Woman loses Rs 27,000 in fraud

Panchkula: A Sector 11 resident woman here was duped of Rs 27,000. According to information, complainant Sonam received a phone call at 11.45 am from an unknown number and a person on the other side started talking about her bank details. The police said that the accused asked her three different OTPs for updating her bank account and duped her of Rs 9,000 through each transaction. A total of Rs 27,000 was taken out from her account fraudulently. Sector 5 SHO Inspector Karambir Singh said a case was registered against an unidentified person under the IT Act. TNS

Encroachments removed 

Chandigarh: The enforcement wing of the Municipal Corporation (MC), Chandigarh, on Thursday removed encroachments from Sector 20 and 41 markets. During the drive, it took nine trucks to remove the seized  material. The drive was carried out under the supervision of Sunil Dutt, Enforcement Inspector. He was assisted by sub-inspectors of the enforcement wing. No untoward incident took place. The drive was held early in the morning. As many as 174 challans were issued. TNS

Transgender told to join probe

Chandigarh:  Acting on a petition filed by a transgender seeking anticipatory bail in a murder and criminal intimidation case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the transgender to join investigation before granting interim bail. Sonam Mahant was seeking bail in an FIR registered on November 17 last year. The complaint was registered under Sections 147, 148, 332, 353, 302 and 506 of the IPC  at the police station (west), Sector 11. The counsel submitted that direct allegation against the petitioner was missing except that the petitioner and some other “transgenders” came to the spot and caused the injuries when the main accused, Atul, caused fatal injuries to victim Harvinder Singh. It was further submitted that the main accused had already been granted the concession of regular bail after considering the opinion given by the board of doctors regarding the cause of the death.  Issuing a notice of motion, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan directed the petitioner to appear before the investigating officer within 10 days to join investigation. TNS    

Tributes paid to author

Chandigarh: Tributes were paid to Lal Singh Kamla Akali, an acclaimed author, journalist and editor, on his 129th birth anniversary at the Punjab Arts Council Complex here on Thursday. Council Chairman Dr Surjit Patar called upon budding writers to emulate the style of Lal Singh who had pioneered the travelogue writing in Punjabi. TNS

Pressure horns removed 

Fatehgarh Sahib: The traffic police on Thursday initiated a drive to remove pressure horns from vehicles. SSP Alka Meena said the police removed pressure horns from 40 vehicles and modified silencers were removed from 15 bikes. OC

P’kula MC seeks FIR against firm

Panchkula: The civic body, Panchkula, on Thursday wrote to the police for lodging an FIR against a Gurugram-based web firm for not returning its databases. In a letter to the SHO, Sector 14, the MC has asked for action. “A complaint is being lodged against Advert Web India Private Limited. After the agreement with them ended in March this year, the firm was bound to return all databases,” the letter read. The MC had entered into an agreement with the firm last year in April for providing technical and web-based services. TNS

Medicos donate blood

Patiala: A voluntary blood donation camp was held on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day at the Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, here on Thursday. The camp was organised by the Medical Student Association of India in collaboration with the Blood Bank, Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. Medical students donated their blood to create awareness among general masses regarding voluntary blood donation. A total of 64 units of blood were collected in the camp. TNS

Mango festival begins today

Patiala: A local hotel, The Shaurya's Hotel's restaurant, 'The Kitchen', will organise a 15-day mango festival in Patiala from Friday. Director of the hotel Perry Goyal said the festival was different from conventional mango 'melas'. TNS