New Delhi, May 6
A 20-year-old student of information technology institute was stabbed to death close to his residence in the Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi last night.According to the police, the victim has been identified as Shobit Modi and the incident took place around 10 pm. A case in this regard has been registered while the police is investigating the motive of murder as no robbery attempts were made on the victim.

"Shobit Modi was found stabbed near a gate of his colony in Vasant Kunj around 10 last night and rushed to Fortis Hospital where he was declared brought dead. He was stabbed four times and his belongings were found on him," said a senior police official from the district, adding that his I-pod, a costly wrist watch and wallet were found upon him.

According to information, Shobit was a second year student of information technology at Manav Rachna University in Faridabad. His father Suraj Modi is general manager of Mines and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC).

According to the police, some rivalry seems to be the reason behind the attack and investigations are on in the matter. "We are investigating from all the angles, including personnel rivalry," said the official.

New Delhi, May 6
A 23-year-old labourer, who allegedly bludgeoned his father-in-law to death for some money three months ago, was arrested here, the police said today.Lallu Pasi, who was on the run, was apprehended from Nihal Vihar yesterday when he came there to take his wife Rekha with him, V Renganathan, deputy commissioner of police (west), said.

Pasi had allegedly murdered his father-in-law Heeral Lal on February 11. Pasi had come to Delhi in search of job three years ago and later got married to Rekha.

"Pasi was not going to work and his family was suffering from financial crisis. Rekha complained to her father who beat him up over this several times," Renganathan said.

On February 11, Lallu went to borrow some money from Lal, who gave him Rs 150. Pasi saw notes of Rs 500 in Lal's inner pocket and hatched a plan.

"He brought liquor and cooked fish at his home and invited Lal. Both had liquor and when Lal got inebriated, Pasi took him out. He then pushed him and threw stones over his head and body. He then took Rs 4,000 from his pocket, but left Rs 24 to avoid suspicion," Renganathan said.

He went back home and from the next day, started searching for Lal. He was very much present at the time of locating the body, identifying it and performing last rites.

However, investigators got suspicious over Pasi's "abnormal" behaviour.

"He then ran away from his house. Later on, family members of the deceased also suspected Pasi but thought that he was upset over the death of his father-in-law," he said. -- PTI

New Delhi, May 6
Two persons, including a graduate, were arrested here for their alleged involvement in vehicle thefts with the police today saying that it has recovered eight stolen luxury cars and two motorcycles.

Pankaj Tomar (35), the degree holder, and Moin Khan (28) were apprehended from Maharani Bagh on April 24 on a tip-off, Ashok Chand, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said.

"They used to sell stolen vehicles to customers on the basis of documents of 'total loss' vehicles. They purchased such vehicles from insurance companies during auction. Then they would steal the same model luxury vehicle cut the chassis plate and fix it on the stolen vehicle.

"They would then etch the engine number of the total loss vehicle on the engine of the stolen vehicle. On the basis of the documents of total loss vehicles they would then sell the stolen luxury car," Chand said. -- PTI

New Delhi, May 6
Stepping up its drive against unauthorised constructions and illegal commercial units, the MCD today demolished or sealed illegally built portions in 15 properties and sealed 54 shops in the national Capital.

The action against illegal constructions was carried out in Lajpat Nagar-I, Lajpat Nagar-IV, Mehar Chand Market, Okhla, NDSE-I areas of Central Zone and Rohini Sector-15, Ashok Vihar, Singhal Pur village and Shalimar Bagh of Rohini Zone.

Since last month, the corporation targeted over 80 properties in different parts of the city to curb unauthorised constructions. It woke up to the problem after a multi-storey building with illegal floors collapsed in east Delhi late last year, killing over 70 persons.

Officials of the MCD with the help of the police also sealed 54 commercial establishments at Madhu Vihar in east Delhi. A drive against misuse of properties is going on in the area for the past five days following a directive from the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee and more than 220 units have been sealed so far.

