New Delhi, March 30
Five people, including a seven-year-old child were killed while two persons were critically injured in five separate cases of fatal accidents in the city today.

In the first incident, a biker was killed, while two pillion riders sustained severe injuries when their bike skidded in the Lajpat Nagar area of South district around 3 am.

According to the police, Kamlesh (20), Rahul (22) and Kishan (23) were going towards Kalkaji on a bike from Punjabi Bagh side when their bike skidded near the Lajpat Nagar flyover. “They were not wearing helmet and were reportedly over-speeding. The bike lost balance and skidded and hit the railing. The trio were thrown off the bike and suffered injuries,” said the police. All three were rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre, where Kamlesh succumbed to his injuries, while Rahul and Kishan are still battling for their lives.

The three friends were residents of Rampura, Lawrence Road in Tri Nagar and were going to Kajkaji Temple.

In the second incident, a speeding mini bus crushed a seven-year-old child to death in the Chhawla area of Southwest district.

The incident occurred around 10:30 am. “Deepak was crossing the road when the speeding mini bus hit him from behind,” said the police. The accused driver fled from the spot, leaving the vehicle behind. The police was informed about the incident by commuters. Deeepak was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. Deepak lived in East Krishna Vihar and his father, Thakur Das, works as a labourer. The police has seized the vehicle and has lodged a case of rash and negligent driving against the driver. The third incident was reported from Adarsh Nagar in Northwest district. A 45-year-old man was killed when the tempo in which  he was traveling collided with a truck. The incident occurred in front of Azadpur vegetable market’s gate number-3 in the wee hours. The victim, Ved Prakash, a resident of Narela, was on his way to home. On GT Karnal Road, a speeding truck coming from gate number-3 of Azadpur vegetable market hit the tempo and the tempo turned turtle before coming to a halt. Ved Prakash died on the spot, but the truck driver managed to flee along with the truck. A case has been lodged with Adrash Nagar police station in this regard.

In the fourth incident, a 28-year-old biker was crushed to death by a speeding school bus in the Uttam Nagar area near the metro pillar number-695. The police said, “The victim Manmohan was on his way to Vikaspuri on his motorcycle from Nawada when a speeding bus of Mahashay Chunnilal Bal Mandir public school hit his bike from behind. He fell down and got crushed.” The police has arrested the accused driver Pradeep and has seized the vehicle. 

In yet another case, a 28-year-old man was crushed to death by a truck in the Alipur area of Outer district in the wee hours today. The victim Jagdish was working on a construction site when the truck rammed into him killing him on the spot. The police has arrested the accused driver Kishan from the spot. In yet another accident, a speeding DTC bus crushed a 55-year-old biker to death in the Vasant Vihar area of South district today. The police said that the incident took place near the Moti Lal Nehru camp at around 9.45 am. “The deceased, Attar Singh a resident of Harsh Vihar in Okhla Camp, was on his way to Palam on his motorcycle when the incident happened. As he approached the Moti Lal Nehru camp, a speeding DTC bus rammed his bike from the rear side killing him on the spot.

The accused bus driver fled from the spot along with the vehicle, a passerby made a call to PCR,” said the police.

However, commuters who have taken down the number of the bus have given it to the police, which is trying to nab the accused driver.

New Delhi, March 30
A major tragedy was averted this evening when a DTC low floor bus caught fire and passengers got off by breaking the window glasses near Ram Manohar Hospital on Mandir Marg in central Delhi.

According to information, the incident took place around 7.20 pm today on the bus number RL77 plying on route from Hari Nagar to New Delhi railway station. More than 70 passengers were in the bus at the time of incident. Although, no casualty was reported, about seven people received minor injuries.

The bus was engulfed in flames due to short circuit leading to fire in the engine. As if it was not enough, the auto-lock lever which controls the opening and closing of doors jammed leaving passengers trapped in the burning bus. They were helped out by the passers-by to come out of the bus.

“The doors would not open in spite of several attempts by the driver. Perhaps the fire had damaged the lever. We got scared and had to come out by breaking the glasses of the windows,” said one of the passengers. About seven passengers were injured in the process. “There were minor injuries to six-seven people due to jumping. They had all got down by the time fire engulfed the bus,” said a police official.

According to fire brigade department which rushed to douse the fire, the bus was completely charred by the time fire was controlled.

