In brief

Murder case solved,woman,lover arrested
PATIALA: The Patiala police claimed to have solved a blind murder case and have arrested the accused. The police received a complaint that Pawan Kumar Chibby,a resident of New Bishan Nagar,Patiala,was missing under mysterious circumstances with his car. IG Patiala Zone,Paramjit Singh Gill said,“Following detailed investigations,we managed to arrest accused Charinder Singh,a resident of Fatehgarh Sahi,b along deceased’s wife Supriya and third accused Gaurav Sharma”,he added. SSP Khatra said that the accused Charinder Singh was a driver with deceased Pawan Kumar and developed illicit relations with Supriya (45). “The victim found out the truth and he removed Charinder from the job,” he stated. “On December 22,Charinder Singh came to Supriya’s house and they made a plan to eliminate Pawan. As per the plan,Supriya went her parents home at Ropar alongwith her children and Charinder alongwith his friend Gaurav Sharma killed Pawan Kumar while he was asleep and took away his body in a Swift car and threw it in Bhakra Canal at Ganda Kheri,” claimed Khatra. The police said that the accused had been arrested and the weapons used in the crime had been recovered while the body was yet to be recovered.

Lottery sales touch Rs 22 crore per month in Mohali

MOHALI:The lottery business has touched new heights in Mohali,which recorded the highest-ever sale of Punjab State Lotteries worth almost Rs 22 crore in November. The sale was over Rs 5 crore up from that of September when lotteries worth Rs 16.55 crore were sold. In November,the lottery sale earned Rs 17.68 crore revenue. Releasing the official figures hereon Tuesday,Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar attributed it to tightening noose around the notorious gambling groups,which were operating under the garb of selling lotteries across the district. He disclosed that over 30 gambling groups were arrested since September and around Rs 1 lakh cash was recovered from them,which they had collected from the gullible customers on the assurance of paying rich dividends.Bhullar said the illegal business of gambling,which was flourishing in the district for the past sometime,was stopped in its tracks,leading to shooting up of the sales of Punjab State Lotteries. “Gamblers were causing heavy loss to the state exchequer as they used to promote illegal gambling instead of selling state lottery tickets,which the customers come to buy from them,” revealed he. SSP warned all such illegal operators to either close down their establishments or leave the district immediately otherwise stern legal action would be initiated against anybody found indulging in such illegal business.

Woman dies,cop,2 city youths seriously hurt in mishaps
MOHALI:An octogenarian woman Jagir Kaur was killed while a Head Constable and two youths from Chandigarh sustained serious injuries in separate road mishaps in different parts of this district,the police said on Tuesday. Kaur was killed after falling down from a CTU bus in Kharar. Her son Joginder Singh of Sohana village near Mohali told the police that he and his mother were boarding a bus to Fatehgarh Sahib from a bus stop in front of Khalsa school in Kharar but as his mother was still boarding the bus,the driver started the bus. She was rushed to Chandigarh PGIMER,where she died. Punjab Police Head Constable Chaman Lal sustained serious injuries when a recklessly driven unknown vehicle knocked him down when he was riding on a motorcycle to visit an accident spot on the Mohali-Kharar National Highway-21 stretch near Daon village,close to Mohali,around 6.45 pm. He was struggling for life at PGIMER. Rajat Kapoor of Sector 29-D,Chandigarh,and his friend Sandeep Kumar were seriously injured when a canter collided head-on with a motorcycle on which they riding back from Mohali to Chandigarh in Sector 71 here at around 11.30 pm. The police have lodged separate cases under relevant charges against the accused vehicle drivers.

Labourer falls to death
ZIRAKPUR:Kundan (20),a resident of Indira Colony,Panchkula,lost his life after he fell down from an under-construction building in Zirakpur on Tuesday. Kundan was employed as a labourer at a housing project in Maya Gardens,Zirakpur,and suddenly fell down from the roof of an under-construction building after his feet slipped while doing the work. He was rushed to Dera Bassi Civil Hospital,where he was declared dead on arrival. The police have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of CrPC.