New Delhi, April 10
A case of corruption has been slapped against 98 Delhi traffic policemen who were caught on camera taking bribes from Blueline bus drivers, an official said on Thursday. The policemen may be arrested.

“We registered a case against the policemen on Wednesday night under the Prevention of Corruption Act after a vigilance probe prima facie found them guilty,” a senior police official said.

He said the policemen - the largest number caught in one single operation - could be arrested.

The 98 policemen, including 11 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors each, 10 head constables and 66 constables, have been suspended.

Chetan Prakash, a property dealer, had carried out the dramatic sting operation last year. He secretly filmed the 98 men demanding and accepting bribes from drivers of Blueline buses at 23 traffic junctions across the Capital.

The bribes were being taken to let the drivers of the privately run bus fleet violate traffic and safety rules. Blueline buses killed over 120 people in 2007 and have claimed about 20 lives this year.

He moved the Delhi High Court, which directed the home ministry and Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal to look into the matter. — IANS

New Delhi, April 10
Working on eyewitness accounts, Delhi Police on Thursday released sketches of three men who allegedly shot dead businessman Arun Gupta three days ago near his south Delhi home.

“We have prepared sketches of three men on the basis of eyewitness accounts and one accused appears to be a minor,” a senior police official said, adding that no major breakthrough had been achieved in the investigation so far.

“The portraits were prepared by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) by using modern software,” he added.

Gupta, 47, was shot dead on Monday morning by three unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants barely a few metres from his home in Kalkaji, while he was on his way to his electronic goods shop in Bhagirath Palace in old Delhi.

The assailants waylaid Gupta’s WagonR car near a pastry shop flagging him to roll down his car window. As soon as he did so, one of them got down from the bike and pumped two bullets in Gupta’s head, killing him.

Gupta’s wife Sadhna later said her brothers Sneh and Dinesh Mittal could be behind the murder due to a property row.

“They had threatened to kill my husband over a property dispute and no one else could be behind the murder,” she had said.

According to the police, after the death last year of Madan Lal Mittal, the father-in-law of Gupta, the Gupta family and the Mittals were not on good terms.

Police said it had also interrogated some women who allegedly were “friendly” with the deceased. — IANS

New Delhi, April 10
The Seelampur police in the north east area of Capital has arrested two persons in connection with killing a boy. The accused had killed the boy with the intention of robbing him but could only retrieve Rs 2 from him. Shahwez Raza, 17, was found dead near a dharamsala in Chauhan Bangar area of Seelampur a few days back.

Raza and his elder brother Imam Raza, 19, were staying with a relative in Chauhan Bangar. Imam worked in a factory in Jafarabad and earlier stayed on the factory premises. The two brothers moved to a relative’s house. However, Imam sent Shahwez to bring the luggage from the factory. When Shahwez did not return, the brother went looking for him only to find him bleeding a few blocks from their house. Shahwez was declared brought dead by the doctors. The police has arrested Nazmul Hasan and Nasir for the murder. Their third accomplice Kamil is absconding. The accused have admitted to the crime and said that they could only get two rupees from the pocket of the deceased. 

New Delhi, April 10
The Delhi High Court on Thursday took up the bail pleas of arms dealer Suresh Nanda and his son Sanjeev, who were arrested last month for allegedly trying to bribe an income tax official in Mumbai.

Justice Rekha Sharma issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the Nandas’ bail plea, which was rejected last week by a lower court. The investigating agency has been asked to file a reply by April 23.

The sessions court rejected the Nandas’ bail plea stating that they could tamper with the evidence if set free.

The Nandas are in judicial custody till April 11.

While opposing their bail plea, the CBI read out the transcripts of the 94 calls exchanged between the Nandas, income tax official Ashutosh Verma and chartered accountant Bipin Shah from February 7 to March 8.

The four were arrested on March 9 when they had gathered at a Mumbai hotel room to allegedly negotiate the bribe amount to be paid to Verma. CBI sources said Verma had struck a deal for Rs 100 million.

Sanjeev Nanda is also accused of mowing down six people with his BMW car in a hit-and-run case in New Delhi in 1999. — IANS

New Delhi, April 10
A Delhi High Court division bench on Thursday convicted a lawyer for not obeying its order to vacate the flat he had taken on rent from Lalit Madan. Lalit Madan had rented out a flat to Srivastava, which he did not vacate despite the expiry of their rent agreement.