New Delhi, March 30
The Delhi police has strengthened vigilance across all vital installations in the national Capital today in wake of a terrorist attack on a police training college in Pakistan.

Although all possible terror targets in the city already have sufficient deployment of police personnel, the men on duty at railway stations, bus stands, markets and other public places have been directed to be extra vigilant to thwart any terrorist attack. “It would be a folly to let our guards down in these days of global terrorism and our men are already in position. The Delhi police is doing the job that is expected of it during times like these. Plenty of security arrangement has been worked upon,” said a senior police official from the police headquarters.

Refusing to divulge details of the preparations, the officer maintained that the police could do better if its plans are not made public. The Quick Reaction Team (QRT), formed after the Mumbai terror attack last year, consisting of four commandos with sophisticated weapons under each police station, has been instructed to be ready for any emergency situation. According to sources, the night patrolling in the city is likely to be intensified as well.

The traffic police too has put up barricades at various arterial roads of the Capital today. “We have received orders to keep sharp eye on the movement of suspicious elements than the traffic offenders today. Perhaps it has something to do with terrorist attack in the neighboring country,” said a traffic official. Meanwhile, the senior police officials are monitoring the situation and the district police chiefs have been conveyed the message to hike up the security measures in their respective areas.

New Delhi, March 30
In a major breakthrough today, the South district police has cracked the murder of a maid in a Green Park house yesterday. Three persons, including a servant of the same house have been arrested.

Rambati (50) was found strangulated to death in house number G-16, Green Park, yesterday morning by her son who had come looking for her when she did not return home on Saturday night. Initially, her family suspected her employer Devender Kumar Jain behind the murder. Her family members even pelted stones at Jain’s house.

However, DCP (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal told the media today that Kirtan alias Chetan (19) and his friends Inderjeet (19) and Roshan (20) were arrested for strangulating Rambati, as she had overheard their plans to rob the house. A rope and muffler used for strangulating the victim and her ear rings and anklets have been recovered.

“The inmates and neighbours of the house said that Kirtan, who was employed by Jains on the same day, had been missing. A police team was dispatched to conduct raids at his possible hideouts and he was finally apprehended from the Civil Lines area. Two of his associates were apprehended on his instance,” said Dhaliwal.

The police further said that Kirtan had earlier worked at Jain’s house for one and a half years and was aware of their living standard and income. After leaving the job, he along with Inderjeet, and Roshan hatched a conspiracy to rob Jain’s house.

“As he had already worked there, he was aware that only Indu Jain used to be in the house during day time. Thus, he decided to rob the house during day,” said Dhaliwal.

On Saturday as Indu Jain was busy in Navratra prayers, Kirtan managed to enter the house with his associates and took them to the servant room on the third floor. While they were discussing their plan, Rambati overheard their conversation.

When she told them that she would tell their plans to Indu Jain, they killed her.

Cops assault protesters

The Delhi police today used brute force against the peaceful protesters, including some media persons, who were sitting outside the Green Park residence of the employer of Rambati, the maid whose body was yesterday found in her employer’s house, to protest against the alleged cover-up of the murder. Although, the police has arrested three persons in this connection, the deceased’s son alleged that his mother was killed by her employer and not the arrested accused.

Frustrated with the large crowd that had gathered outside the residence, the police even thrashed the media persons and blamed them for “inciting” the crowd. Two media persons were assaulted by the assistant commissioner of police, Meher Singh, along with two police personnel, who dragged them out from the spot where the protestors had gathered along with the body of Rambati. “I was thrashed by the ACP when I went to cover the story. He dragged me out and asked me not to cover the story,” Balram, a journalist with India TV said.

Twelve people, including the son of the deceased, were also injured when the police resorted to lathicharge after failing to satisfy the crowd who were demanding “justice.” “We will not cremate the body unless the truth comes out. Indu Jain has killed my mother. She should be booked for the murder. The family has bribed the police and they want to cover up the issue,” Gudiya, daughter of the deceased said.

New Delhi, March 30
Presenting the inaugural address at RGCON 2009 last evening, former President of India A P J Abdul Kalam said that there was need to spread awareness on cancer from the primary school itself.

This year the theme of RGCON, an annual international conference organised by Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, is lung cancer.

“Since 90% of lung cancer cases owe their origin to tobacco smoking, there is need to accelerate the campaign against tobacco and alcohol consumption,” said Kalam.

