New Delhi, January 22
With the arrest of two persons, including a woman, the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police claims to have busted a bogus export scam running into Rs 50 crore. The accused persons had cheated exporters from Delhi, Jaipur, Noida and Varanasi by giving them fake letters of credit and bogus export orders. The sleuths also seized several computers, laptops, incriminating documents and 400 cartons of home furnishing items from their possession.

The accused persons have been identified as Teg Bahadur Rai (35), proprietor of Falcon India Buying House in Okhla, and Ms Meenu Sachdev (33).

Acting on a complaint received from several exporters that they had been duped with fake assurances of confirmed export orders of home furnishing items worth crores of rupees against Letters of Credit purportedly issued by the overseas buyers, the sleuths found that the foreign banks and overseas buyers that had issued the LCs did not exist.

Rai used to lure victims by promising them huge export orders worth crores against Letters of Credit issued by foreign banks. Rai also used to enter into agreements with victims that stipulated that silk fabric for preparing the furnishing items would be supplied only by Dhananjay Silk Emporium, Rai’s front company.

He also advised the victims not to contact the L/C applicant directly or indirectly without Rai’s prior approval; also the designs and colour combinations of the shipments were to be approved by him before they were finally exported.

In another case, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police claims to have arrested two extortionists (both brothers) for threatening a businesswoman. One of the accused posed to be a journalist of a leading television channel and tried to extract Rs one lakh from the businesswoman as she was supplying LPG cylinders to public transporters. The accused presented himself as one Gaurav and told the victim that he had recorded the activities in her agency and would release the video if she failed to give the money. Later, Gaurav had started issuing threats through e-mails.

The accused persons have been identified as Sandeep Singh Arora (30) and Prabhmit Singh Arora (22), residents of New Mahabir Nagar. While Sandeep is a post-graduate from Delhi University, Prabhmit is a third-year Computer Science student in Hansraj College. Acting on a complaint from the victim, the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch zeroed in on the accused.

During interrogation, the accused told the sleuths that Sandeep had worked in the agency for a few days. Since they were in dire need of money to support their lavish lifestyle, the duo hatched a conspiracy to extort money from the woman.

New Delhi, January 22
Instead of receiving a New Year’s gift, the 700-odd students of the MCD Boys School, Bawana, were made to part with the school building meant for them. The school in the resettlement colony is being used as the office of the Deputy Commissioner of the MCD.

Seeking the MCD Commissioner’s intervention, a letter by the Social Jurists has brought to his notice the total apathy of the administration. The letter says: “The entire school premises of the MCD Boys School, Bawana, has been occupied by the office of the Deputy Commissioner (MCD) since January 1, 2005, and all the 700 students have been shifted to other schools to the disadvantage of these students and in contempt of the High Court orders”.

The MCD Primary Girls School, Bawana, has been converted into a double shift school from January 1 and about 100 girls who were studying in MCD Primary Boys School, Bawana, have now been shifted to the second shift school running in MCD Primary Girls School, Bawana.

“This is the only case where the girl students have been forced to study in the second shift. There is no other MCD school where girl students study in second shift. This move of the MCD has been strongly opposed by the parents of these girl students”, the letter states.

The students of six sections of MCD Primary Boys School, Bawana, have been shifted to MCD Primary School, Ishwar Colony, Bawana, which is almost a kilometre away from the earlier school.

The letter further treads, “It is shocking that the MCD Deputy Commissioner’s office has been allowed to function from the premises of MCD Boys School, Bawana, and the children studying therein were arbitrarily shifted to other schools. This action on your part goes against the letter and spirit of the aforementioned orders of the High Court and is tantamount to contempt of the court”.

It was also pointed out that this is not the first time that the MCD has erred. In July 2002, Social Jurist had filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court complaining against a municipal dispensary being run on the premises of the MCD Boys School, Bawana. The dispensary had occupied two classrooms, one multipurpose room and a toilet block, depriving the school students of the benefit of classrooms, multi-purpose room, toilet block and also the playground and even endangering their lives owing to the presence of disposed syringes on the school premises.

The MCD had to vacate the school following the orders of the High Court. 

New Delhi, January 22
To facilitate uninterrupted traffic during the full dress rehearsal on January 23 from Vijay Chowk to Red Fort ground, the Delhi Traffic Police has made elaborate traffic arrangements on the parade routes.

The parade will start from Vijay Chowk and pass through Rajpath, India Gate, Tilak Marg, W Point, BSZ Marg, A Point, Subhash Marg and Red Fort Chowk and reach the Red Fort. The general traffic will therefore remain closed on Mathura Road, Subhramanian Bharti Marg, Humayun Road, Aurangazeb Road, Kamal Ataturk Marg, Kautilya Marg, Mother Teresa Crescent, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Ashoka Road, Ferozshah Road and Bhagwan Dass Road. The police said that the traffic on the parade routes will remain closed from 6 am to 1 pm on Sunday.

Motorists who wish to travel from North to South district are requested to take Ring Road – Ashram Chowk – Sarai Kale Khan I P Flyover and Raj Ghat. They are also advised to take Lajpat Rai Marg – Mathura Road – Bhairon Road – Ring Road for onward journey.

They can also take Aurobindo Road – T/R – Lodhi Road to join Lajpat Rai Marg and proceed towards Mathura Road or from Aurobindo Chowk – T/L Safdarjung Road – Kamal Ataturk Marg – Kautilya Marg – Sardar Patel Marg – Mother Teresa Crescent – RML R/A and Baba Kharak Singh Marg for onward jouney.

