19062026-CT-01.qxd 6/19/2026 1:14 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune » » CITY BJP CHIEF KICKS UP ROW PAGE 3 MEET POLICY NORMS IN 15 DAYS, CAB FIRMS TOLD PAGE 3 CHANDIGARH 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 70 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD WHAT’S ON APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 24 and 46 Mohali: Sector 68 and Phase 5 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com /THETRIBUNECHD » FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Killers slipped through three states before arrest Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 18 The two accused in the Sector 11 shooting case, who were arrested from Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, suffered bullet injuries as they tried to escape from police custody near the Dhanas forest area here this morning. Both accused, 22-year-old Sunny Mehra and 19-year-old Aryan Sharma, were arrested from Rajouri four days after they shot dead 45-year-old Janki Das, a cashier at Shree Kumar Medical Hall. They were being brought to Chandigarh. When the police cavalcade reached the Dhanas forest area, a driver nodded off due to fatigue and rammed the vehicle into a tree. Both accused tried to take advantage of the situation and one of them grabbed a pistol, which had fallen from a police officer’s holster. He fired two shots at the police. The cops retaliated and both accused were shot in the leg. They were rushed to the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16. “Acting upon credible intel- Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Injured accused at the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16 WHAT HAPPENED IN DHANAS FOREST AREA ■ A driver nodded off and rammed the police vehicle into a tree ■ Accused Sunny picked up a Forensic experts collect evidence from the encounter site near Dhanas on Thursday. PARDEEP TEWARI THIRD ACCUSED ARRESTED BY J&K POLICE AT SAMBA The third accused, Amit Kumar, was arrested by the J&K police near Samba on Thursday evening. He was arrested with six members of the Rohit Kumar “Makhan” gang, who were wanted in extortion cases in J&K. The Chandigarh Police will bring him here on production warrant. ligence and evidence collected during the investigation, the UT police teams conducted raids at multiple locations in Punjab, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir. Sunny (Mehra) and Aryan (Sharma) were arrested in Jammu & Kashmir around 7:30 pm on Wednesday,” said Pushpendra Kumar, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chandigarh. When asked about the recovery of weapons used in the crime and motive behind the cashier’s murder, the IGP said the investigation was still not over. After the June 13 incident, the UT police formed a special investigation team Police foil major robbery, arrest 5 with weapons Advocate among two held, module operated from Kharar Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Drugs seized by the police in a joint operation with the NCB. Kharar uncovered an additional 700 grams of methamphetamine and 250 grams of poppy straw. A woman residing with the accused was also arrested for allegedly facilitating and actively assisting in the trafficking operations. NCB officials said the methamphetamine seized in the case was 16 times the notified commercial quantity under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The main accused had previously been booked in an NDPS-related case. Panchkula, June 18 The police on Thursday claimed to have averted a major robbery with the arrest of five armed men. The police seized a foreignmade pistol, six cartridges, iron rods, an axe and a spear from the accused. A car used by them was impounded. The accused have been identified as Deepak, Khushdeep, Bablu, Hrithik, and Navish, all residents of Malout in Muktsar, Punjab. Kalka Assistant Commissioner of Police Ashish Kumar said they had received a tip-off on Wednesday that some men had gathered in a car near a cow shelter to plan a major robbery. continued on page 2 City heritage furniture auctioned in Brussels Nitin Jain WHAT WENT UNDER THE HAMMER Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 18 Barely a fortnight after the auction of Punjab MLA Hostel’s furniture in Chicago, another set of Chandigarh’s heritage furniture designed by Pierre Jeanneret went under the hammer in Brussels today through auction house PIASA, with a combined estimate of about Rs 3.16 crore spread across 13 lots. Heritage activist Ajay Jagga, a member of the Heritage Protection Cell, Chandigarh, flagged the sale in a representation sent this morning to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, seeking urgent diplomatic intervention before the auction concluded. “Several auction houses are openly displaying original institutional mark- MAX 37°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 39.2°C | MIN 25.5°C SUNSET FRIDAY 7.27 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5.22 AM Sec 11 firing accused