26122024-LT-01.qxd 12/25/2024 11:05 PM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune WRONG SIDE DRIVING UPS RISK ON LAKKAR BRIDGE KILA RAIPUR SURVIVE SCARE FROM ATHIAN IN HOCKEY WHEN THE YULETIDE SPIRIT RULED... Despite barricades to stop commuters from taking the wrong side on Lakkar Bridge, violations continue.P2 Kila Raipur players prevailed over Athiana to register their second consecutive win in Aryan Cup. P2 Here’s how some of the Bollywood celebrities spread cheer on Christmas. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 19°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 19°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET THURSDAY 5.31 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:23 AM » THURSDAY | 26 DECEMBER 2024 | LUDHIANA Police crack blind murder case of tantrik, two arrested One of the accused took revenge due to his father’s death Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 25 The Focal Point police today claimed to have cracked the blind murder case in which a tantrik was found murdered a few days back. His head had been severed from the body. The reason of the murder turned out to be act of revenge by one of the accused as he suspected that his father had died due to black magic performed by the tantrik. The arrested accused have been identified as Rahul Kumar and Mohammad Basir, both natives of UP and presently residing at Dhandari Khurd here. Additional DCP Prabhjot Singh Virk and SHO, Focal Point police station, Amandeep Singh Brar addressed a press conference regarding the matter on Wednesday. They said that on December 20 the body of a person was found in a vacant plot at Dhandari Khurd. On Decem- The murder accused who killed the tantrik in police custody Ludhiana on Wednesday. ber 23 the deceased was identified as Brijesh Sahu (31), also a resident of Dhandari Khurd, who was a tantrik. During investigation, it was found that accused Rahul was friend of Brijesh and he was working as an assistant with the latter. Rahul’s father Meghnath used to stop him from meeting the tantrik, but he continued to meet him. Brijesh had told Rahul’s father to not stop the latter from meeting him. Later due to poor health, Rahul’s father went to his native place, where he died on November 6. SHO Brar said that before death Rahul’s father had told him that Brijesh had done performed black magic on him due to which his health deteriorated. After the death of his father Rahul decided to take revenge from Brijesh. The SHO added that on December 19, Rahul, his friend Basir and Brijesh consumed alcohol together after which both attacked Brijesh with sharp-edged weapons and severed his head. Brar stated that after getting a tip-off about the accused, a raid was conducted and both accused were arrested. Student death: Kin create ruckus outside police station Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 25 Kin of six-year-old Amaira, a student of BCM School, Chandigarh road, who was mowed down by school bus on the school premises on December 16, today created ruckus outside the Police Division No. 7 police station, alleging VIP treatment to principal DP Guleria. Deceased’s father Anurag Sood said that after the accident Guleria was arrested and the court sent him to two-day police remand. On December 23, the principal was produced in court again and it sent him to judicial custody. However, the police allegedly didn’t send him to jail the same day and kept him at the police station and offered him all comfort. However, SHO Bhupinder Singh denied the allegations of any VIP treatment to the principal. He said that on December 23 the principal was to be sent to jail but due to some pending health report and poor health of the principal he couldn’t be sent to jail. All norms had been followed by the police in dealing with the case. Residents gather outside the house where a woman and her son were found murdered at Prem Vihar in Ludhiana on Wednesday. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN Woman, son found murdered in house Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 25 A shocking double murder has led to panic in Haibowal area of Ludhiana, where a 40year-old woman, Sonia, and her 10-year-old son, Kartik, were found brutally murdered in their Prem Vihar residence. The incident came to light on Wednesday afternoon after their neighbours reported foul smell, prompting police to investigate. According to police, they received the complaint around 1.30 pm and found the bodies on a bed, covered with a quilt. Both deceased had serious head injuries. Preliminary findings suggest that the attacker used a sharp-edged weapon, striking the victims while they were asleep. The police believe the killer was known to the victims as there were no signs of forced entry. Investigations revealed Sonia’s had a complicated personal life, including an extramarital affair with a man named Vijay. Her husband resides separately in the same area and the police questioned him. Vijay, suspected to be a possible link to the murders, was missing. A pet of the woman was also missing after the incident. The bodies have been sent for a postmortem and an FIR was registered as police launched a thorough investigation to track the killer. CCTV cameras of the area are also being checked by the police to get a clue about the suspect. Phone