New Delhi, April 9
Depressed over financial problems, a man last night gave poison to his two minor sons and later consumed it himself also in Kirari Nangloi village close to Aman Vihar in Outer Delhi.

According to the police, Suresh (35) gave poison mixed bread to his sons— Himanshu (7) and Dipanshu (5) — after which he himself consumed poison. While Suresh and Himanshu died, Dipanshu, the younger son, is recuperating at Jaipur Golden Hospital.

According to information, Suresh’s wife Babita had gone to market to buy vegetables at the time of the incident. When she returned an hour later, she found all the three lying unconscious on the floor with froth coming out of their mouths. She called their neighbours who rushed them to the hospital. Suresh died later in the night, while Himanshu died today morning.

Dipanshu, in his statement to the police, said that his father had given the two brothers bread with jam to eat after which he slept off.

According to the police, a suicide note was recovered from the pocket of Suresh, which says that financial problems provoked him to take the extreme step. “We have recovered a suicide note in which Suresh has mentioned that he was unhappy with his life, including financial problems. He said he was giving poison to both his sons and wanted no one to be blamed for this. Suresh also apologised to his family members in the note for what he was doing,” said a police official.

Suresh, who had studied till Class X, was in a state of depression because of his financial difficulties. “Suresh was jobless and relied on the post-retirement pension of his mother, who was a Class IV employee. His wife too used to do small time chores and tried to make ends meet while he sat at home, doing nothing,” said the police. 

Ghaziabad, April 9
A 90-year-old woman was found murdered here and her house burgled, the police said today.

The incident occurred late Wednesday night in Shastri Nagar under Kavi Nagar police station of Ghaziabad.

The murder and burglary, however, came to light this morning when the woman’s son-in-law returned from his morning walk, the police said.

Om Prakash Arora, a businessman, and his family lived with the victim Mohini Sethi, who was his mother-in-law. Sethi was said to keep valuables in her room. On Wednesday night, thieves allegedly scaled the wall of the house, broke open her window and entered the room, the police said.

When she resisted their attempt to steal valuables, the assailants hit her on the head and strangled her. The assailants then fled with jewellery and other valuables, the police said.

On Thursday morning, when Arora returned from a walk, he discovered the broken window and his mother-in-law’s body.

He informed his wife and the police. Arora said they are preparing a list of missing items.

Superintendent of police (city) Anant Deo said, “Apparently, it seems that it was a friendly entry since the dog did not bark. We have taken finger prints and called the dog squad. The assailants also took away a motor cycle.” — IANS

New Delhi, April 9
Towering Jat leader of Delhi, Sajjan Kumar, whose was cancelled today by the All-India Congress Committee, said he welcomed the decision of the party high command.

He said as a party soldier, he had accepted the order of the high command and decided not to contest the election. He would work for the new party candidate.

Tickets of Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler were cancelled following the protest by Sikhs, including the 1984 riot victims in front of the Kakrdooma district court where the CBI had submitted its report.

Showing a brave face, the Jat leader said that he had always been loyal to the party and would work for it so that it can come to power to work for betterment of the country.

The announcement about the cancellation of their candidatures was made by the AICC general secretary, Janardhan Dwivedi

There is speculation about the new nominees from both the constituencies – South and North-East parliamentary seats of Delhi.

According to sources, Speaker in Delhi Assembly, Yoganand Shastri and Chatar Singh who was member of delimitation committee are in race for ticket for the South Delhi seat while DPCC president Jaiprakash Agarwal and Seelampur MLA Matin Amed are top contenders from North-East Delhi.

Sources in the party said that being a member of Jat community, Yoganand Shastri might get the ticket from South Delhi. He is also considered close to Sajjan Kumar. When Shastri contested the assembly election from Mehrauli, Sajjan Kumar supported him.

As far as North-East Delhi is considered, Jaiprakash Agarwal has denied that he is in the race for the ticket. But sources said that he is a non-controversial leader. He may win the election if he is given ticket.

Faridabad, April 9
The general secretary of the Haryana unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Suraj Pal (Ammu), today charged officers posted in the Faridabad parliamentary constituency of acting against his party at the behest of the ruling Congress.

