Amritsar, March 27

An Army official is being interrogated in connection with his wife’s murder and has undergone the lie-detector test. Lt Col Santosh M Badhkharke, posted with 65 Field Regiment here, underwent a polygraph test on March 18, inspector SS Randhawa, who is probing the case, said today.Badhkharke’s wife Vanita was found dead under mysterious circumstances in their residence in the cantonment area on March 14, 2012, he said.Randhawa had accompanied Badhkharke to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, New Delhi, where the lie-detector test was conducted.He said DCP Kaustub Sharma had recommended the polygraph test after Vanita’s parents approached police, suspecting the army official’s role in her murder.Citing their complaint, Randhawa said the entry of outsiders was restricted in the cantonment area and Vanita was found murdered a day after Badhkharke had gone out for work. — PTI

ail travel for senior citizens will become easier from April 1 as the quota for the elderly has been increased by 50%. The quota can also be availed by 45+ women travelling alone and pregnant women. The decision on the enhancement of the quota is in continuation of railways minister Suresh Prabhu’s budgetary announcement this year.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 15

The Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Pakistani militant who was arrested in Baramulla last month had not only managed to acquire a fake Aadhaar card during his nearly three month hiding in Kashmir but had also stayed at the J&K Police facility for three days.The 18-year-old Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar, alias Shahid, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, was arrested during an operation on the intervening night of February 24 and 25 on the outskirts of Baramulla. He was part of the Jaish’s four-member fidayeen squad which carried out an attack on an Army installation in Tangdhar, Kupwara, in November last year.“The fake Aadhar card of Indian nationality for Gujjar was prepared in the frontier district of Kupwara by a computer operator,” said a senior police officer.The Pakistani militant is believed to have told his interrogators that he was trying to revive the group in Kashmir, whose cadre strength has reduced to less than 10.Born in 1998 at Galotia Kalan in Sialkot, Gujjar was motivated by a friend, Abdul Razzaq, to join the Jaish outfit after passing Class IX, the police said.“Gujjar being a minor got easily motivated for jihad to seek Jannat thereafter. He later joined the Balakote training camp (Syed Shah Ismail Shaheed Madrassa ) wherein he started receiving training in two phases,” said a police report accessed by The Tribune. “The training was imparted by a senior militant of Jaish, Gori Fazal Shah. Besides arms and ammunition, he had specialised training in handling GPS devices, wireless communication devices and map reading. After completing the training, he was allowed to meet his 10-member family at Galotia Kalan for two or three days.”“He was then send to a launching pad at Kundal Shahi in PoK from where he along with his three associates Hussain, Mavia and Rizwan during the intervening night of November 24 and 25, 2015, infiltrated into India and reached Tangdhar Army Camp in the wee hours of November 25, and attacked battalion headquarters of the 3/1 Gorkha Rifles unit in which a civilian was murdered,” the report added. A police officer said Gujjar being the youngest of the attackers was asked by the other members of the group to flee after attacking the army base.“His three associates before getting killed instructed Gujjar to launch another massive attack in the Kashmir valley and establish the Jaish base for furtherance of terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley,” the report said.“The Jaish fidayeen managed to escape from the spot and stayed in forests of Kupwara for two months in the hunt for susceptible youths for recruitment to carry out further attacks in the Valley,” it said. “Gujjar met with a person who owns a computer shop at Kupwara market, who helped him get an election card and an Aadhar card, which helped him roam freely in Kashmir.”The report said the computer shop owner (who was detained by the police for questioning) also helped him get in touch with a person who resides in Kupwara town in getting contacts at Baramulla and also accompanied him on February 6 to the house of a Baramulla resident, who is “already a notorious person and has been involved in various stone-throwing incidents and anti-national activities.” Gujjar got in touch with other youth too in Baramulla.“The whole group, which now consists of the subject (Gujjar), Farhan, Ahsan, Rashid lived in the fear that the news about the presence of subject in the Baramlulla area might be leaked out. They managed to take one Suhail Ganie in confidence whose father is working in the police as a follower at STC (Subsidiary Training Centre), Sheeri, and the subject stayed there from February 18 till February 21, 2016,” the report said, adding that Gujjar also imparted training to local youth near Baramulla.All five associates of Gujjar in Baramulla were arrested by the police.

Wanted to revive Jaish in Valley

• Mohammad Sidiq Gujjar (18), alias Shahid, a resident of Sialkot, was arrested on February 24 night in Baramulla
• He was part of the Jaish’s four-member fidayeen squad which carried out an attack on an Army installation in Tangdhar, Kupwara, in November last year
• Sidiq not only managed to acquire a fake Aadhaar card during his nearly three month hiding in Kashmir but had also stayed at the J&K Police facility for three days
• He told his interrogators he was trying to revive Jaish in Kashmir, whose cadre strength has reduced to less than 10

Central Army Commander Lt-Gen Balwant Singh Negi interacts with fellow officers during a visit to Dehradun on Saturday. Tribune photo

Lt-Gen Negi visits Doon

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12

Lt-General Balwant Singh Negi, Army Commander, Central Command, visited the Army establishments here today.He carried out an inspection of the inter-state junctions of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.The Army Commander stressed on the importance of regular training and maintaining highest standards of operational readiness at all times.He lauded professional acumen and hard work displayed by all ranks of the Army establishments.

Sandeep Rana,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, March 8

Next time, rather than cribbing about not receiving your LPG cylinder on time, better approach the district consumer court. The court here has come down heavily on an LPG distributor asking the agency to pay Rs 25,000 to a retired Lieutenant Colonel for faulty bookings and non-delivery of cylinders on time.The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked Kalka Ji Gas Service, Pinjore, to “pay Rs 15,000 as compensation on account of deficiency in service and causing mental and physical harassment to the complainant, Lt Col NR Sharma (retd)”. It also ordered the firm to pay him Rs 10,000 towards the cost of litigation.The ex-serviceman, a resident of Amravati Enclave, Panchkula, stated in his complaint that being a registered LPG consumer of the firm, he had hardly been provided hassle-free services by the distributor. He had to face a great deal of difficulty in getting his refill due to inordinate delay by the agency.He alleged that in March 2015, he came across instances where the dealer had booked fake orders against his name/consumer number in the past. Not only this, sometimes refills were not supplied against duly booked (manually) orders to him.The complainant said the system of booking and delivery was found to be proper when the online/IVRS system was functional. However, whenever the online system was down, manipulations in booking and delivery were done by the gas service provider.It was alleged that the problem of undue delay in supply of cylinders on the part of the distributor had also been experienced by other residents of the locality.Pronouncing the order, the court observed, “No satisfactory reply has been given by the distributor about the delayed delivery of cylinders, which were booked manually by the complainant when the system (IVRS/online) was down. Hence, we are of the view that the complainant was put to great mental agony and harassment.”However, complaints against two other parties — HP Gas Customer Service Cell, Sector 19, and Food and Supplies Department, Sector 17 — were dismissed by the court.