New Delhi, July 16
A 23-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were arrested today for kidnapping a three-year-old boy from the Chandni Mahal area of central Delhi on July 12.

According to the police, Mohammad Altaf kidnapped Zubaid Ali and sold him to Saema, an issueless woman who promised to pay Rs 10,000 to Altaf.

Both Altaf and Saema were arrested and Zubaid was handed over to his parents.

According to Vivek Kishore, DCP (central), Altaf and Saema work together at a handicraft shop at Pahari Bhojala in Chandni Mahal. Despite getting married in 2006, Saema had no child. She offered Altaf Rs 10,000 if he could get her a male child.

"Saema paid him Rs 5,000 in advance. On July 12 at Chitli Bazar, he noticed an alone kid, whom he took with him after luring him for candies. He then gave the boy to Saema," said Kishore.

Altaf was arrested from Hauz Qazi after information about his involvement in the crime.

Saema lives separately from her husband at Sita-Ram Bazar. Altaf lives with his wife and three children at Pahari Bhojala.

New Delhi, July 16
Even a short spell of rain in the city today made commuting difficult for the people due to water-logging which exposed the civic body's lack of preparation for the rainy days.

With monsoon season yet to get in its full swing, several areas across the city gets flooded even in a short duration of rain and the agencies receive numerous complaints related to water-logging, overflowing drains and felling of trees on roads.

Over the past few days the control rooms of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been registering more than 50 complaints on an average during the rain from across its zones. Many of them are about fallen trees leading to road-blocking in areas such as Pitampura, Rohini, Sarita Vihar, Kalkaji and Narayana Vihar.

However, according to senior MCD officers, the MCD has already deputed additional teams of officers and sanitation workers in the city, keeping the monsoon in mind. They said the process of de-silting of drains was carried out throughout the year now.

"We have been de-silting drains and have taken other precautionary measures so that people have a smooth rainy season," said a senior MCD official.

The MCD has earlier said that it has also identified the roads where there are more chances of water-logging and trees uprooting during strong winds. "The more chances of tree-felling remains in the places where there are maximum concrete areas. We will identify these, but also take steps to ensure greenery is maintained," said the official.

Up till now, areas like Inderpuri, Najafgarh, Narela, Rohini, Malviya Nagar, Madan Gir, Ber Sarai, Rajouri Garden, Vikaspuri, Janakpuri and Punjabi Bagh, have received most of the complaints of flooding incidents.

New Delhi, July 16
After 10 years of nightmare, 51-year-old Morufu Shuaibu of Nigeria is now a relieved man thanks to a multidisciplinary team of doctors at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital where he was operated late last month for the plastic bullet that had been the cause of intense pain to him.

According to the treating doctors of the private hospital, the case is quite unheard of in the medical history that bullet has been lying in the body for a decade resulting in a huge lump.

It all happened 10 years ago when the patient suffered a bullet injury in his left leg and following which he underwent an operation back in Nigeria. Some pellets were removed and he was subsequently discharged.

But to Morufu's bad luck, some part of the plastic bullet remained even after the treatment and he continued to be asymptomatic up to a year back when he suddenly started having swelling and pain in his left thigh.

This brought him to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi after several local doctors there failed to figure out the cause, he said.

"I was leading a normal life till a year ago. Suddenly, I suffered shooting pain in my left thigh. The pain worsened whenever I ran or walked for longer duration. After a while, even my legs started aching. I developed a large, hard lump in the thigh and later had some foul smelling discharge," Dr Gulati.

Senior orthopaedic surgeon at Apollo, Dr Yash Gulati who performed the surgery on Morufu, confirmed, "When the patient came to the hospital, the infection had aggravated. He had developed numbness in the lower limb. He was evaluated and planned for exploration and removal of the mass where we found a plastic bullet shell embedded in the left thigh."

According to Dr Gulati, who was surprised to find the two-inch-long plastic bullet, the bullet was missed by X-ray and other tests at the earlier centres. After a detailed investigation, the cause of the pain in the patient's leg was ascertained.

"Morufu is recovering and has been discharged from the hospital. He is now absolutely fit, but would have to come for a regular follow-up for a couple of weeks. He will now be able to lead a normal pain-free life," said Dr Yash Gulati.

It is not every day that a criminal is relieved to see cops arriving at the spot they have targeted. However, one such incident was witnessed by the PCR cops recently when a burglar rushed to them and fell on their feet.

The incident relates to a burglary attempt in the Mahipalpur area where three friends broke open the locks of a mobile shop in the wee hours of Friday morning. Unfortunately for them, some of the locals saw their activity and alerted others. While two of them managed to escape, one of the burglars was caught by the people and beaten black and blue. When he realized that he would be killed by the beatings, the burglar shouted for someone to call the police.

Ghaziabad, July 16
Two people were killed and 18 injured when a five-storey building under construction collapsed in Ghaziabad today, the police said.

The incident occurred in the Shalimar Garden area around 2.50 p.m.

"We have rescued 11 people so far from the debris," said senior superintendent of police Raghubir Lal, adding that a few more victims, including three-four children, were trapped under the rubble and rescue work was on.