The matter reached the court, which asked Srivastava to vacate the house. As the lawyer stayed put, Madan filed a contempt petition against him.Meanwhile, the advocate wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India, and the Delhi Police

The court held the lawyer guilty of contempt of the court, in view of the contents of the two letters and his conduct. —IANS

Noida, April 10
The crime wave that started here on Tuesday continued till today morning, when a trader strangulated his wife to death in Sector-27.

Mangal Garg, a distributor of Haridarshan Dhup Batti, allegedly killed his second wife Sadhana early today. Property dispute is said to be the reason behind the killing. Mangal Garg later consumed poison and committed suicide.

The couple breathed its last in a private hospital. Dr Sarika who treated the couple said that strangulation marks were found on Sanjana’s neck.

According to the police, Garg’s first wife deserted him two years ago.

Garg, who had three children from his first marriage, got married to Sanjana of Noida in September last year. It was a second marriage for Sanjana too. She had brought her son from her first marriage — Vishal, 15, along with her.

Initially, all were happy. But after sometime, differences cropped up between the couple due to some property matter.

According to the police, Sanjana wanted Garg to make Vishal too an inheritor of his property. This often led to a clash between the couple, as Garg was opposed to it.

On Tuesday, after the children left for their schools, the couple had a heated argument. But after sometime, silence descended on the house. When Mangal Garg’s parents, who live on the ground floor of the same building, did not hear any sound for quite sometime, went to his house.

They found Sanjana lying unconscious while Mangal was emitting froth. His parents with the help of neighbours trushed the couple to the Kailash Hospital. Mangal died after sometime while Sanjana succumbed to her injuries around 2 pm in ICU.

The bodies have been sent for postmortem. 

Noida, April 10
A sense of panic has spread among the people of this satellite town bordering Delhi after the spate of lootings and shooting by trigger-happy criminals that left a woman dead and a retired army officer seriously injured.

Residents allege that there is negligible police patrolling at night.

“We hardly see police teams patrolling the roads, especially after dark,” said Rajender Phauja, 47, a businessman who moved with his family from Delhi to Sector-34 here last year.

He was commenting on the wanton killing of a former airhostess late on Tuesday night, the gun shot injuries a retired Lt-Gen of the Army received when resisting an attempt to rob him of his car, and three other lootings by gun-wielding men — all after dark.

“What kind of police is this, if it can’t prevent five incidents of robbery and assault in one night? Every day we hear that someone has been killed, or shot at or robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. We don’t feel secure any more here,” Phauja told IANS.

Sharmila Mathew, a housewife, complained, “ The police is the biggest threat. They harass people for no reason. It seems that they have given full liberty to criminals to attack innocent people.”

The shooting incidents have just highlighted the dangerous conditions they are living in, said Tejendir Singh, another resident.

According to statistics available with the Noida Police, 252 cases of vehicle thefts were registered between January 1 to March 31, as against 153 cases during the same period last year.

Other cases of thefts were a notch lower at 124 compared to 153 last year, while murder cases rose to 15 from 11. Compared to two dowry deaths last year, there were seven during the same period this year, while the number of rape cases were the same at four.

“People are in panic due to the rising number of crimes in the city. Everyone fears to go out at night, and even in the day time they prefer to remain indoors,” Singh added.

Like Phauja and Singh, thousands of people from Delhi and other cities moved to this booming satellite town due to its flourishing industries and massive infrastructure that lured major IT and foreign companies.

Over the past few years, the city, located around 15 km from Delhi’s busy Connaught Place, has witnessed growth in every sector with funds flowing in from both the government and private sector.

Rashmi Gupta, a call centre employee who works in Noida, said, “We fear for our lives while returning from our Noida office late in the evening, irrespective of the fact that we are travelling in our office car.”

“Though no place is safe, we feel relieved when we enter Delhi.”

The police in Noida said that they were launching a drive against criminals, especially at night, and would step up night patrolling.

They, however, said that the poor law and order was due to criminals coming from surrounding areas.

“Criminals strike in Noida and flee to towns like Ghaziabad, Hapur and Meerut, where it is not easy to nab them. A co-ordinated effort among other districts has become necessary to control the situation,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity. — IANS

New Delhi, April 10
The Delhi Vegetable and Oil Association set up a stall of mustard and other oil products at the DPCC office here and announced that the edible oil would be sold at Rs 60 per kg.

DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal and Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf claimed that there was no shortage of mustard and other cooking oils. Some disgruntled political elements were trying to whip up people’s passion by spreading this rumour.

They assured the citizens that the cooking oil would be made available in the market so that citizens can purchase it at an affordable price. They have sought cooperation from the Delhi Vegetable Oil Association. The mustard, soyabeen and vanaspati oil would be sold at the rates ranging from Rs 55 to Rs 60 at 25 outlets all over Delhi. These would be made available at JJ clusters and resettlement colonies.

The Congress party would expose those who were trying to exploit the sentiments of the people by spreading fake information. The recent decision of the central government to waive import duty for cooking oils was a conscious step to contain prices and make available cooking oils in ample quantity in the domestic market.

New Delhi, April 10
Four armed persons stabbed Mukesh Kumar, 36, a resident of Ambika Vihar and robbed him of his Santro car and other valuables near Bhairon Enclave in the Paschim Vihar area of West Delhi around 11:30 pm yesterday.

Kumar was going to a nearby market to buy ice-cream for his children when a Maruti 800 car hit his car from behind. The four then forced Mukesh out of his car and started beating him up after some heated arguments. They stabbed him on his legs and arms and later fled with his car, mobile phone, gold chain and wallet. They also tried to cut his wrist but were unsuccessful.

Kamlesh Kumar, a doctor rescued Mukesh. He called the PCR and took Mukesh to a nearby dispensary. He was taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Medical Centre from there.

However, Mukesh, who owns a perfume shop in the Madipur area of West Delhi, fails to recall the complete registration number of the assailant’s car. 

New Delhi, April 10
The department of African studies, Delhi University (DU) in collaboration with the Embassy of Rwanda had organised a seminar at the conference centre, North campus, DU on the 14th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The ambassador of Rwanda in India, Lt Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa talked about the genocide that took place in Rwanda during 1994. He stressed on the plight of the residents, the ethnic divide between Huta and Hoti communities and the socio-economic and political situation during the genocide.

He said that the international community reacted callously to the genocide at that time. He alleged that the international community was busy defining the killings rather than taking steps to prevent the massacre and save humanity. He expressed that India understands the pain of Rwanda nationals, as it faced such a situation during its partition in 1947.

DU pro vice-chancellor SK Tandon chaired the seminar. Department in-charge Tribhuvan Prasad delivered the inaugural speech and co-ordinated the seminar. Film ‘Shooting Dog’ was also screened.

Faridabad, April 10
The employees of Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) along with those already yesterday had reason to feel consoled after a fortnight of their agitation relating to their services.

The employees met minister for local body A.C.Chaudhary at his residence who assured them of a suitable action regarding their demand.

The minister told the employees that he has directed the commissioner of MCF to submit a report within three days on the demand of the employees and how it could be met.

The employees have been staging dharnas and demonstrations outside the main gate of MCF. They also submitted a memorandum to the minister.

The issue of jobs of about 1,519 employees is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and is awaiting disposal, which is expected soon.

The employees, mainly in the category of scavengers, belldars, gardeners, etc, had been retrenched in 2001. However, more than 400 were taken back and others could not be taken till the disposal of the case by the court. The main order of the government which sought to do away with the services of the employees has been challanged in the court. In case the court upholds the order of the government, those who were taken back would also lose their jobs, as was the case with others in 2001.

The employees demand is that even if the court upholds the order of the government in 2001, the Congress government must find out an administrative way to give them employment. They have also submitted that they were willing to be be given fresh appointment as they would not make an issue of seniority. Many of the employees have putin about 20 years of service.

Rattan Lal Rohilla, spokesperson of Haryana Nagar Palika Karamchaari Sangh, spearheading the agitation, said that the employees will not call off their agitating merely on the assurance of the minister.

New Delhi, April 10
Former Miss India Naina Balsawar, wife of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Akbar Ahmed Dumpy was robbed of cash and jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh yesterday at the Rajouri garden area in West Delhi.

In her complaint, Naina has stated that a group of young rag pickers tapped on the windscreen and side windows of the car while it was parked. When the driver went to scare them away, one of the juvenile thieves managed to take out a bag containing cash and jewellery from the vehicle.