16122024-ATR-01.qxd 12/15/2024 10:57 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST COLD WAVE ARMY CAPTIVATES MASSES WITH TRIBUTE TO GALLANTRY I WOULD NOT MANIPULATE MY VIEWERS: RITESH SHAH VARUN MEETS AMIT SHAH, DURING BABY JOHN’S PROMOTIONS Army captivated masses with their tribute to gallantry and sacrifice in programmes held to celebrate 53rd Vijay Diwas. P2 Had I been asked to put an item number in Pink, I would have walked away, says screen writer Ritesh Shah. P4 Bollywood star Varun Dhawan got a chance to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit in Capital. P4 » » » MAX 20°C | MIN 4°C YESTERDAY MAX 20°C | MIN 4°C SUNSET MONDAY 5.28 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 7.23 AM MONDAY | 16 DECEMBER 2024 | AMRITSAR PHOTOS: VISHAL KUMAR/SUNIL KUMAR Parties start aggressive campaigning after finalising candidates (From left) Former Deputy CM OP Soni (3rd to left) campaigns for his nephew Vikas Soni; Raj Kawal Preet Pal Singh Lucky (Centre) and his daughter Dr Shobhit Kaur (4th to right) canvass for votes; and Iqbal Singh Sherry of the Congress addresses mediapersons in Amritsar. Party is contesting in all 85 wards. The Congress is contesting in 82 wards and BJP in 83. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded candidates in 55 wards of the holy city. Around 170 candidates are contesting elections as an Independent. The Congress and the BJP are supporting independents in wards from where both the parties are not contesting the civic body polls. Last evening, AAP leader Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal addressed three rallies. Addressing the gathering during a rally in New Amritsar area, he assured residents to fulfil all poll promises. Today, former Deputy CM Om Parkash Soni held election rallies in favour of his nephew Vikas Soni who is contesting from Ward No. 52. While inaugurating the election office in the Roop Nagar area, OP Soni said Fateh Singh Colony from where Vikas Soni was elected councillor last time was reserved for SC candidates this time. Former councillor Reena Chopra had left her seat for Vikas Soni. Residents of the Roop Nagar area in Ward No. 52 decided to elect Vikas Soni as their councillor. While criticising the AAP government, OP Soni claimed that the public was disappointed from the policies of the ruling dispensation in the state. Addressing participants at a public meeting, Mahesh Khanna, candidate from Ward No. 56, said, “I have been serving the ward for the last four terms and raised public issues and fought for their resolution. Residents are well aware about who works for the development in the area. Sarhali police finally book AAP sarpanch for killing KMSC leader Two arrested with country-made arms Minister woos Divyangs ahead of MC polls Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 15 After finalising candidates, political parties and aspirants have started aggressive campaign in all 85 wards of the city and 30 wards of the periphery towns. Leaders are organising rallies and meeting to woo voters. In all, 477 candidates are in the poll fray. The ruling Aam Aadmi Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, December 15 The Sarhali police, giving in to pressure built by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab, booked Avtar Singh Billa, AAP leader and sarpanch of Sheron village for mrudering Jaspal Singh. a KMSC leader. He was shot at and injured in a firing incident on December 10 and succumbed to injuries yesterday. Hundreds of KMSC activists gheraoed the Sarhali police station on Sunday, protesting against the failure of the police to book Avtar Singh Billa for killing Jaspal Singh, who was the main accused, but the police registered a case against the deceased and his other associates in the firing incident. The KMSC had been expressing its resentment ever since the incident. Satnam Singh Manochahal, Harjinder Singh Shakri and Fateh Singh Piddi, president, general secretary and treasur- Drones, heroin recovered in border villages Amritsar, December 15 On Sunday, a search operation by the BSF troops, which culminated around 11.40 am, led to the recovery of one DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone with one packet of suspected heroin (gross weight 550 grams). The drug was recovered ahead of the border security fence in the area adjacent Dhanoe Khurd village in Amritsar district. In another incident, a joint search operation of the BSF with the Punjab Police around 11.24 am led to the recovery of one packet of suspected heroin (gross weight 555 grams) from a farming field adjacent to Dal village in Tarn Taran district. Similarly, one more DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone was recovered by the BSF troops around 2.10 pm during a search operation from agricultural field adjacent to Rattan Khurd village in Amritsar district. — TNS A KMSC leader addresses farmers during gherao of the Sarhali police station on Sunday. