Regional Beat — Chandigarh

Palampur: A police constable and a woman died in two different incidents during the past 24 hours in Kangra district.A police constable, identified as Bishan Das, who was en route from Nurpur to Bhadwar to execute a non bailable warrant in a case, died after his scooter skidded off the road.Meanwhile, a newly-married woman, Jyoti Bala (23), wife of Vijay Kumar died after she allegedly consumed Celphos tablets in Dehra village.

Batala: A 25-year-old woman died of snake bite at Kotli Surat Malhi town in Batala sub-division yesterday. Kanwaljit Kaur, who was married 20 days ago, had gone to the fields when she was bitten by a snake. She was admitted to the primary health centre, Dhianpur, where she died.

Batala: Two farmers were killed and a 12-year-old boy was seriously injured in two cases of electrocution, near here, yesterday. A farmer, Natha Singh was killed and his son, Sonu, was seriously injured when they accidentally touched a naked wire while spraying pesticide on the paddy crop at Darga Bad village, under Kotli Surat Malhi police station. In another incident, Katha Singh, a farmer, was electrocuted when he touched a tubewell at Bhagwanpur village.

Crime
Nahan: Prithvi Raj, SP Sirmaur, in a statement said that Minka, the main accused in the kidnapping of Saroj Bala (21) of Ramadhaun village had surrendered and was remanded to police custody. He said that so far five persons had been arrested for allegedly raping Saroj at different places.He said the police had traced Saroj at Rohru and a police party had been sent there to bring her back, so that the enquiry could be completed.

Nahan: Manoj Kumar Bansal, additional chief judicial magistrate Nahan sentenced Rajender of Sangarah tehsil, Sirmaur district to rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs 5000 in default of which to undergo further RI for six months on a charge of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds while working in a multipurpose cooperative society in Ludhiana in 1993. It was alleged that the accused made forged entries of loans in the name of seven persons.

Gurdaspur: The Sadar Police, Gurdaspur, have registered a case under Section 302 and 34 IPC against four brothers for alleged killing Ajit Singh (50), of their village, Pandher, about 5 km from here. On the complaint lodged by Joginder Singh, the younger brother of the deceased, the police have booked Sukhwinder Singh alias Shindi, Chain Singh, Davinder Singh and Gurnam Singh, sons of Amar Singh. Gurdaspur SSP Gaurav Yadav said here today that no arrests have been made in this connection yet.

Appointed
Faridkot: L.S. Chawla, a retired principal of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, has taken over as the first Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. After his takeover yesterday, Chawla said that all medical and ayurvedic colleges in the state would be attached to the university. Apart from this, the local Guru Gobind Singh Medical College would be a part of the new university and the pre-medical tests in the state would also be taken up by the university, he added.