New Delhi, July 7
Two young crime reporters trying to extort money from a doctor have been arrested in the Shakurpur area of north-west Delhi. According to the police, the accused have been identified as Dinesh Jain (23) and Praveen Saini (23).

While Jain works in his father's newspaper, Saini is also associated with the newspaper as well as the NGO run by the Jains.

Three reporters with the paper - Dev, Vaibhav and Anuj - who are part of the group trying to extort money from the doctor, are absconding.

According to DCP Meenu Chaudhary, all five accused approached Dr Shafiq Ahmed with one of them posing as an SDM (anti-corruption branch) and the others from the media. They informed him that he could not run the clinic as he didn't have a valid registration or degree.

"They were demanding from Ahmed his registration or degree. Ahmed, being earlier in the Medical Council of India (MCI), knew that for checking the certificate, one must be from the MCI and the police also accompanies such a team. So, he got suspicious and asked for their credentials," said Chaudhary.

On this, the accused demanded Rs 1 lakh from the doctor and warned that if he did not pay, he would get the news run on the news channel and get him arrested.

Ahmed did not agree to their demands and the police was called, whereupon the two accused were arrested while three others managed to flee.

New Delhi, July 7
It's the last chance for the students of OBC category to grab a seat at Delhi University with the fifth cut-off being declared today. Any seats that are left vacant in reserved category after this cut-off will then be filled by accommodating students from other reserved categories as well as general category.

Most courses in the reserved category are still open in prestigious colleges like Hindu, Ramjas, Kirori Mal and Lady Shri Ram College. According to students, the seats are still vacant as the general cut-off saw a stiff hike this year, and hence, the OBC cut-off also shot off.

However, as compared to commerce and arts, not many seats are left in science courses for OBC candidates. Dayal Singh, Deshbandhu, Maiteryi, Khalsa and Zakir Hussain College have sealed science admissions in OBC category as well. The only colleges offering science courses seats to OBC candidates are now high-ranked colleges like Miranda, Hindu and Hansraj which have a higher cut-off.

"I am waiting for the fifth cut-off now. Even though the OBC category has a 10% relaxation, little did anyone know that the general cut-off will see such a steep jump. Hence, the OBC cut-off is also pretty high this year. All hopes are now on the last cut-off," said Kirti Dave at Hindu College on the last day of admissions through the fourth cut-off today.

According to the fifth cut-off list, most colleges have completed their general category admissions, including Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Khalsa College, Kamla Nehru, Lady Shri Ram College, Miranda House and Daulat Ram. The only courses now available in commerce for general category are BCom (Pass) and BA (Pass) in colleges like Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Hansraj, Swami Shardanand, and Zakir Hussian College.

Most colleges had already dropped their percentages by a sharp 10% in the fourth list. Most courses such as history, mathematics, philosophy, psychology and political science now have a cut-off between 61-85% for OBC students. Even so, seats still lie vacant at many colleges in reserved categories.

However, colleges maintain that even though the response from OBC candidates has seen an improvement this year, it is still sluggish. These colleges are, therefore, getting ready to close admission for these students in some of the courses.

New Delhi, July 7
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) today announced that it would launch a campaign for creating awareness about education among the Sikh community and organise dharnas to pressurise the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) to set up an education council to improve the teaching standard of the gurdwara-run schools. The party wants that eminent educationists should be included in the council.

The president of the Delhi unit of the SAD (Badal), Manjit Singh (GK), said having seen the poor teaching standard at Guru Harkishan Public School, it was necessary to set up an education council to guide the schools.

The ruling party in the DSGMC, Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi), led by Paramjit Singh Sarna should take the issue seriously, he said.

Singh said the Class XII results of GHP schools showed by the DSGMC were not authentic. The committee had included the names of successful students and the students who have to appear for compartmental examination in one list, which had increased the pass percentage, he claimed.

Giving a fresh list of the successful students, Singh said the DSGMC had announced that the pass percentage of its school near the India Gate was 92.3, but actually, it was 79.75.

