Gurgaon, June 14
In another gruesome reminder of what drunken driving can do, three teenagers died early today after their car turned turtle thrice over before smashing into a divider on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. The fourth occupant, Tapan, miraculously escaped with a few gashes.

The accident was so horrific that the head of one of those dead was severed while the bodies of the other two were badly disfigured.

The accident site was a bloody mess. Such was the impact of the collision with the divider that the car literally split into three pieces.

“From eyewitness accounts, the car was speeding at over 100 km per hour. Considering the damage wrought to the car, the driver must have lost control,” assistant commissioner of police (East) Sumit Kuhar told IANS.

“They were driving at breakneck speed. After it passed me on the highway I saw the Tata Indigo a few minutes later. It was a wreck,” said Rohit Michael, an eyewitness.

Siddharth, Karan and Divanshu, all aged 16, were students of G.D. Goenka World School and had appeared for their class 10 examinations. Tapan had finished his class 9 from Amity International School. All were residents of Gurgaon.

All four teenagers had gone to a pub in New Delhi’s Samrat Hotel on Friday and left close to midnight.

“A driver had dropped us at the hotel. After partying all of us decided to get home on our own and we borrowed a car from one of our colleagues. Divanshu insisted on driving the car. I told him that he was very drunk and it was not safe for him to drive,” said Tapan, recuperating at the Gurgaon Civil Hospital, admitting they were all drunk.

Kuhar, however, said it was Tapan who was on the wheel and was inebriated.

“He (Divanshu) was driving dangerously. When our car reached Gurgaon it hit the roadside, I do not remember exactly where on the highway. I gained consciousness in the hospital later and got to know that all of them had died,” added Tapan.

A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered and police is investigating who actually was driving the vehicle.

This is not the first time that the expressway, which opened in February, has seen such shocking accidents. Earlier this month, two young executives were killed on the spot in a hit-and-run incident.

In April, a bus dragged a car with three occupants inside for a considerable distance before the car was crushed against the railings. All three passengers died.

In February, two motorcyclists were killed at the busy South City crossing, again by an unknown vehicle. — IANS 

New Delhi, June 14
Three members of a family were killed while one was injured when a truck hit an auto rickshaw near Hari Nagar Depot in West Delhi today.

According to DCP (West) Sharad Aggarwal, the accident took place around 2 a.m. when the auto rickshaw in which the deceased were travelling was hit by a speeding truck.

The deceased have been identified as Mohammad Junaid, 26, his wife Pinky, 24 and his mother Nazo, 45. They died on the spot. They were residents of the Uttam Nagar area. Junaid’s brother-in-law, Mohammad Ashraf, was injured. He has been admitted to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. His condition is said to be critical.

Efforts are being made to nab the truck driver who fled from the scene of crime. “We have lodged a complaint against the driver and have launched a manhunt to nab him. The truck belongs to a Rajasthan-based businessman. We have received the driver’s details from him,” said a police official. According to an eyewitnesses Dilpreet Singh who was sleeping outside his shop, the truck driver seemed to have lost control over the vehicle which was coming from the Delhi Cantt side and hit the auto rickshaw coming from the Janakpuri side head-on. “The truck was moving at a very high speed and dragged the auto rickshaw for quite sometime before coming to halt. By the time we could react and call for help, the driver had fled,” said Dilpreet. 

New Delhi, June 14
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) yesterday conducted a lie detector test on Vijay Bhardawaj, the Gurgaon property dealer who had allegedly shot Rajbir Singh, an ACP with the Delhi Police. The test was to verify Bhardwaj’s claim that he had killed the officer over a monetary dispute.

Bhardawaj, who currently is in judicial custody, was brought to the Capital from Ambala in Haryana for the test.

While, Bhardwaj has claimed that he had shot Rajbir out of fright as he had been threatening to kill him if Bharadwaj was unable to return his money, Rajbir’s family believes that Bhardwaj is a front man for some lobby or gang, which wanted the officer dead.

According to a source, the CBI questionnaire for the lie detector test included the overseas calls received by Bhardwaj before and after the murder of the ‘encounter cop’ and also the hefty amount deposited in his account after the crime.

Immediately after he killed Rajbir at his Gurgaon office on March 24, Bhardawaj had confessed to the crime before the media.

The CBI started investigating the matter after registering a case on June 3. The case was handed over to the central investigating agency following a request by the Haryana government, which was approved by the department of personnel on May 27. Also, the family of the ACP, who was a part of investigations into several high-profile cases, including the Parliament attack, had demanded a CBI inquiry claiming, “a much bigger conspiracy was behind the killing.”

New Delhi, June 14
With an eye on the nearing assembly elections, the Congress-run Delhi government has decided to call an emergency meeting on Monday to control the rising prices of essential commodities.

The assembly elections in the Capital will take place in November and the Congress government is worried that rising prices can adversely affect its performance.

Earlier, demolition and sealing tarnished its image and the party was defeated by the BJP in corporation elections. Now, the rising prices of essential commodities and the recently hiked prices of petroleum products have also turned voters against the government.