A book entitled “Lung Cancer Update- 2009” was also released by Kalam on the occasion.

Distinguished faculty numbering around 600 drawn from the prestigious national and international institutes is participating in the RGCON 2009.

Welcoming Kalam, K V Swaminathan, chairman of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, said, “RGCON with the concept of focused theme on cancer of a particular body system/organ has become an awaited international professional event in the Oncological (study of cancer) world.”

“The participation of leading cancer specialists in the conference will not only enrich the quality of deliberations, but will also enhance the experiences of all those who are engaged in the screening, diagnosis and management of cancers,” said D S Negi, chief executive officer of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute.

In India, lung cancer is most common in males in all urban registries. It is at the first place in central and north India and at the second place in South India. It is estimated that every year in India about 30,000 new lung cancer cases are registered.

At present, there are about 50,000 lung cancer cases prevailing in India. The lifetime risk (30-74 years) of developing lung cancers varies widely. In developed countries alone, it ranges from 3% to 14% in males, and from less than 1 % to 10% in females.

New Delhi, March 30
All India Milli Council, a Muslim body, at a meeting held here today appealed to the electorate to vote for secular candidates and those who have the potential of winning to prevent the saffron party from coming to power.

It also appealed to Muslim voters to exercise their franchise without thinking of caste, colour and creed. Vote for those who do development work in the area and help the people.

Milli Council suggested the youth to accompany their female family members to polling stations so that they could also use their right to vote.

Parliament elections are very important. Laws enacted by Parliament are meant for the entire nation, said Maulana Abdulla Mugheesi addressing the meeting.

He advised the Muslims to check the voters’ list to find out whether their names exist there. If their names are not there in the list, they should contact the department concerned before the date of polling.

Warning voters, he said that people should be wary of politicians and their agents who misguide the youth for their self-interests. Right to vote is an important right and it should be exercised carefully, appealed Maulana Mugheesi.

RSS and its sister organisation tried to communalise the election atmosphere. But people should try their best to bring only the secular parties to the helm of affairs, he said.

While the meeting was going on, a few members spoke of supporting the Congress, but Maulana Mugheesi and a few others rejected the suggestion, saying that the community should oppose the party as it had not given tickets to Muslim candidates. Even from the Muslim-dominated constituencies, the Congress has given tickets to non-Muslim candidates, they said.

Instead of supporting a particular party, the electorate should vote for secular and winning candidates.

The sources said that it was the first time in the history that All India Milli Council had not supported any single political party.

New Delhi, March 30
Unlike the 2004 elections, the coveted Chandni Chowk seat might be tough for the Congress this time, as there are many sport spoilers for the party.

Shoaib Iqbal, national vice-president of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), has refused to withdraw his nomination for any Congress candidate except Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“I will not withdraw my nomination in any case. The consideration was just made for the Prime Minister, else the party is prepared to give a tough fight to all including Congress,” Iqbal said.

Meanwhile the LJP, which professes of a strong vote base in Chandni Chawk, is claiming that the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) would support it.

It must be mentioned that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also fielded a Muslim candidate from the constituency.

The area has 13.4% Muslim voters, while the reserved and OBC voters constitute 35%. The Punjabi and Sikh voters are 17.5%.

However, delimitation can affect the Congress’ vote bank as many parties are wooing Muslim, Punjabi, SC and OBC voters. It might be recalled the Congress had lost the seat in 1998, as a major chunk of its votes went to LJP’s Shoaib Iqbal. BJP candidate Vijay Goel had won from the constituency. Goel won with a margin of just 1,995 votes while Shoaib Iqbal had polled 52,721 votes.

While in 2004 the Ram Vilas Paswan-led party had supported the Congress.

The BJP, therefore, is counting on the BSP and the LJP candidates to cut into the vote base of the Congress. BJP candidate from the constituency and MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta hopes to cash in on political clash between parties.

However, Iqbal said the party would not help the saffron party in any way. “The Congress must ensure that the BJP does not get any credit. Congress will have to show the stand of the UPA government in terms of what it has done in the last five years,” said Iqbal.

However, apart from Chandni Chowk, LJP has not announced any candidate from South Delhi, New Delhi, North East and East Delhi.

New Delhi, March 30
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Jai Prakash Agarwal expressed confidence that the Congress-led UPA government would be formed again at the centre after the parliamentary elections.

