New Delhi, July 2
A 30-year-old gynecologist, who had a fight with her surgeon husband, injected her twin daughters as well as herself with a poisonous substance, the police said here Thursday, adding that the two girls died and the woman was battling for life.

Rupa Kopari and her twin daughters — Tanya and Twinkle — were found unconscious on the bed in room number 601 at the City Park Hotel in the Pitampura area of north west Delhi after the hotel staff broke open the room doors around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

The police has seized four used and two unused syringes and injections from the room.

The three were rushed to the Max Hospital where the girls were pronounced brought dead while Kopari, who works with the Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini, is battling for life in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Kopari was married to Rajiv Ranjan Singh for over six years. They were staying in a ground floor apartment at Rohini Sector-11 for nearly two years.

“Rupa and her daughters checked in our hotel around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. She said she works as a doctor with the Border Security Force (BSF) and would be flying with her daughters to Ahmedabad this morning. She needed a room to stay overnight,” said P.K. Roy, manager of the hotel.

“After an hour she asked us to arrange for a car as she wanted to go shopping. The driver who took her out said Rupa first went to a shop and bought toys for her daughters. Then she went to a medical store where she bought some injections and syringes,” Roy added.

The hotel manager said she came back around 8 p.m. and went to her room. “But an hour later, we received a distress call from one of Rupa’s relatives saying that guests in room number 601 needed medical attention immediately. They asked us to break open the doors, if needed.”

“The room was double locked from inside and it was latched. The police was also informed and in the meantime two members of her family also came. The room was broken open and we rushed the three to the nearby Max Hospital,” he said.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (north west Delhi) Brahm Singh said initial investigations suggest that Rupa had a tiff with her husband over opening of some private hospital before she with her daughters came to the hotel.

“She might have injected poison to her daughters before giving herself the same shots. She is battling for life and her condition is critical. But we cannot say substantially anything before we record her statement. No suicide note has been recovered,” he said.

“We have registered a case at Maurya Enclave police station and a sub-divisional magistrate is also inquiring the matter,” he said.

The police official added Kopari’s husband was being interrogated.

Meanwhile, Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s family maintained distance from the media and refused to comment. Kopari’s family is said to be based in Hyderabad and could not be contacted. — IANS

New Delhi, July 2
As several colleges were witnessing high withdrawals at Delhi University (DU) after the second cut-off, there were chances that most colleges, including some on north campus, would release seats in the third cut-off.

Giving hope to students, who could not make it to any of the two cut-offs released so far, some colleges were now falling short of students.

After the release of the second cut-off, students who had secured admissions in the first cut-off in colleges and courses were not keen to withdraw their admission to go to the colleges of their choice.

The university administration said even though withdrawals do not affect the total number of seats in the university, several colleges would be forced to open up admissions in some courses.

Students withdrew admissions from the less popular courses. In Hansraj, more than 80 students withdrew admissions from various courses. However, the college claimed it had admitted students beyond capacity to balance the seats. The college has 200 seats reserved for OBC candidates, which would be converted into general if there were not enough students.

The situation was not much different in other colleges. More than 25 students withdrew admissions from Indraprastha College after the second cut-off.

“Every second students is asking about the procedure for withdrawal. Seats in courses like philosophy, history and science courses might be opened again in some colleges. South campus would also find colleges releasing seats,” said Kopal Ahlawat, admission counsellor.

“Gargi also had 60 students withdrawing admissions yesterday. St. Stephen’s is also taking interviews for admissions. So, it is expected that if a student gets through Stephen’s, he would withdraw admission from any other college,” said Ahlawat.

Meanwhile, colleges would close admissions for the second cut-off at 1 pm tomorrow. The third cut-off would come out on July 4.

New Delhi, July 2
Residents of unauthorised colonies will have to pay property tax by October 31.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has asked residents of unauthorised colonies to pay property tax as it has been providing basic amenities like — cleaning of streets and lifting of garbage — in the areas.

“We have been working in the colonies for a long time. Residents are duty bound to pay the property tax,” said standing committee chairman Ram Kishan Singhal.

The tax would be levied on the basis of residential proof, including MTNL phone bill.