Ammu alleged that he had come to know from press circles that a case had been registered against him in Hathin police station for allegedly using defamatory language in his speech against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi a couple of days ago and for his alleged attempts to a breach of tranquility in society.

Ammu alleged that the authorities had bypassed the norms by not showing him the CD concerned and other evidence on the basis of which the case was registered. He asserted that he had done nothing to invite criminal case against him.

He alleged that the SDM of Hathin and the deputy commissioner of Faridabad happened to be sons of a senior Congress leader of Haryana. The deputy commissioner is the son of the finance minister of Haryana. Hence, they were acting with bias against his party to promote the Congress nominee from Faridabad, Avtar Singh Bhadana.

He urged the Election Commission to remove from election duties and key positions all such officers who were relatives of Congress leaders to maintain impartiality in the elections.

Ammu alleged that the Congress leaders had put up hoardings in favour of their party nominees at public places belonging to the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad.

This was in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. While the officers on election duty were oblivious of this violation of rule, they were trying to implicate the leaders of political parties opposed to the Congress in false cases, he alleged.

He alleged that while he was returning home last evening he was accosted by the supporters of Avtar Singh Bhadana. They threatened him of dire consequences if he worked against Bhadana in the election. He said he had reported the matter to the district administration and the police about the incident. 

Faridabad, April 9
In a significant statement, the general secretary of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) Subash Batra today said that there were some forces in the ruling Congress in Haryana who were trying to weaken Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Batra, a former home minister of Haryana, and now in-charge of the HJC (BL) affairs in Faridabad and Gurgaon, said that the in-fighting in the Congress would help his party.

Going into details, he said that the same leaders in the Haryana Congress who weakened former chief minister Bhajan Lal when he was in the party were now trying to weaken Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He asserted that Hooda was a “seasoned” politician and a leader who has withered many a storm. He has attained the present status on account of his long innings in politics. Hooda would be well aware of the nature and the moves of the forces who had played a role against Bhajan Lal when he was in the Congress and who were now playing the same “devious” role against him.

To a question on whether Hooda was facing a crisis in the Congress, he asserted, “there is no crisis”.

Without naming any person, he lamented that some ministers and MLAs of the Congress were wary of the “erosion” in their support base. This was the reason they wanted to contest parliamentary elections. When probed further, he said that the fact that ministers were rooting to quit their cabinet status and contest Lok Sabha elections was clear testimony to the fact that they are apprehensive of facing the assembly election in Haryana, which was less than a year away.

He said that it was surprising that the MLAs and ministers who were senior leaders of the Congress did not bother to raise voice in the party in favour of giving nominations to members from Punjabi and others castes and social combination falling outside Jat spectrum to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. Rather, they have been lobbying and counter-lobbying only for their own individual selves. “Now their claims of secular credentials have been exposed beyond repair,” he added.

He said that any political party, including the Congress, if neglects Punjabis at the time of giving tickets to contest parliamentary elections, would have to pay a “dear price”.

According to him, the HJC (BL) will soon announce the names of its remaining nominees. 

New Delhi, April 9
According to Delhi police officials, the interrogation of the five arrested accused in the Jigisha Ghosh and Soumya Vishwanathan murder cases has brought forth the ‘merciless and ruthless attitude’ of the prime accused Ravi Kapoor. Contrary to the earlier perception that Ravi Kapoor and the gang indulged only in robberies and Jigisha’s murder was a case of robbery-gone-wrong, the thorough interrogation of Ravi has now led the police to believe that the accused is a “case of psycho-on-loose who got vicarious pleasure out of killing”.

According to a Delhi police official close to investigation, Ravi Kapoor chose to kill Jigisha in spite of her offer to part with Rs 7.45 lakh that she had in her savings account and also sexual favour. “Ravi has confessed to killing Jigisha although she had offered herself as well as the Rs 7.45 lakh to the accused to spare her life. However, Ravi chose to strangulate her. Speaking to the man gives an impression that he is a psycho who enjoys killing helpless women,” said a police official.

Ravi has confessed before the police that Jigisha kept pleading to be spared and tried to play with their emotions, saying repeatedly that she was the only daughter of her aged parents. “Ravi said that they feared that if let off, Jigisha would expose them and thus chose to kill her,” said the official, adding that only a hardened and professional criminal would do so.