He said this while welcoming Satyapal Dyma and his supporters who had left the party but had rejoined it.

The Congress will continue to work for the welfare of weaker sections of the society — Dalits, minorities, Scheduled Caste and women. A strong nation cannot be built on the foundation of casteism, communalism and religion, he said.

He said there was confusion among BJP and BSP as many of their leaders were joining the Congress. There was no political base left for the BJP and the BSP in Delhi and their workers had realised the fact.

The Congress has taken measures to fulfill the needs of people.

Ghaziabad, March 30
Former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Neera Yadav on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with her husband Mohinder Singh Yadav, an ex-IPS officer. BJP president and former chief minister of UP Rajnath Singh granted the membership of the party to the couple at a function in Vaishali. Apart from the two, around 100 Samajwadi Party workers also joined the saffron party.

An IAS officer of 1971 batch, Neera Yadav had a controversial stint as the chief executive officer and chairman of the Noida Authority in mid-90s. She had particularly become unpopular over the allotment of commercial plots in Sector 18 market when traders alleged that allottees had to shell out double the official rate per sq. metre of land. Yadav was also accused of allotting plots to her relatives.

Neera Yadav is known to be close to political leaders in Uttar Pradesh from parties like Samajwadi Party, BJP and BSP.

When Yadav was appointed chief secretary of UP by the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on April 30, 2005, she had to resign soon after on the direction of the Supreme Court. CBI inquiries and cases against her are still on in the Supreme Court.

The CBI court in Ghaziabad still has three cases pending against Yadav.

Yadav’s husband Mohinder Singh Yadav has been a BJP MLA from Bulandshahr. But he had left the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party.

Extolling Rajnath Singh, Neera Yadav said she had not seen another chief minister like him in her entire career of over 37 years. Yadavs said that joining the SP was their mistake.

New Delhi, March 30
Media has become the common man’s last hope, said chairman of the FICCI Ladies Organsiation (FLO) Anuradha Goel here today. “Raising voice for social causes is one of the changing faces of Indian media,” said Goel.

Goel was speaking at a seminar on ‘Changing face of Indian media and its emergence as an industry’, organised by the FLO.

“Today, apart from informing and educating people about various issues facing the people worldwide, media is also providing a platform to the common man to raise their voice against injustice, as was evident in the Jesicca Lal murder case,” said Goel.

In her opinion, media has never remained a silent spectator. “Over the years it has emerged as a powerful weapon for the common man and that is why all mediums of media – print, electronic and Internet – are showing a steady growth,” she pointed out.

Indian media has seen a vast change in a few years. It has become more informative and has become a bridge between the common man and the government,” said a media expert Maya Mrichandani.

“Some people criticise it for sensationalising news. It is true that some newspapers and TV channels do sensationalise news, but at the same time there are a large number of newsmen who work for truth, facts and information. Hence, the reader, viewer or the listener always has a choice,” said Neelanjana Banerjee, head, Focus TV. 

“Media plays a vital role in a democratic country like India. It is the fourth pillar of the democracy. Earlier, the media was dependent on government for support, especially advertisement revenue; so there was not much freedom to talk about politicians. But now things have changed and corporate houses have taken over government’s position in providing advertisements to support newspapers and TV channels,” said a member of the FLO.

Noida, March 30
Hoardings continue to remain on highways in and around Noida-Ghaziabad in spite of the September 2007 ruling of the Delhi High Court.

The court had directed the government authorities not to allow hoardings on UP Link Road and NH-24, stating that they were traffic hazards. But still after two years hoardings find a prominent place along these roads.

Moreover, these hoardings even violate the election code of conduct as a large number of them are of political parties.

The state of the road in Sector-62 and the nearby Ghaziabad is bad.

“At many places these hoardings cover important messages or direction maps, which create problems for commuters,” said Sudhir Mishra, an IT professional.

“The highway is supposed to be free of hoardings but the situation is just the opposite,” said Sube Singh of Sector-62.

According to sources, both the state government and project directors of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) could be held accountable for hoardings, banners and posters, as they are the in charge of the maintenance work once the highway is complete.

Interestingly, officials of both these departments deny having any role in this.

