New Delhi, July 19
In a raid at a flat in South Extension, south Delhi, last night, the crime branch of the Delhi police busted a call girl racket and arrested six foreign national girls and two pimps.

According to the police, the six girls and one woman pimp hail from Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Nepal while the second pimp, Deepak Verma (25), hails from Pitthoragarh, Uttarakhand.

According to Ashok Chand, DCP (crime), the arrest came following a tip-off about a high-profile call girl racket, involving foreign nationals, operational in South Extension Part-I.

"Based on the information, a decoy customer met pimp Deepak at South Extension where another woman pimp, along with the girls, was present who demanded an advance payment of Rs 20,000- Rs 25,000. A deal was stuck and a part of payment was given to Deepak, following which he took the customer to the third floor. The police following them raided the apartment on the signal from our decoy customer following which six girls were arrested along with Deepak and another pimp," said Chand.

Deepak said he worked for Ashish who is the alleged kingpin of the racket.

He claimed that he was working on a salary of Rs 10, 000 for Ashish who also runs a website, Delhi Top Escorts.

Investigation revealed that the woman pimp had visited India several times and operated in different areas of south Delhi.

The girls were staying in an accommodation in south Delhi on a rent of Rs 35,000 per month.

"Each of the girls was paid a sum of Rs 1 lakh per month excluding food and accommodation which were being paid by the pimp. The girls came to India on tourist visa and their duration of stay ranged between two and six months," said Chand.

They have a select clientele and any new client is entertained only when he provides them with the reference of an old and trusted client.

Efforts are on to arrest Ashish.

Noida, July 19
Builders of Noida Extension held a press conference in the office of Supertech at Sector 58 around 7 pm today and clarified that the authority and the state government too should look into the interest of the investors.

Anil Sharma, CMD, Amrapalli Group and vice-president, CREDAI, said, "We collectively assure the investors that we have talked to authority officers who have assured us that they will get some solution to the problem."

"Not only builders, but the authority and the state government should also look into the interest of lakhs of investors who have booked their flats here," said Sharma.

"With today's court judgment, around 20,000 investors and 11 projects are affected. Even 1,500 individually allotted plot holders who were given allotment by the authority are affected. In the days to come the whole area may get affected," said Sharma.

"There is a situation of chaos presently. Buyers were concerned about their investment. They want their dream home. The builder is concerned how to safeguard the interest of buyers. Credibility of all the developers are at stake," said Sharma.

Regarding refund of payment to investors, RK Arora, director of Supertech, said, "Investors should cooperate with the builders. They will return their money. Please understand the situation developed out of the order of the court. We were not aware that even after the allotment from the authority, our projects would get struck."

The authority officials said they were having talks with the farmers and considering re-acquisition under the new rehabilitation policy. Farmers, too, have expressed desire to talk to the authority officials. Farmers want an adequate compensation and solution of their abadi land disputes.

New Delhi, July 19
The BJP today said the Lokayukta put a stamp on its allegation that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit misused its power and misguided people. It also demanded resignation of the Chief Minister following recommendation of the Lokayukta that she should be careful while making announcements.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said the BJP had made allegation against the Congress for misleading Delhiites by announcing the schemes without any authenticity. Now the Lokayukta had put a stamp on it.

To lure the voters living in 1,639 unauthorised colonies, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit distributed provisional certificate for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies, but, so far, not a single colony has been regularized, he said.

Likewise, the Delhi government has promised to give low-cost flats to jhuggi dwellers, but no jhuggi dweller could get any flat till date, he claimed.

He said crores of rupees had been spent on the advertisement by erecting the hoardings, banners and distributing pamphlets for announcing many schemes to get political mileage, but it proved as betrayal.

He demanded from the Lokayukta that he should take cognisance of other cases of the government and pronounced the judgment as had been given in the Tivoli tax evasion case.

Meanwhile, former union minister Vijay Goel said Dikshit had given bad name to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as the scheme to allot flats on low cost was under the Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojna. She misguided the people by making false announcement and now she should resign on the moral ground.

He said the BJP would organise a rally in Delhi on August 31 against the false promises made by the Congress to regularise unauthorised colonies.