The shops, which came into existence after February 2007, were targeted as the master plan for Delhi-2021 only allows establishments older than that in the area, officials said.

"In a meeting with residents of Madhu Vihar last month, we had asked them to file undertakings for their establishments," an MCD official said. - PTI

New Delhi, May 6
The Delhiites can finally hope for a pleasant weekend with the suddenly changing weather conditions giving much-needed relief from scorching heat in the afternoon.With clear skies in the morning and a comparatively hot day in the afternoon, a medium intensity dust storm in the evening and rain in some parts of the Capital took people by surprise.

However, no major reports of uprooting of trees or falling of branches were reported except in few areas, including Gole Market, confirmed the MCD control room officials.

The weathermen have predicted partly cloudy skies with possibility of rain and thundershower in the weekend due to approaching western disturbance.

A respite from the harsh heat is also on the cards with a drop in the maximum temperatures being expected.

The maximum temperature today was recorded at 39.2° C.

Though, rain during previous night brought down the minimum temperature to 25° C, almost three notches less. The maximum and the minimum temperatures on Saturday are expected to hover around 38 and 25, respectively.

"The sky will become partly cloudy towards the evening with possibility of rain. A cyclonic circulation over Punjab and southwesterly winds blowing from the Arabian Sea are responsible for the change in weather," the IMD official said.

The officials said the western Himalayan region will see isolated rain and thundershowers in the weekend.

Plains of northwestern India will get isolated dust storm and thundershowers over the next two days and rain and thundershowers in the weekend.

A decline in the maximum temperature of 2 to 3 degrees will be seen over northwestern, western and central parts of India over the next few days, said the official.

Gurgaon, May 6
A leaf from showbiz siren Mallika Sherawat's past has suddenly created enormous curiosity in this city's 'concrete jungle'.A Sikh woman Pavneet Gill (37), who 'replaced' actor Mallika in her broken marriage, is contesting the election in a tiny municipality constituency - ward 34 - reserved for women. The civic body polls for 35 wards are on May 15.

Pavneet's better half Captain Karan Singh Gill is Mallika's ex-husband. That Mallika was married before she turned a celebrity in the tinsel world is unknown to many. Gill is a senior pilot with Jet Airways.

Mallika had met Captain Gill when she was working as an airhostess, around the time when she was also studying at Miranda House at Delhi University. She was then known as Reema Lamba. Their marriage did not last long.

While the pilot decided to 'take off' again to begin his life afresh with Pavneet, Reema began chasing her dream of making it big in Bollywood's showbiz with a new name-- Mallika Sherawat.

It is this past link of Mallika that has made the people of Gurgaon curious about Pavneet. Overnight, she is the talk of the town. Word has spread like wildfire that Pavneet is the one who 'replaced Mallika Sherawat'.

People are thronging her house in block B-3 of DLF Phase 1. Seeing her popularity charts rising, the Bharatiya Janata Party has stepped in to encash the situation. Though Pavneet filed her nomination papers as an independent candidate, the BJP 'adopted' her quickly. She is now the saffron party's official candidate.

A former flight steward, Pavneet has been working in the hospitality industry for a decade. As an entrepreneur, she now sends students to pilots' training schools in India and abroad.

Ward 34 is the largest 'constituency' of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, comprising the posh areas of DLF City Phase 1, 2 and 4, DLF Corporate Park, Garden Estate, Global Business Park, Mall Road, Heritage, Sikanderpur, Sectors-27-28, Chanderlok, Beverly Park and Laburnum. Pavneet is facing nine independent candidates.

Pavneet is a beauty too, but she is different from her husband's first popular wife. About 5' 7" tall and slim, Pavneet looks like an affluent Punjabi housewife next door. She is a regular morning jogger and occasionally picks up fruit and vegetables on way back home from the jog to prepare her two children, Simran (7) and Fateh (5), for school.

