New Delhi, March 19
After a week of infighting and differences among senior party leaders, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its candidates for Delhi seats today.

Vijay Goel will contest the elections from New Delhi, which was considered as a hot seat. While Jagdish Mukhi will contest from West Delhi. B.L. Sharma Prem from North East Delhi, Chetan Chauhan from East Delhi, MCD’s Standing Committee chairperson Vijender Gupta from Chandni Chowk, Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi and Meera Kanwaria from North West Delhi.

It is noticeable that there is no Jat leader in the list of selected candidates. The saffron party has fielded two leaders from the trader community for the first time in Delhi’s history.

The party took one week to decide its candidates. Vijay Goel and Jagdish Mukhi were adamant to contest from New Delhi and West Delhi respectively, while the party was willing to field Goel from Chandni Chowk and Mukhi from New Delhi. The party wanted to field Parvesh Verma, son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma from West Delhi. But as Mukhi is a senior leader, the BJP accepted his demand and gave him ticket from West Delhi. Mukhi has also been an MLA from Janakpuri.

According to sources, Chetan Chauhan’s name has been finalised because he is celebrity. Besides Chetan, Harsh Vardhan and Kirti Azad were also in race. As far as Vijender Gupta is concerned, he is a junior leader. But being close to L.K. Advani he has been given a ticket. Presently, he is a councillor from Rohini and has worked on many posts in the MCD.

Ramesh Bidhuri has been chosen for South Delhi, as it is a Gujjar-dominated seat. Being a leader of the community and MLA from one of the assembly constituencies in South Delhi, he may give a tough fight to the Congress.

Meanwhile, Parvesh Verma son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma who was not given ticket protested against the selection of candidates. He is a Jat and the party has not fielded any Jat leader, sources said.

Besides, BJP MLA from Kirari Anil Jha has resigned from the party after the candidates were declared. In his resignation letter he has alleged partiality and has stated that a leader from Poorvanchal should also be given a ticket.

However, the party has not yet accepted his resignation, said BJP spokesman Mewa Ram Arya.

New Delhi, March 19
The New Ashok Nagar police in East Delhi has arrested a teacher of an MCD-run primary school for allegedly beating up 10 students brutally during mid-day meal distribution.

The students have sustained injuries. Four of them identified as Ashish, Farman, Jyotish and Akash are injured grievously.

The injured children were admitted to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. They were discharged after primary treatment.

The incident was reported yesterday evening. Parents of the wounded students lodged a complaint when their wards reached home bleeding. A case has been registered against the errant teacher, Rajkumar Sharma.

According to sources, some students were behaving mischievously when the mid-day meal was being distributed. This infuriated Raj Kumar Sharma, physical trainer of the school who has an Army background. He started thrashing the students, in which 10 of them sustained injuries.

The victims said Sharma continued beating them in spite of injuries. “I don’t know what my fault was? Yes, some students were making a noise but I was quiet. Sir came and started beating me. A stick hit me on the head and it started bleeding,” said Akash, a class III student.

The police said Sharma hit the students with a truncheon that had metallic nails attached. “It seems the teacher was so mad in anger that he could not see the metallic nails attached to the truncheon. About 10 students have been injured. The teacher has been arrested,” said a police official from New Ashok Nagar police station.

Parents and locals have appealed to the MCD commissioner not to allow Raj Kumar to teach anywhere.

Meanwhile, the MCD has appointed a committee to look into the incident. The inquiry committee appointed by school principal Jai Mal has already submitted its report to the MCD holding Raj Kumar guilty.

“We regret what happened in our school and hold the teacher guilty. We have submitted the report suggesting severe action against him to the MCD commissioner,” said a member of the committee.

As a result of the incident, the school saw very little attendance today. “There was not even 50 per cent attendance today.

Gurgaon, March 19
A speeding government bus killed a schoolboy near Sheetla Mata Mandir here today. The deceased Sachin, resident of Sector 15, was a student of Class 9 at Salwan Public School. His father is a property dealer.

Sachin, along with his friend Arpit, was going to his relative’s place in Palam Vihar when the accident took place.