There are 1,639 such colonies in the Capital, but so far not a single colony had been regularised.

Delhi PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, who had earned the wrath of the Lokayukta in February, today said that intervening in the governance-related issues is beyond the jurisdiction of the Lokayukta.

The anti-corruption watchdog should avoid taking up the issues that are beyond its domain. The Lokayukta should look into the corruption issues only, the minister said.

He said this just after the second day when the Delhi Lokayukta Manmohan Sarin recommended to the President to make the Chief Minister cautious while making announcements.

Prior to the assembly election in 2008, the Chief Minister allegedly had announced that 60,000 low-cost flats were ready for the poor.

The Lokayukta had also recommended to the President against the PWD minister on the tax evasion issue.

Ghaziabad, July 19
After suspending junior engineers involved in giving clearance to a five-storey building that collapsed on Saturday in the Shalimar Garden area, the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has decided to demolish the remaining structure.

The GDA has contacted an Indore-based private company to carry out the demolition.

"We are trying to contact the company, but so far have not succeeded. In the meantime, we have found another company working in the same field in Noida. The Noida-based company has visited the site and they are in the process of submitting their detailed project report to demolish the remaining part of the building," said GDA secretary Narendra Kumar.

"The company has been given clear direction to execute the work safely without harming the neighbouring houses," added the secretary.

The officials suspended in this connection are area junior engineer Jai Pal Shikarwar and Upendra Singh.

A recommendation for action against the third junior engineer, Neeraj Goel, has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh administration. Disciplinary action has been initiated against the area assistant engineer, Dheeraj Singh, the secretary said.

The five-storey, under-construction building tumbled down like a pack of cards in the posh Shalimar Garden area of Ghaziabad town on Saturday afternoon, killing four people and injuring 14 others.

The collapse damaged an adjoining building and three cars.

The Ghaziabad administration has announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs 100,000 each to the families of those killed and Rs 25,000 each to the families of the injured persons.

Jitendra Kumar, a local resident said, "There are several such buildings in the area which are made of extremely poor material and may face such a fate any time. There is hardly any check. The casualty in this case would have been much higher if it had occurred six months later after people had taken possession of the building." — IANS

New Delhi, July 19
A 32-year-old man working in a medical gas filling unit was killed while three of his colleagues were injured during a cylinder blast in the Moti Nagar area of west Delhi this morning.

The deceased has been identified as Dinesh Shukla, a resident of UP. The injured, Nathi Lal, Raja and Amar Nath, are recuperating at DDU Hospital and their condition is said to be stable.

"The incident was reported from Global Air Products, a medical gas unit located on Rama Road in Moti Nagar. These people were engaged in filling gas in the cylinders which are supplied to various hospitals in the city when one of the cylinders exploded. Dinesh was closest to the blast and bore the major impact while three others were seriously injured. Dinesh was declared brought dead at the hospital," said a police official.

New Delhi, July 19
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today called upon the slum dwellers to prepare themselves for a free diabetes screening.

Speaking in a function on launching the camp at Talkatora Stadium by the Union health and family welfare ministry, the Chief Minister said that screening would be conducted for all persons above 30 years and pregnant women irrespective of their age.

The early detection goes a long way in curbing diabetes and hypertension which cause a large number of deaths. Twenty testing units were deployed at Talkatora Stadium to conduct screening and provide on-the-spot reports with all the details and mobile numbers.

The government has been organizing special diabetes clinics in all its 31 hospitals on Mondays and Wednesdays. Diabetes and high blood pressure are silent killers.

The campaign has focused on slums as they have a poor access to health facilities.

The camp was launched by the Union health and family welfare minister Gulam Nabi Azad who said, "We are all concerned about non-communicable diseases which become a cause for 50 per cent deaths in the country. It has been learnt that cancer and diabetes are going to affect our country badly."

There are 5.1 crore diabetic patients in India, second after China. More than 30 lakh people died due to diabetes in the world every year. In India, 1.75 lakh people died of diabetes in 2005, the number will touch 2.36 lakh in 2015.

The minister said that the WHO and the UNO have taken note of the gravity of diabetes and hypertension. The government has decided to screen around 5 crore persons before September 2011. The UNO General Assembly will then hold a special session to discuss the measures to control these diseases.