Personnel from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Indian Air Force station at Hindon joined the rescue work.

"Most of the trapped people were construction workers from states like West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar," he said.

People living close to the plot where the building was coming up heard a loud sound and saw a blanket of dust rising from the ground. "The entire building fell down. There was thick dust all around," said Vinod, an eyewitness.

The building was being constructed on an 800 square yard plot.

A temple close to the plot was damaged by the falling rubble. A dozen vehicles parked close to the building were also damaged.

The building was being constructed by a private firm owned by Kratika Tiwari, a Delhi resident, the police said.

Holding the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) accountable for the incident, social activist S.K. Maheshwari said: "There should be a criminal case registered against engineers of the GDA." — IANS

New Delhi, July 16
A former Congress MLA from Tughlaqabad constituency, Choudhary Sheeshpal, has been booked for allegedly misusing the national emblem and impersonating an MLA even after losing the last Assembly elections.

According to the police, a case under sections of IPC and Emblems and Names Act was registered against Sheeshpal at Pul Prahladpur police station on Wednesday.

Sheeshpal had been a member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 2003. He is allegedly using letterhead bearing the national emblem even now.

According to information, Sheeshpal has put a nameplate even outside his residence showing him as a current MLA.

New Delhi, July 16
The police has arrested a 30-year-old peon working at Tis Hazari courts, Anil Sharma, for the murder of one Deepak Singh in the Dwarka area of southwest Delhi on July 14.

According to the police, Anil Sharma was arrested yesterday evening from the Dwarka sector-12 area. He had gone missing from his house after shooting Deepak.

According to AK Ojha, DCP (Southwest), Anil Sharma indulged in satta for which he borrowed money from people.

He also paid them back from the money earned by gambling.

Anil and Deepak came in touch a few months ago and became good friends.

"Deepak had lent money to Anil and even his friends. While Anil had paid back, some of his friends were not returning Deepak's money for which he pressurized Anil as he had given money on his assurance. When Anil did not care, Deepak went to his house in his absence and threatened his wife," revealed Ojha, adding that when Anil came to know about the incident, he plotted to eliminate Deepak.

Anil procured a weapon and then invited Deepak for drinks at a wine shop in Dwarka where he shot him dead during the drinking session.

Noida, July 16
One worker was killed and six others were injured when a fire broke out in a garment manufacturing factory here today, a fire department officer said. Machines and merchandise worth several crores of rupees were destroyed in the blaze.

According to Chief Fire Officer Mahaveer Singh, the fire was first noticed in the apparel manufacturing unit - Shanti Garments - situated in Sector-63 area around 2.30 am on Saturday.

"We received information around 3 a.m. that the unit had caught fire. A team led by fire station officer Som Dutt Sonkar reached the spot along with five fire engines. On seeing the extent of the fire, three more tenders were called from the Phase-II fire station," Singh said.

Initially, the blaze was confined to the first floor, but it started rising towards the second floor, where six workers of the factory were present. The six ran to the top floor to escape the blaze.

"The extent of fire was such that it was difficult for our personnel to enter the premises.

"While dousing the blaze, fire officer Som Dutt Sonkar and constable Pramod Kumar were injured. Our men rescued a worker Ranjit Singh from the first floor, that was badly engulfed in fire from all sides. He suffered critical burn injuries and died on way to hospital. He belonged to Saptari district in Nepal," Singh said.

The six persons trapped on the top floor were rescued by the fire brigade officials and rushed to hospital.

The fire is likely to have been triggered by an electrical short-circuit, though the exact reason is yet to be ascertained, Singh added.-IANS

Hathin (Palwal), July 16
A man accused of stealing auto parts from the firm in which he was working, AVS Brake Linings Pvt Ltd, has escaped from the police custody.

According to the director of the firm, VK Verma, Harinder has the habit of working with different firms and then quitting those. He joined the firm on July 6.

As per the footage of the CCTV camera, Harinder, who was on night shift, was seen suspiciously carrying away five jute bags having pieces of brass rivet, an auto part, on the intervening night of July 10 and 11. The employer handed him over to the police on July 12.

SHO Yadram Bishnoi confirmed to The Tribune today about the escape of the accused. He said the accused was brought out from the lockup on July 14, but he escaped under the cover of darkness, following loadshedding. He said the police would catch him as a team had been sent to his native place Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

The alleged lapse on the part of the police had invited frowns from wide-ranging quarters, especially from trade and business circles. There are many who even wonder if the employee was intentionally allowed to escape by the police.

He said on the evidence of the CCTV footage, five jute bags of rivets weighing about 300 kg, which had market value worth about Rs 2 lakh, were found missing from the premises. When confronted on July 12, Harinder revealed that he had stolen the goods and supplied then to a scrap dealer, Raju. He was paid about Rs 9,000 for each of the jute bags.

He confessed that he used to steal the auto parts in the past also. He was in a league with three scrap dealers.

Co-owner of the firm, Subash Sharma alleged that the police did not register an FIR in spite of the CCTV footage and other evidences.