst, the staff would have suffered major injuries. It seemed that the patient and his attendant were under the influence of alcohol,” he said. The complainant said later, they informed the police and a case was registered against Jasvir on Wednesday under Sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 221 (obstructing public servant in dis- charge of public functions), 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 4 of the Punjab Protection of Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act. The suspect is yet to be arrested in the case. HC overturns 2002 acquittal, convicts accused in 1999 drug case ‘Harassed’ by father, Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 22 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has overturned the acquittal of a 56-year-old man, initially absolved by the Special Court, Ludhiana, in a 1999 poppy husk case. The high court not only quashed the 2002 acquittal but also convicted the accused under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act before sentencing him to life imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh. The Division Bench, comprising Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma, meticu- ABOUT THE CASE The case originated from an incident on April 27, 1999, when the Ludhiana police intercepted a vehicle carrying 70 bags of poppy husk. The driver was apprehended on the spot, while other accused reportedly fled the scene. However, the Special Court, Ludhiana, acquitted the accused on November 29, 2002, citing insufficient evidence and procedural lapses. Dissatisfied with the verdict, the state filed an appeal, leading to the high court ruling. lously reviewed the evidence and the reasoning employed by the trial court, which had acquitted three accused in the matter. Proceedings against two of the accused were abated as they died during the appeal’s pendency. The high court found that the prosecution had indeed established the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, contrary to findings of the lower court. The case originated from an incident on April 27, 1999, when the Ludhiana police intercepted a vehicle carrying 70 bags of poppy husk. The driver was apprehended on the spot, while other accused reportedly fled the scene. How- ever, the Special Court, Ludhiana, acquitted the accused on November 29, 2002, citing insufficient evidence and procedural lapses. Dissatisfied with the verdict, the state filed an appeal, leading to the high court ruling. “This court is of the view that the instant appeal merits its being allowed. Consequently, after allowing the instant appeal filed by the State of Punjab, this court quashes the impugned verdict of acquittal, as made on November 29, 2002, by the Judge, Special Court, where through he made a finding of acquittal in c m y b respect of an offence punishable under Section 15 of the NDPS Act.” The Bench added that the accused as a consequence were held guilty of committing an offence punishable under the provisions of the NDPS Act and were convicted accordingly. The high court emphasised that the evidence presented by the prosecution, including the seizure of the narcotics and the statements of witnesses, was sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused. The counsel for the convict during the hearing argued for leniency, citing the con- vict’s age of 56 and his status as the sole breadwinner of his family. The court, while acknowledging these considerations, noted the severity of the crime, stating: “Since the present convict has been convicted for an offence which relates to his voluntarily and consciously possessing commercial quantity of the relevant seizure, thereupon, in terms of Section 15-C of the NDPS Act, the court imposes upon the convict the substantive sentence qua his undergoing rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to 10 years, besides, imposes upon him a sentence of fine of Rs 1 lakh.” stepmom, girl ends life Ludhiana, August 22 A 17-year-old girl, Simranpreet Kaur, died by suicide ar Kaonke Kalan village, Jagraon, after she was allegedly harassed by her father and stepmother. The suspects have been identified as Jaswant Singh and his wife Meenu, also residents of the village. Veerpal Kaur, the complainant and mother of the deceased, said she got married to Jaswant in 2007. She gave birth to two children. About five years ago, she got divorce from her husband and her children started staying with him. Later, her former husband got married with Meenu. She said on August 19, when she called Jaswant and talked to her daughter, he abused their daughter. “Later my daughter called me and said she was being harassed by her father and stepmother. She was literally frightened and under depression. On Wednesday morning, my daughter hanged herself to death. My former husband and his wife forced the girl to take the extreme step,” the complainant alleged. SI Surjit Singh said further probe was launched in the case. — TNS