11062026-LT-01.qxd 6/11/2026 12:58 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune BIZMEN ‘ASKED TO HELP’ IN POLICE POST WORK JANHVI KAPOOR CARRYING MOTHER'S LEGACY FORWARD? AS GULLAK ENTERS SEASON 5, JAMEEL REFLECTS ON ITS MAGIC CP Swapan Sharma denied financial assistance had been sought from local industrialists. P2 Chiranjeevi and Sridevi were one of most iconic on-screen pairs in Telugu cinema, celebrated for their chemistry. P4 Jameel Khan elucidates, “This is my story, your story, that of middle class; it’s relatable for it picks up relevant issues.” P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 41°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 44°C | MIN 28°C SUNSET THURSDAY 7:24 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:21 AM THURSDAY | 11 JUNE 2026 | LUDHIANA High drama as councillor, civic body MC didn’t let 7,500-tonne cow dung enter engineer clash over works in ward Buddha Dariya in 62 days: Seechewal Argument turns into scuffle as Arora ‘slaps’ MC official Sukhpreet Singh COUNCILLOR ALLEGES DELAYED REPAIR WORKS Tribune News Service Ward 20 councillor Kamal Arora said he had visited the MC office to seek an update on pending development works in his ward. Arora claimed that despite raising the issue several times, the works had not been taken up on a priority basis. Ludhiana, June 10 High drama unfolded at the Municipal Corporation’s Zone B office on Wednesday after an argument between a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor and a senior civic body official allegedly turned into a physical altercation as the former allegedly slapped the MC official. The incident involved Ward 20 councillor Chatarveer Singh, aka Kamal Arora, and Superintending Engineer (Buildings and Roads) Parveen Singla. Following the confrontation, the MC authorities began looking into the matter while the engineering wing also decided to approach the police. According to the councillor, he had visited the MC office to seek an update on several pend- ing development works in his ward. He alleged that roads in many localities were in a poor condition and residents had been repeatedly demanding repairs. Arora claimed that despite raising the issue several times, the works had not been taken up on a priority basis. The councillor said he had been trying to contact the official for the past several days but he did not receive a satisfactory response. Elderly man dies after being attacked while mediating in land dispute 23-year-old youth, chef killed in road accidents Ludhiana, June 10 An elderly man who went to mediate in a land dispute between two parties lost his life after he was attacked during the incident. The victim succumbed to the injuries after nearly three weeks of treatment at a hospital. Deceased’s kin announced that they would not cremate the body till suspects are held. Elderly Sukhdev Singh had gone to mediate between the two parties arguing over property dispute on May 22 but he was brutally attacked. “Persons from one party attacked the man. They first rammed a tractor into him and then beat him with rods. Sukhdev underwent treatment at a hospital in Ludhiana from where he was shifted to the PGI in Chandigarh where he succumbed after nearly three weeks after the attack,” deceased’s kin said. SHO, Koom Kalan police station, inspector Madhu Bala, said a case was already registered on May 22 and further sections were being added. Initially a cross case was filed. — TNS Tribune News Service SUPDT ENGINEER DENIES ALLEGATIONS Councillor Kamal Arora Ludhiana, June 10 Two road accidents reported in the district snuffed out two lives. A hotel chef and a man heading to a pilgrimage on a motorcycle breathed their last. In the first incident, a 23year-old youth from the city died in a road accident in Khanna while going on a pilgrimage to Shri Hemkund Sahib on his bike. The incident occurred near Manji Sahib on the GT Road, about 25 km from Ludhiana. The deceased has been identified as 23-year-old Jitender Singh, a resident of Partap Singh Road, Haibowal, Ludhiana. As per information, about 30 men from Ludhiana had went on bikes for the pilgrimage to Shri Hemkund Sahib. The victim’s bike went out of control and it struck a roadside railing. SE Parveen Singla denied the allegations of negligence and said repair works in the ward had already been conveyed to the executive engineer. “When I reached the office to discuss the issue, an argument broke out. There was a heated exchange of words and afterwards, a minor scuffle took place,” he said. Arora maintained that residents were facing difficulties due to damaged roads and delayed repair works. He specifically referred to pending road maintenance work in areas of his ward, including GRD Nagar. On the other hand, Superintending Engineer The impact was so severe that Jitender Singh suffered serious neck injuries and died on the spot. He was an electrician by profession and came from a modest family. His family had been staying in a rented house for many years. From a young age, Jitender had been shouldering the family’s financial responsibilities and working hard to support them. ASI Karamjit Singh said based on statements of his family members, the police initiated inquest proceedings under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). In the other incident, a hotel chef died in a hitand-run accident on Lud- Parveen Singla denied the allegations of negligence and said the repair works in the ward had already been conveyed to the executive engineer. He admitted that an argument broke out between the two sides but the matter escalated unnecessarily.