New Delhi, July 19
Bold colour splashed canvases and a unique thought process that becomes apparent in her art, is what marks artist Jayshree Goradia's work. The artist's work uncovers deeply spiritual depths which she expresses through the medium of abstract art. She effectively captures the transitory moment making it eternal in her work.

Goradia's work is on display at an exhibition currently under way at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

While talking about her work, Goradia says, "My work is about responding to meditation and discovering the inner nature of mind and the way a human being communicates with nature. This synchrony has been the main inspiration of my work and the common thread running through my series. Whether we desire or not, one has to flow with life's flow, as it takes its natural course."

Goradia has tried to give expression to this flow of life in her series on 'transformation' that she has put up for viewing in this exhibition.

There is a series of four canvases on transformation that effectively displays the natural flow of life through the medium of abstract art.

Goradia says, "It has been my attempt to portray the flow of life through this series. I have tried to capture the perfect moment that shows the flow of life as it is evident around us in nature."

The canvases also depict a bold play of colour in orange and yellow as well as a gentle acquamarine.

The artist says, "The fact is that existence is perfect in itself and all living creatures are perfectly in sync with it. It is only the humans who survive with their intellect and this is the first step to disobey the system of existence which in turn affects our inner state of mind." This concept is made apparent in Goradia's work where she juxtaposes the grandeur and sheer sweep of nature with the complexity of human mind.

She says, "It is the human mind that creates an alternative reality which disturbs the harmony in nature and our inner state. One can notice this more in urban lifestyle as one tends to lose direct contact with nature."

The artist's message evoked by her work is simple and direct: listen to nature's orchestra with its very system, help maintain nature's unique balance and involve our own true inner nature for this is perhaps the only way for harmonious survival.

The artist also has on display a black and white series on Tao and the pathless path which again speaks of harmony and the mystery inherent in life.

Goradia has captured the concept of the pathless path rather aptly by showing layers on layers of form and life limitless all caught up in the infinity of the meditational sphere.

These black and white works are painted largely via a mixed medium using both the water colour and acrylic.

New Delhi, July 19
The department of trade and taxes seized diamonds worth Rs 5,150 crore during the raids conducted in different areas of the Capital.

The raids were conducted at the establishments of importers and other traders, said the Commissioner, Trade and Taxes, Rajinder Kumar.

He said that they had raided the premises of approximately 29 importers and discovered documents and materials reflecting transactions worth thousands of crores of rupees on which the payment of VAT had not been made.

The dealers pertaining to other trades such as, computer parts, jewellery, chemicals, sanitary goods have also been intensively surveyed by the department. The premises of several dealers have been sealed and bank accounts attached.

The department has also intensified the checking of goods vehicle on inter-state routes and other important places.

In July itself, the department has checked 203 goods vehicles and of them, as many as 131 vehicles were found to be in movement without proper documents as required in the Delhi VAT Laws, he said.

New Delhi, July 19
The police today smashed a gambling den in west Delhi with the arrest of 20 people, including the 40-year-old kingpin who entered the world of crime after being inspired by an Amitabh Bachchan starrer film "The Great Gambler".

Investigators recovered stake money of Rs 4.02 lakh from the house in Punjabi Bagh yesterday where gambling was on, said V Renganathan, ACP (west).

Anil Kumar, the alleged kingpin of the gang who was arrested along with his business partner Jai Bhagwan and 18 others, had rented the premise a week ago for running the gambling den. The land lord, Rakesh, was allegedly also involved in crimes and operating a cable network.

"A raid was conducted and 20 persons found sitting in a room and gambling were apprehended. On seeing the raiding party, all of them mixed the playing cards and the stake money and attempted to flee but were overpowered," said the ACP.

Those who came to his place to gamble were all his common friends and habitual gamblers.

Kumar allegedly used to shift his place of operation from time to time in Uttam Nagar, Janakpuri, Paschim Vihar and Punjabi Bagh to avoid the police net.

"He has a dream to become rich through gambling after getting inspiration from a Hindi film "The Great Gambler" since his childhood," Renganathan said. — PTI