shot in leg as both try to escape Narcotics Bureau, UT police bust Pak-linked ‘Ice’ syndicate Chandigarh, June 18 The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh Zonal Unit, in coordination with Chandigarh Police, has dismantled a Pakistan-linked methamphetamine, popularly known as “Ice” or “party drug”, trafficking module operating from Kharar. According to the NCB, the operation was launched on June 12 following specific intelligence inputs regarding the movement of synthetic drugs in the Tricity. Acting on the information, officials intercepted a vehicle being used by the main accused and recovered 93 grams of methamphetamine and 10 grams of heroin during the search. Subsequent raids at a flat in PARTLY CLOUDY HEAT TO PERSIST FOR TWO MORE DAYS PAGE 3 FRIDAY | 19 JUNE 2026 | CHANDIGARH AIR QUALITY INDEX FORECAST Item Estimated cost (€)* Item Library table Sofa Pair of office chairs Bench Pair of committee chairs Tables designed for PU Design Piece from HC 40,000 – 60,000 15,000– 20,000 15,000– 20,000 8,000– 12,000 15,000– 20,000 15,000– 20,000 18,000– 25,000 ings and inscriptions identifying their provenance from Chandigarh and Punjab Government establishments. Such markings not only establish authenticity and ownership but also substantially strengthen India’s claim for recovery and repatriation of these goods,” Jagga wrote. “There appears to be no visible effort to challenge these sales or secure the return of such heritage property,” he added. Jagga noted that unlike in Estimated cost (€) Chair with writing tablet 3,000– 4,000 Set of three stools 15,000– 20,000 Chest of drawers 6,000– 9,000 Bench from HC 12,000– 18,000 Pair of armchairs 6,000– 9,000 Student’s desk 8,000– 12,000 & library chair *1 € EQUAL TO ~108 earlier instances, the lots put up for auction in Brussels carried no visible inventory numbers, even though their institutional provenance was openly declared in the auction catalogue. He sought sensitisation of Indian missions abroad, a formal advisory to monitor international auction houses, a coordinated mechanism between the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India, and a domestic probe into how marked government assets keep leaving the country. “The continued auction of Chandigarh heritage articles abroad is not an isolated incident but a systemic and ongoing loss of India’s cultural identity,” he wrote, invoking Article 49 of the Constitution, which casts an obligation on the State to protect objects of national importance from export or disposal, along with Articles 51A(f) and (i) on the duty of citizens to preserve heritage and safeguard public property. The development comes close on the heels of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan seeking a custody report from the Chandigarh Administration after a pair of heritage chairs and a set of four low stools from the Punjab MLA Hostel in Sector 4 were auctioned in Chicago on June 4 for over Rs 59 continued on page 2 c m y b (SIT) comprising officers from the Crime Branch, Operations Cell, District Crime Cell and the Sector 11 police station. “The special investigation team carried out an extensive investigation involving CCTV footage analysis, technical surveillance, intelligence gathering continued on page 2 service weapon, which had fallen from an officer’s holster ■ The accused opened fire at the police while trying to escape ■ During the exchange of fire, Sunny sustained two gunshot injuries in his left leg and Aryan was hit in the right leg ■ The driver of the police vehicle also suffered injuries. Chandigarh, June 18 The shooters behind the daylight murder of a cashier at a medical store in Sector 11 here escaped through multiple states using public transport and a stolen motorcycle. They travelled nearly 500 km to Jammu and Kashmir before being tracked down by the UT police at Rajouri in an interstate manhunt. Their escape route was pieced together through CCTV footage, hotel records and technical surveillance. The police on Thursday disclosed that the accused arrived in Chandigarh on a stolen motorcycle carrying a Punjab registration number, carried out the killing in broad daylight and then quietly exited the city through Sector 43 before boarding a bus to Delhi. From there, they allegedly travelled by train to Jammu and Kash- mir. Their escape has raised fresh questions about real-time interception mechanisms even as investigators claim to have solved the case within days. FROM SECTOR 11 TO J&K According to the police, the breakthrough came after investigators spent days examining hundreds of CCTV feeds, tracing transport routes and analysing technical evidence gathered across Chandigarh, Punjab, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. The operation culminated in the arrest of main shooter Sunny Mehra of Samba district and motorcycle rider Aryan Sharma of Rajouri district on Wednesday evening. POLICE FOCUS NOW ON MASTERMIND: DGP Speaking to The Tribune, Chandigarh DGP Dr Sagar Preet Hooda said the arrests continued on page 2