“Any document which confirms that a person has been living at a place since a particular period would be accepted. Tax would be levied from the period mentioned in the document. For example — if a property was constructed in 2000 and the owner comes with MTNL phone bill provided in 2006, the tax would be calculated from 2006 only,” explained Singhal.

Besides, the corporation has announced an amnesty scheme to bring maximum number of taxpayers in its ambit. Defaulters would not be penalised, if they deposit tax latest by October 31.

“If a person has never paid property tax and pays it by October 31, he too would not be exempted,” said Subhash Arya, leader of the House in the MCD.

However, the civic body officials said they would conduct a door-to-door survey to track defaulters and find out the number of taxpayers.

“We would carry out an extensive survey. The defaulters would have to pay 30 per cent penalty on the total amount,” confirmed an MCD official.

As of now, the civic body has 9.46 lakh taxpayers. But the total number of property owners in the city is three times higher than the figure. The MCD is, reportedly, losing out on property tax from nearly two-third of property owners in the Capital.

Ghaziabad, July 2
An employee of sugar corporation society who had gone to make a plea to the Bagpat district magistrate for his safety was shot dead in a running DTC bus near Mandola Nanu village on Bagpat-Loni border.

The killers then got down and fled in a Maruti car which was moving along the bus. The police recovered three empties of 9 mm cartridges from the bus. Old enmity is said to be the cause of the murder.

Ghaziabad SSP, Akhil Kumar, SP City Rahul Kumar and police circle officer, border, Happy Gupta have inspected the site. A team under CO border has been asked to nab the criminals.

Accoring to police, Anil Kumar, 45, son of V.P. Singh of Dhawa village under Doghar police station, was a clerk in Delhi-based Sugar Society and was returning to Delhi from Bagpat. Three youths had also boarded the same bus which was being followed by a Marut 800 car.

As the bus reached near Mandola Nanu village, the youths took out a pistol and countrymade revolvers. One of them trained his pistol on conductor Rajpal while two bandits fired three shots on Anil Kumar, hitting him in the head, chest and feet. There was commotion in about 25 passengers, but crminals ordered them to sit quietly. They ordered the driver to stop the bus and got into the Maruti car and fled away.

Police recovered a written document addressed to Bagpat district magistrate and SSP in which Anil Kumar had requested police protection as he was fearing a threat to his life from one Sushil Pradhan. He is reported to have old enmity with him over a piece of land. Pradhan is reported to be currently lodged in Meerut Jail.

The police has sent a team to village Dhaha for nabbing the killers.

New Delhi, July 2
India’s junior sports minister Pratik Prakashbapu Patil today assured Parliament that construction of venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the city will be completed in time.

Patil said construction work at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, National Stadium and Thyagaraj Stadium are on schedule while Siri Fort Complex, Yamuna Sports Complex, Talkatora Indoor Stadium and the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium have fallen marginally behind schedule.

But Patil was confident that the deadline will be met. The Games will be held from October 3-14. “We have increased the pace of construction and the shortfall would be bridged soon,” he said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

He also informed the Rajya Sabha that the construction at the S.P.M. Swimming complex, Cycling Velodrome, Wrestling Stadium at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Complex and the Karni Singh Shooting Range started late due to delay in getting clearance for the architectural designs. — IANS

New Delhi, July 2
Calling it a classic case of highhandedness by a state-run firm, the Delhi High Court has slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on the Indian Road Construction Corporation Ltd (IRCC) while upholding the plea of an employee who had applied for voluntary retirement 12 years ago without success.

Justice Kailash Gambhir in an order this month slapped the fine on IRCC and said, “The hapless petitioner has been facing the hostility of an unsympathetic and depraved employer for the past 12 years without any slip up by him. This is a fit case for awarding exemplary damages in condemnation of the abuse of power by a government corporation.”

The case pertains to G.K. Murthy who had been personal secretary to IRCC’s chief managing director since 1977 and had applied for voluntary retirement in 1997. But his appeal was not approved by the government corporation, without any valid reason.

The court while directing the IRCC to accept Murthy’s retirement from 1997 also asked the corporation “to give him all dues and benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission.”

It said, “This is a classic case of highhandedness on the part of a government corporation. The IRCC instead of accepting the same rejected it on flimsy grounds and went to the extent of initiating a disciplinary inquiry against the petitioner, closing eyes to its own fault and dismissing the petitioner for an alleged concealment and fraud which he never committed.”

