New Delhi, April 2
With the arrest of five persons — Vivek Prasad, Nafees Ahmed, Raju Khan, Brijesh Yadav and Dildar Hussain, the Delhi Police has busted an international credit card racket. Twenty-one fake credit cards have been recovered.

A case of cheating and fraud has been registered against the five at Saraswati Vihar police station. According to the police, the gang has committed frauds worth Rs 30,00,000.

Vivek Prasad, a commerce graduate from Bangalore University was the marstermind behind the racket. He used to work at Winter Rhythm Computers in Hyderabad as business development executive. He has no past criminal record.

According to Anil Shukla, DCP (Crime & Railways),the gang used to swipe credit cards in connivance with guards in the Capital.

A team led by inspector Jitender intercepted a Maruti WagonR car around 11:00 am near Bikaner Sweets in Netaji Subhash Place and arrested Vivek Prasad, Nafees Ahmed, Raju Khan and Brijesh Yadav sitting in the car. Ten credit cards were recovered. None of the credit cards recovered were on the name of the arrested. Dildar Hussain was arrested on their instance.

Vivek used to procure fake credit cards from his associate Loknathan, who keeps shuttling between India and the UK. Vivek collaborated with Nafees Ahmed and other arrested to swipe cards on machines in Delhi. They took the guard outside the swipe machine booth in confidence before committing the crime.

The credit card appeared as common Indian credit card, but electronic information of foreign credit cards lied inside the magnetic belly of the card. The technique used in the fraud is known as ‘skimming’.

During skimming the card is swiped twice, using a small hand-held device similar to a pager. The skimmer captures the information of the cardholder and re-encodes it on the magnetic stripe of a plain plastic card or stores it in the device so that it can be downloaded later for illegal purposes. Unauthorised purchases can be made with one swipe.

All 21 cards, when swiped, revealed credit card accounts of users living in the United Kingdom. The culprits swiped the card depending on the credit limit of the card.   

The bank or the insurance company paid the inflated bill that the cardholder in the UK received.  

New Delhi, April 2
A domestic help committed suicide while another complained to the police of rape from her employer in the Capital here today.

Lata Das, 17, working as a domestic help in a Vasant Kunj house committed suicide in the morning today.

She worked in the house of Vani Halder, a practising doctor in the pocket 9 of Vasant Kunj. She was found hanging from the ceiling of her room around 8.30 am.

The Haldar family told the police that she had prepared the breakfast quite early and went to her room. Doctors at AIIMS declared her brought dead.

According to Dinesh, another help in the Haldar house, Lata had been feeling low for the last couple of months as she had failed to send some money to her father in Kolkata. Lata had come to the city two years ago.

A 18-year-old domestic help Wednesday has alleged her employer repeatedly raped her for a month at his southwest Delhi home, police said.

Meanwhile,Pooja (name changed), in her complaint to the police, said her employer Pankaj Malhotra raped her for a month in his Sector-13 home.

“Pankaj, who runs a catering business, raped me for a month and threatened with dire consequences if I spoke to anyone,” she said in her complaint.

The accused, who is not traceable, lives with his widowed mother and an elder brother.

The Police said the victim hails from Sundergarh district of Orissa and was working with the family for the past one-and-a-half years.

The victim was taken for a medical examination to a hospital, where doctors confirmed the sexual assault.

“We have registered a case and teams have been fanned out to arrest the accused,” said a police official.

New Delhi, April 2
At least 60 employees of a call centre in West Delhi were today admitted to hospital with suspected food poisoning as they complained of giddiness and stomachache after they had lunch.

The staff of Om Innovation Call Services in Janakpuri, which handles credit card related phone queries for the State Bank of India, complained of uneasiness and vomiting after consuming lunch provided by the firm.

Around 300 people had eaten the food, provided by Sita Ram Caterers, a police official said.

The victims were admitted to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and private-run Kartik Hospital.

All employees are said to be out of danger, but a few are still under observation.

“We had rice and channa dal in our lunch, but soon every one started complaining of giddiness and stomachache. It has never happened in past,” said Shivpal, an employee.

A case has been registered and investigations are under way, the police said.

“Initial investigations suggest that people fell ill due to the spurious quality of food. We have detained Sita Ram, owner of the catering services, and he is likely to be arrested,” said Sharad Aggarwal, deputy commissioner of police (West Delhi). — IANS

New Delhi, April 2
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted relief for owners of 8,000 flats whose allotments were stayed following allegations of irregularities to the tune of Rs.40 billion in land allotments.

A division bench of Justices Mukul Mudgal and Aruna Suresh directed the registrar of cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) to allot the flats to the members registered till July 2, 2007, as the scam was the result of management and not of the members.

Last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had assured the court that it would soon complete the investigation into the alleged irregularities.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating the allegations that some officials in the office of the registrar of cooperative societies (RCS) had conspired with private parties to revive defunct societies for land allotment.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered 152 cases in connection with the scam and 97 more are likely to be registered soon. Former registrar of cooperative societies N. Diwakar, who surrendered in January 2006, has been named in more than 40 cases.—IANS

Noida, April 2
A new public transport policy for the entire NCR region, including Delhi and UP, will soon come into operation. The policy has almost been hammered out by the officials of Delhi and UP transport departments.