The prime accused has also confessed that he had visited the Vasant Vihar police station after the murder was discovered to find out if the police had got any lead in the case.

Jigisha, 28, who worked with a BPO, was kidnapped from outside her Vasant Vihar apartment in South Delhi in the wee hours of March 17 and murdered soon after. Her body was discovered on March 20 from near Surajkund in Haryana. She was the only child of her parents. Her father is a retired government employee.

The police later managed to arrest the five accused with the help of the CCTV footage taken from an ATM centre in Mahipalpur where the accused had used Jigisha’s ATM card to withdraw money.

Yesterday, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) was invoked against Ravi Kapoor and his accomplices— Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Vijay Kumar and Ajay Sethi.

The gang is also allegedly responsible for killing TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan who was shot dead in South Delhi on September 30 last year, besides being involved in several cases of vehicle theft and robberies across Capital. 

New Delhi, April 9
Proctor’s office of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) today released its verdict against the offenders of communal violence that took place in Lohit hostel of the university on March 17.

Holding seven students responsible for manhandling a Muslim student, Masih-ullah-Khan, in the hostel during a general body meeting, the proctor’s office took back the hostel rooms allotted to them in Lohit Hostel.

The accused are allegedly cadre of BJP’s student outfit ABVP in JNU. “These students have a history of targeting the minority community at different occasions. The verdict came out after the university authorities took depositions in the case; this indicates that the whole hostel community was uncomfortable because of them,” said Masih-ullah.

Three main accused — Shashi Shankar Singh, Ashutosh Pathak and Rajdeep Jha — have been asked to vacate the hostel with immediate effect. They have also been barred from getting any room in any hostel of the university.

The university authorities have also barred these three students from appearing in any of the entrance examinations for two years after completing the current academic year that ends in two months.

Another student, Santosh Pathak, has been barred from appearing in university entrance examinations for two years after May 12. Three other students have been transferred from the hostel along with a fine of Rs 3000 each. One student, Nitish Kumar, has also been transferred from the hostel for making racial comments.

“We do not think that the punishment is exemplary enough. Considering that these students have been found involved in repeated incidents of violence, they should have been given stricter punishments,” said Masih.

Girl residents of the hostel have also filed a complaint against the accused in the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) of the university.

“We do not think that this verdict is strict enough as the accused have not been put out of bounds of the hostel. Over the period these boys have created highly communal and gender insensitive environment in the hostel,” said Priyanka, hostel resident. 

Greater Noida, April 9
The public schools in Greater Noida, which have ignored the district administration’s recommendation on fee hike, have been threatened by Greater Noida Authority that their lease deeds could be cancelled if they fail to fall in line.

Now if a simple complaint is received by the administration against any school, the lease deed and NOC of that school could be cancelled.

On the other hand, parents have also started a door-to-door campaign, urging all parents not to deposit fee in schools till a final decision is taken in the matter. Parents have also decided that nobody shall pay the late fine.

The district administration had set up a committee under ADM (admn) O.P. Arya to resolve the issue. This committee had recommended that no school could hike the fee by more than 25 per cent and nor could the schools recover arrears.

SDM Vishal Singh had handed out a strict warning to schools on receipt of some complaints. Strong action will be taken against schools if complaints are received by district administration now, he said. A letter will be sent to the Greater Noida Authority for cancellation of lease deed and NOC of the school concerned.

April 10 is the last date for depositing fees in schools, after which fine for depositing fee late will be charged. But the secretary-general of the Parents Association said parents will not deposit late fee fine in any case.

Dhani Harsaru (Gurgaon), April 9
It’s a glaring case of state education department authorities’ callous approach towards the safety of small children.

The Government Primary School located on the Pataudi Road here, which was established in 1996, does not have any boundary wall till date, leaving the children studying here at the mercy of the drivers of vehicles moving on the road.

Most children studying at the school come from families of BPL or other weaker sections. The scanty staff posted at the school make the children cross the road under their supervision, but a lurking possibility of some casualty is always there due to the fast-moving heavy traffic on the road.

Thanks to the lack of a boundary wall, the school authorities find themselves helpless in stopping stray animals from entering the school premises and notorious village youths from playing on the school premises during teaching hours.

