With farmers evicted, Haryana forces start removing barricades to clear Shambhu-Ambala road
Chandigarh (PTI): Following the eviction of protesting farmers from the Shambhu border, Haryana security personnel on Thursday morning started removing cemented barricades, which were erected to prevent the Punjab farmers from heading to Delhi.
JCB machines have been deployed to remove the concrete blocks to clear the Shambhu-Ambala road, which remained closed for over a year.
The Haryana security officials had fortified the state border with Punjab with cement blocks, iron nails and barbed wire to scuttle any attempt by the farmers from Punjab to move towards the capital as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' programme.
Punjab Police on Wednesday detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, in Mohali as they were returning after a meeting with a central delegation led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh.
Police also evicted the agitating farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites, which were blocked for more than a year.
Police also dismantled temporary structures and stages put up at these two sites using JCB machines.
At the meeting in Chandigarh, the seventh round of talks between the two sides, the central delegation was also represented by Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
The meeting discussed the various demands of the farmers, especially a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
As the departing farmers entered Mohali after the meeting, they were met with heavy barricading.
Farmer leader Guramneet Singh Mangat said Abhimanyu Kohar, Kaka Singh Kotra and Manjit Singh Rai were among the detainees alongside Pandher and Dallewal.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema justified the eviction of farmers, saying industries and businesses have been hit hard due to the prolonged closure of the two highways, which he called "the lifelines of he state".
"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is committed towards generating employment for the youth. And they will get jobs only if the trade and industry functions smoothly," Cheema said on Wednesday.
"Trade has been suffering. This action has been taken after considering all the situations. We have been telling the farmer leaders that your fight is with the Centre. We are with you. But you are causing heavy loss to Punjab by closing the border," the finance minister added.
He also said the Punjab government remains committed to supporting the farmers in their legitimate demands, claiming that the AAP ministers are actively working to present the farmers' concerns before the Centre.
"We urge the farmer leaders to focus their struggle against the Centre while allowing Punjab to progress. We stand with the farmers today, as we always have, and will continue to fight alongside them," Cheema said.
Police made heavy deployment before undertaking the eviction exercise to clear the two highways.
The protesting farmers -- led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha -- were camping at the Shambhu (Shambhu-Ambala) and Khanauri (Sangrur-Jind) border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, when their march to Delhi was thwarted by security forces.
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`Murdered' woman returns home; four accused still in jail
Mandsaur, Mar 21 (PTI): A woman believed to have been murdered sometime in September 2023 returned safe to her home in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district a few days ago, even as four men arrested for the supposed killing continue to be in prison.
The story of Lalita Bai (35), resident of Navali village, is stranger than fiction, or a film script.
A case was registered for her `murder' at Thandla town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in September 2023, days after her family reported that she had gone missing from Gandhi Sagar area of Mandsaur.
Her relatives even identified the body of a woman with her head crushed as Lalita Bai, said Gandhi Sagar police station in-charge Taruna Bharadwaj.
So imagine their surprise when Lalita Bai returned home on March 11, safe and sound.
According to her, she left home on her own with one Shahrukh and travelled to Bhanpura.
There, without her knowledge, he `sold' her to another person, also named Shahrukh, for Rs 5 lakh, Lalita Bai told police.
The second man took her to Kota in Rajasthan, where she stayed with him for nearly 18 months.
"However, as soon as I got the opportunity, I ran away and came back," Lalita told PTI Videos.
"I do not have a mobile phone, so I was unable to contact my family members," she said.
"After we had filed a missing person report, Thandla police informed us about the recovery of a woman's body with her head crushed. We went there and identified it as the body of our daughter on the basis of a tattoo and a black string tied around her leg. We performed the last rites too," Lalita's father Nanuram Banchhada said.
Police, meanwhile, arrested four men including Shahrukh who had allegedly lured her away.
After her return, her father took her to the Gandhi Sagar police station, and informed the officials that she was very much alive.
Gandhi Sagar police then informed their counterparts in Thandla about the development.
As to the fate of the four men who are in prison, it is for the Thandla police to take necessary action, said Mandsaur Superintendent of Police Abhishek Anand.
Jhabua SP Padmavilochan Shukla told PTI that the local court has sought information about the matter.
"We will first conduct a medical examination and DNA test of the woman, and also record afresh the statements of witnesses," he said.
Only after a thorough investigation the police would be able to state conclusively that the woman who turned up at Gandhi Sagar police station earlier this month is the same woman who was thought to have been murdered, Shukla said.