Now UP roadways buses will be able to ply from Bulandshahr, Meerut and Ghaziabad for different terminals in Delhi without any hindrance. The only rider is that the buses should run on CNG. Under the new proposal, the UP roadways buses will ply up to 1.40 lakh km in Delhi as against 90,000 km in the past. DTC will also be at liberty to ply its buses for the same length of kilometres in UP. A new formula is being readied for the length of kms and a number of trips by buses from both the states.

Vehicles with NCR permits will have a different colour scheme and logo for easy identity. Even rates of vehicles registration fee for all NCR states will be common.

According to UP roadway officials, the new transport policy will be placed before the committee set-up under the aegis of apex court with Bhure Lal as its chairman. At present, UP roadway buses are plying on CNG from four points. Agreement has been reached for plying these buses from eight new points in New Delhi, including IGI Airport, Nehru Place, Mehrauli, Central Secretariat, CGO Complex, Shivaji Stadium, Shahdara and Bhajanpura bus terminals.

UP roadways diesel buses will be allowed to ply up to Outer Delhi bus stops. They will not be allowed to enter Delhi in keeping with pollution norms extant in the national Capital.

According to UP officials, new colour code and logo had figured in discussions for easily identification of buses. The same will apply to three wheelers. The question of entry tax in Delhi and passenger tax in UP had also come up for discussion. Increase in tax from NCR public vehicles was also considered which is expected to be sorted out in the next about 10 days, it is learnt.

New Delhi, April 2
Under the community services initiatives, branches of State Bank of India, Delhi Circle, adopted 26 poor girl children in a function held today at Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

School kits containing uniform, books and stationery, tiffin boxes and school bags were distributed to the beneficiaries. The bank also organised a health check-up camp on the occasion.

The bank is adopting girl children from the government schools who are physically challenged, orphans or poor. The bank will support their school-level education.

The financial assistance covers expenses such as school fees, cost of books and stationery, school bag, uniform, transportation cost and health care.

State Bank of India Ladies Club has been involved in the programme since its inception and has helped in identification of the disadvantaged girl children.

Greater Noida, April 2
The allotment of plots to farmers has been commenced by the Greater Noida Authority at a camp in which 650 farmers were handed over the allotment letters. In the two-day camp, some farmers who could not be present on Monday were given the letters today.

The farmers, who received the allotment letters, were apparently happy with the development. They expressed gratitude to UP Chief Minister Mayawati. “We had been going round the GNIDA for the last eight to nine years for the purpose,” they said.

Presenting the allotment letters to the farmers, ACEO Sudhir Kumar told the farmers that they will not be allowed to sell these plots for the next three years. Should any farmer sell the plot in violation of this condition, other facilities being extended to farmers will be withdrawn, he warned.

Some 189 farmers from Rasoolpur village, 89 from Malikpur, 54 from Bisarakh, 18 from Sirsa, 22 from Patawdi, 6 from Rohilapur, 181 from Muradpur, 29 from Chhapraula, 26 from Jan Samna and 36 farmers from Emnabad and Tugalkpur were handed over the allotment letters.

According to ACEO Sudhir Kumar, allotment letters of 3700 farmers from 49 villages are pending. 

New Delhi, April 2
Seven prisoners lodged in the Tihar Jail here died of dehydration last year. This year, barely at the start of summer, a severe water shortage has hit the prison again. The authorities blame the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

According to international standards set for prisons, an inmate requires 135 litres of water each day. But merely 30 litres of water is being supplied to each prisoner in Tihar.

The high-security jail now has 11,605 inmates, though it was designed for 6,250. Inmates include 61 children — 31 boys and 30 girls below six.

Acting on a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report that prisoners were getting very little water, the Delhi High Court had yesterday directed the jail authorities to file a comprehensive reply by April 18 on the increasing water woes and the steps planned to deal with the situation.

“We have been facing a perennial problem of adequate water supply including safe drinking water. We have written several times to the DJB, but nothing concrete emerged,” Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta told IANS.

“We are only getting a meagre supply of 20 water tankers, when the requirement is much more,” Gupta added.

He said that the authorities have taken adequate measures for this season and would be tapping groundwater through hand pumps and bore wells.

“The groundwater would be treated through the reverse osmosis process to make it potable. It will be then made available to inmates for drinking,” said Gupta.

“We have also repaired the water coolers and prisoners can have chilled water.” — IANS

New Delhi, April 2
A local court has cleared the way for conducting the Test Identification Parade (TIP) of the accused in the Nizammuddin guest house murder of Shashi Roy. Metropolitan Magistrate Tarun Sehrawat sent Ashish Nandwana and his cousin Manoj Nandwana to judicial custody till April 7, while accepting the plea of the police to conduct a TIP of the accused.

