New Delhi, November 29
A dismissed Delhi police constable was arrested by a beat constable when he allegedly extorted money from a couple, who were sitting at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri yesterday.

The sacked constable, Jagdish Chander, was arrested in 2002 also for trying to extort money from a person who had parked his vehicle at Rajouri Garden.

He was then posted at the office of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Operation in the North district of Delhi.

A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 384 (punishment for extortion) was registered at the Rajouri Garden police station.

A police official said, "Chander was trying to extort money from the person sitting inside the car at Rajouri Garden. Chander had told the man that he would send him to jail, if he didn't give him money. The victim instead took Chander to the police station, where he was nabbed."

In 2006, Chander was dismissed from the Delhi police.

Again around 3 pm yesterday, Chander extorted Rs 1,000 from a couple sitting at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri. One of the victims was named Mohit Kandola (20).

According to the official, "Chander was impersonating a Delhi police sub-inspector and threatened the couple, saying that he would send them to jail unless they gave him money. Although he was not wearing a police uniform, he showed them an identity card of a constable, which made them suspicious. Kandola approached a beat constable, Deepak, who was patrolling the area. Deepak nabbed Chander and took him to the Chanakyapuri police station."

A case under IPC section 384 (punishment for extortion) was registered at the police station after a complaint by Kandola.

The recovered money has been tagged as case property.

Chander was produced at a Delhi court today, which remanded him in 14 days' judicial custody.

Chander was recruited as a constable in the Delhi police in 1986. He is a resident of Pitampura.

Gurgaon, November 29
An assistant manager at a call centre here was sacked today after four woman trainees complained that he was sexually harassing them, the police said.

The management also sacked another manager for failing to inform his seniors despite being aware of the matter.

While a written complaint has been filed at the Udyog Vihar police station, no first information report (FIR) has been lodged yet.

Manpreet Singh, administration head of GBS call centre in Udyog Vihar Phase 1, told IANS that the four women trainees had accused Alphi Chugh, 28, of sending them obscene SMSes and making advances, with the inducement that he will declare them successful in the training programme.

They also said Chugh threatened them of dire consequences after they approached the management.

Assistant manager Deepak Kumar was sacked as he was allegedly aware of the whole episode but did not inform his seniors.

"The four women had joined the call centre on November 14 as trainees," said Satendra Dahiya, station house officer (SHO) of Udyog Vihar police station.

The police is yet to question the accused, he added.

The women have handed over the SMSes to the police. They also said the company had terminated their training, but Manpreet Singh denied the charges.

The women hail from Punjab and Darjeeling, and are currently living in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar area and Haryana's Faridabad district. — IANS

New Delhi, November 29
A quack was arrested for allegedly trying to molest a 13-year-old school student who had arrived at his clinic in Palam village for a check-up yesterday.

The police has arrested the quack, Harpal Singh. The victim had visited his clinic, Dr. R K Singh’s Clinic on November 24 and 27. She complained of stomachache. The quack had advised her for a blood test and she arrived at the clinic yesterday to collect the report.

“Singh told her that he needed to physically examine the victim and took her to a room and closed the doors. He misbehaved with her on pretext of examining her. When the girl felt uncomfortable, she screamed and ran out,” the police complaint says.

The police said when she started yelling, the compounder of the clinic came inside and witnessed the incident.

The girl narrated the incident to her family, who filed a police complaint against the quack.

The police raided his clinic and arrested him. They could not find any evidence of an MBBS degree.

The man is from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. He was staying at Sangam Vihar in south Delhi.

The victim studies in Sarvodhya Kanya Vidhyalay. Her father is a private bus conductor.

New Delhi, November 29
A two-day special session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly for discussion of a bill on trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is to be started tomorrow, but it was not given significance at the meeting of the BJP MLAs held yesterday, though they said the bill had many lacunae.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Leader of the Opposition, Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

A senior politician said the bill for trifurcation would be tabled tomorrow before the House and the next day it would be passed after thorough discussion.

Sources said the government was not in mood to make any amendment in the bill.

It was the same proposal that was approved by the union ministry of home affairs a few days back.

Instead of raising the issue of the trifurcation, the MLAs discussed the enhanced electricity tariff and the FDI in retail market.

The FDI was an issue of the union government.

They just condemned the looting of Delhi public by discoms in connivance with the Delhi government which has given free hand to the private companies.

Malhotra demanded immediate withdrawal of the enhanced electricity tariff and the accounts of the private distribution companies be audited by the Comptroller Auditor-General.

The legislative party passed a resolution demanding from the city government not to allow any private foreign company to start retail business in the country. Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and the chief ministers of other BJP-governed states have already declared that they would not allow any foreign company to start retail business in their states.

Following their stand, the Delhi government should also declare that they would not allow any foreign company to start any retail business in Delhi, added Malhotra.

Noida, November 29
Home buyers have regretted that the system of 'purchasable FAR' (floor area ratio) violates their rights under the UP Apartments Act and decided to protest against this practice.

In their board meeting last week, the industrial development authorities in Noida and Greater Noida introduced a system of purchasable FAR for group housing projects.

FAR purchased from the authority allows the builder to have more constructed area than allowed previously on a particular plot.

The Allahabad High Court, while hearing a petition filed by an allottee, recently stayed the construction of villas in Noida being carried out in common areas using FAR purchased after allotment of flats.