Accepting that putting posters and banners on national highways is illegal, R.P. Khandelwal, general manager (Corridor Management), NHAI, said, “Action can be taken against violators by the respective authorities. The road in question is with the UP Roadways.”

“The Sector-62 portion is with the Noida Authority while the Ghaziabad portion is with the Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam,” said assistant road transport officer (Noida) Anil Kumar.

“We have cleared most of the road. If there are still some hoardings left, we will get them removed soon,” assured B.N. Mishra, chief engineer, Municipal Corporation of Ghaziabad.

New Delhi, March 30
Destiny has played a cruel game with 16-month-old Abhilasha and her parents, Rajendra and Vineeta Rahurikar of Bhopal. The grieving parents, who lost their child on February 28 to a liver ailment, could still cherish her presence, for they donated Abhilasha’s organs making the baby the youngest cadaver donor.

The Rahurikars got to know from doctors in Bhopal that Abhilasha was suffering from biliary atresia—a congenital progressive disorder in which the bile ducts between the liver and the small intestine is choked resulting in the accumulation of bile in the liver. Fearing jaundice, Abhilasha’s parents took her to a doctor in Bhopal, where after ultrasound and liver biopsy, Abhilasha was diagnosed of the fatal disease, which warranted an immediate liver transplantation.

Abhilasha’s parents brought her to the Apollo Hospital in Delhi. Doctors after a CT scan diagnosed her on January 17 with hydrocephalus, which is another abnormal condition in which cerebrospinal fluid collects in the ventricles of the brain.

Dr Anupam Sibal, medical director of Apollo Group of Hospitals, informed, “Abhilasha’s parents had come here for their child’s liver transplantation, but she was detected with the congenital neurological disorder, and declared ‘brain dead’. As before liver surgery, the brain had to be cured of the disease, but due to her deteriorating liver and cerebral condition, she succumbed.”

Though the Rahurikars were shattered by their daughter’s state, they couldn’t let their daughter die and decided to donate her organs (corneas and kidneys) so that somebody else could get a new life. “Many people think of donating organs of their loved ones, but very few actually do it. We felt and understood the need of an organ which our daughter couldn’t receive. It indeed gives us a feeling of pride thinking that our daughter’s contribution has given a new lease of life to others,” say emotional parents of Abhilasha with remarkable composure.

Adding they said that the decision was indeed difficult especially when you know that you have lost a dear part of your life, but probably we derived the strength for the act from our daughter, which has enabled us to keep Abhilasha’s soul live forever.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that the Human Organ Transplantation Act was legislated 12 years back, the cadaver programme in our country is still in its infancy.

Dr Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of Apollo Group of Hospitals, said that brain dead is not a new concept and mostly occurs in cases of head injury, brain hemorrhage and heart arrests, and with India being the country where the number of accidents have shot up in the past few years, we have to create awareness on the matter so that more and more people could come up to pledge their organs.

“India has a tremendous surgical excellence and there is a great hope for Indian to be with the rest of the world in making people aware of the concept of brain dead. It’s good that at the expense of Rs 200 crore, the central and state governments have decided to set up organ retrieval centres across 20 cities,” informed Dr Reddy.

Dr Reddy feels organ donation should be made mandatory in our country like it’s in Spain.

Ghaziabad, March 30
A gang specialising in procuring bails from courts on the basis of fake documents has been busted in Hapur. The gang was also involved in making fake documents like Khataunis and Khasra for land scams.

Confirming the news, SSP Akhil Kumar said that members of the well-oiled gang included: Sajid Hussain, Rama Shankar, Narender Singh, Sanjay, alias Sanju, Deepak Verma, Attar Singh, Sher Singh, Satish Bhardwaj, Brij Pal and Jai Pal. However, two more members— Yogesh and Mahabir Singh— were still absconding.

The police recovered three countrymade pistols, seven cartridges, six knives, over 100 fake documents pertaining to lands, fake ration cards, fake reports of Tehsil and police stations, fake income certificates, fake rubber stamps, computer printers and duplicate pan cards from the gang.

The SSP said that two of the gang members worked in Meerut courts. Three other members used to prepare fake Khasra Khataunis on computers with fake numbers and addresses on them. The documents would carry the stamp impressions from lekhapals to SDMs. Yogesh and Sajid Hussain used to get fake documents made on computers from Chaudhary printers in Meerut court complex.

The police is now trying to trace people for whom this gang had managed fake bails from courts.