“There was a heated discussion. I have informed senior officials about the incident and we will submit a complaint to the Police Department,” he said. hiana’s Tajpur Road. The deceased has been identified as Ramesh Kumar Thapa, a resident of Khasi Kalan. The suspect driver fled the scene after the incident. When his family members were searching for him in the morning, they found his mangled Honda Activa on the road. The deceased’s wife, Saraswati, said Ramesh worked as a chef at Lark dhaba. After finishing his shift around midnight, he was returning home in Khasi Kalan on his Activa. When he reached Tajpur Road, an unknown speeding vehicle hit him. The victim was the breadwinner in his family. His two daughters are married and son stays in Dubai. Based on the statement of the deceased’s daughter, Lakshmi, the police registered a case against the unidentified driver and launched a probe to nab the suspect. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 10 Rajya Sabha MP and environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal while addressing the 38th meeting on the clean-up campaign of the Buddha Dariya at the MC’s Zone D office on Wednesday stated that all officials had worked as a team to bring significant improvements in the dariya’s water quality and positive results are emerging. Seechewal said officials, who played an active role in cleaning the Budda Dariya, deserve thanks and strict action would be taken against those who were negligent. ADC Amit Bamby, MC Joint Commissioner Amanpreet Singh, other senior officials of the Police Department, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and the contractor hired for lifting cow dung were among others present in the meeting. Sant Seechewal said during the meeting, MC officials reported that a total of 7,500 tonnes of cow dung was collected from Tajpur and Haibowal dairies in 62 days. It means that if each tipper carries 12 tonnes of cow dung, 625 tippers of cow dung was prevented from entering the Buddha Dariya. Seechewal told mediapersons that the state gov- Rajya Sabha MP Balbir Singh Seechewal interacts with officials during a meeting. ASHWANI DHIMAN ernment had allocated ~22 crore to collect the cow dung. CBG plants had been installed at both dairy complexes, which pay dairy owners for collecting the cow dung. Contractors had also been instructed to deploy carts for the collection. MC Joint Commissioner Amanpreet Singh said dairy owners were repeatedly requested to install flow meters to measure water consumption but they refused. They were asked to install water tanks in the dairies so that there would be no need to use pumps but the request was also ignored. Despite the drinking water crisis, some dairy owners are ignoring collec- tion arrangements and using clean water to removing and discharging cow dung into the dariya. Seechewal said people in Rajasthan and Malwa were forced to drink water from the Sutlej, which was being polluted in such a way. He said polluting the dariya was not humane. Though the government had made all arrangements, some continue to pollute the water body and protest against the government. Water quality improves, say reports According to reports from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the water quality of the Buddha Dariya is improving signifi- Ex-official of city cycle company booked for misappropriation Lovleen Bains Sahnewal, June 10 The Sahnewal police have registered a case after inquiry against a former digital marketing head of a Ludhianabased cycle manufacturing firm for allegedly selling its cycles online and failing to return over Rs 2 lakh taken as loan from the company. Dr Deepak Jain, a resident of Pavitar Nagar, Haibowal Kalan, had alleged that Rajan Pandey (42), who was employed as a digital marketing head at Avon Cycles Limited, not only sold cycles online without informing the persons concerned but also refused to return Rs 2 lakh taken by him as loan from the company. Pandey is a resident of Nirankari Mohalla, Ludhiana, and he is at present staying in Giaspura. The suspect sold cycles online on Amazon, JioMart and Flipkart while working as the digital marketing head. Later, a total of 632 cycles were found missing as per the stock state- ment. It was found that the suspect sold the cycles online but did not deposit sales amount with the company. It was further alleged that Pandey took a loan of Rs 5 lakh from the company but could not return the entire amount, with Rs 2 lakhs still pending. Meanwhile, he also stopped reporting to work. Investigating official Karanjit Singh said the suspect still evades the police net but will soon be in custody. The probe was underway. Year on, city man deported from America still untraceable Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 10 Amritpal Singh (29), a resident of Raja Garden, Hambran Road, here, was sent to the USA by his family in the hope that he would settle abroad and help them overcome their financial difficulties. However, fate had other plans. Last CCTV footage of 2025 surfaces, kin spent ~50L to send him to US after borrowing money The CCTV footage of the victim at a dhaba near the DMCH, Ludhiana, on April 1, 2025. Ever since Amritpal landed in India and reached Ludhiana after being deported, he went missing. A year has passed, and there is still no sign