21082026-LT-01.qxd 8/21/2026 12:48 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune SUKHDEV TRUST CHIEF’S HEALTH WORSENS BEAT BOX TO PODIUM: POLICE GAMES’ LEGACY DHAR’S HILARIOUS REACTION TO YAMI’S AVATAR IN NAYYI NAVELLI Condition of Ashok Thapar took a bad turn due to a drop in sugar level on Day 9 of his hunger strike. P2 Book by Punjab ex-DGP RS Gill on All India Police Games chronicles six decades of achievements. P3 Sharing first look poster of the film on his Instagram story, Aditya Dhar wrote, “So this is what I married into!!” P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET FRIDAY 6:59 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5:53 AM FRIDAY | 21 AUGUST 2026 | LUDHIANA Property dealer assaulted over road rage, opens fire Incident occurred at Phullanwal Chowk; one of suspects suffers bullet injury Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 20 A road rage incident at Phullanwal Chowk here led to an attack on a property dealer on Thursday. The victim had to open fire at the assailants in self-defence from his licensed weapon, causing a bullet injury to one of the suspects. The property dealer, Joy, a resident of Phullanwal, said he, along with his driver, was going to market when a car, in which around six persons were travelling in, hit his SUV. The miscreants were reportedly under the influence of some drugs. After hitting the SUV, their vehicle hit SEARCH ON TO NAB SUSPECTS: SHO SHO, Dugri, inspector Gurmukh Singh, said the police have launched a probe into the case. CCTV cameras of the area are also being checked. Search for the suspect who allegedly suffered a bullet injury and his aides was on. a Honda Activa and damaged goods kept outside a shop. As he stopped on the road, the suspects came to him. He asked them to compensate damages caused to his SUV but the latter started heated arguments. “Instead of agreeing to pay the compensation, they assaulted me, pelted bricks at me and the SUV. I suffered serious head injuries in the attack and rushed to a hospital. Since I had a licensed .32 bore revolver and fired a shot at the assailants, one of them suffered a bullet injury in his leg. Following which, they fled the scene. Had I not fired shots in self-defence, I would have been killed by the assailants, “he said. The victim’s son, Mark, said his father was going somewhere with his driver in Scorpio N and he received a call from the driver that some unidentified persons attacked him. For- Premises of 5-star hotel sealed partiallyover outstanding loans tunately, his father had a licensed weapon and he fired at the assailants in selfdefence. The Dugri police were already informed about the incident. SHO, Dugri, inspector Gurmukh Singh, said the police have launched an investigation into the case. CCTV cameras of the area were also being checked. Search for the suspect who allegedly suffered a bullet injury and his aides, who attacked the property dealer, was on. Sources said the police would investigate the claims of property dealer who alleged that he fired bullets in self-defence. 3 shots fired at villager; man, son booked Lovleen Bains Shivani Bhakoo Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 20 A man caught in a drug case died by suicide while in police custody at the Hambran police post under the Ladhowal police station here. The police claimed that the man hanged himself with the zipper of a mattress in the lock-up. He was arrested by the police two days ago on drug trafficking charges. After police post employees noticed the hanging body, senior police officials were informed. Later, the body was taken to the mortuary of the Civil Hospital. The deceased’s family was informed about the incident. According to the police, the deceased, identified as Balbir Singh of Khera Bet, was arrested two days ago with 10 gm of heroin. His Victim was nabbed two days ago in drug case; probe on, say police remand was obtained from the court. He was scheduled to be taken for drug recovery on Thursday. On Thursday, when a police official went to call the suspect from the lock-up for taking a bath, the latter’s body was found hanging from a noose. The police officials said the police had to make a recovery from Balbir in the drug case and he was to be taken for the purpose on Thursday morning. He Bank officials and cops at Park Plaza in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN hotel on Thursday along with court officials. The hotel is owned by former Congress MLA Jassi Khangura. After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government in the state, Khangura left the Congress to join AAP Later, he parted ways . with AAP and rejoined the Congress. He is currently seeking the ticket to contest the election from the Amargarh constituency in Malerkotla district. Despite the presence of the police and bank officials, the hotel’s daily operations remained unaffected. Sahnewal, August 20 In a broad daylight firing, two men allegedly shot at a resident outside a barber’s shop in Bilga village here. He suffered an injury. The Sahnewal police have booked a man and his son in connection with the incident. The injured, Talwinder Singh of Bilga, was present near a barber shop in the village when the incident occurred. As he came out of the shop, Pawandeep Singh and his father Pradhan Singh, residents of the village, came on their motorcycle and opened fire at the complainant. Talwinder alleged that the duo threatened him and opened fire at him with a pistol. Three shots were fired and one of them hit him on his shoulder. Afterwards, the suspects fled the scene. ASI Karnail Singh said there was an old enmity between the victim and the suspects due to some land dispute. was fine till around 8 am. According to the police, the man had already died in the lock-up but he was taken to the Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. ADCP-3 Dharavath Sai Prakash said a police inquiry under the supervision of the Judicial Magistrate was already on and after a probe, necessary legal proceedings would be initiated. When asked if negligence of any police official came to the fore in the case, the ADCP said let the internal investigation completes first, nothing could be said at the moment. According to the police, a post-mortem examination will be conducted. The cause of death will be known after the arrival of the autopsy report. PAU Registrar Rishi Pal gets additional charge of VC Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 20 Officials of bank, accompanied by police personnel, on Thursday sealed parts of a five-star hotel, Park Plaza, here. According to wellplaced sources, the team from the bank has sealed the hotel’s salon as well as rooms on the 7th and 8th floors as the hotel allegedly failed to repay loans to the bank. Though the bank and police officials did not give any official version, the sources said the teams were