Motorists travelling on Africa Avenue – Vinay Marg or Shantipath are advised to take Panchsheel Marg- Simon Boulivar Road – Upper Ridge Road – Park Street – Mandir Marg and Rani Jhansi Marg for onward journey. Similarly, motorists travelling from East to West district or vice versa are advised to take Ring Road and other roads that do not cross the parade routes.

Noida, January 22
In a shocking incident, a woman reportedly committed self-immolation after her family members beat up her lover. According to reports, the woman torched herself after sprinkling kerosene in village Jhajhar under Kakode police station. The woman decided to end her life as a sequel to her lover being thrashed by her family members on Friday morning.

She succumbed to her burn injuries while being rushed to a Delhi hospital. The victim and her lover were having an affair for the last three years, according to sources. The police, however, called it an accidental fire, caused by a kerosene lamp falling on the victim, identified as Parveen.

According to information, Babu Din was a frequent visitor to the house of Anis of village Jhajhar. In his frequent meetings with the daughter of Anis, identified as Parveen, Babu Din developed a love affair. The love affair was disapproved by Anis, who ordered his daughter not to meet Babu Din, according to sources. On Friday, when Babu Din was passing by the house of Parveen, her family member’s pounced upon him and thrashed him. When Parveen came to know that Babu Din had been seriously injured, she decided to end her life. While the family was offering Namaz on Id, Parveen poured kerosene and torched herself. She succumbed to her burn injuries while being taken to a Delhi hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, in another incident a housewife, fed up with her continuing health problem, committed suicide by shooting herself with her husband’s licensed gun. The incident took place in Beeta II sector, Greater Noida, under Kasna police station. According to the police, the victim was living in Sector-2, Beeta, with her husband, identified as Sandeep Singh and his family members.

The victim, identified as Anjali Singh, quietly locked herself in the bathroom and shot herself. Her husband and her 4-year-old son were at home when the incident took place. When her husband broke into the bathroom, he found Anjali in a pool of blood.

The body has been sent for the postmortem examination, said the SO Alok Sharma.

Ghaziabad, January 22
The Members of Parliament and State Legislative Assembly are to benefit from a special administrative order of the UP Government allocating plots to the public representatives.

Among those likely to benefit by this special administrative order of the UP Government include nine Members of Parliament and 52 MLAs.

The allotment of plots by the GDA is likely to benefit former Chief Ministers and senior Members of Parliament including Janeshwar Mishra, Kalyan Singh, Munishi Ram, Ch. Munawar Hussain, Ruwab Sayida, Dr Chhatterpal Singh, Raj Narain Budhelya and Paras Nath Yadav etc.

These plots were being allotted under a government order issued by the Kalyan Singh government in 2000, the GDA official said.

Among the MLAs, those likely to benefit include Ghaziabad MLA Surinder Kumar Munni, Ajit Kumar, alias Raju Yadav, Dharmpal Singh, Shankh Lal Manjhi, Ram Pal Valyan, Brahm Shankar Tripathi, Subash Chand Yadav, Ram Veer Singh Yadav.

New Delhi, January 22
The BJP has questioned the motive of the Delhi Government in asking schools to purchase books on Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi.

The president of the Delhi unit of the BJP, Dr Harsh Vardhan, today told media persons that in a November 16, 2004, communique to principals of government and government-aided schools, the Education Department has asked schools to purchase ‘Discovery of India’, ‘Glimpses of World History: An Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru’, and ‘Letters from a Father to his Daughter’.

Furnishing a copy of the letter, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the total price of three copies each of those books was Rs 10,485. By incurring such expenditure, “every school can purchase more than 100 important books for the benefit of the children of Delhi, but by failing to do so the Education Directorate is forcing the schools to misuse the government money by purchasing the aforesaid books written long ago,” read Dr Vardhan’s statement. “Three copies each of the books...as detailed below may be purchased for the school library to enable the teachers and students to ‘comprehend their knowledge’,” said the alleged circular, copies of which were supplied to media persons.

‘’The ruling Congress is forcing the children to gain knowledge about the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, about Ms Sonia Gandhi and Pandit Nehru. Why schools are not being told to get books written by numerous great writers and scholars like Swami Vivekanand, Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia?’’ Dr Harsh Vardhan asked.

He accused the Congress government of misusing its powers by directing schools to buy books authored by the party chief and her husband’s grandfather.

New Delhi, January 22
With the arrest of two persons the West district police claims to have solved a kidnapping-cum-murder case of a nine-year old son of a businessman of Tilak Nagar.

The accused persons have been identified as Arvind and Rajesh, both tenants of the businessman.

On January 18, Deepak’s father had registered a complaint with the police that his son was missing from the house. During investigation the police questioned several persons residing near the victim’s house; it was discovered that on the night of January 19 both Arvind and Rajesh were missing from their first floor room.

On January 20, the body of the boy was found at a distance of one kilometer from the victim’s house. Since an eyewitness also told the police that the victim was spotted with Arvind and Rajesh on the fateful evening, the police launched a massive hunt and nabbed the duo near Park hospital on January 21. The police also recovered a country made weapon from their possession.

New Delhi, January 22
A wet cold day left the Delhiites shivering as the city reeled under an intense cold wave that has gripped north and north west India. Light rain further contributed to the city dweller’s discomfort.

Though the minimum temperature rose to 9.7 degrees Celsius this morning from 6.8 degrees Celsius yesterday, there was no respite from the cold as the sun refused to shine.

The day temperature recorded at noon was 17 degrees Celsius, the weather office said. A foggy morning is forecast for tomorrow with cloudy skies, the weather office said.