New Delhi, October 4
If the opening ceremony was all about India's cultural and historical riches and pluralism, the closing ceremony on October 14 could be lots of masala and fun, Bollywood-style.

Some organisers, who have been secretive about the details of ceremonies to keep the element of surprise, said the closing ceremony would be completely different from the opening and would be featuring Bollywood stars.

"We have planned another extravaganza for the closing ceremony which would be completely different from what we showed in the opening ceremony," said Bharat Bala, the creative director of the opening ceremony, who, however, declined to confirm the Bollywood presence at the closing function.

Official sources said the closing event would be light and steeped in the celebration mode, unlike the opening one which showcased Indian cultural and lifestyle in a colourful pattern.

Officials said a lot of fun-filled events would be unveiled at the closing function and the people are going to enjoy with the same interest and excitement.

They confirmed that there would be a great deal of Bollywood participation in the closing event.

"People would definitely enjoy big Bollywood stars in the closing functions who will help create a celebratory mood," said one of the sources.

Speaking on the success of the opening ceremony, Bharat Bala said that the artistes' contribution is only 50 per cent and the rest has to be supported by the spectators, as only then any event is made successful.

He said that he had to go through several levels of negotiations with the politicians and the leaders to discuss on the various aspects of the ceremony like including its inaugural timing.

"The politicians said that the ceremony would begin at 5 pm but we stuck to our point that we need it to begin at 7 pm as the lightings of the stadium played a major role," said Bala.

Commenting on the reports of not-so-good coverage by the DD national channel, he said that he too received some complaints as there were too many commercials between the broadcast.

"It is learning process. We will definitely improve in the closing function. The national channel will soon give a repeat telecast of the event," added Bala. 

New Delhi, October 4
Keshav, the 7-year-old child who gave breathtaking tabla performance at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony yesterday, does not understand the concept of television as he does not has one at his home in Pondicheery.

The gifted Keshav left 60,000 spectators mesmerised with his solo performance. Talking to the media, Keshav said his favourite subject is mathematics, while his mother was giving him a suspicious look. Keshav is cleanliness freak as he can't stand an unorganised room.

"The first thing he did after reaching the hotel last night was to clean his room," said his mother Gopika.

Surprisingly, it did not require Keshav more than two or three practice sessions to deliver the perfect show.

Keshav's inclusion in the opening ceremony was an instinctive decision by the creative director of the event, Bharat Bala, who said he is a special child. "I had gone to one of his performances in Pondicherry. I decided there and then that he is going to be a part of the opening ceremony," said Bala. He said Keshava was an instant hit with even the global audience.

"When I saw Keshav playing, it occurred to me that a child prodigy playing the tabla amongst 1,000 drums would beautifully embody 'The Rhythm of India' concept," said Bala.

"Keshav's performance created a lot of impact. People were sending me messages from the United States where they were watching the ceremony even as his performance was on," Bala said.

Keshav's proud mother said he was born with the knowledge of playing tabla. "Tabla comes naturally to him, he's been playing the instrument from the age of two," said Gopika. "Keshava can recreate something that he's observed in another tabla performance. I can't say, but maybe it's something he remembers from the past life," she said.

An artist herself, Gopika says "I would not like to put any pressure on Keshav, and just let him go with the flow. We'll let him make the decision."

What struck Bala about Keshav was his spontaneous pattern. "That is Keshav's magic" said Bala, adding that the first time he met Keshava at Auroville, Pondicherry, he thought this tabla player was the next Zakir Hussain. 

New Delhi, October 4
Over 6,500 foreign athletes who witnessed the grand cultural extravaganza at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) yesterday evening are still not out of the celebration mood.

The Games Village, where the athletes are residing, was today buzzing with talks and reviews of the ceremony that left no stone unturned to showcase the culture potpourri of India.

The garnd event made a special place in the heart of the athletes who are expecting more in the coming days.

Yesterday, thousands of dancers, drummers and yoga performers opened the city's first major sporting event in 30 years with a display of Indian heritage and its status as a rising economic power.

Out of the various segments of the opening ceremony, the athletes took most pleasure in the yoga section and the performance by the Indian Railways.

Helen Warnes, a shooter from Whales, said both, the human train and the yoga performance, were great entertainers.

"The train was especially nice as it gave a glimpse of Indian traditions and the way the Indians live," Warnes said.

The ceremony presented the journey of India into performances of traditional folk dance.

People were shown celebrating everyday life through festivals and dances. The human train was the performance by the Indian Railways where people with their props and tools created the music of a bazaar and encapsulated the exceptional capability of India being able to co-exist in its diversity and contradictions.

"The ceremony was fantastic. It is nice to be here. I loved being part of the ceremony," said Ray Simbule from Zimbabwe, a squash athlete.