This was discussed at a meeting in the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office.

The leaders discussed that efforts made by the DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal would go waste if price were not controlled.

The Congress government in Delhi is also upset with an announcement of the Bahujan Samaj Party that its candidates will contest from majority of the seats.

There are 70 assembly seats in the Capital.

This decision of the BSP may damage the Congress.

To counter BJP and BSP, the Congress has to chalk out plan to cut the price rise, sources said.

In a bid to control the rising prices of edible oil, the government may also look into the option of selling through ration shops at a subsidised rate of Rs 15 per litre against the market rate.

Oil will sell through public distribution system, sources said. 

Faridabad, June 14
Haryana power minister Randip Singh Surjewala today urged the officers to be pro-active in implementing government policies and development plans or projects announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He said that the officers must complete the projects on time.

Surjewala said this while presiding over the monthly district public grievances and redressal committee.

He singled out key departments like — public health, power, PWD, education and the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, which are directly related to the people, to be extra vigilant and active.

Surjewala listened to 24 grievances and solved eight of them on the spot. The rest of them were kept for the next meeting.

One of the grievances solved by him was related to the problems faced by the residents of HUDA’s Sector 18-A because of the nearby Subzi Mandi.

Surjewala directed the concerned authorities to quickly complete the pending works of the new Mandi being built in Sector-16 so that the shops could be shifted there.

New Delhi, June 14
University campuses across Delhi are bustling with life, as the new academic season is in full swing. Apart from the rampant nervousness and tension among students due to the admissions, celebratory wave can be felt across the campuses. Jubilant students spend time on the campuses after completing the formalities just to get the feel of the change in their life.

Interestingly, the atmosphere in different campuses across Delhi varies. Students lounge around DU after filling their forms and there is a certain attention to fashion in some quarters, laughter has filled the air and students flock the canteen and college galleries to get a feel of being out of school. They assess their future in the corridors of colleges.

The atmosphere in Jamia Millia Islamia is perhaps oriental, where pajama-kurta clad youths rub shoulders with those in western clothes. There is a certain earthiness about the atmosphere here. Girls are more restrained and dressed in traditional clothes. But they are found chattering and laughing nonetheless.

In IIT Delhi, the atmosphere is both serious and relaxed. Jeans and t-shirt clad youths with a no-nonsense look line up to fill their forms. Girls are seen in casuals.

Vibrant colours are visible in DU. Radhika Jain sporting a bright t-shirt with a full cream skirt says, “It is hot and I have dressed to combat the heat plus I like bright colours, so why not? How I dress helps me to build my confidence and, these are crucial days, I need to feel good.”

While, Ranjana an out station student from UP wearing a salwar-kameez says, “I feel comfortable in salwar-kameez during this season. Currently, I need to focus on the admissions and not on the way I dress.”

Nasir in a cream-coloured kurta pajama from Jamia says, “I am not from Delhi and have dressed keeping the heat in mind. Dress hardly matters, I should get the course I want.”

Latika dressed in a lime green t-shirt and light jeans matched with clogs at IIT Delhi shrugs as she pushes her goggles up, “The only new thing is the clogs everything else is old. Comfort is important not glitz.”

New Delhi, June 14
Activists of the BJP National Kisan Morcha staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in protest against anti-farmer policy of the Centre as well as Delhi government.

They submitted a memorandum demanding to increase the rate of compensation of the land acquired by the government in the capital.

Addressing the farmers participating in the dharna, the Delhi BJP president, Dr Harsh Vardhan, said the Delhi government had announced compensation of Rs 75 lakh per acre for acquisition of land. This was done when land for Commonwealth Games was acquired. But so far, not a single farmer had received compensation at this rate.

The population of villages had increased manifold in the past 10 years, but the Congress government has not extended the ‘lal dora’ area of any village, due to which the people were compelled to live in suffocating conditions. The government had framed a mini-master plan for all-round development of Delhi which has been put under cold storage.

President of the Kisan Morcha Vinod Pandey alleged that the Central and Delhi governments were anti-farmer. The government acquired land of the farmers at arbitrary rates and sold them at many times higher rates.

He said the UPA government had not learnt from its previous mistakes. Last year, the minimum support price of wheat was Rs 850 per quintal, but the farmers refused to give the grain at this rate, due to which the government had to purchase it for Rs 1680 per quintal from foreign sources.

He demanded that the UPA government should fix the minimum price of paddy as Rs 1200 per quintal and loan to the farmers at 5 per cent interest.

Professor Jagdish Mukhi, Pawan Sharma, Alok Kumar, Ramesh Bidhuri, Udaya Sharma, Sansar Singh, Raj Kumar Ballan, Ashok Tanwar, Rakesh Rana also addressed the farmers.

Noida, June 14
Following the arrest of Krishna, Dr Talwar’s compounder yesterday, the CBI court of Ghaziabad today sent him to a three-day CBI custody. The remand will begin from 7 p.m. today and would end on June 17.