“The hapless petitioner has been facing the hostility of unsympathetic and depraved employer for the past 12 years without any slip-up by him,” the judge noted in his order.

Opposing the petitioner’s claim, counsel for the IRCC submitted that he did not fulfill the eligibility criteria and continued his service for many years and when he had applied for voluntary retirement, a vigilance inquiry was already going on and under these circumstances, his plea was not accepted by the corporation.

However, the counsel for the petitioner pleaded that he had made it clear during his appointment for the said post that he was a matriculate and could not complete his graduation on account of his official work.

“On the basis of this application and with the knowledge that the petitioner was only a matriculate, the petitioner was appointed in IRCC. During the 20 years of service, the petitioner was promoted to various posts,” counsel for the petitioner submitted.

The judge said, “I feel the petitioner complied with all formalities but still the respondent unnecessarily created a ruckus and made an objection, returning the application of the petitioner for sending it again.” — IANS

New Delhi, July 2
After days of suffering without electricity, the power situation became normal in the Capital today.

“The peak demand of 3,869 MW at 12.52 pm was successfully met and there were no reported incidents of outages on account of loadshedding in BSES areas except a few complaints in some areas due to low frequency, planned shutdowns and some local faults,” said a BSES press statement.

In Najafgarh, residents complained of outages of up to six hours because of a local fault involving the BSES and the Delhi Transco. Mehrauli residents reported abrupt outages of four hours.

In East Delhi, where large pockets were affected by power cuts for 12 hours last week, outages of nearly five hours were reported in a few colonies.

However, the status of water supply remained more or less the same in various parts of Delhi despite the arrival of monsoon. The DJB officials said the situation will improve in the next four to five days.

New Delhi, July 2
The construction of bus shades has not been completed, though its contract was given to a private agency two years ago.

When the contract was allotted, the cost of construction was estimated Rs 1 lakh for each shade, but it has increased to Rs 3 lakh. The contract was given on built, operate and transfer basis (BOT), sources said. Shades have been constructed only on main roads where advertisers are interested in displaying hoardings.

This issue was also raised in the Assembly by BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri who alleged it to be a scandal.

He said the construction of shades was to be completed before the Commonwealth Games began.

He said during the Asian Games in 1982, the construction of stadiums and bridges was done in the last days so their quality was poor.

Faridabad, July 2
The HJC (BL)-BSP today jointly held a demonstration at the mini-secretariat here in protest against alleged erratic supply of power and water.

The two parties also submitted a memorandum in this regard to the President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, via the office of the additional deputy commissioner of Faridabad.

The agitation by the HJC (BL) and the BSP is part of statewide programme of the two parties against the Congress government after they forged an electoral alliance a few days ago. They have already organised a demonstration on the issue of water and power supply at Hissar. They will be holding such agitations at all the district headquarters.

The two parties alleged in the memorandum that although the Congress government has completed more than four years of rule in Haryana, it has not ensured adequate supply of water and power that it had promised.

They also alleged that the law and order had deteriorated in Faridabad and the incidents of murder increased.

They further pointed out that the Congress government had lost its moral authority to rule in Haryana.

The two parties pointed out that the common man was hit hard by the rise in prices of all essential commodities. Their problem was made worse on account of erratic supply of water and power. Farmers were affected most as they were not able to irrigate their fields.

New Delhi, July 2
With the arrest of three persons, the south district police has worked out a robbery that took place in the Lodhi Colony area on June 4.

The arrested accused have been identified as Deepak, Zahid and Mohammed Israr.

They allegedly robbed Vinod Ojha around midnight while he was going home in an auto rickshaw.

Ojha’s cell phone, identity card and ATM cards have been recovered.

Ojha had boarded an auto rickshaw from CP to Lodhi Colony on share basis with two persons. When he reached near Lodhi Colony, the co-passengers and the driver beat him up, robbed him and escaped in the auto rickshaw.

A team was formed to nab the robbers. It was learnt that the three had gathered outside Shyam Lal College, Shahdara, to commit a robbery. A trap was laid and they were nabbed with a three-wheeler.