inside the hotel. The hotel, which once had a monopoly in the city, allegedly owes crores of rupees to the bank, leading to a dispute. A case was filed in a court too. The court had issued four notices to the hotel management but there was no response from the establishment. Consequently, the bank officials came to the Man ends life in lock-up Ludhiana, August 20 After the term of Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), ended on August 18, Dr Rishi Pal Singh, Registrar, has been given the additional charge of VC as per statutory provisions. No announcement regarding the new VC has been made while the advertisement inviting applications for the post has already been published and the last date for submitting the same is August 26. Applications are to be sent to the office of the Administrative Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Punjab. Though students and the employees’ union vouched for the extension of the term of Dr Gosal and had also written to the Chief Dr Rishi Pal Singh Minister and the Governor in this regard, no decision on the matter was taken. IAS officer Rishi Pal was appointed as the Registrar in November 2023 and his appointment had run into a controversy. The teacher’s body, Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) had opposed the decision, saying it was against the rules prescribed in the Haryana and Punjab Agricultural Universities Act, 1970. It was after 2002 that the post was again given to an IAS officer. SK Mishra, an IAS, was the first registrar of the university and later the post was given to either an IAS or PCS official till 2002. PAUTA had contended that the appointment of the registrar should be from the teaching faculty, which has to be cleared by the Board of Management. Things will be clear only after August 26, once the applications for the post are received. Till then, the employees and faculty are keeping their fingers crossed. An accomplished agricultural biotechnologist, Dr Gosal had assumed charge as the Vice-Chancellor on August 19, 2022. His tenure witnessed substantial expansion of infrastructure and institutional capacity. Home Guards block NH-44, commuters stranded for hours Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam during the protest on the NH-44 in Ludhiana on Thursday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Ludhiana, August 20 Punjab Police Home Guard personnel, including retired jawans, blocked the National Highway-44, near Ladhowal here on Thursday to press the government for their longpending demands. Home Guard jawans were demanding implementation of the Pay Commission for serving jawans and pension after retirement. For almost four hours, traffic movement at the highway came to a grinding halt. A narrow lane on the highway was being used by vehicles to pass. Passengers sitting in buses walked a few kilometres to reach their destinations via other public transport. The protesting jawans said they had been serving shoulder to shoulder with the Punjab Police in maintaining law and order but were being consistently ignored by the government. They demanded that they be granted pensions and postretirement social security, similar to regular employees and salaries of serving c m y b Home Guard jawans hold a protest in support of their demands near Ladhowal in Ludhiana. employees should be revised as per the Pay Commission. The protesters said they had submitted memorandum to senior police officials and Aam Aadmi Party leaders but their demands were being ignored. Representatives warned that if the government fails to take a firm decision on their demands soon, the agi- tation would intensify across the state in coming days. The blockade led to chaos on the national highway for four hours. Vehicles, both large and small, from Jalandhar and Ludhiana were stuck in the jam. Upon receiving information about the protest, a heavy police force was deployed and police offi- cers are attempting to persuade the protesters and clear the blockade. ADCP-3 Dharavath Sai Prakash said after negotiation with the protesters, a meeting of the association was fixed with the authorities concerned, following which the protest was lifted and traffic movement was restored. Bizman, kin get extortion calls Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 20 A city businessman and his family members received continuous threats from foreign mobile numbers demanding extortion. The caller, posing himself as gangster Goldy Dhillon, threatened to abduct the businessman’s children and other family members if the money was not given. Taking a serious view of the matter, the Sadar police have registered a case and launched a probe. In his complaint to the police, Pardeep Singla, a resident of Dhandra Road, stated that he and his family members had been receiving repeated calls and voice messages from foreign numbers. The caller claiming to be gangster Goldy Dhillon issued death threats and demanded extortion. He also threatened to kidnap his family members. During the probe, the police have been provided with four foreign mobile numbers, from Britain, Portugal and other countries. The police are examining the calls, voice messages and the source of contact. Police records show that several cases, including those of extortion and other criminal offences, had been registered against gangster Goldy Dhillon in the past in various parts of the state. The police are taking the case seriously. Though the case has been registered against Goldy on the basis of the complaint, the police are also examining whether the threats were actually issued by him or by someone else using his name. RTI activist held for attacking excise official Ludhiana, August 20 Assistant Commissioner (Excise) Amit Goyal was attacked by an RTI activist at his office here. The Police Division 5 registered a case and arrested the suspect. Goyal said on Thursday around 1:15 pm, when he was having a meeting with Excise Officer Vikas Kumar, a person, Pankaj Kumar Malhotra, who claimed to be an RTI activist, entered the office by force. “He started abusing me. I tried to defend myself but the suspect overpowered me and continued to hit me. He was saying that he and Gaurav Dang will not spare me on Thursday. I started shouting after which my staff and liquor contractors standing outside came inside and rescued me. The man attacked me, snatched my mobile phone and threw it on the ground and broke my glasses also,” the complainant said. Goyal said his employees had informed senior officers about the incident. Later, he went to the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, for treatment. The police said a case was registered against Pankaj and Gaurav and further investigation was launched. Meanwhile, a senior excise official said the RTI activist was arrested by the police. Such hooliganism against officials would not be tolerated. — TNS