call details of the deceased and Vijay are being scanned by the police. Tickets for Diljit Dosanjh Finally, election to civic body held this year concert sold within 10 mins Manav Mander Tribune News Service Tribune Reporters Ludhiana, December 25 Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati Tour’s grand finale show is all set to be held in Ludhiana at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on December 31. The sale of tickets for the event went live yesterday at 2 pm and were sold out within 10 minutes. There were four category tickets and all were sold within a blink of an eye. It has been learnt that now the tickets are being sold at a premium. People are advertising about these tickets on social media and WhatsApp group. The tickets of gold category are being sold in lakhs. A city resident said soon after the concert was sold out, people who had bought the tickets started selling these on a premium. Recently amid allegations that tickets of his tour being resold at exorbitant prices, the singer had reacted by saying that, “For a long time, people in our country have been saying that the tickets are being sold on a premium. But it’s not my fault.” Navra, a young girl at Khalsa College here said, “The day it was confirmed that Diljit Dosanjh will wrap up the tour in Ludhiana, I asked my father to provide me Rs 25,000 and got five silver tickets, of which three were sold last night at a profit.” “Many friends, who could not make it then, were disappointed and had said if the show happened in Ludhiana, they would definitely go. Realising this, I purchased two fan-pit tickets and two gold and silver tickets. I sold the fan pit tickets for Rs 18,000 each and hope to sell the remaining by tomorrow,” said Krishnam (name changed), a student at SCD Government College. A blogger wishing not to be named said that she had had purchased 10 different sections of tickets. “I will not be having any problem in selling these,” she said. Although after his recent concert in Chandigarh he had announced that he won’t perform in India till the time proper infrastructure was developed and this concert came as a special surprise for his fans and that too on New Year Eve. According to sources, PAU authorities were reluctant to give their ground for the venue but they had to budge under pressure. “It takes lot of time and effort to build infrastructure which is destroyed within hours,” said a source. Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary of Punjab Basketball Association, said that such events leave the ground in bad shape and then it takes months to repair the same. Diljit has a special connection with Ludhiana as he had spent his childhood years here. Born in Jalandhar, he was sent to live with his maternal uncle when he was just 11. He did his schooling from Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School. Ludhiana, December 25 The year went by without a MC House and finally in the last month the MC elections were held after one-and-ahalf years, which saw 46.95 polling. Although Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the party with the highest number of seats, it fell short of seven councillors. Local units of the Congress and BJP hinted at coalition, but the BJP high command outrightly refused and now the situation is clear that AAP will form the House. At present, the stress is on to prove majority, form the House and elect the Mayor. Just before the elections, many development projects for roads, tubewells, parks, bridges, etc. worth crores were inaugurated. But residents from various areas continue to face various civic problems like sewerage overflow, contaminated water supply, rainwater logging, broken roads and poor solid waste management among others. Persistent issues like garbage management, illegal construc- Voters showing their IDs at a polling station at Government school, Sunet, Ludhiana. FILE PHOTO tions, poor condition of parks, stray cattle and incidences of dog bites remain unresolved. Various cases in the National Green Tribunal are going on against MC and due to this the officials had to remain on the toes. The lows The bus stand flyover has been in a deteriorated state for quite some time and is dotted by various potholes and loose gravel, posing risks to vehicles. The work for its repair started in December. One side of the BRS flyover was also closed for a couple of months after it developed cracks. It was repaired and opened on Diwali. A portion of Lakkar overbridge also caved in. The Ludhiana civic body had planned to recycle floral and coconut waste and convert it into incense sticks and ropes, respectively. It was planned to set up a small plant Two churches in city stand tall as sentinels of history Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 25 Ludhiana’s connection with Christianity dates to the British era. There are two churches which are more than 100-year-old and built around same time. One was built by the Britishers and other by the missionaries and they both stand tall after going through many testing times of the Partition and have witnessed the growth and transformation of the Christian community in the city. Since Britishers were away from their country and culture, these Churches played a very important and crucial role in their lives. Today on Christmas, these churches Christ Church