of him. The son of a farmer, Amritpal, was deported from the US in April 2025 along with other Punjabi youths. After leaving the Delhi airport, he reached Ludhiana. He contacted his family only once before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Since then, the family has been running from pillar to post to trace him. The last known CCTV footage of Amritpal, obtained by the family, shows him at a dhaba near the DMCH. In the CCTV footage from April 1, 2025, he is seen wearing a white T-shirt with a mask on his face and entering the dhaba. After having food, he left and was never seen again. Gurjeet Singh, brother of the victim, told The Tribune that Amritpal had a dream of settling in the US. “He wanted to ensure the welfare of the family and give us a comfortable life,” he said. “A Jalandhar-based travel agent was contacted who promised to send Amritpal to the US. In return, the agent took Rs 50 lakh. We borrowed the money from various sources in 2023. In July 2023, the agent first sent him to Dubai and then through vari- c m y b ous countries via the ‘donkey route’, Amritpal managed to enter the US,” Gurjeet said. He said his brother was working in the US. However, in June 2024 during a crackdown on illegal immigrants, he was caught by the US immigration authorities and kept in custody for several months. “On April 9, 2025, Amritpal along with four other deportees, reached the Delhi airport. Though our family members had gone to the airport, they could not meet him. But we received confirmation from the airport authorities that he had landed safely. When we returned to Ludhiana, Amritpal had still not reached home. Even the phone he was carrying was switched off,” Gurjeet said. Amritpal’s brother further said on April 11, they learnt he had taken a room in a hotel near the DMCH. CCTV footage from the hotel confirmed his presence. The next day, on April 12, Amritpal visited a mobile shop in Ghumar Mandi, where he sold his iPhone and bought a cheap second-hand phone. Shop footage confirmed this transaction but since the family did not have the IMEI number of the new phone, Amritpal’s digital footprint vanished completely. The family searched for him at various religious places, including Hazur Sahib in Maharashtra and other gurdwaras that Amritpal used to visit frequently but found no trace of him. The deportee’s brother alleged that they lodged a police complaint at the office of the Commissioner of Police on April 14, 2025, and another at the PAU police station on April 29. However, the police registered a case only after two months. “We suspect that my brother might have slipped into depression after being deported from the US despite spending around Rs 50 lakh. He could have taken some extreme step. We also fear that he might have been illegally confined by some unidentified persons. The police should intensify the probe so that Amritpal can be traced,” Gurjeet said. A complaint against the Jalandhar-based travel agent who sent Amritpal to the US via the donkey route has also been lodged, demanding registration of an FIR. The Ludhiana police finally registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Gurjeet Singh, after more than two months. The case was registered against unidentified persons on the suspicion of illegal confinement. SHO, PAU police station, inspector Rajinderpal said investigation was underway and efforts were being made to trace the victim. The police were in regular touch with his family. cantly. Officials presented reports from January 2026 to April 2026 in the meeting, stating that samples collected near Bhammia Wali Puli showed a TDS of 918 in January, which dropped to 366 in April. The BOD was 93 in January, falling to 7 in April, COD levels decreased from 312 in January to 32 in April. The biggest change was seen in E coli samples from the same location, 2,10,000 in January dropped to just 3,200 in April. The most dangerous component, F coli, decreased from 94,000 in January to only 1,100 in April. Reports from different parts of the water body consistently show significant improvement in the water quality of the dariya. Unit making fake sewing machines busted in city Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 10 A unit manufacturing fake sewing machines branded as products of a popular company busted in Janta Nagar here. The Police Division 6 conducted raids and seized a large quantity of machines from the spot. Arun Mathur, special investigation manager at Lancer Network Limited, New Delhi, filed a complaint with the police. He had received a tip-off from his team member, Rahul Sharma, that Tejinder Singh and his son, Amritpal Singh, were manufacturing counterfeit sewing machines in the name of a popular brand in Janta Nagar. The fatherson duo were duping people by using the original brand’s label and selling the counterfeit goods in the local market. The police took action and raided the specified location. Led by SI Rajinder Pal, the police seized 25 counterfeit sewing machines, all bearing the company’s label, and an erickshaw, which was being used to transport the goods. The police registered a case against both suspects under Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The police are now conducting a thorough investigation to determine how long the counterfeit goods business has been running, who are main buyers in the market and which cities the racket extends to. More major revelations are expected in the case in coming days.