"A total of 247 students had appeared for the examinations. Of them, 197 passed, 32 have to appear for compartmental examinations and 19 failed. Similarly, the committee had claimed that the pass percentage of its school at Vasant Vihar was was 96.3, when it was actually only 85.71," Singh claimed.

Manjit also said that the number of students who had passed did not matter.

"Importance should be given to quality. Not even 2 per cent of the students who have passed are eligible to get admission in good colleges of Delhi University. The authorities concerned should make the students competent enough to get admission in good colleges of DU," he added. 

New Delhi, July 7
The admissions to M.Tech. at Delhi Technological University have concluded with a combined consideration of 80% GATE score and 20% interview by the selection boards of various departments.

DTU has selected its M.Tech. candidates with high cut-offs this year. The list of the selected candidates has already been declared on the university website www.dce.edu. The selected candidates are required to collect their admission letter from the head of the department and deposit their fees from July 7 to 18. Those selected candidates who fail to take admission by July 18, will forfeit their right of admission and the vacant seats will be offered to the waitlisted candidates. The list of the waitlisted candidates has also been displayed with that of the selected candidates.

The cut-offs for M.Tech. courses for various departments have been much higher compared to last year. For Microwave and Optical Communication, the highest and lowest GATE cut-offs have been 99.77 and 98.07. Likewise for VLSI Design and Embedded Systems, the highest and lowest GATE cut-offs have been 99.41 and 98.14; for Signal Processing and Digital Design, the highest and lowest GATE cut-offs have been 99.56 and 98.54.

This year, DTU had received 2,840 applications for its 17 M. Tech. programs with a total intake of 359 seats. The number of applicants was about 40% higher than the last year. 

New Delhi, July 7
The Delhi police has arrested a 26-year-old man who allegedly killed his father who was a womaniser and did not take adequate care of his children.

According to the police, Mohammed Rafi drugged his father Mohammad Usman Ahmed (60) and when he became unconscious, strangled him on the night of July 5 in the Zamrudpur area of south-east Delhi.

The incident came to light last morning when the Greater Kailash police station received information regarding a half-naked body of an elderly man lying in his room.

The investigators noticed a vivid ligature mark on the neck of the deceased and rigor mortis had set in.

According to Ajay Chaudhary, ACP (southeast), initial queries revealed that Usman had a clinic in Zamrudpur and was a quack and was popularly known as 'doctor' in the area.

Rafi could not explain the incident and stated that his father was sleeping with other tenants on the rooftop last night and about 10.30 pm he went up to see his father who was not feeling well.

"Inquiries were conducted from the other inmates of the building and there were marked contradictions and inconsistencies in the statement of the accused and other inmates about the sequence of events. In sustained interrogation, Rafi confessed to have committed the murder with another accomplice (name is not being disclosed)," said Chaudhary.

According to a police official, the accused originally belongs to Bangarmau, Unnao (UP) and he was born to Usman's first wife. They are four siblings out of this wedlock - two brothers and two sisters - and only the eldest sister is married. After the death of his mother, Usman married again and neglected them. About 10 years back, his father came to Delhi and settled here and was now living with another woman here.

"According to Rafi, his father was a womaniser and was not taking care of his children. He was unable to get his sister married and was not taking any interest. Moreover, his father had mortgaged the agricultural land for a long period and had usurped the money. He, along with one of his close relatives, decided to get rid of his father," said Chaudhary.

New Delhi, July 7
The Delhi police crime branch has arrested a man with fake currency notes of Rs 5,75,000. The accused, Ishhaq Ansari (52), was held in Khajoori Khas on Tuesday. He revealed that the notes were smuggled in from Bangladesh. Ansari is a resident of Murshidabad, West Bengal.

The notes seized are in the denomination of Rs 500.

Ansari revealed that he hid the notes in bundles of bidis and then booked the package on a train to Delhi. There he himself received the package.

Ansari had paid 40 per cent of the face value of the notes while procuring it. He was supposed to sell them to a man at 60 per cent face value. The man has been identified, but is absconding.

Ansari has been dealing with counterfeit currency over the past seven to eight years.