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI er, respectively, of the district branch of the KMSC, were among those who addressed activists who gheraoed the Sarhali police station today. The KMSC leaders warned that the gherao of the police station would continue indefinitely till justice was ensured to the family. The leaders, in their respective speeches, condemned the police for its alleged partial working, just to appease the ruling AAP for its selfish ends. The leaders also said that the district police had failed to maintain law and order in the border district where gangsters were having a free run and collecting ransom from well off persons to create terror. Deputy Superintendent of Police Kawaljit Singh Aulakh came to meet KMSC activists and handed over a photocopy of the FIR registered under Section 103 (killing) of the BNS against AAP leader Avtar Singh Billa following which the gherao was lifted and the crowd pacified. There is no need to criticise any opponent. I have a long list of works, which I have done in the previous years, while serving as councillor.” Raj Kawal Preet Singh Lucky, the Congress candidate from Ward No. 13 campaigned for his daughter Dr Shobit Kaur in Ward No. 9. Meanwhile, after rejection of nomination papers, Congress candidate from Ward No. 58 Iqbal Singh Sherry alleged that the ruling party was using its power to remove opponents from the poll fray. Blaming the AAP candidate from his ward, Sherry alleged that he tried to remove him, but failed. Taranjeet Kaur Sherry, wife of Iqbal Singh Sherry, filed nomination papers as covering candidate. After rejection of Iqbal Singh’s nominations, Taranjit Kaur is contesting the election on the Congress ticket. “The AAP candidate stated in public that he will win the election after removing me through the state machinery. However, he is unaware that my wife is still in the poll battle. I have exposed dual face of the ruling government which claims to conduct fair elections. My Congress party is with me. We will defeat turncoat candidate of the AAP said Iqbal Singh. ,” Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 15 The Verka 4police have arrested two persons identified as Akashdeep Singh, alias Billi, of Talwandi Dogra village, and Rajdeep Singh, alias Mani, of Wadali Dogra village, Jandiala Guru, and recovered a country-made pistol and revolver from their possession. Giving details, Vineet Ahlawat, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said the duo was nabbed during checking near Mudhal village. The accused were riding a bike when they were intercepted at a naka. During checking, the police team recovered a .32 bore pistol along with a magazine and two bullets from them. They were produced in a court and brought on police remand for interrogation. On their disclosure, the police recovered a revolver and three live cartridges from their possession. A case under the Arms Act was registered against the accused and further probe initiated into the matter, the ACP said. Punjab Minister Dr Baljit Kaur honours Divyangs in Tarn Taran on Sunday. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, December 15 The Punjab Government is going to fill the 4 per cent posts lying vacant in the Divyang category in the state besides implementing other demands pertaining to these categories like reinstating their suspended ration cards. This was stated by Dr Baljit Kaur, Punjab Minister for Social Security, Women and Child Develop- ment, who was here on Sunday to participate in a religious function organised by the Punjab Divyang Action Committee at the Nehru Yuva Kendra. Twenty-one members belonging to these categories who had participated in the games organised by the state government under ‘Khedan Vatan Punjab Dian’ were honoured by the minister on the occasion. The minister assured the committee that the state government would extend all assistance to them. The minister also stated that the state government was organising camps in partnership with private companies to provide jobs to the Divyangs besides arranging for loans to them under selfemployment schemes. The minister said that to make UID cards for the Divyangs, a special camp would be organised in Tarn Taran district on December 23 by the department. Lauding the performance of the state government, the minister said that 50,000 jobs have been provided to the unemployed, including 5,000 Anganwadi workers. Commenting on the treatment meted out by the Haryana government to farmers marching to Delhi, she said it exposed the “real face of the BJP which has an antifarmer attitude”. The minister also urged the Divyangs to support AAP in the coming municipal elections. Accountant, family Inter-state arms smuggling racket Womanhurtincelebratory booked for embezzling busted, two held with 10 pistols firing at marriage resort ~3 crore of pvt hospital