The TIP will be conducted in the Tihar Jail and the staff of the Central Guest House, where Shashi Roy was stabbed to death by her boyfriend Ashish, will be brought to the jail premises to identify the accused.

Ashish and Manoj had stayed in the guesthouse with their girlfriends Shashi and Savita respectively.

However, Ashish stabbed Shashi after she turned down his marriage proposal in a fit of rage while Manoj helped him remove the evidence.

The duo tried to flee after Shashi succumbed to her injuries in the hospital.

The Nizammuddin police will seek police custody of the accused after their successful identification by the hostel staff. 

New Delhi, April 2
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) called the hike in property tax as unreasonable and asked the government to roll it back.

Criticizing the hike in the property tax, general secretary of the CAIT Parveen Khandelwal said that the Delhi traders are already facing threats from sealing and demolitions and payment of conversion and parking charges. The hike in property tax will prove to be a major blow to them. The properties given on rent or being used for commercial purpose will have to pay 10 per cent additional amount. The residential properties in A,B,C,D and E category will have to pay five per cent and residential properties of F,G and H category will pay two per cent additional amount.

While demanding immediate withdrawal of the hike in property tax, he said that huge increase in property tax was levied on Delhi people when unit area method was introduced three years back in Delhi and now further increase in tax will hit the common man hard.

Vijender Gupta, chairman, Standing Committee, while presenting the budget in MCD house last month, announced that there would be no increase in any tax, the property tax has been increased, however.

Khandelwal said it is amazing that at the time of presentation of schedule of taxes in MCD house neither the ruling party nor the opposition members took any cognizance of the hike proposal and the schedule was passed without any amendment. It clearly reflects how serious elected representatives are about the people of Delhi.

New Delhi, April 2
Ikebana is the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. The Delhi Ikebana International, a chartered chapter of the Ikebana International, organized its annual exhibition here yesterday.

Salma Ansari, wife of Vice-President of India, inaugurated the exhibition—‘Cycle of Life’. The guests of honour included Ambassador of Japan, Hideaki Domichii and his wife Noriko.

The theme of the exhibition ‘Cycle of Life’ represented the lunar evolution of life.

According to experts, traditional Ikebana is extremely formalized, following rigid rules; but modern Ikebana, which began around a hundred years ago, allows more spontaneity, bringing out the individuality of the arranger. Thus, in a composition of the utmost simplicity, a skilled Ikebana arranger can suggest with a few lines, not only the whole universe, but can also create a sense of space, motion of time, the past and future, of seasons, of rhythm, of emotion, and of other equally diverse concepts. The traditional use of three branches, flowers or other objects in some styles of Ikebana is to symbolize heaven, earth and man, thus encompassing the whole universe.

Being a Japanese art perfected through centuries of tradition, it requires a different way of thinking about flowers and their arrangement. 

New Delhi, April 2
The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) in its report has come down heavily on the performance of various departments and autonomous bodies of Delhi government. The gross inefficiency and mismanagement has led to loss of crores of rupees in government exchequer and putting people in the most pitiable plight, said leader of opposition in Delhi assembly, Jagdish Mukhi.

While the government is highlighting its achievements through advertisements, the CAG report has exposed its false propaganda. The report has clearly stated that the Delhi Jal Board has failed to keep its promises to the citizens of Delhi. It has not been able to keep pace with the growth of the city, and its supply infrastructure is hardly any match to reality, said Mukhi referring to the CAG report.

The report says that 56 per cent of the total water supplied in Delhi during last five years does not fetch any revenue, resulting in a loss of Rs 1990.54

crore. Forty-one of the consumers are being supplied water either without meter or through defective meter, said Mukhi.

The DJB has lost Rs 173.77 crore during 2003-2007 due to its failure to rectify meters on time.

The DJB did not enforce action against the defaulters, amounting to a loss of Rs 368 crore in arrears against the outstanding bills. Distribution losses in Delhi were as high as 40 per cent of water supply.

Electricity is another black spot in the Delhi government’s performance. When power supply was privatised, the government promised round the clock power to the citizens. But that did not happen.

Delhi Transport Corporation also suffered losses of Rs 4008.46 crore. The transport department failed to realise more than Rs 32 crore as charges for mandatory fitness check for renewal of registration of commercial vehicles during 2006-2007. About 99,350 commercial vehicles are running without vital document. 

New Delhi, April 2
With the arrest of Jitender Kumar, alias Rajesh Bhaskar, 25, the West district police has solved five cases of snatching and one case of robbery. Vijay Gupta, 42, had complained that two motor cycle-borne youths had robbed her of her gold chain near her house in Manohar Park in the Punjabi Bagh area. When she raised an alarm, they pointed the pistol at her and fled. The victim’s husband Ravinder Kumar Gupta chased them. A police team at the main Rohtak Road, Rampura, nabbed Jitender, while his accomplice identified as Sunil, resident of Andha Mugal, Partap Nagar, managed to flee.

Jitender admitted of snatching articles in Punjabi Bagh, Moti Nagar, Gulabi Bagh and Roop Nagar areas of the Capital.