"The notes seized have all the security features of an original note, including water mark, intaglio printing, identification mark, micro-lettering and security thread, and it is very difficult to identify them. The only difference is that security thread on the counterfeit notes does not change colour and remains green. But the one in an original note changes from green to a dark colour," said Ashok Chand, DCP, (Crime and Railways) in Delhi. 

New Delhi, July 7
Three persons allegedly involved in forging important government documents have been arrested and incriminating material, along with equipment used for making fake documents were seized from their possession. Three stolen cars were also recovered from them.

"Acting on a tip-off, Mohammed Aslam, a resident of Indirapuri in the Loni area, UP, was arrested from Majnu-Ka-Tilla in north Delhi on June 28 and a black Scorpio with forged documents, which was stolen from Jalandhar in Punjab, was recovered," DCP (crime and railways) Ashok Chand said.

"During interrogation, Aslam gave information about two more vehicles - a silver Scorpio and a white Bollero - which were recovered from Mawana in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

The Scorpio was stolen from Chandigarh and the Bollero from Rajouri Garden in Delhi and the documents of both the vehicles were found forged.

Aslam said he had procured forged documents from Intzar, a resident of Sangam Vihar in Loni.

Based on the information, a trap was laid on July 2 and Intzar was apprehended, Chand said.

During interrogation, Intzar said he had procured the forged documents from Ramesh Kumar, alias Manni (27), a resident of Karawal Nagar in Delhi. Mani was apprehended from near Loni in Ghaziabad on July 4.

"A computer, a scanner, a printer, ink and raw materials used for preparing forged documents were recovered from Manni's house," the DCP added.

The police has recovered fake documents, including forged smart card of the Transport Authority of the Government of NCT of Delhi, fake no entry permission of Delhi traffic police, forged registration certificates of vehicles of different states, forged Delhi University marksheets. - PTI

New Delhi, July 7
Three persons have been arrested in the national Capital in a fake passport case. The accused have been identified as Raj Kumar, a passenger who was headed to Italy, and Rakesh Kumar and Satish Kumar who provided him the fake passport, RA Sanjeev, deputy commissioner of police (airport), said.

Raj, hailing from Punjab, was caught by airport staff during checking of his passport in May.

"Kumar intended to go Polland and Italy from Indira Gandhi International Airport.

On checking of his passport by the immigration officers, the stamp affixed on page No. 32 was found to be doubtful.

"The passport was seized by the immigration officials and sent for verification. After verification, the passport was found fake and a case was registered," Sanjeev said.

Following investigations, Raj was arrested on July 4.

During interrogation, Raj said the stamp on the passport was arranged by an agent, Rakesh, against the payment of Rs 5.5 lakh, out of which Rs 3.20 lakh was given to the agent.

The remaining amount was to be paid after Raj reaching Italy.

Rakesh was arrested from the Uttam Nagar area of Delhi on the same day.

"He told us that he arranged the stamp through another agent Satish and his associate Anil Dhawan. Both the accused are residents of Patel Nagar, Delhi. On July 5, Satish was also arrested from the Baljeet Nagar area. - PTI

New Delhi, July 7
Yoga guru Ramdev's follower, Raj Bala, 51, who suffered spinal injuries during the police crackdown on Ramdev and his supporters in the wee hours of June 5, continues to be in a critical state.

The Gurgaon resident is in the ICU of GB Pant Hospital in New Delhi and has been bedridden for over a month now.

"The patient is conscious and obeying verbal commands, but she continues to be on ventilatory support and her condition is very critical," said the status report released by medical superintendent N Shashi Gururaja.

According to the doctors, Raj Bala is still quadriplegic (paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human).

New Delhi, July 7
The Delhi government has launched a special drive to curb tax evasion in the National Capital Region by checking vehicles carrying goods without relevant papers.

Additional commissioner of enforcement of trade and tax department K.K. Dahiya said today that 56 trucks were detained on Wednesday night.

It is suspected that many of the trucks were carrying goods after evading tax.

He added that 15 teams conducted search operations on all inter-state roads and checked 463 vehicles. -- IANS