Arpit, a resident of Miya Wali colony said that Sachin has asked him not to go to school today, as he wanted to visit his uncle’s house in Palam Vihar.

According to eyewitness, when they were in front of the temple, a bus which was in speed took a wrong turn and hit there bike. Sachin died on the spot, as the bus crushed his head and Arpit fell 50 metres away and hurt his right leg.

The bus that hit the two belongs to Government Parivahan Samiti Ltd. and was going to Jhajjar. The driver of the bus fled the spot.

A PCR van reached the spot half an hour after the incident, and informed the parents of the boy, who then reached the spot.

It is to be mentioned that the temple road is one of the busiest roads, especially when the mela is on. And on top of it, the road does not even have a speed breaker. The temple administration had recently asked the HUDA administration to construct three speed breakers outside the temple, as during the festival season there is a lot of chaos on the road, but not a single breaker had been constructed yet.

New Delhi, March 19
Getting to contest election on the ticket of anti-reservation outfit Youth For Equality (YFE) is not easier than chasing a job in times of recession.

The youth organistion that created a stir across the country protesting against quota in 2006 has started scrutinising resumes sent by aspiring candidates, who want to contest upcoming elections from their platform.

“For direct intervention in the national politics and against caste based reservation, we have decided to field our candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi constituency,” said Abhishek Kumar Singh, president, YFE, Delhi University chapter.

The organisation has received over 230 resumes from interested candidates. However, the climb-up till the final nomination would be steep.

“The candidate would be decided through an open selection procedure and would be a people’s candidate contesting election from our platform. Aged between 25 and 40, the candidate must be at least a graduate,” said Abhishek.

While scrutinising the applications, the organisation would also ensure the candidate’s clean and respectable image along with substantial commitment towards the ideology of YFE. The short listed candidate would be asked to resign from his job before the filing of nomination.

“The applications are being screened by expert panel of people including one lawyer, one doctor and one IIT professional. The top ten applicants would then be forwarded to different RWAs, traders’ associations, NGOs and other organisations,” said Abhishek.

Apart from demanding an anti-caste based reservation policy, the main issues raised by the YFE leadership include bringing back the Indian black money lying in Swiss Bank accounts.

New Delhi, March 19
The post-delimitation electoral map of Delhi has the new North-West Delhi (NWD) constituency, which has been designated as a reserved berth because of the formidable presence of SC and OBC which are 22 and 20 per cent, respectively, of the electorate.

NWD has been principally carved out from the earlier Outer Delhi constituency, with eight of the 10 assembly constituencies of Bawana, Rithala, Rohini, Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri, Kirori, Mundka and Nangloi being from Outer Delhi. The remaining two assembly constituencies are Narela from Trans-Yamuna and Badli, which traces its roots to both Trans Yamuna and Jehangirpuri in Outer Delhi.

The delimitation exercise has designed the demography of NWD in such a way that the seat is home to mostly jhuggi clusters and rural dwellings. The region, having a marked presence of unauthorised ‘regularised’ colonies like Prem Nagar, Budh Vihar, Raja Vihar etc., is dotted with 84 villages like Alipur, Nangloi Jat, Mongolpur, Sultanpur Mazra, Bhaktawarpur, Punjab Khor, Mundka etc. in addition to 20 JJ clusters like Sultanpuri, Jehangirpuri, Bawana etc.

The changed contours of NWD indicate that the region, which currently has six MLAs from the Congress and boasts of a strong populace from the reserved categories, would see a tough tussle between the Congress and the BSP. This is because while the SCs and OBCs are the Congress traditional votebanks, the BSP too has gained ground after garnering 16.5 per cent of the votes during last year’s Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections.

The NWD also has DDA flats and housing societies and a slim population of upper-class and middle-class electorates. Incidentally, Punjabis and Muslims form 7 and 9 per cent of the electorate, respectively. Jats and Brahmins, which could well turn out to be the deciding factor, constitute 12 per cent each.