Talking about his favourite part of the ceremony, Ray said, "I enjoyed the yoga part the most as I also practice a lot of yoga," said Ray.

"I could not attend the ceremony because of my practice sessions, but after my friends told me how fabulous it was I now regret for not having attended the function," saod Marko Hara, a boxing athlete from the Northern Island.

The grand success of the opening ceremony has left both the audiences and athletes expecting more out of the organisers and a similar dazzling closing event. 

New Delhi, October 4
Delhi Metro made an extra effort to meet the rush for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games by running over 100 extra train trips on all its lines and also continuing its services till 1 am on Monday, an official said.

According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official, there was over 1.5 lakh footfall on the newly-opened Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar line on the first day of its operations.

"To cater to the rush in view of the Games opening ceremony, the Delhi Metro, as a special case, ran over 100 extra trips on all its lines," he said.

The official said the DMRC operation control centre also took a decision to extend the metro services till 1 a.m. Monday in view of the massive rush emerging from the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium after the opening ceremony ended at 11 pm.

"The originating train services should have terminated at 11 pm otherwise," he added.

On Line 6 from Central Secretariat to Sarita Vihar, an extra 35 train trips were made for ferrying passengers.

According to a spokesperson, nearly 38,000 people used the line to reach the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium metro station, where as many as 25,000 people used the exit/entry points, while 13,000 used the Jangpura metro station.

"Therefore, over half of the total capacity of the stadium travelled by the metro to witness the historic event. A similar number of people used the metro to return from the stadium after the opening ceremony taking the total footfall of the two stations to over 75,000," he added. -- IANS

Noida, October 4
Seven wrestlers from Noida College of Physical Education (NCPE) have done the city proud as they have been selected to represent India in the Senior World University Wrestling Championship to be held at Torino in Italy from October 25-30. Wrestlers from about 150 countries will compete at the event.

These young stars-- Jagdish Singh, Surender Singh, Varun Tyagi, Priyanka Singh, Anuj Chaudhary and Gargi Yadav- are part of a team of 15 wrestlers selected from across universities in India.

The wrestlers have been selected after rigorous trials. Thirty wrestlers from various Indian universities, who stood first or second in the All-India University Wrestling Championship under various categories in 2009, were called to Lakshmi Bai National University for Physical Education in Gwalior for trials. After trials, 15 were finally selected.

Presently, they are undergoing practice at Gwalior. The practice is likely to continue till October 22.

All the seven wrestlers of the college are enthusiastic about the event and are hopeful to strike gold.

Jagdish Singh will participate in the 50 kg category, Surender Singh in 60 kg, Varun Tyagi in 66 kg, Priyanka Singh in 48 kg, Anuj Chaudhary in 48 kg, Gargi Yadav in 55 kg.

Some of these seven wrestlers have already made India proud in international competitions.

Priyanka Singh had won gold in the Senior World Wrestling Championship in Cuba in 2009 and bronze in the Junior World Wrestling Championship in Turkey. Gargi won silver in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship in 2009.

Greater Noida, October 4
The Rabupura police here has registered a case against a man for killing his brother on Saturday. The cops have also included the family members of the victim as accused in the case as they cremated the body without informing the police.

The incident took place in Rastumpur village at Greater Noida.

According to Atul Saxena, SP (rural), two married brothers-- Ajit (25) and Raju (20)-- lived together in their father Dasharath Singh's house. The wives of Ajit and Raju are real sisters from Chhansa village in Haryana. Ajit allegedly often harassed Raju's wife.

On Saturday, Ajit reached home drunk and tried to molest Raju's wife. When Raju came home, his wife told him about the incident. When Raju confronted Ajit, an altercation ensued between the two and Ajit took out a country-made revolver and shot Raju.

On hearing the gun shot, neighbours rushed to Singh's house. In the meanwhile, Ajit fled the scene. Raju was rushed to a private clinic in Rabupura where doctors declared him brought dead.

To hush up the matter, the family clandestinely cremated Raju's body without informing the police.

When the police came to Rustampur village, Singh's family refused to reveal anything about Raju's death, SP Saxena said.

The police has collected samples of ashes from Raju's pyre and registered a case against Ajit, Dasharath Singh and his other family members for concealing the murder and cremating Raju's body clandestinely.

New Delhi, October 4
A witness in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar today turned hostile in a Delhi court.

The witness, Ram Avatar Sharma, who came to the court for recording his statement before additional sessions judge Sunita Gupta changed his version.

Sharma had to record his statement in support of one of the three prime witnesses in the case, Jamsher Singh, but he changed his stand.