Pavneet has the knack of engaging anyone in a polite conversation. She hails from Amritsar and comes from a family of doctors and armed forces officers. Her father retired as a Wing Commander from the Indian Air Force. She did her graduation from Panjab University. She stood second in the university in economics.

Though Pavneet is outspoken like Mallika, she is not willing to talk about the actor. "I never met her and my family have nothing to do with her now…I am thankful to God that I have a dedicated husband and two lovely children," is all that Pavneet says when pushed to talk about Mallika.

Asked why she decided to jump into politics, Pavneet says that she has witnessed disturbing fast-paced changes in Gurgaon in the recent past. "I am getting active to save this lovely developing city from turning into a concrete jungle," says Pavneet.

"If I get elected," says Pavneet, "I want to work for a safe, secure and healthy green environment for residents, better water and power supply, good roads and public transport system, proper maintenance of parks and parking lots and appropriate utilisation of public funds…I want to encourage residents to make Gurgaon a true millennium city."

On her agenda is also the development of a 'hut' in her ward to help residents deal with the routine municipal works or those related to the state government like the payment of property tax and facilities to prepare official documents, purchase of stamp papers and notary services.

Well, Pavneet's political siren has gone off and it is to be seen whether Gurgaon gives her 'fateh'.

New Delhi, May 6
Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely at a meeting today instructed to all the senior officers of the education department that every child in the Capital must be given admission in schools.If a child is over age, he should be admitted according to the age and their appropriate classes.

The minister said the admission process would be continued during the summer vacations also. The Right to Education Act has already been implemented by the Delhi government and according to the provisions of the Act, admission would be granted throughout the year to the children desirous for admission.

He said a list of public schools was being prepared by all the deputy directors where seats under economically weaker section (EWS) category are lying vacant. These seats would be fulfilled after the recommendations of the directorate of education.

He said 25 per cent seats had been reserved for the students belonging to this category.

The education minister informed that there was an increase in enrolment of about one lakh students in the government schools as compare to the last year.

He said 13,01,591 students enrolled in 2009-10 and 13,99,000 students enrolled in 2010-11. Nine hundred fortythree schools were operating under the Directorate of Education in which about 700 schools are senior secondary, 200 secondary and only 40 were middle schools, he added.

New Delhi, May 6
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said today that it would collaborate with Delhi University students' union to spread awareness about thalassemia among students.

Mayor Prof Rajni Abbi said bone marrow transplant was the only solution to get rid of the disease. "The treatment costs around Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh, which was very high and secondly the rate of success was very less. Therefore, the screening of the disease at pre-marital age group before conception and in early pregnancy is very important," said Abbi.

She was speaking at the function organised by Thalassemia Control Project and India Population Project-VIII (IPP-VIII) to mark thalassemia awareness week from May 2 to 8 at a health centre in Shahdara (north) zone. She said test was the best possible step to prevent thalassemia and therefore she called upon the people of Delhi, especially those in the age-group of 20 and 30, to get its test done to verify the disease.

"The MCD will collaborate with the Delhi University students' union to create awareness on the issue among college students in the age-group of 20 to 30 years," said Monga. He also asked people to talk about the issue in their locality, encourage them for getting their tests done and spread awareness about it.

Dr Suman Mehendiratta, coordinator of the thalassemia project cell, MCD, said thalassemia was the common inherited blood disorder. "Nearly 200 thalassemia majors are born in Delhi every year, while the number for the whole country is 10,000 to 12,000. A study of Indian Council of Medical Research shows that 5.5 per cent of people residing in Delhi are to be thalassemic carriers.

He said in some areas, the incidence was as high as 8 to 10 per cent. "The high incidence of carriers is due to existence of the minor form of the disease where the person does not have any symptoms," said Dr Suman.

Health committee chairman VK Monga said the treatment of the disease was available in all the MCD hospitals from primary investigation to the later stage. "The whole system has been made hassle-free. But there is a need for awareness at the community level about the disease," he said.