After the BSP’s emergence, the BJP is believed to have lost a considerable chunk of the upper-class and Brahmin support base during the assembly elections in which it won four assembly and 20 municipal berths. On the other side, this time the Congress is expectant of a strengthened trust base among the rich and middle-class electorates here and this belief of Congress is reflective of the narrowing of the class cleavage, evidenced from the permuted distribution of voters among parties in the last polls.

However, political pundits believe that the SC and OBC combine can mar the winning prospects of Congress and the BJP’s dream of accomplishing victory also seems frail.

Meanwhile, the BJP has declared its fieldswoman as former mayor Meera Kanwaria.

While Krishna Tirath, sitting MP from Karol is likely to be fielded by the Congress and the BSP is hinting at giving the ticket to Rakesh Hansh.

New Delhi, March 19
The arrest of MCD’s deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar is being politicised, with the BJP claiming that the accused has affiliation with the Congress.

In a House meeting of the corporation today, the ruling BJP alleged that the accused had gone to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek Lok Sabha ticket.

The saffron party leaders further said the CBI is already inquiring Kumar’s disproportionate assets and the court has directed not to appoint him in sensitive areas.

“We have recordings of Ashok Kumar meeting Sonia Gandhi at her residence a few days ago. We have also reported to the Lieutenant Governor about the matter,” said Mayor Arti Mehra.

New Delhi, March 19
The Congress has started playing the minorities card. After the 1984 riots, Sikhs had distanced themselves from the party, but now they have started coming into its fold.

The Congress on Wednesday gathered a large number of Sikhs at its state headquarters to prove its following in the community. It also wants to prove that the stigma of 1984 riots does not exist any more, said Mirza Javed Ali, chairman of the minority section in the party.

The Congress has always given opportunities to minorities by creating various institutions.

In assembly elections, it was being said that Muslims would support the BSP. They voted in favour of the Congress. The residents want development. And it is only the Congress that promises welfare for all.

Noticing that a large number of Sikhs had attended the meet, DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal expressed hope to make Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister again.

The All India Minority Department chairman Imran Kidwai said the Congress was the only party that never comprised on secularism. The party boasts of towering leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Sardar Patel who sacrificed their lives for the country.

New Delhi, March 19
Three policemen were injured today when people in Brahmpuri Colony in the Sagarpur area of Southwest Delhi resorted to arson and stone-pelting following the deaths of five men in four days because of spurious liquor.

The people believe that the sale of spurious liquor in the area can not take place without the consent and connivance of the local police.

The locals, led by senior BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi, chanted slogans against the police and demanded suspension of the local chowki-in-charge and the beat constable.

They also blocked traffic in the area, leading to massive snarls and the situation was normalized only after senior district police officials reached the spot.

According to information provided by locals, Kamesh (27), Sundar (28), Mukesh (34), Kanhaiya Lal and Maan Singh have died since Monday after consuming spurious liquor.

However, the police maintains that there were just two deaths and that too due to excess consumption in empty stomach.

The area residents alleged that while five men died recently, in all ten people have died in the last three weeks due to consumption of hooch.

“More than ten people have fallen prey to hooch, but the police was trying to understate the number of deaths,” said a Sagarpur resident.

Contrary to such claims, the police maintains that it was never informed about these deaths. “We are investigating the claims of the people and have picked up sample of country liquor from the liquor shops. We are in no position to deny or corroborate the claims of people as of now,” said a senior police official on condition of anonymity.

Ghaziabad, March 19
The officer in-charge of Kavi Nagar police station has been summoned by the CBI court in Ghaziabad for contempt of court in connection with the murder case of Rimpa Haldar, one of the victims of Nithari killings. The court has directed the SHO to be personally present before it during the next hearing on May 30.

The father of Rimpa Haldar has demanded that a case be registered against the SP and the then police circle-officer, as a serious lapse had been noticed in the enquiry report of the case.

The court had directed the police officials to place an enquiry report before it, but the SHO of the police station had not bothered to comply with the orders. The court had sought a clarification as to why the report had not been submitted in the court on March 6.

It may be added that the special CBI court, Ghaziabad, has already pronounced death sentence for Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli for raping and killing Rimpa.