When he changed his statement, CBI prosecutor R.S. Cheema asked him, "Have you changed your version under pressure from Sajjan Kumar?"

But Sharma denied.

This is not the first instance of a witness turning hostile in the case. Earlier, a witness Lal Chand Khemani, who was initially supporting another prime witness Jagdish Kaur, later withdrew his statement.

According to Narpreet Kaur, the third prime witness in the case who is presently residing in Punjab, the former Congress MP was doing everything to turn the witnesses hostile.

"Not only Kumar, his nephews Balwant Khokkar and Mahender Yadav are also conspiring to turn the witnesses hostile," Kaur said.

"Earlier, when Sharma filed a medical certificate for not turning up in the court, I spoke to him and he told me that Sajjan's men were threatening him," added Kaur.

"Some 10 to 15 men came to my house and threatened me. They said if I supported Jamsher Singh's statement, they would not spare me. They said that the accused are big and powerful people and going against them is like playing with fire," said Kaur quoting Sharma.

As the prime witnesses are being provided security by the court, according to Kaur, Kumar is trying to threaten her indirectly.

"I am under tight security cover. So Kumar and his nephews threaten me through people I know."

Kaur says that the one month's time that Sajjan got while the case went to the Supreme Court helped him a lot.

"There was a time when Sajjan had started showing signs of giving up. But in this gap, he got enough time to make his case strong. He is trying everything to get out of the case. The Congress government should not help him if it really wants to give us justice to the riots victims," Kaur said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate H.S. Phoolka said if the witnesses continued to turn hostile in this manner then the prosecution might apply for cancellation Kumar's bail.

On May 28, charges were framed against Kumar and other accused-- Balwan Khokhar, Krishan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Captain Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal-- under various sections of the IPC relating to murder, criminal conspiracy and spreading enmity between two communities.

The CBI has accused Kumar of provoking people against members of a particular community during the carnage that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, leading to the killing of five persons in the Delhi Cantonment area.

New Delhi, October 4
Eight-month-old Akshu's parents had almost lost hope of saving their daughter who suffered from liver failure till they met doctors at the army hospital here.The baby has now got a new lease of life following a nine-hour surgery, becoming one of the youngest and smallest liver transplant recipients in India.

Akshu, daughter of Rifleman Anil Kumar, is recuperating fast and is likely to be discharged from the army's R.R. Hospital in Delhi Cantt within a week. The piece of liver that her father had donated to her was successfully transplanted during the long surgery.

Maj. Gen. P.P. Verma, deputy commandant, R.R. Hospital, told reporters that Akshu was "suffering from liver failure caused by congenital absence of bile duct and was under treatment for jaundice and recurrent intestinal bleeding".

When she was admitted to the hospital on September 23, she weighed only five kg and "because of her small size, the piece of liver given by her father had to be reduced further during the delicate operation which lasted over nine hours".

"The infant is progressing well," Verma said.

The relieved father was all praise for the doctors who "returned me my life".

"We had given up hope. But I don't know how to pay gratitude to the doctors. Only a father can understand that," Kumar said.

Lt Gen Naresh Kumar, officiating director general of Armed Forces Medical Services, said the liver transplant centre at the army hospital had so far performed 46 liver transplants, including seven paediatric liver transplants with "excellent results".

This make the hospital a "pioneer in deceased donor liver transplantation in India", said Kumar. -- IANS

New Delhi, October 4
With the arrest of one Gurdeep Singh (19), resident of Shalimar Bagh, the outer district police has worked out an extortion case wherein the accused was threatening and demanding Rs 22 lakh from a Pitampura-based businessman.

According to the police, the mobile phone and SIM card used during the commission of crime have been recovered from the accused.

According to Chhaya Sharma, DCP (outer), a complaint was received by the Mangolpuri police station on August 29 from one Rajesh Jain, dealing in earth mover machines at Roshanara Road, that he was receiving threat calls on his mobile phone and the caller was trying to extort Rs 22 lakh from him.

The complainant also told the police that the extortionist had threatened him that his gang would kidnap his family members and kill them if he did not pay the money.

"During the course of investigation, a few suspects were identified, but a close watch was kept over the activities of Gurdeep Singh as he was found to be the prime suspect. After confirming that Gurdeep Singh had been making calls, he was arrested yesterday," said Sharma.

The accused confessed to his crime. He disclosed that he had been working in the office of Jain and had left the job just three months ago.

"The accused disclosed that he planned to extort money as he knew the inside information of his family members," revealed Sharma.

According to the DCP, Gurdeep Singh has studied up to 10th class.

"He does not have any past criminal record. He is still unmarried and has mother and three sisters in the family. Since he has no source of income, he planned to extort money from his ex-employer," added the police official.