TOP STORIES

Lawyer found shot dead in Shakarpur office
New Delhi, March 3
A 53-year-old lawyer, Y. P. Sharma, was shot dead in his office in Vikas Marg in East Delhi last night by some unidentified persons. He was found lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound in the abdomen. He was taken to Walia Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The body of lawyer Y.P. Sharma being taken to his residence. — Tribune photo

ORDEAL
‘They’ll stab me if you don’t pay, dad’
Noida, March 3
“They are planning to stab me to death,” 13-year-old Mohit Sharma wrote to his father, asking him to pay the ransom. The scared boy, son of New Delhi Municipal Council junior engineer B. D. Sharma and a class 9 student of Vishwa Bharti Public School here, wrote in his letters during his 32 days in captivity: “I am beaten many times and surviving on a chapati and half-a-glass of water everyday.” “Save my life somehow,” he begged his father.

• Father, son fall to death from train

BUDGET BLUES: Activists of India Youth Congress at a rally against the Budget at Jantar Mantar in the Capital on Monday. — Tribune photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Airguns turn lethal in hands of western UP gangsters
Meerut, March 3
The Delhi High Court has extended the interim stay on the sale of airguns, but the criminals of western Uttar Pradesh are unfazed. In fact, these toy guns turn lethal in their hands: with slight modification, they transform into .9 mm pistols, fatal for both men and birds.

Concerted effort to clean up Capital
New Delhi, March 3
The Delhi Lt-Governor, Mr Vijai Kapoor, along with the Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, the Minister for Urban Development, Dr A K Walia, and senior officers of the Centre and Delhi Government have reviewed the sanitation facilities and the condition of roads in the city.

SC rejects plea to transfer Nitish Katara case
New Delhi, March 3
The Supreme Court today dismissed petitions filed by Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav seeking transfer of the Nitish Katara murder case from the present trial court to any other court on the ground that the judge was prejudiced against them.

SURVEY IN FIVE CITIES
Even judges won’t go to court to file child sexual abuse case
New Delhi, March 3
The trauma of being molested and the ostracism that ensues are further compounded by the lack of adequate laws to punish the offenders and the delay in trial, claim NGOs and psychologists working with the victims of child sexual abuse.

POLITICS

Vidrohi alleges ‘injustice’ in drought relief 
Sonepat, March 3
The president of the Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U), Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, flayed the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala for the alleged injustice meted out to the farmers of southern Haryana in the matter of drought relief.

Cong to form ‘sangharsh samiti’ for SYL completion
Rohtak, March 3
The Opposition leader in the Haryana Assembly, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has threatened to launch a statewide agitation if the Union government failed to take effective steps regarding the completion of the SYL canal by May 2.

COMMUNITY

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam being presented with books written by him and printed in Braille by Dr Dalbir Singh, CMD, Central Bank of India, which bore the entire cost of the books.

Minimum wages for workers raised
Faridabad, March 3
With the rise in the Consumer Price Index, the Labour Department of Haryana has notified instructions to increase the minimum wages (MW) for factory and industrial workers by Rs 6.93 per month from January 2003. It is stated that the average price Index has risen from 909 to 912 points and as the rate of neutralisation has been Rs 2.31 per point, the hike in wages comes to Rs 6.93.

SONEPAT
Bride robbed of gold chain, ‘mangalsutra’ 
Sonepat, March 3
A newly-wedded couple of Jatwara village within the municipal limits of Sonepat town was waylaid by three armed gangsters near Mukhi Hospital on Murthal Road on Sunday evening.

• Newlyweds among six hurt as van overturns
• Three killed as trucks collide

SPECIAL FOCUS ON FARIDABAD
Lottery operator shot dead
Faridabad, March 3
A lottery operator was shot dead on NH-3 area in the NIT locality here last night. The victim, identified as Rakesh, alias `Raka’, had reportedly gone to collect some payment from a person known to him.

• Anti-encroachment drive

DELHI IN PARLIAMENT
Uphaar case: Officials gathering info on missing papers
New Delhi, March 3
The authorities are collecting information on the recent disappearance of vital documents pertaining to the case of the Uphaar fire tragedy five years ago in which 59 persons were killed and close to a hundred injured, Parliament was told today. Law and Justice Minister Arun Jaitely told the Rajya Sabha members that the information regarding the same was being collected.

NCR BRIEFS
Four killed in accidents
Ghaziabad, March 3
Four persons have died in accidents, one of them in a road accident and three in rail accidents. Two women, Kela Devi (60) and Sunita (28), residents of Hardwari Nagar in Modi Nagar were run over by Magadh Express near Hapur. They were going to the weekly market at 10 am. Though the level-crossing was closed and train could be seen approaching, the women thought they would be able to cross the track.

• Four auto thieves held
• Book expo in Kharkhauda college