New Delhi, August 25
Two senior students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were expelled today for two months for ragging their juniors and based on their conduct during this period, action would be taken further, said Dr Rani Kumar, the dean of students of AIIMS.

On Friday evening, two juniors were caught red-handed with the accused by the anti-ragging squad and the hostel wardens.

Dr Kumar stated that though no official complaint came up on the matter, AIIMS has always been quite stringent on such matters, and in this case also, the erring students have been punished for their involvement in the ragging incident.

The decision comes after the enquiry committees submitted their reports to the institute’s director, Dr R C Deka, and during the meeting, the director taking cognizance of all inputs given by the first-year students as well as the accused seniors decided that the guilty students would be barred from attending the academic activities for two months.

After surveillance within this period, the future course would be decided, said Dr Kumar. 

New Delhi, August 25
Influenza A (H1N1) registers an increase in its fatal hold in the national Capital with the virus claiming another life—Usha Jain (44) this morning at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLH), taking the city’s toll to three. And to mitigate the increasing burden of testing of H1N1 samples, three private labs receive the go-ahead today by the government.

Medical superintendent of RML Hospital, Dr Nitish Kumar Chaturvedi said the woman, a resident of Faridabad, had a history of rheumatoid arthritis—a chronic disorder that damages tissues and organs, including the articular cartilage and lungs and was brought to us on ventilator.

Dr Nitish said, “She was brought to us on ventilator at 2:15 pm on Friday and was not responding well to the treatment. Her blood pressure had dipped to 70/60 from 90/70 and she had three cardiac arrests.”

Adding that she breathed her last after she had a cardiopulmonary attack at 10:15 am today, Dr Nitsh noted she was brought to RML on the eighth day instead of at least the third day as Tamiflu medication is most affective if it is started on the second day.

City health authorities said the fatality could be attributed to the delay in seeking medical consultation as Usha had been experiencing high fever and cough since August 14.

On Tuesday, the city reported 41 fresh positive cases of H1N1, pushing the total tally of infected people in the city to 519.

According to the city’s health department, the sudden increase in the number of confirmed cases is the result of pending samples at testing labs, and today out of the pending cases to be tested, 270 were cleared. In view of augmenting the diagnostic infrastructure for H1N1 samples, three private pathological centres get the nod for carrying out the testing of H1N1 suspected cases.

“To cater to the urgent need of testing capability, we have given the approval for three private labs—Dr Lal’s Lab, Auroprobe Lab and Dr. Naveen Dang’s Lab. With this the government testing centres, which are overburdened with samples each day, would have some relief,” outlined J.P. Singh, principal secretary of Delhi Health Department.

The go-ahead comes today after the govrnment’s two high-level committees monitored and assessed the parameters on WHO guidelines.

The three labs account for a testing capability of 300 samples each day if teams are deputed on shift basis. Now all those who are more comfortable in visiting a private facility can directly walk into the labs and get their tests done at a cost between Rs 9,000-10,000.

Dr Vandana Lal from Dr Lal’s Lab said, “We would be testing samples of people who would either walk in or whose cases would come to us through hospitals. On cost factor, a consensus has been reached after negotiations between the labs and the government authorities.” 

Gurgaon, August 25
Teachers from various colleges of the city today held a protest against the state government as it had not yet implemented the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Vice-president of Haryana Government College Teachers’ Association Subash Tapra said teachers would go on an indefinite strike if they are not paid as per the guidelines of the UGC and the HRD ministry.

The agitating teachers said they would begin teaching only after the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations are implemented.

The centre had, reportedly, asked the Haryana government to imply the fourth grade pay band if teachers were being paid under the third grade pay band.

Under the third pay band an employee gets Rs 15,600 as basic pay. While, (s) he gets Rs 37,400 as basic pay under the fourth pay band.

Tapra said the association had recently met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and he had assured that they would be paid accordingly. But the state government has implemented a new scale. As a result, there is a huge difference between the salaries of lecturers and central government employees.

New Delhi, August 25
The BJP has done election campaign in a systematic manner in all the five seats of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for which by-elections are to be held on August 27.

Tomorrow is the last day of campaigning.

Delhi BJP president O. P. Kohli said that through padyatras, corner meetings, door-to-door contact and small public meetings, “we have exposed the failures of the Delhi and the UPA government at centre”.

Price spiral has been the main issue in the campaign.

Today the prices of all the essential commodities of daily use are rising. Due to the uncontrolled price spiral of the commodities—grain, pulses, sugar, milk, fruit and vegetables—the life of lower and middle classes has become hard.

The BJP has drawn attention of the voters towards power, transport, unauthorized colonies, the law and order and completing the Commonwealth Games projects on time. The BJP has sought support of the public, Kohli said. 

New Delhi, August 25
The Congress in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has demanded a CBI inquiry into an alleged case of land encroachment against former mayor Arti Mehra in Gautam Nagar, south Delhi.

