New Delhi, October 2
The mystery behind the murder of Headlines Today journalist Soumya Vishwanathan is quite intriguing.

Soumya was shot by unidentified assailants in the wee hours of Tuesday while she was on her way home. Soumya was found dead in her Maruti car with a bullet injury in the head.

Though senior South district police officers maintain that investigation is on and the culprits will soon be apprehended, the ground reality seems far different.

According to the police, the investigating team is still groping with the motive behind the murder. While some believe that it could be a case of mistaken identity, others think that Soumya became a victim of road rage.

“The case is turning out to be a hard nut to crack. We have tried to investigate the case from different angles but nothing fruitful has come up. It sometimes gives a feeling that the girl became a victim of mistaken identity and the killers really did not have any motive to kill her,” said a police official at Vasant Kunj police station.

He said that the police initially thought it to be a case of ‘passion killing’ or ‘love gone sour’ and tried to find if the deceased had a boyfriend in the past or somebody was stalking her. However, no such thing has come up after checking the mobile records of the deceased and statements of her colleagues, friends and family.

The police has also negated the robbery angle as nothing had been taken away from the deceased or her car. After speaking to the parents of the deceased, the police concluded that the family did not have any enmity with anyone, which could have led to the tragedy.

The police now believes that Soumya has been killed due to mistaken identity. “The girl is less likely to be involved in a case of road rage and especially during late night. However, we are still groping for answers,” said a police official. With things so bleak, it seems the mystery behind the journalist’s murder is bound to take some time before the veil is lifted.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has come under flak for her remarks yesterday, in which she held that Soumya was being “too adventurous” in being out all alone at night. The Delhi BJP has demanded an apology from the CM. However, the Chief Minister maintained that she stands by her comments. 

New Delhi, October 2
Thousands of devout Muslims, including women and children, today turned up at various mosques in the National Capital Territory of Delhi to offer prayers on the occasion of Eid which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramzan.

As usual, the biggest congregation was the historic Jama Masjid in the walled city. Clad in new clothes, men, women and children were seen greeting one another in the traditional way by hugging and exchanging sweets.

In many areas, cutting across communal lines, many Hindus and Sikhs greeted their Muslim brethren in the traditional way.

However, the usual bustle in the city’s market was missing on this day as all the shops were closed because the religious occasion coincided with Gandhi Jayanti.

The usual enthusiasm was also a little subdued in the Muslim-dominated Jamia Nagar area of South Delhi which was the scene of a fierce encounter last month in which two suspected terrorists and a Delhi police inspector were killed.

A heavy police presence, including strong contingents of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) posted in the area acted as a dampener, the residents claimed.

The city’s eateries, particularly those in the walled city did brisk business as people thronged these areas after offering prayers.

New Delhi, October 2
Despite the turmoil and anxiety of the past few weeks, a feeling of peace and harmony could be seen in Jamia Nagar and many found consolation in gathering and celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramzan.

Fauzia, a housewife and a former Jamia student said, “We are celebrating Eid as usual. Many families have invited students to take part in the festivities at their places. I hope that the fear about renting out space to Jamia boys would fade away with time, though right now people are naturally a bit insecure.”

Students at the university broke their fasts with their friends in the hostel or at their rented accommodations in Jamia Nagar. Many had pooled-in resources for the feast.

The university will also be organising a massive Eid lunch for students, faculty and the neighbourhood on Sunday.

Rehman, a Jamia student, currently staying at Jamia Nagar with friends said, “Well, we are celebrating Eid in the best possible manner. First we thought of going home. But since some of our friends stayed back, we also stayed on. I have prepared some dishes and have bought some from the nearby market.”

On being asked whether he had kept all the fasts, Rehman answered, “No, I did not keep all the fasts, but some students kept all fasts.”

Rehman’s friend Nasir Ahmad added, “We will be vacating this room soon, our landlords are not very comfortable having us now after what happened. But they have given us time till the new university hostel comes up. We are happy that the vice-chancellor was supporting us in this crisis and that we will soon have new hostels.”

New Delhi, October 2
A minor scuffle between two groups of men over catching of a goat in East Delhi today afternoon turned violent leaving one dead while another seriously injured.

According to the police, Sunil, a resident of Mandawali in Laxmi Nagar, along with some friends, was trying to catch a goat, when two brothers Dilshad and Imran tried to stop them. Sunil and his friend felt annoyed at the objection and the two groups started hurling abuses at each other.

Sunil left the place but returned after some time with men armed with knives and swords. A fight ensued between the two groups in which Imran died on the spot while his brother was seriously injured and admitted to a nearby hospital.

The friends of the deceased, demanding arrest of the culprits, burnt motorcycles and other vehicles parked in the area.

Later, the Laxmi Nagar police arrested Sunil along with his accomplices Nadeem and Wasim.

Three constables posted in the area were also suspended for failing to control the situation leading to arson and rioting.

Greater Noida, October 2
Efforts to trace the killers of L.K. Chaudhary, CEO of Italian firm ‘Graziano Transmissioni’ in Greater Noida’s Udyog Vihar have narrowed down to four persons. They, reportedly, are in the police remand. The police had arrested 137 persons in this connection.

Of the 137 arrested persons, 63 have been booked under various sections of murder. The district courts have already rejected the bails of those 63 persons.

L.K. Chaudhary was lynched by disgruntled workers on September 22. The retrenched and disgruntled workers had also attacked the staff. Some 40 workers of the firm were wounded.

Professional rivalry could be the reason behind the murder of L.K. Chaudhary. IG Gurdarshan Singh said this at a meeting with the industrialists of Noida and Greater Noida on Tuesday. He said four persons had been identified.

After a lot of turmoil, the district administration appears to have come into action. It has invited applications for arms licenses from entrepreneurs. It has decided to issue green cards to entrepreneurs, which would enable them to move in the district without any hitch and hindrance. Besides, the administration is busy identifying unregistered workers and unions.

Some instructions will be imposed on unions, which harass entrepreneurs. A joint committee of labour department, police and district administration will also be set-up to resolve the problems of entrepreneurs and industrialists.

New Delhi, October 2
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today launched solar-electric rickshaw, ‘Soleckshaw’ at Yudhvir Singh Park near Chandni Chowk Metro station.

Vice-president of the Centre of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and union minister of Science and technology, Kapil Sibal was the chief guest at the function. Samir Bhramachari, director general, CSIR, was among other dignitaries present on the occasion.

“The project has been launched out of concern for those millions of people of India who earn their livelihood by running cycle rickshaws,” said Dikshit.

Expressing concern for the common man, Sibal said: “Soleckshaw will not only help in reducing pollution but will also save rickshaw pullers from tuberculosis. This is a demonstration of the project we are working on and will be seen in marketplaces after the Supreme Court okays it.”

“Formally known as CSIR-800, this solar rickshaw is the mark-I version. Other versions will also be introduced soon,” announced Samir Brahmachari.

Weighing 200 kgs, these rickshaws will have a speed of 15km per hour. They would be run by solar batteries, which would be sufficient for a journey of 70kms. The battery would take five hours to be recharged. They would be recharged with the help of solar panels in the charging unit which will be functional above the Delhi metro stations, confirmed an official.

New Delhi, October 2
To commemorate National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, blood donation organizations were felicitated at a national seminar held here yesterday.

The meet was organized by Indian Society of Blood Transfusion & Immuno-haematology (ISBTI) in association with National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC), State Blood Transfusion Council, NCT Delhi & Department of Transfusion Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital at the India Habitat Centre.

A colourful Nukkad Natak and songs performed by the staff of blood bank of Apollo Hospital and thalassaemic children were the key attractions for the event.

Present on the occasion were Navjot Singh Siddhu, Member of Parliament, K. Sujatha Rao, addl. secretary, Health and director general, NACO, and Ved Prakash Gupta, president, ISBTI. Dr Naresh Trehan, CMD Global Health Private Ltd., was the guest of honour.

“Sufficient and safe blood supply is the key for an effective health care system. To overcome the shortage of blood in the country, we need 100 per cent voluntary participation from the citizens,” said Dr Makroo, secretary general, ISBTI.

Many people die every day as they do not have access to safe blood when they need it. The annual collection of blood in India is only 5.5 – 6 million units against the requirement of about 8.5 million units. The percentage of voluntary blood donation is just 55% (varies from state-to-state, Delhi-30%) whereas replacement blood donations constitute 45%. The shortage of safe blood has a particular impact on children

suffering from thalassaemia, road accident and trauma victims, women with complications in pregnancy, cancers and major surgeries, said Dr Makroo.

He also emphasised the need for availability of blood components as opposed to whole blood.

He urged blood banks to improve the blood safety by incorporating latest testing technologies like NAT (Nucleic Acid Testing) besides ELISA tests to reduce the chances of infection.

October 1 is observed as National Voluntary Blood Donation Day all over the country.

ISBTI has been promoting the cause of voluntary safe blood donation ever since it launched Rakt Kranti movement in 2005. The movement has increased the number of voluntary blood donors in the country. 

New Delhi, October 2
“Petroleum oil, the wheel of economic growth, and any disruption in its supplies holds a threat to impede the national progress. At the same time, pilferage of crude oil from our pipelines is also a major concern.”

Chairman, Indian Oil, Sarthak Behuria shared these views while flagging off the security week celebrations at Indian Oil here.

Addressing functional directors and senior executives of Indian Oil on the occasion, he said security is expensive, therefore, we should be

judicious. Emphasis on electronic surveillance through sophisticated gadgets will be of essence in the days to come, thereby eliminating human error to a large extent.

To mark the occasion, director (Planning and BD) B M Bansal, director (Finance) S V Narasimhan and director (Refineries) B N Bankapur released a set of three posters to propagate safety awareness in employees. The

function also had the presence of a large contingent of Territorial Army (TA) personnel from Indian Oil.

The chairman presented the prestigious TA medal and commendation certificates to Territorial Army personnel for their outstanding performance as part of the two TA units controlled by Indian Oil.

A number of security awards were also given away at the function. While the chairman presented the chairman’s trophy for Best Overall Practices of Security Systems, Best Security Performance trophies were also presented.

Vipin Kumar, advisor (Security) elaborated on the theme for the security week and said that the weeklong event is being observed from September 30 to October 6 across nearly 450

Indian Oil locations and offices with the theme, “Security for Success”.

New Delhi, October 2
The department of business studies of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Delhi University, recently organised a business convention ‘ECCLESIA 08’ at North campus.

The convention provided a unique platform for students and business sector professionals to interact with each other.

Students from different colleges of Delhi University and Indraprastha University attended the convention to get an insight into the latest issues concerning finance, marketing and human resource.

Pro vice-chancellor of University of Delhi, S.K. Tandon was the chief guest at the convention. S.K. Vij, dean, students welfare and S.K. Jain, head of the department, commerce, were the guests of honour.

Tandon inaugurated the seminar and in his inaugural speech he compared India’s pride on the Chandrayaan mission with Delhi University finding a place in world’s 400 best universities.

The finance session was chaired by A.K. Seth, department of commerce, Delhi School of Economics.

Other distinguished speakers in this section included Sunil Dahiya, MD, Vigneshwara Developers and Subhashish Acharya, Kotak Mahindra.

The HR session was chaired by Kavita Singh, reader, Faculty of Management Science (FMS), Delhi University. Andrew Ryder, training head at Nirulas, Anurag Sharma AGM (HR), MoserBaer, B.N. Saxena, ex-head, quality circle, BHEL and Mussarat Hussain, HR head, Humboldt Wedag, talked at length about the best possible use of human power.

Alok Gupta, category head, Hewlett Packard, Maninder Singh, training head, Aircel and Arvind Dixit, AVP, Hindustan Electro Graphites, discussed the winning concepts and practices of Marketing. 

Noida, October 2
Residents in the boomtowns of Noida and Greater Noida have made a mark in the consumption of liquor too. This can be realised from the fact that Noidaites have guzzled down liquor worth Rs 65 crore during current financial year.

Noida ranks fourth in the collection of state revenue from liquor consumption.

Majority of Noida residents bring liquor from Delhi where it is cheaper. According to an estimate, if Noidaites were to buy liquor in their area, then the town would rank first in UP in terms of revenue collection. If the rate of consumption continues, Noida will cross the mark of Rs 165 crore by the end of this financial year.

According to the excise and taxation circle, Noida has a major chunk of people who are fond of English wine, local brands and beer. The authorities had targeted realising Rs 165.25 crore in revenue from this sector. Out of a sale of Rs 65 crore, 40 per cent revenue had been recovered by August 2008.

Compared to the last year, the consumption of English wine has increased by 16.28 per cent and consumers have guzzled down 11,68,465 bottles of English liquor this year. Last year the residents had consumed 10,40,869 bottles of foreign liquor.

The monthly consumption of desi liquor is 4,32,141 liters. Whereas 25,07,967 bottles of beer have been consumed this year. Besides, there is a sizeable population of bootleggers. The excise department has seized 8,666 liters liquor in raids. While cases against 365 people have been lodged for bootlegging.

Noida, October 2
With 15 new patients admitted to the Metro Hospital here, the number of dengue patients in Gautam Budh Nagar district has reached 61.

In Metro hospital seven persons were confirmed to be dengue patients after serology tests. In Greater Noida also doctors have confirmed seven dengue patients.

According to senior physician Dr S. Chakaravarty of Metro Hospital, all patients admitted to Metro Hospital on Wednesday were from rural areas. Five in Kailash Hospital and two in Sharda Hospital are also confirmed dengue patients, said Dr Sunil Kapoor of Kailash Hospital.

Besides, viral has also affected the whole area. Sharda Hospital medical superintendent Dr Anil Tomar said that two dengue patients were admitted to the hospital.

Chief medical officer Dr S.L. Prasad claimed that insecticides were being sprayed in rural areas to control diseases spread by mosquitoes.

Even the gram pradhans have been involved in campaigns for tackling mosquito-bred diseases.