Man booked on rape charge

Bathinda: The Mansa police have booked a person for allegedly raping a student of Class II. According to information, the accused was putting up as a tenant at the victim’s house located on the Jawaharke road in town. The accused has been identified as Kuldeep Singh. According to the police, the accused had been sexually exploiting the victim for quite some time and her parents first reported the matter to her school authorities, which subsequently took it up with the Child Care Centre. The medical examination of the victim has already been conducted. The police have launched a manhunt to nab the accused. Police sources said the accused was earlier staying in the Raman Cinema road area in Mansa. TNS

60-yr-old woman dies of swine flu

Bathinda: A 60-old-woman died of swine flu here on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Malkiat Kaur, a resident of Balluana village. She was undergoing treatment at a private hospital here. Family members of the deceased said she had been suffering from high fever for the past 10 days and had developed acute weakness in her body. She was admitted to a private hospital in the city when her condition deteriorated. She was then referred to another multi-speciality private hospital. After the initial treatment, she was again referred to a hospital in Ludhiana where on Thursday morning, she died.  With her death, the total count of deaths due to swine flu has reached six in the district. TNS