at Fountain Chowk; and (right) Kalvary Church on Brown Road. ASHWANI DHIMAN are all lit up inviting people to come and offer prayers. Christ Church located on Fountain Chowk is said to be the oldest Anglican and first church of undivided Punjab. Built by the British, it is affiliated to the Church of England and none other than Daniel Wilson DD, Bishop of Calcutta, laid the foundation stone in 1836 and it took four years to complete it. The foundation stone at the church sheds more light on its history and explains that it was built in the memory of Bt Captain JE Grounds, who died at Landour. In its early days, the elite British army and civil officers worshipped in this church, which has also witnessed lavish weddings, baptism as well as solemn funerals. The original stain glass paintings of Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and St John at the altar were brought from Italy in 1830s. Its ceiling and c m y b benches, furniture, windows and doors point towards the wooden marvel and the old bell is still there atop the roof of the church. Dr Ravinder, a resident of Civil Lines, said, “My father use to share a lot of stories about the Britishers, their lifestyle and the church was a main part of their lives. The church bell in those times was rung on four different occasions in different ways, he said. Bell used to be rung half an hour before the prayer and then one final bell was rung, asking everyone to get together for the prayer. The bell was also rung when someone got married or passed away. The wedding bell use to be rung at high speed. The bell was rung immediately after a death to announce the news to the community. The passing bell was rung slowly to inform the people of a person’s death. Another church Kalvari Church on Brown Road is also among the oldest and derived its name from ‘Calvary’ referring to the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified. This church was built by American Presbyterian missionaries in 1840. In November 1834, John Lowrie of the American Presbyterian Mission Society established the first Presbyterianism mission station in Ludhiana. To spread Christianity, the missionaries established this Church. near the Jamalpur dump site, but the plan could not materialise. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the MC had planned to set up a plant for recycling floral waste. In October, a century-old building collapsed at Bandeya Mohalla near Chawal Bazaar and a woman and her two-year-old daughter had a narrow escape. Surveys were conducted by the MC in 2021 and at least 156 buildings were declared as unsafe and dangerous and still the MC failed to take any action. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) appointed court commissioner identified significant flaws regarding unscientific handling of solid waste in the city. Court Commissioner, Bhanwarpal Singh Jadon visited 27 sites to verify the ground reality and identified Giaspura and an old primary dumping site on Hambran Road as the worst-affected locations. The highs Recently a major project worth over Rs 53 crore was launched to dispose of around 700 MT of waste generated in the city dai- ly. Around Rs 77 crore have already been launched in the past for bioremediation of around 19.62 lakh MT of legacy waste at the Jamalpur, Tajpur road and Jainpur sites. Project to install 6,000 streetlights at the cost of Rs 14 crore in different wards of the city has been launched. Under this project new streetlights will be installed and those lying defunct or stolen will also be replaced. Priority will be given to those areas where there are no streetlights. The first street vending zone will be established near the Children’s Park at a cost of around Rs 47 lakh. Establishment of vending zones has been hanging fire for more than a decade. Despite notifying sites for vending zones, the work on it failed to start. Making best use of the space under flyovers, sports courts are being built under flyovers and overbridges in the city. Basketball courts have been developed under the flyover near BRS Nagar alongside the Sidhwan Canal and badminton and basketball courts have been developed under the Lakkar Bridge. Attack on BJP candidate, brother; five booked Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 25 The Moti Nagar police yesterday registered a case against five persons who had attacked a BJP candidate and his brother during the campaigning of MC elections. The accused have been identified as Vinay Sabharwal, his father Ajay Sabharwal, Ajay’s wife Bibi, Sandeep Kumar and Shivam, all residents of Ambedkar Nagar. Complainant Rakesh Kumar said that his brother Vicky Sahota was contesting the MC elections from ward No. 30. On December 18, he, along with his brother and other supporters, was cam- paigning in Ambedkar Nagar when Sabharwal cornered his brother and pointed a pistol at him, but people calmed him down. After sometime the above accused cornered him and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. He suffered serious injuries in the attack. The complainant added that he had lodged a police complaint on the same day and yesterday the police registered a case against the accused. He demanded that they should be arrested. Investigating officer ASI Anil Kumar said that after registering a case raids were being conducted to nab the accused.