Tribune News Service PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 15 An accountant working with Amandeep Group of Hospitals, along with five of his family members has been booked by the police for embezzling over ~3 crore from accounts of various health institutions run by the group. The accountant, identified as Avinash Kumar, also transferred over ~1 crore from the personal account of Dr Avtar Singh of the hospital. Salil Mahajan, chartered accountant working with the hospital group, said anomalies in bank accounts were first noticed on November 21. He said when Avinash, a senior accountant, was asked to explain, he did not turn up for work the next day. Mahajan, in his complaint to the police stated that Avinash used to handle all bank accounts of the group. The complainant stated that on suspicion, when bank accounts of other institutions run by the group were checked, it was found that huge amount was missing. He alleged that Avinash transferred funds from other institutions to account of the nursing college run by the group and later diverted the amount to accounts of his family members and relatives. He said family members of Avinash, who were involved in the fraud, were on the run. A case was registered against Avinash, his brother Chaman, father Kamlesh Kumar, mother Anjana Devi, wife Sikha and Chaman’s wife Mandeep. — TNS Amritsar, December 15 With the arrest of two persons, the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), Amritsar, busted an inter-state illegal weapon smuggling module backed by USA-based handlers and recovered 10 .32 bore pistols smuggled from Madhya Pradesh from their possession. Those arrested were identified as Satnam Singh, alias Prince, a resident of Buttar Kalan of Batala and his relative Manjit Singh of Bhagi Nangal in Batala. According to the police, USA-based Sunny Masih, aka Gulli, originally hailing from Batala was providing logistical assistance to them. The police also seized 20 magazines apart from ammunition from their possession, said Gaurav Yadav, Director c m y b General of Police (DGP), Punjab, here on Sunday. “Satnam was in touch with his USA-based handler Sunny Masih, alias Gulli, who is wanted in multiple cases by the Punjab Police in heroin smuggling. For his convenience, accused Satnam also involved his relative Manjit into drug peddling and transportation of illegal weapons,” the DGP said. Investigations revealed that they were procuring illegal weapons from Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand on the directions of Masih and further supplying these to Punjab-based gangsters, the DGP said, while adding that further probe was on to establish backward and forward linkages to unearth the entire arms smuggling nexus. Sukhminder Singh Mann, Assistant Inspector General (AIG), SSOC, Amritsar, said the SSOC received a tip-off that Sunny Masih, a native of Dhianpur in Batala (Gurdaspur), currently residing in the USA, was running an inter-state weapons smuggling module in Punjab with the help of his associates. Working on the input, the SSOC launched an intelligence-based operation and arrested two members of this module after recovering a weapon consignment from their possession, he said. “During questioning, Satnam revealed that Sunny Masih used to pay him courier charges on per delivery basis. He also revealed that around one month ago, he smuggled four weapons from the MP to Punjab for which he was paid ~10,000 and for the current delivery, Sunny had promised him to pay ~20,000,” the AIG said. Amritsar, December 15 Despite model code of conduct in force in view of the upcoming civic body elections, a woman was injured in celebratory firing at a marriage resort on the intervening night of December 11-12. The victim, Sunita Sharma, suffered bullet injury on her arm. Initially she could not make out that it was a bullet injury. But the next day when her arm continued to bleed and pain did not subside, she went to a hospital where doctors found a bullet in her arm. Sunita, a resident of Shastri Nagar, Majitha Road, told the police that she along with her husband had gone to attend marriage of her friend’s sister at Lal Palace Wedding Resort on the Fatehgarh Churian bypass road. She said while attending the marriage around 10.30 pm she felt unbearable pain in her right elbow. The victim said she went to a private hospital where doctors gave her first aid and she went back home. She said the next morning, the pain was unbearable and her arm started bleeding. The victim said she again went to a hospital where doctors operated on her arm and removed a bullet. She is currently under treatment. The Sadar police registered a case under the Arms Act and Section 125 of BNS (Act endangering life or personal safely of others) in this connection. The police said investigation was in progress to find suspects who indulged in celebratory firing during marriage at the resort.