The matter, however, seems to be too trivial to wake up the education department authorities from their deep slumber. The authorities concerned have completely failed to take any concrete action to ensure the safety of the schoolchildren despite repeated requests by the school head.

A visit to the school by The Tribune team revealed that the school premises are being utilised by village residents for various purposes. Some property dispute is said to be preventing the construction of the school’s boundary wall.

The land belongs to the village panchayat/shamlat; but is under encroachment by certain local residents.

According to sources, a boundary wall was constructed some time ago, but it did not suit the vested interests of some local residents and was demolished by them.

However, the authorities concerned seem to be least concerned about the safety and well-being of the children and have not taken any step to resolve the issue. What is even more strange is that even the village people, whose children are studying at the school, are not bothered to get the school premises secured.

According to sources, the village panchayat had given land for the school, but it was not transferred in the school’s name in land records. Taking advantage of this, the said chunk of land was handed over to Reliance. Local residents want a probe into the transfer of school land to Reliance. 

Gurgaon, April 9
The police today registered a case under Sections 338 and 201/34 of the IPC against four officials of DLF Company on the complaint of Shahank Sharma, father of Nishant, who is struggling for his life in a hospital after he got stuck in a lift on April 7.

It is to be mentioned that 27-year-old Nishant got seriously injured when he got stuck inside the lift while going to his office Sapient, a call centre located at Cyber Green Building in DLF. A resident of Jawahar Nagar, Nishant had parked his motorcycle in the basement of the building and had taken lift to reach his office at the 10th floor, but the lift stopped between the first and the second floor. A mechanic was called for help who managed to open half door of the lift. The mechanic then asked Nishant to come out by holding his hand. But while Nishant was trying to come out, the lift started moving and Nishant’s head got smashed, causing a brain hemorrhage. He is currently in ICU.

The SHO of the DLF Phase-2 police station Angrez Singh said that they had lodged an FIR against the managing director, joint managing director, security manager Colonel Gupta and security in-charge Colonel Setia of DLF Company on the complaint of Nishant’s father.

He said that Sharma claimed that the company had tried to remove the proofs of the incident.

According to doctors, Nishant’s 50 per cent brain has been damaged and is currently in coma .

New Delhi, April 9
Delhi finance minister A.K. Walia today stated that a country liquor brand “Shokeen” has been withdrawn in public interest with immediate effect. Bottles of “Shokeen” contaminated liquor were being sold in Delhi by bootleggers.

It was found that the methyl alcohol contents in the illicit liquor was much higher than the permissible limit which caused loss of lives.

The excise department today collected a large number of samples from the country liquor vends in Delhi and undertook lab checking. All samples were found in order.

However, since duplicate liquor in the name of “Shokeen” brand was reportedly sold in Delhi, in public interest the sale of “Shokeen” brand of country liquor has been withdrawn, the minister said.

Dr Walia added that a magisterial enquiry of the Raghubir Nagar incident would be conducted by the deputy commissioner (south-west).

Greater Noida, April 9
The police has arrested dreaded criminal Sanjay Nagar, who was wanted in kidnapping a brick-kiln owner as well as in a carjacking case.

According to the SP (rural), Surinder Kumar, who carried Rs 2,500 on his head was wanted in 28 criminal cases of loot, kidnapping, and murder registered in various NCR police stations

Sanjay Nagar had allegedly looted brick-kiln owner Lokesh Pandit’s WagonR car and had kidnapped him also. Later, Lokesh Pandit was dumped on the UP-Haryana border.

The Greater Noida police had arrested Sanjay Nagar from Dhada village. He is native of Dujana in Dadri. He used to allegedly commit crimes along with his companion Mintu, alias Mahesh of Faridabad.

Sanjay’s seven companions reportedly looted an Innova car in Ghaziabad on January 16 near Lal Quan, and then they looted Lokesh Pandit’s WagonR. But four days after the incident, the police had recovered the car from his friend Mintu’s house. The same day Mintu was arrested by Faridabad police.

The police seized one country-made revolver and one Innova car stolen from Ghaziabad. Cases against Sanjay Nagar are registered in Trilok Puri, Delhi, Karwal, Surajpur, Kasna, Dadri and Ghaziabad police stations etc.