In brief

Realtor rescued,5 held as police bust abduction racket
The Amritsar (Rural) police rescued a small-time realtor,Joginder Singh Bal (81),a resident of Butala near Beas,and arrested his five abductors. The police carried out a major manhunt after registering an abduction case on Monday. They laid a trap after the abductors called up Bal’s family members and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. Besides a real estate business,Bal’s family also runs brick kilns. Senior Superintendent of Police G S Chauhan said Bal had gone to withdraw money from the local post office when he was abducted. “The abductors gave a bank account number to Bal’s family for depositing the money. The account was opened on the basis of fake identification documents,it was found,” said the SSP,adding that the arrested five were Pardhan Singh,Harjinder Singh,Lakhbir Singh,Gurcharan Singh and Gurdial Singh. “They were taking Bal to a distant place at gunpoint when the Santro car they were traveling in was intercepted at a toll plaza on the GT Road at Wazir-Bhullar village,” said Chauhan,adding that two pistols and cartridges were recovered from the possession of the accused.

Encroachment on govt land: Khaira seeks action against officials for wrong info
Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira submitted a complaint to Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon on Tuesday against the Kapurthala deputy commissioner,Bholath sub-divisional magistrate and the Begowal executive officer for providing wrong information to the State Information Commission (SIC) regarding an illegal construction and encroachment on the nagar panchayat land in Begowal measuring 90 kanals which is reportedly worth Rs 100 crore. Khaira also requested the Speaker to summon the officials for breach of privilege of an elected representative. Earlier in the day,he held a press conference in Jalandhar in which he provided photographic evidence to the media to prove his allegations. Khaira also filed a complaint with the SIC alleging that construction on the nagar panchayat was being undertaken by a trust headed by Rajneet Kaur,the daughter of former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur,for a private school. The MLA also alleged that he had complained to the Punjab chief secretary last year but to no avail. He said that when the SIC called a report from the Kapurthala DC,he claimed that no construction was carried out on the basis of a report by the Bholath SDM. While a notice was issued on August 8,2009,the construction is still on. Kapurthala DC Raj Kamal Chaudhary,meanwhile,claimed the information provided by them was correct.

Robbers posing as census enumerators held
The police claimed to have arrested three robbers on Tuesday,who had entered a house posing as census enumerators and stolen cash and a car a few months ago in Central Town,Jalandhar. Five impersonators fled with nearly Rs 1 lakh cash and a car after holding the family members captive. Amandeep Singh alias Mintu,Mandeep alias Sonu,Bunty alias Cristo were arrested on Tuesday. Pardeep is already in police custody while Happy is still at large. It is learnt that Bunty knew the family as his mother in-law had been working as a helper with them. He then hatched a plan with the other four accused who hail from Dhapai village in Amritsar district.

Prostitution racket busted in Amritsar
The Amritsar busted a prostitution racket on Tuesday and arrested four men and three women under various Sections of the Immoral Trafficking Act. The police said the raid was carried out after a tip-off. Those arrested are Kamal Kishor,Tarun Mahajan,Lakhbir Masih,Varinder Singh,Manpreet Kaur,Simran and Mandip Kaur.

SBP ties up with VE Commercial Vehicles
The State Bank of Patiala has entered into a tie-up with VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd (a joint venture of Volvo and Eicher) for financing of commercial vehicles manufactured by the company. The MoU was signed by R D Modi,SBP General Manager,and Nikhil Baijal,Business Head,VE Commercial Vehicles. SBP Chief General Manager T Lokeshaiah presided over the function. Salil Mishra,GM (Treasury),S Sridhar,GM (Tech),and Ashok Gupta,DGM (D&RB),were also present. Under the tie-up,the bank will finance the vehicles at concessionary terms through its 893 branches and expects to get business of over Rs 150 crore during the current year under micro segment.

Left parties to hold protest march
The Punjab units of CPI and CPI(M) will hold a march from August 16 to 31 in all districts against the increasing prices of essential commodities,including petrol and diesel. The decision was taken in meeting of the state coordination committee of the two parties. The committee said the marches would be flagged off from Jallianwala Bagh,Khatkar Kalan,Husseiniwala,Isroo and Dhoot Kalan by state leaders of both parties.