However, the CBI had requested for a 14-day remand to find out the remaining evidences, the weapon of murders and the cell phones of Arushi and Hemraj.

The CBI told the court that it wanted to conduct the forensic test of Krishna’s clothes that he was wearing on the night of the murders.

However, Krishna’s sister, niece and other family members have strongly refuted the allegation that Krishna was in Sector-25 on the night of the murders. According to them, he was very much with them the whole night. They said that they have a one-room accommodation so it is not possible that if any of them goes out others would not come to know.

The CBI has been interrogating Krishna since June 3 and had taken him to Bangalore for polygraph and narco tests.

Dr Durani’s servant Raj Kumar has also been detained.

According to the CBI, Krishna had revealed several names in connection with the double murder. He was arrested as he had failed to answer whether he had helped in the destruction of evidence or in the disposal of the murder weapons and the mobile phones of Arushi and Hemraj. According to sources, he is concealing facts.

The agency is also reportedly planning to question a senior executive of a reputed industrial house in Noida.

Meanwhile, the CBI, which once again visited the Talwar’s residence today morning, searched the house and surroundings including overhead water tanks, pipes and drains. The agency also wanted to ascertain if Krishna was present in Arushi’s room on the fateful night.

At 6 a.m. today the L Block of Sector-25 was cordoned off by PAC and at about 7:30 a.m. the CBI teams under joint director Arun Kumar began the search. Another team of the CBI also searched the residence of Dr. Durani in Sector-53.

According to sources, the CBI seems to have come to some conclusions and has more or less a correct picture of the killer/killers including who had planned the murders or were involved in it. But the agency is currently collecting evidences and deciding the sequence of the crime.

The CBI had taken over the investigation from the Noida Police on June 1 and has interrogated a large number of people.

Meanwhile Dr Talwar, whose bail application is scheduled to come up before the CBI court on June 26, was also subjected to a psychological test today morning in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad.

New Delhi, June 14
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit yesterday said there has been a huge expansion in technical education in the national capital in the last one year.

Speaking at a function where gold medals were presented to 50 polytechnic toppers in Delhi, Dikshit said the seats in polytechnics had gone up by 50 per cent and 33 per cent more applicants appeared in the common entrance test (CET) for polytechnics than last year.

Declaring her government’s commitment to impart employment-oriented technical education and ensure their placements in reputed industrial organisations, the Chief Minister said, “Our polytechnics are better than other such institutions in the country and abroad. It is the age of competition where skill development is important as well as relevant.’’

She said that a separate institution for training in bio-medical and para-medical courses would be commissioned at Dwarka.

A job fair would be organised for the benefit of passed-out polytechnic students. A similar fair- ‘SOPAN’- was organised for the passed out of ITIs, wherein thousands of students were able to fetch employment, she informed.

She exhorted meritorious students to render their substantial contribution in making Delhi a global city.

The toppers, who were presented gold medals, scored highest marks in their respective trades. In addition to this, 44 students were presented silver medal and another 44 were presented bronze medals.

The board of technical education has, for the first time, pioneered to felicitate the meritorious students of the polytechnics in order to condition their young minds in the fiercely competitive professional world and inculcate among them the spirit of excellence.

Department of training technical education also arranges for campus selection through institutes and job fair for providing maximum employment to the students of government and private polytechnics.

Through these activities, most of the passed-out students get employment in various sectors including MNCs on attractive package.

The department would make this awards ceremony an annual hereafter, she said. 

New Delhi, June 14
To ease vehicular flow near Tees Hazari Courts and Baraf Khana, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to construct a flyover. The length of the flyover from Tees Hazari Courts to Filmistan Cinema will be more than one kilometer.

As per the engineering department, Rs 177.72 crore will be needed to complete the construction. The construction will be completed before commencement of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The decision to construct the flyover was taken after technical committee of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) cleared the project. The construction will start after the standing committee sanctions money for it. A proposal regarding this will be tabled before the standing committee in the next meeting.

The MCD is also trying to arrange funds for the purpose from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Review Mission (JNNURM). However, initially, the money will be granted from the MCD’s plan fund.

The MCD has already conducted a traffic survey from Tees Hazari Courts to Filmistan Cinema.

New Delhi, June 14
The crime branch of the Delhi Police yesterday arrested two persons — Praveen Batra and his accomplice Badal for the robbery that took place at a businessman’s house in Ashok Vihar on March 31. Praveen Batra has been identified as the businessman’s neighbour.

The two were arrested from Kashmiri Gate bus stand. Badal is a resident of Bulandshahr.

The accused had tied the hands and feet of Subhash, a restaurateur and his wife living in M-block and had fled with Rs 50,000 in cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 2.5 lakh. Subhash owns ‘Nile’ restaurant in Central Market of Ashok Vihar.

Praveen was suspected. He had a shop in the area but was out of business because of his drinking and gambling habits. He was also in touch with anti-social elements.