Respond to NRI complaints, Punjab officials told

Chandigarh, July 23, 2011 Punjab's Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Affairs Minister Balbir Singh Bath has asked officials to immediately respond to the grievances of NRIs. The minister said in a statement that the state government had initiated many new steps for the welfare and security of NRIs. "In order to safeguard their properties in Punjab, the East Punjab Rent Act has been amended empowering NRIs to get their property on rent vacated from tenants," Bath said. He said all 20 districts in Punjab had separate revenue courts for NRIs for speedy disposal of their cases. "Exclusive NRI police stations have been set up in six districts having predominant NRI population. One court for NRIs has been opened in Jalandhar in consultation with the Punjab and Haryana High Court," the minister said. Punjab has thousands of NRIs, especially from the Doaba belt comprising Jalandhar, Nawanshehr, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, settled in countries like the US, Canada and Britain.

Man held for creating fake Facebook profile

Mohali, September 7

The cyber crime wing of the Punjab State Crime Branch, Mohali, has arrested a man for allegedly creating a fake profile of a woman from Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, on Facebook.
The arrested has been identified as Kanwaljit Singh (25), a Jagroan-based software professional. A case under Sections 66-A and 66-D of the IT Act and Sections 419 and 509 of the IPC has been registered against him.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, SSP State Crime Branch, said the motive behind the crime was to defame the complainant because of some personal enmity. The case was investigated by a team of officers headed by DSP Vibhor Kumar. The fake profile displayed the woman’s phone number and other details. The profile said she was an organiser of a musical dance group and can be contacted on her mobile number and e-mail. The woman started receiving calls on the basis of her profile and she was forced to approach the crime branch. 

Trinidad and Tobago high commissioner visits Sanghol

Sanghol (Bassi Pathana), September 6
Chandradath Singh, High Commissioner, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, visited the Cordia Group of Institutes, Sanghol, on Monday. The High Commissioner inspected various facilities available on the campus and interacted with the faculty and students of different institutes. He appreciated the quality of education offered at various institutes and appreciated the efforts of Lord Rana in creating educational infrastructure in a rural area. Dr RK Sharma, director, Cordia Institute, highlighted achievements of the institute.

Gurdaspur family tried for murder that never was

 Seeks impartial inquiry into case; HC issues notice of motion to Punjab

Chandigarh, September 5If allegations in a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court are to be believed, a Gurdaspur district resident and his family are facing criminal proceedings for a murder that never took place.
Seeking directions to the State of Punjab for a fair and impartial inquiry through the CBI or some other independent agency, Satnam Singh has alleged that complainant Amrik Singh got a murder case registered against him and six of his family members on June 9 under Sections 302, 201 and 404 of the IPC at the Civil Lines police station, Batala, after one Jagroop Singh disappeared and a body was found.
The petitioner added that he and his family were picked up by the police and tortured. However, they were released from illegal custody after the forensic examination of the body revealed that it was of a 40-year-old man, while Jagroop Singh was only 18.
The petitioner claimed that his cousin Gurparkash Singh was married to Paramjit Kaur, but she had an illicit relation.
On May 26, Paramjit Kaur in connivance with Jagroop Singh and his family administered sleeping pills to her husband Gurparkash Singh and mother-in-law before taking away gold and cash.
He added that the police till date had not carried out further investigations to find out the truth.
Taking up the petition filed through counsel Simranjit Singh, the high court has issued a notice of motion to the state of Punjab and other respondents.

Gang behind fake degrees busted

Patiala, September 5
Numerous candidates seeking government jobs and those who recently bagged these are under the scanner with a fake degree racket busted by the district police. More than 1,700 persons are believed to have benefited from fake certificates, showing affiliation with Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, and the Punjab School Education Board, in the past over four years.
The police claims to have arrested Balvir Singh and Gurpreet Singh, alias Ginny, both residents of Mohali. Another suspect Jaswinder Singh is yet to be arrested. His arrest is crucial as he is believed to have “ arranged for potential candidates.”
Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill said that Balvir and Gurpreet had revealed during preliminary questioning that marks sheets of Panjab University, Punjabi University and the school board were sold for as low as Rs 7,000.
“In some cases, marks were shown awarded to candidates who had either failed or had not appeared for the examination at all ”, Gill said.
On the modus operandi, the SSP said while one of the gang members looked for customers, the other two made certificates on a scanner using paper similar to that used by the two universities. “We are probing the matter and the role of university insiders cannot be ruled out. The certificates looked impeccable at first glance”, he said.
Police officials investigating the case said the recent recruitments, including those in the police wing, in the past three years were under the scanner. “We will try to recover all the certificates from the accused, verify these from the universities and then zero in on the candidates who benefited from them ”, said SI Bhinder Singh.
The police have got in touch with officials of the two universities as well as the school board for details pertaining to the degrees recovered from the computer records.
“Our teams will tally the records recovered with the original ones and summon all those suspected to be involved in the scam”, said CIA incharge Sukhminder Chauhan.
A case has been registered under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC at the Tripuri police station.