Chandigarh news: Siblings held for rape, abduction of girl; Man held for duping one of Rs 8.95 lakh for Canadian Visa; and more

A police officer said, “One of the accused abducted the girl from her village and brought her to his house. His sister was aware about it. The girl’s family members traced her and reached Chandigarh. They approached Chandigarh police on October 31. Subsequently, the sibling along with the girl disappeared from their house. After the search, they were found hiding at another house. The girl was rescued and the accused were arrested. The FIR was registered on the statement of the girl’s mother. Parents of the siblings were also informed about the arrest of their wards.”

After being rescued, the girl was counseled by a team of women counselors of Crime and Women Cell. Her medical examination confirmed the rape allegations. The mobile phones of the accused, who work as domestic helps, were also seized.

Man held for duping one of Rs 8.95 lakh for Canadian Visa

A resident Hoshiarpur was arrested Friday night for cheating a man of Rs 8.95 lakh on the pretext of aiding him to get a work permit in Canada. The accused Kamaljeet Singh was arrested from Kapurthala and remanded in two days police custody on Saturday.

The arrest was made after an FIR was registered against him by Manoj Kumar under the 24 Immigration Act.
Manoj Kumar, a resident of Manimajra said that he had come in contact with Kamaljeet through a common friend and Kamaljeet had assured him of providing Canadian work visa. According to Manoj, Kamaljeet charged him Rs 8.95 lakh for the same in February 2019, however he failed to send him abroad.

Police said when the complainant contacted Kamaljeet Singh over the money, he did not retort. Thus, Manoj filed an FIR with the local police in June 2019.

DSP Dilsher Singh Chandel said, “Accused Kamaljeet Singh was absconding since the registration of the FIR against him. He is an accused in several other cheating cases. Recently, one of his mobile numbers got activated and we traced his location and arrested him at Kapurthala.”

Man gets 3 years in jail for stealing power by tampering meter’s seals

A Chandigarh resident accused of electricity by tampering the seals of a meter was sentenced to three-year imprisonment by the District Court. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict.

The convict, Hareet Singh, a resident of Sector 28 A in Chandigarh, was sentenced imprisonment by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Gagan Geet Kaur, under the Section 135 of the Electricity Act, for committing theft of electricity by tampering the seals of the energy meter.

According to the prosecution, the matter dates back to January 5, 2016, when the Electricity department’s Sub Divisional Officer Rakesh Mahajan, filed a complaint against Hareet, accusing him of the electricity theft.

The complainant said that Hareent Singh’s meter (CHEP 21483) was checked, packed and sealed by the Enforcement Wing of the Electricity department on June 21, 2013 on account of doubt on authenticity of M&P seals. The meter was checked on November 25, 2013 in the lab of the department where the seals of the meter were found tampered and its working was found slow. As Hareet was a first time offender, he was directed to furbish the compounding charges, according to the Section 152 of the Electricity Act 2003.

However, in the second incident, the accused’s meter (CHEP 59532) was checked and packed on April 13, 2015 on account of broken and tampered seals. However, when the same was checked on December 29, 2015 by the Electricity department, its seals were found tampered, the meter’s working was found slow by over 66 per cent and an extra electronics circuit was found connected with the meter’s PCB. In the wake of the second incident, the Electricity department filed an FIR against the accused.

During the trial in the matter, the defense counsel had argued that the aluminum seals of the meter were affixed by the JE of the Electricity department when the complaint regarding burning of the cables from electricity pole to the meter were made and after replacing the wires, the concerned JE himself had affixed aluminum seals on the meters. The counsel also said that Hareet had not committed electricity theft as well, however, to avoid harassment had deposited the penalty amount with the department. He had further said that the meter was not checked by an independent or departmental lab earlier.

After hearing the arguments and facts of the case, the court said that the accused was guilty and thus, sentenced him to three-year imprisonment.

Chitkara University asked to pay Rs 10,000 to student who cancelled admission after classes began

The Chandigarh Consumer Forum directed Chitkara University to pay Rs 10,000 to a student who surrendered his seat after admission.

According to complainant Ashwin Rajput, a resident of Chandigarh, he had taken admission in BTech in Computer Science Engineering at Chitkara University and deposited a sum of Rs 1,38,500 for the same, following which he was allotted a roll number on August 14, 2017.

Ashwin said that the classes for the course were to begin from August 16, 2017, however, he did not attend the classes and instead, applied to cancel his admission and also requested for a refund of the fee amount and other charges to the tune of Rs 1,38,500, which was deposited by him earlier. The institute refunded Rs 1,18,500 and deducted an amount of Rs 20,000, not adhering to the Fee Refund Policy, the complainant said.

In its reply, Chitkara University said that as per the provisions, refund of entire fee was applicable to the students who surrender their seats before the commencement of the course. However, the complainant had submitted his application for surrendering the seat on August 16, 2017, after the commencement of the course.

After hearing the arguments, the forum held that since the request was made by the complainant after the commencement of the programme, the institution was within its rights to deduct Rs 10,000 as per the refund policy. As the complainant had attended the counseling sessions of the institution, thus, the institution recovering Rs 2,500 towards the counseling fee was also justified, the forum said. It said, the complainant had retained hostel accommodation for a week, hence, the institution’s action of recovering over 10 per cent of the hostel fees was not justified and it should refund the balance amount after deducting Rs 4,500 (10 per cent of Rs 45,000).

The forum directed Chitkara University to refund Rs 3,000 that was excessively charged from the complainant and pay him Rs 3,500 as compensation and Rs 3,500 as litigation cost.