An apartments owners' association has written to the authorities, asking them to stop the practice so that structural safety could be ensured and adequate services, green and open spaces are not compromised.

Meanwhile the real estate body, CREDAI said the height and width of the towers, bookings for which have already been done, would not be increased to deliver more units.

"Purchasable FAR allows builders to usurp common areas. More awareness is needed among home buyers," said Prakash PVS, a petitioner.

"Though action has been taken against one builder, there is a need to challenge in court the very practice of purchasable FAR," said Amit Chhibber, association representative.

As per the Act, once building plans sanctioned by the authority are disclosed to the buyer and a sale agreement is signed, the builder cannot make any major alterations without the consent of the buyer. The Act says that the common areas and facilities will not be altered without the consent of all the flat owners.

New Delhi, November 29
The driver of a Blueline bus, who brutally assaulted a Kashmiri migrant girl with a meat chopper after she refused to marry him, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court which described him as a "psychopath and sexually perverted beast".

Additional sessions judge Rakesh Tiwari sentenced west Delhi resident Mahman Singh to life imprisonment for abducting Monica and attacking her with a meat chopper after she refused to marry him. After inflicting over 80 injuries on the girl's body, Singh had set ablaze the room in which he had kept her.

"From the ghastly acts of violence which he has committed with the victim, (it's clear) the convict is a sadist of third degree, a psychopath and sexually perverted beast and he can go to any extent with this state of affairs of his mind to do any wrong either to himself or to the members of society," the court said.

The court convicted Singh, taking note of Monica's deposition that he continued to write letters to her even from jail and terrorised her during his trial.

"The convict did not stop here as he has no remorse or repentance and even after committing the crime, he continued to write letters from jail during his judicial custody to the victim so as to create a terror in her mind," it said.

The prosecution said that Monica, who worked as a computer operator at Karol Bagh, used to travel from her residence in Hari Nagar to her workplace in a Blueline bus driven by Singh. As Singh used to stare at her, she had stopped travelling in his bus.

As per the prosecution, on January 20, 2007, Monica had gone to her neighbourhood market in Hari Nagar, where Singh accosted her and forced her to accompany him to an unknown place near Uttam Nagar.

He asked her if she would marry him. As Monica refused, he attacked her with a meat chopper and then set the room on fire.

She was later rescued by the police, called in by people who reported the fire incident.

The ASJ noted that Monica had received 80 stitches on her arms, head and face. Her left thumb had been chopped off and she had to undergo multiple surgeries and had also lost her speech for over three years. Monica also suffered from depression and started shivering at the mere sight of a meat chopper in the court.

The court denied Singh's plea for leniency, in which he had said he was married and has a nine-month-old child.

"Admittedly, the convict was driving a bus, a public utility service, and by showing any leniency to him, a wrong message will go into society that any girl or female can use the public utility services only if they are ready for their sexual exploitation by the persons who are concerned with providing the said public utility service," the court said. — PTI

New Delhi, November 29
Raising objections to the amendments bought in the proposal of trifurcation of the MCD which was passed by the union ministry of home affairs last week, the civic agency today reiterated the creation of Mayor-in-Council instead of director of the local bodies.

Mayor Rajni Abbi said the MCD had been demanding the creation of Mayor-in-Council from the beginning, which has not been met. "The insertion of new Section 284(A) whereby director of local bodies shall be appointed to coordinate the functions of the respective corporations is unconstitutional. It is unheard of that a bureaucrat sits on three elected bodies and gets overriding powers. It is also not in spirit of the constitution," said Prof Abbi.

The basic reason of splitting the MCD as given in the statement of objects and reasons of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Amendment Bill, 2011, is the phenomenal growth of population. The Census of 2001 has been considered the base.

New Delhi, November 29
A 30-year-old jeweller was arrested here for allegedly cheating a bank of Rs 45.52 lakh by making fake transactions on electronic swiping machines, the police said today.

Manoj Kumar Vaid, owner of MV Jewellers, was apprehended from Vikaspuri yesterday when he came there to vacate the shop, a senior police official said.

The arrest came following investigations into a complaint by IDBI Bank regarding cheating of Rs 45.52 lakh by making fake transactions on electronic swiping machine installed by it at the jewellery owned by Vaid.

The shop was closed for the last over 20 days and Vaid had vacated his house in Virender Nagar about 15 days ago.

During interrogation, the official said, he told the police about three years ago he started his jewellery shop in Sagar Pur but closed down due to financial problems and started working as supplier of artificial jewellery.

"He came into contact with one Sanjay Sharma and in connivance with him and his elder brother Vinod Kumar, Vaid started MV Jewellers and became director of the company.

He got installed three electronic card swiping machine at the shop.

"Between October 8 and 31, he along with his associates made 74 fake transactions on the swiping machines without any sale and received a payment of Rs 45,52,343 and fraudulently withdrew the said amount," he said. — PTI

New Delhi, November 29
Four unidentified youths, who had covered their faces with cloths, allegedly ransacked the house of a jeweller in Jyoti Nagar last night.

All the family members were asleep at the time of the incident.

The shop of artificial jewelleries is on the ground floor. The robbers took the hostage of all family members at the weapon point. They then ransacked the house. They looted Rs 40 lakh in cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees.