New Delhi, February 18
Although the police is still clueless about the four children who went missing on February 11 from the New Sanjay Amar Colony, the largest JJ cluster in East Delhi, it believes that the disappearance of two girls and two boys on the same day hints towards elopement.

According to Y.S. Dadwal, commissioner of police, the four missing children in the age group of 13 to 16 studied in the same government school and the investigation so far has revealed that they were couples. “We have verified the credentials of these missing children, and it has been established that the girls and boys were seeing each other. Based on the information, we believe that it is a case of elopement,” said Dadwal, adding that a police team has been established to investigate the matter.

As to the charge of more than 20 other children missing from the JJ cluster since last few years, Dadwal said that the police has not come across any specific pattern in the disappearance of these children. “The case does not seem to be of kidnapping by the underworld or some other gang. The police is investigating the matter and we would reach the bottom of the truth,” assured Dadwal. The police commissioner, however, refrained from setting any time limit to find these kids. “It is not easy to say. Sometimes finding such children could be more difficult than tracing a dreaded criminal,” he said.

However, all this is no consolation for the parents whose children have gone missing. According to Billu Ram, whose daughter disappeared on February 11, the police simply wants to dismiss the case alleging that my daughter has eloped. “Even if she has run away with a boy, at least the police should find her and let me know where and how she is. It would be a consolation for me and her mother if I am told my daughter is safe and alive,” said Billu. Mother of another girl Pooja, who went missing with Billu’s daughter voiced similar sentiments and added that it would be kind of the police to find the whereabouts of their missing girl. “I only want to know that my daughter is alive,” said she.

According to sources, based on the information provided by the parents of the children, two police teams has been sent out of Delhi to all possible places of their stay. A senior police official of the district confirmed the sending of police teams, but refrained from telling the destination.

New Delhi, February 18
A 26-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her house in the Maurya Enclave area of Outer Delhi today afternoon.

Nikita Bhagat’s body was discovered hanging from a fan around 1 pm by her father in his first floor A-36 house in PD Block of Maurya Enclave.

According to information, Nikita was a student of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune and was in depression for quite some time because she could not complete her course there.

According to Nikita’s father K.C. Bhagat, a retired CPWD official, his daughter committed suicide because the director and other officials at FTII were harassing her and not allowing her to complete the course. “My daughter has been killed by FTII and the set up there,” alleged Bhagat.

Nikita had joined a three year course with specialisation in cinematography in 2004, and should have completed her course in 2007, but she could not. Her father told the police that as part of the course, students were supposed to make a film before passing out, but Nikita could not make her film because of the indifferent attitude of the faculty. “Unlike other students, my daughter was neither given the time nor the schedule to work on the film project. They kept postponing it on one or the other pretext. As a result, she went into a depression,” said Bhagat.

However, she came back to Delhi in November 2008 and was living with her family since then.

The police has sent the body for post-mortem and is investigating the matter. “We will talk to the FTII officials regarding allegations made by the girl’s father. We have taken his complaint, but the case would be lodged only if something substantial comes up against any official,” said a police official involved in the investigation.

New Delhi, February 18
The heart of the city - Connaught Place - turned into a ‘no traffic zone’ today, as huge rallies of transporters and farmers at Jantar Mantar blocked all roads around the area, causing major inconvenience to travellers.

The rallies were organised by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movement in support of their demands.

While the transporters demand a substantial cut in diesel prices, the farmers want the UPA government to constitute a pay commission for farmers.

The transporters, who had gone on a countrywide strike in December, described themselves as the major employer in the private sector claiming to employ ten crore direct and indirect employees.

Showing his discontentment, president of the AIMTC Charan Singh Lohara said, “The government recently reduced the cost of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to boost the civil aviation industry that is suffering heavy losses. Now the ATF is cheaper than the ordinary diesel. Does it mean that the government works only for the elite?” 

Jaswinder Pal, a transporter said, “Even the interim budget for 2009-2010 is silent about our demand.” 

The transporters demanded a paper on petroleum accounts giving full detail including, the cost of production, levies and detail of revenue inflows to the government. 

A spokesman of the AIMTC said, “We got to know that 78 per cent of crude oil is imported, while 22 per cent is rigged from our natural resources, but the government has kept uniform price for the whole stock.” 

The protesting farmers stressed on the fact that the cost of production was continuously increasing, but that were not getting good returns for their produce.

“Farm income has declined over the years. Farmers desperately need a monthly take-home package that could fulfill their family needs as well as leave them with some surplus to sow the next crop,” they said. 

According to them “integration of Indian culture with the world” has exposed them to sharp price fluctuation, and so the government must review the minimum support price (MSP).

The farmers also said that growing indebtedness was driving thousands of farmers to commit suicide in different parts of the country. “Debt relief in the last union budget did not relieve the farmers. We demand a complete debt relief, whether institutional or private,” said a protesting farmer.

New Delhi, February 18
The strike and protest march called by lawyers in the national capital not only put a stop to legal work in the district courts today but also affected traffic in the capital.

Thousands of lawyers took part in a march from India Gate to Parliament House to protest amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that abolish the provision of arrest in offences punishable with up to seven years in jail.

“More than 10,000 lawyers joined the march,” said Santosh Mishra, vice-chairman of the All-Bar Association. The lawyers also gave a memorandum detailing out their objections to the amendments in CrPC to the Home minister.

The march affected traffic around central Delhi causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters. The protest started around 12.30 pm from India Gate and continued till 3 pm.

Noida, February 18
Criminals have targeted houses in posh Noida colonies five of which were ransacked on Tuesday within 24 hours. In Sector-23 thieves ransacked the house of a retired Major-General and decamped with goods worth several lakhs. One house in Sector-22 was also looted.

Major-General B.K. Anand (retd), a resident of C-14 in Sector-23, had gone out to Jalandhar with family to attend a marriage. Yesterday night, criminals had decamped with jewellery, cash, clothes and valuables worth lakhs from this house. As the family was away, police could not get the complete details of things missing from the house. Theft was discovered by the family servant who came in to sweep the house, next morning. Their neighbour Col. Karanjit Singh informed the Sector-24 police Kotwali of the theft.

The police had brought dog squad and finger-print experts to the house and the site was also examined by SSP.

The second theft took place in C-378 in Sector – 22, house of Nandan Negi. Their son Balwant Negi and daughter in law Bhawana who live on the top floor had gone to their office and when they returned at 10 p.m. the house had been ransacked. The door was shut but pad lock was missing. Balwant Negi said jewellery worth Rs. 2.5 lakh, Rs. 10,000 in cash, a lap-top had been taken away by the criminals. The police has arrested the domestic help, Seema, who was engaged four months ago, for questioning.

In BHEL colony in Sector-17, three flats were broken into. From flat No 69-G, of Asstt. G.M. Rama Krishna, a laptop and valuables were taken away. In Flat No. 61-G, of A.E. Jatinder Kumar, jewellery and Rs. 10, 000 were missing. The third flat targeted was C-69 where Munni Chawriya lives.

Ghaziabad, February 18
A father and son were arrested on charges of shooting dead an industrialist in a case of road rage here, the police said today.

SP Anant Dev said they had arrested Bijendra Singh and his father Brahm Singh from Chander Nagar area on charges of shooting dead Raj Bahadur Singh on Tuesday.

Dev said Bijendra fled the spot after killing industrialist Raj Bahadur. The police recovered two pistols from Bijendra’s possession - one that he used in the crime and the other that he had snatched from Raj Bahadur after attacking him. The police has already seized his Honda City car.

Raj Bahadur Singh was allegedly shot dead on Tuesday by Bijendra Singh when the industrialist came to the rescue of his driver whom Bijendra had thrashed after a minor altercation.

As Raj Bahadur Singh whipped out his pistol from his pocket, Bijendra Singh also pulled out his licensed pistol and pumped four bullets in him and fled, leaving behind his Honda City car. — IANS

New Delhi, February 18
Anxious students grouped outside the administrative block in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) since early morning today as the administration invited student union leaders for negotiations.

Following the mass protests in the university for almost a month, JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) held a sit-in at administrative block last night that was aimed at putting a halt to all administrative activities in the university.

“After two rounds of negotiation, very few issues were clinched. The administration has only given us written commitment of not renting out the Parthasarthy Rocks. They also told us that individual electricity bills would not be charged from the students,” said Shephalika, vice-president, JNUSU.

She added, “We actually wanted them to take off the meters from the new hostel Koyna, which they have refused to do without further consultation in their committee. For the time being, however, there wouldn’t be any additional user charges levied on the students. ”

The administration has also refused to readily accept the students’ formula for the implementation of OBC reservations in the university. Though, the administration promised that it would put it in the Academic Council for discussion.

One smaller demand of the students that was accepted by the administration was given green signal. The all-night dhabas at the campus would be allowed to operate as they do.

The students are considering the rounds of negotiations as good as broken and have decided to continue their struggle.

The course of agitation would be decided in an all organisation meeting. “Representatives from all organisations would be called for a meeting in the night and the course of action would be decided before we go in for further negotiations,” said Zico, JNUSU councillor.

The NSUI alleged that the JNUSU office bearers were running the agitation according to their own will.“Nothing concrete is coming out of the negotiations. We urge the JNUSU to carry forward the mandate of the general body meeting and stop the entry and exit points of the administrative bloc,” said Sony Kunjappan. from NSUI.

Gurgaon, February 18
The president of the Gurgaon Grain Market Association Krishan Pal Yadav has stated here today that the traders will go on a strike if the government does not give them proper place to sit. He mentioned, “If the government does not provide us with a suitable space we will go on a strike from February 22. With this, the retailer as well as the consumer will have to suffer as there will be no supply of the grains to them.”

“Most of us have purchased the shops in new grain market in an open auction on exorbitant rates and are paying fees to the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) and now they are asking us to vacate it,” Yadav added.

“We have also given a memorandum to the Chief Minister; agricultural minister; chairman, chief administrator and the zonal administrator of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board and the deputy commissioner,” he said.

Yadav stated that many of the applicants have been working since the establishment of the new grain market on Khandsa Road and the majority of applicants have no source of income other then what they earn by working as aaditis/commission agents.

The market was established around 33 years back when the old grain market from subzi mandi of the city was shifted to the place at the Khadsa Road.

“Many applicants have already suffered huge downfall in their business due to the shifting of the grain market from the busy place to a lonely place here,” Mukesh Dagar, general secretary of the association told The Tribune.

“If the government wants us to empty the space, they should provide us with a proper market and shift the existing grain market in question to some bigger and nearby place having fully developed infrastructure and amenities,” he retreated.

Yadav claimed that the HSAMB has asked them to empty the place, as they wanted to build mall there.

Faridabad, February 18
The BJP, with support from its electoral ally, the INLD, has decided to press ahead with its agitation to corner the Haryana government and the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) with regard to the suspension of its councilor Omwati Kanwar.

Former leader of the BJP in Haryana Vidhan Sabha Krishan Pal Gurjaar, who is spearheading the agitation, asserted that his party was ready to resort to any democratic measures to press the government to revoke the suspension order passed against the councillor.
The BJP and the INLD councillors have already staged demonstration and submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda demanding immediate revocation of the order.

Kanwar has been placed under suspension on charges relating to encroachment on a public land in her ward number 27. Her suspension from the House was declared by the MCF in its meeting on February 5.The suspension order was made following a probe into the case.

The BJP alleges that the suspension was motivated with political vendetta as Omwati Kanwar had joined their party on February 1.

According to Gurjaar, the case of encroachment on the land against her was pending in the court since about eight years. Despite the case, she was elected from the ward for the second time and that this was her second stint. Nothing new had happened during the course of the trial to merit her suspension. Her joining the BJP has got the goat of the ruling Congress, he added. He further said that the MCF and government move to suspend her was illegal as the case was also sub-judice.

The BJP urged the ruling Congress not to “misuse” the government machinery to score political points against its opponents.

New Delhi, February 18
The finale of a kids talent hunt event turned chaotic today after disappointed parents of children who failed to win prizes got into a heated argument with the organisers.

Children and their parents came in large numbers for ‘India’s Little Prince and Princess’, an annual event organised by Gurgaon-based NGO DiyaDeep. It was held at the Indian Air Force auditorium here.

But chaos erupted after the results were announced. Parents challenged the organisers over the results after the prize distribution ceremony, which was attended by Bollywood actor Jimmy Shergill.

”We had this event last year as well but things were fine. This time parents started questioning us as to why their child did not receive the award. There were families of about 300 kids. When all of them started arguing, things went out of hand and I had to call the police,” said Yashi Shukla, DiyaDeep spokesperson.

The winners got a scholarship, which will take care of their school fees for three years. Kids from across the country participated in the show. Those selected had been trained for 20 days in their respective area of talent. — IANS