In an affidavit filed by her regarding the size of a park in her constituency, she had stated that the area of the park is 25 square yard. Whereas, according to a petition filed by Gian Chand, it is 425 square yard.

In his petition, Gian Chand alleged that Mehra has erected barriers on the road and is not allowing the residents to enter the park.

While Mehra has called it a topographic error, the Congress called it a case of land encroachment. “She has committed crime by misleading the court and misrepresenting the facts which cannot be ignored,” said Jai Kishan Sharma, leader of opposition.

“We will meet the Lt-Governor and hold inquiry into the works done during her tenure as mayor,” said Sharma. He also demanded to dismiss her as the councillor of the Gautam Nagar area.

A city court had pulled up a lower court yesterday for dismissing a case demanding action against Mehra and others for giving false affidavits.

New Delhi, August 25
There has been a remarkable improvement in Delhi’s sex ratio in 2008. The improvement had come after the introduction of the government’s Ladli scheme, said Delhi finance, planning and urban development minister A.K. Walia.

According to Walia, in 2005, Delhi had 820 girls per 1,000 boys; in 2007, the ratio increased to 854; but in 2008, it has reached 1,004.

Releasing the annual report on births and deaths in Delhi in 2008, Walia stated that the improvement in the sex ratio was a boost to the success of Ladli scheme launched by the city government. There had been 19,000 more female births in Delhi compared to the last year.

According to the report, the number of female births has increased from 1.48 lakh in 2007 to 1.67 lakh in 2008. The total number of births registered in Delhi during 2008 is 3.34 lakh against 3.22 lakh in 2007. Of the total births registered in 2008, 1,66,583, that is 49.89 per cent, is male and 1,67,325, that is, 50.11 per cent female.

However, during 2008, male and female births were approximately at par.

The birth rate per thousand in Delhi was 19.51 in 2008 as compared to 19.35 in 2007, whereas the national-level figure is 23.1 per thousand.

In 2007, 1.74 lakh male births were registered, whereas the number of female birth was recorded as 1.48 lakh. The average number of births in Delhi per day was 915 in 2008 as against 882 in 2007.

Out of the total births in Delhi during 2008, only 4.55 per cent were registered in rural areas.

The report has been prepared by the directorate of economics and statistics and office of the chief registrar (births and deaths), Delhi government. 

Noida, August 25
Two married women were found dead in suspicious circumstances.

The first death was reported from Agahpur village. Rita Singh was found hanging from the noose of her house. The height of the noose suggests that she was hanged there after her death.

Rita used to live with her husband and a nine-month-old daughter in a rented accommodation. Her parents also lived with them. This often led to arguments and clashes between Rita and her husband.

Just a few days ago, Rita’s parents had shifted to a nearby house and started living separately. But this made Rita tense. On Sunday, some neighbours heard her daughter crying. As they came in the house, they found Rita hanging from a noose in the room.

Meanwhile, the police is investigating the matter.

Another such case was reported from Basai village under Sector-58 Kotwali. A newly-wed woman, reportedly, committed suicide following her husband’s reprimand.

No suicide note was found.

The victim Poonam was married to Babloo Yadav eight months ago. Babloo works as driver.

According to the police, Poonam who was also employed used to come home late at night. This irritated Babloo.

On Sunday, she had returned home very late. Babloo, reportedly, reprimanded Poonam on this.

On Monday he found his wife hanging from a ceiling fan in a room.

The matter is being investigated.

New Delhi, August 25
The west district police today claimed to have busted a gang of human traffickers involved in selling young women on the pretext of providing work as domestic helps.

A woman, her son and one other person has been arrested, while three girls were rescued from different places in Delhi and Haryana. The accused have been identified as Sanjay (33), Vinod Mandal (23) and Savitri Devi (55).

According to the police, the gang came in their eyes after a Nangloi resident, Anita Devi, lodged a missing report about her daughter Manju (23) who had gone to meet one Sunil for employment on August 16 and had not returned since then. Thereafter, she had received a call on her mobile phone saying that Manju was safe and would return after sometime. She was also threatened not to report the matter to the police or otherwise her daughter would be killed.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the crime, a special police team was formed to crack the case and to rescue the girl. Sources were deployed to collect information about the criminals.

A major breakthrough came through a secret source. The source told the police that one Sunil Jha and his brother Sanjay Jha, who live in Shahabad Daulatpur village, run a placement agency in Nangloi. It was also revealed that the brothers, for the last one year, were involved in selling girls to neighbouring states on the behest of placing them as maid servants.

Accordingly, raids were conducted in Delhi and Haryana, and Sanjay was arrested from Rohtak. On his instance, the abducted girl named Manju was also rescued. On sustained interrogation, he disclosed about the whole racket. He also gave the names of his gang members. Subsequently, two more gang members— Vinod Mandal and Savitri Devi (Sanjay’s mother)— were arrested and two more girls were rescued.

Sanjay revealed that his brother Sunil, who is absconding, had called Manju to offer a job. When Manju reached his place, he and other associates abducted her and took her to Rohtak, where Sanjay raped her. Later, she was sold for Rs 30,000 to a local named Parmanand, alias Prem.