According to advocates Khalid Khan, Sanjay Tyagi and Mumtaz Mohd, CBI had tried to save Moninder Singh from death sentence by hiding the fact that the weapon of crime, a saw, had been recovered. The weapon was not sent for forensic examination.

Gurgaon, March 19
A serving woman district and town planner (DTP) of the Haryana government has been indicted by two probes conducted by separate enquiry officers in a matter concerning the demolition of a college building in February 2005. The matter was first probed by the then ADC of Gurgaon, and later by a DIG of the Chief Minister’s Flying Squad.

In his enquiry report, the DIG of the CM’s Flying Squad has held the said DTP guilty of malafide intention. The report, a copy of which is in possession of The Tribune, specifically mentions that if the state government does not act against the DTP, the Punjab and Haryana High Court can ask the government to pay the damages (claimed in crores) to the college management.

However, despite this, the state authorities are yet to take any concrete action against the said DTP, who is presently posted in Chandigarh.

Earlier, a strong-worded enquiry report of the then ADC of Gurgaon, who was appointed the enquiry officer regarding the matter, was rejected by his superior(s). The officer, who gave an adverse report against the DTP, was asked to prepare a fresh report.

Nearly two years ago, the management of Anupama College of Engineering and Institute of Management, Bhora Kalan, Gurgaon, had lodged a complaint against the said DTP, who was serving as DTP (Enforcement) in Gurgaon, to the authorities concerned.

The college management alleged that on February 5, 2007, the DTP got their college building demolished without giving them any prior notice. The college authorities further asserted that the step (demolition) was taken as a demand of Rs 20 lakh bribe put forward by the official(s) concerned had not been met.

Following this, an inquiry into the allegations was marked to the then ADC of Gurgaon, T.L.Satyaprakash, who submitted his report on April 5, 2007.

In this report, the enquiry officer stated that the DTP (E) did not support the enquiry and all records had to be collected from various informal sources. He points out that the DTP even took away the relevant records from the office.

The report goes on to state that “...the enquiry finds the officer concerned guilty of negligence, incompetence and irresponsibility of the highest order causing a loss of Rs 11.86 crore...The procedure (of demolition) is highly flawed and seems to be a prejudicial action with undue haste...The officer was not only negligent but also prejudicial and had malafide intentions...”

This report was, however, rejected and the enquiry officer told to file a fresh report after examining the legality of the demolished structure.

On May 24, 2007, Satyaprakash submitted a fresh enquiry report to the then deputy commissioner of Gurgaon. Though the new report also held the said DTP guilty on certain counts and recommended a probe by some competent authority, it adopted a visibly softer stance and lacked the tone and tenor of the previous one.

Even the CM Flying Squad DIG submitted his report more than a year ago on December 24, 2007, but the authorities concerned seem to be in no mood to act against the said DTP.

In the meanwhile, the then DTP (E) of Gurgaon was transferred elsewhere. As of now, she is posted as DTP (HQ) in Chandigarh.

On being contacted, the college chairman, Devendra Gupta, said he had been seeking information of what action had been taken against the said DTP in light of the probe reports from the authorities concerned, but to no avail.

Greater Noida, March 19
A history sheeter who had been banished from G.B. Nagar district shot his relative Vikas, a class XII student, in Sadulpur village under Bisarakh police station, following a minor dispute.

Vikas has been admitted to the Kailash Hospital here. He is said to be critical.

The victim’s elder brother Adesh has lodged a complaint against his four relatives.

One of the assailants is a history sheeter in Bisarakh police station. He had been banished from G.B. Nagar district.

Vikas, a resident of Kamla Nagar in Ghaziabad, was monitoring the construction of his house at Sadulpur here with his brother when the incident took place.

Vikas and his brother had a dispute with Gyan Chand, a relative, for leaving a large passage near the new house.

Gyan Chand reached the site with three others and shot Vikas yesterday morning.

When the victim’s family members reached the spot, the assailants had escaped.

Adesh has accused Gyan Chand, his two sons Rohit and Rinku and his brother Rakesh, for the crime.