According to Sunil, Manju was supposed to be sols further in Haryana for the purpose of marriage.

“They used to get girls through agents from states like Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc promising them employment as maid. Since these girls belong to poor economic background, they easily believed them. Thereafter, Sunil used to negotiate deals with Parmanand, one Saroj and their other associates in Rohtak, Haryana for the sale of these girls. Once, the deal was struck and money received, they used to handover the girls to the above mentioned persons at Rohtak,” said the police. 

New Delhi, August 25
The Connaught Place police has arrested a fictitious IPS officer, Sambhav Raili (19), resident of Tulsi Niketan, Ghaziabad.

According to information, the accused was intercepted by a team of police officers today while sitting in his Honda City car installed with a fictitious name plate displaying ‘Govt of India’ in bold letters.

“He was wearing the uniform of an IPS officer and posing to be a CBI officer. The car also had a blue colour top light installed on it. Two wireless sets as used by the police have also been recovered from him as well as from his PSO. He had employed a personal security officer namely Umesh Pal Singh who was carrying one revolver with 18 rounds. The accused tried to convince the police party with a forged identity card purportedly issued by the CBI,” said a senior police official from the district.

On verification of the uniform items, identity card, car name plate and other documents, it was found that he was wearing the ranks of SP with IPS on his shoulders and has arms band symbol of ‘DP’ which is used by Delhi Police.

One of the caps recovered was used by the officers of the rank of IG and not by the SP.

The identity card and other documents were unauthentic.

The accused Sambhav revealed that he bought accessories and ranks from the Army Equippers shop in Connaught Place and got his two uniforms stitched from a private tailor.

He purchased two wireless sets from a shop while prepared his IPS identity card himself from his computer.

According to the police, he also got various photographs with his IPS uniform for various motives and used it to threaten people for his advantage.

In the present case, the accused did not pay charges to the parking contractor for parking his car for about a month. 

New Delhi, August 25
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police has arrested Santosh Kumar Sharma (38), for running an inter-state racket of duping thousands of unemployed youths on the pretext of providing them permanent jobs in a trust run in the name of a fake multinational company “American Express Way”.

The police received a complaint from Ravinder Singh Chauhan alleging that Ratna Sharma and her husband Santosh Sharma had cheated thousands of unemployed youth of crores of rupees through their trust run in the name of “American Express Way” company. It was alleged that the Sharmas ran their fraudulent activities through this trust at D-1/5, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, by way of publishing attractive advertisements in media for offering jobs to unemployed youth.

On this complaint, a case at Hauz Khas police station was initially registered on November 4, 2008 and investigation taken up by the local police.

Subsequently, the case was transferred for further investigation to EOW in February this year. A detailed scrutiny of accounts of the trust was conducted, and it came to light that approximately 4,000 victims had been duped of several cores of rupees by this fraud. It was also revealed that the money collected in the name of the trust was not spent, as avowed, on charity or social cause such as spreading awareness about AIDS in different parts of the country.

The accused, who had absconded after the complaint, was apprehended from Dwarka on August 18.

According to EOW officials, the inducement offered by Sharma was that initially some training would be given to the person and during training a stipend of Rs1000 per month would be paid. To gain credence, it was propagated that American Express Way was a multinational company and that he was the in charge of the affairs of the company in India.

“He asked the applicants to deposit Rs 1 lakh each as security and training fees with the company for getting a confirmed job on a salary of Rs 9500 per month. The applicants were told that the job would be permanent with all the benefits and after retirement at the age of 58 years, pension and other benefits would also be given. The employees were asked to get more people for recruitment. Initially, the promised stipend was given to some applicants for a few months but thereafter he stopped paying them,” said an EOW official.

After a few months, when the cheques given to the applicants towards their remuneration bounced, they started approaching Sharma for refund, but he had closed the office at Hauz Khas and absconded.

Santosh Kumar Sharma was taken on seven-day police remand. Action has been taken to freeze his bank accounts. Necessary tie-up is also being made with the police of the other states. Efforts are also afoot to trace Ratna Sharma who is absconding. 

New Delhi, August 25
A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative holding a Pakistani passport as also a Jammu and Kashmir voter identity card was arrested with explosives from the New Delhi railway station in Delhi on Tuesday.

On the basis of specific information from the intelligence bureau (IB), Saleem Mohammed, alias Yusuf, was arrested by a Delhi police team from the Ajmeri Gate terminal of the New Delhi railway station, a police officer said.

“We arrested a LeT operative from the Ajmeri Gate terminal on Tuesday noon. We have recovered some chemicals, explosives, four detonators and two timers from him ,” said joint commissioner of police (special cell) P.N. Aggarwal.

The police has also seized from him a Pakistani passport issued in the name of Yusuf and a voter card issued by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities in the name of Saleem Mohammed, said Aggarwal.

“We are questioning him to know where was he going, his motive and plans in the Capital,” he added. — IANS