Greater Noida, October 3
A girl who had eloped with her tutor to marry him had to pay with her life.

The man who had promised to live with the victim all his life decided to kill her when his marriage was finalised somewhere else. Hopeful of getting a dowry of Rs 4.5 lakh, the man first eloped with the girl and eventually killed her.

The accused Arvind Rajput has been sent to jail on charges of abducting and killing the young girl.

For seven months the Surajpur police in Greater Noida that had kept the case under wraps has finally thrown some light on it.

The girl’s body was found on March 4, 2009, in the fields of Khedi village under Surajpur police station.

The girl was allegedly strangled to death. A mobile number was written on her plam.

The murder was traced to Bhagwan Singh of Rajinder Nagar in Jalone.

It was through him that the police reached the girl’s house. The victim was identified as 17-year-old Lali Gupta, alias Sana, alias Somya Gupta, a resident of Rajinder Nagar in Urdai.

Lali Gupta was a Class XII student and took tuitions from Arvind Rajput of the same village who is an M.A. student, said a police official. They used to talk to each other on Bhagwan Singh’s cell phone.

Lali fell in love with Arvind and eloped with him in the first week of February to marry him. But on March 6 Arvind allegedly strangled Lali to death. After looting her jewellery, cash and cell phone Arvind allegedly dumped her body in the fields near Khedi village and fled.

The Surajpur police had put the case in cold. But after it went to ASI Manoj Pathak, the police claims to have worked out the case.

According to the Surajpur police, before Arving had eloped with lali he was engaged to some other girl. He reportedly, expected to get Rs. 4.5 lakh dowry, including jewellery and cash. Greed overpowered him and so he decided to remove Lali Gupta from his way.

Her parents kept searching for her without lodging a report with the police. Arvind was later arrested for abducting Lali.

Gurgaon/ Rewari, October 3
A few months ago Deepak Yadav, a sales manager with a leading company, was a happy man. On June 11, his wife Rita had delivered twin sons at a private nursing home in Gurgaon. Soon he was told that he would be promoted as senior sales manager.

But within a few days, a shattered, jobless Yadav found himself making rounds of various hospitals and nursing homes in Rewari, Gurgaon and Delhi for the treatment of his newborn son.

What led to the grievous turn of events was a medical “blunder” that a doctor allegedly committed while giving an injection to the newborn. The incident took place on June 18 and since then, the couple has left no stone unturned to get their son cured, but to no avail.

This correspondent met the couple at Mirpur Institute of Medical Sciences, a charitable hospital in the district, where they narrated their tale of woes.

“Initially, we were told Jeet, one of the twins, could not be given Hepatitis vaccination as he was underweight. After a week of his birth, he was given the injection, following which he developed a complication,” said Yadav and Rita.

The hapless parents said soon after the injection, Jeet developed swelling in his left leg. They then took him to Gurgaon. The doctors began treatment, but there was no improvement. Eventually, they took Jeet to a nursing home in Delhi. He responded to the treatment, but could not be cured. His tests revealed that the bone forming thigh joint was affected.

Yadav then took Jeet to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi where a consultant said the injection should not have been given as Jeet was underweight. He said there was also a possibility of the syringe needle having touched the his bone due to which he developed the complication.

In the mean time, Yadav’s company refused to extend his leave and, he lost his job. Jeet’s treatment has put the family under tremendous financial strain.

Yadav heard of Mirpur Charitable Hospital and brought his son here. Now, Dr S.S.Yadav, chairman of Mirpur Medical Institute, has assured of treating Jeet.

The Yadavs plan to sue the doctor who they hold responsible for the plight of their son.

New Delhi, October 3
How do you give your child a new toy or game to play with everyday for the next three years and not burn a hole in your pocket? The answer lies in a toy library.

One such, Kids Gurukul, was launched in the Capital on Saturday where you can simply choose from hundreds of games and video games for your child and rent them.

“With these libraries, our aim is to tell parents that you needn’t buy expensive toys, games, books and CDs to teach your children. We have a whole lot of fun learning aids which one can borrow at a minimal subscription amount,” said Vinita Gupta, master franchisee of Kids Gurukul.

The library has on offer more than 1,000 games, 1,500 books and 600 educational CDs and VCDs.

From stuff toys, wooden toys and building blocks to scrabbles, puzzles and board games, CDs and VCDs to computer games, electronic toys and outdoor games - the library has a range to offer for kids in the age group of two to 10.

All the toys are made of non-toxic material, in attractive colours and safe to use, Gupta said.

“The monthly subscription rate for access to the library’s stock are quite affordable at Rs 350 and Rs 600 depending on the range of toys one wants access to,” she added.

While there are eight such libraries in Maharashtra, Delhi will have outlets in Hauz Khas and Noida’s Sector 15.

The library will next go to Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kanpur. — IANS

New Delhi, October 3
It has been 140 years since the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. And his autobiography continues to be a bestseller with annual sales of 2,00,000 copies even in these rapidly changing times.

As India marks the Mahatma’s birth anniversary on Friday, the Ahmedabad-based Navjivan Trust said the sales of ‘My Experiments With Truth’, named by US President Barack Obama as one of his inspirations, remain high despite competition from other publishing houses.

Until 10 months ago, Navjivan Trust alone had the copyright on all of Gandhi’s works.

“The expiry of the copyright has had no adverse impact on sales. It is still as high as before,” said Jitendra Desai, managing trustee Navjivan Trust, over telephone.

“The sales of the autobiography are about 2,00,000 annually, in all languages,” he stressed.

The Navjivan Trust is concerned that Mahatma Gandhi’s books must remain accessible to the common person. Its own publications of Gandhi’s works are low-priced and affordable.

Some publishers have begun to reprint some works of the Mahatma using fancy paper — and selling them for as high as Rs 4,000.

Most of Gandhi’s written works have been compiled into 100 volumes. These are known as the Complete Works of Mahatma Gandhi, and they run into about 50,000 pages.

The apostle of non-violence is said to be the only public figure to have written so much.

“He wrote without stopping. When his right hand got tired, he would use his left. There is still so much of his work not in the public domain - as many as 30,000 pages are scattered in the form of letters and other writings,” Anupam Mishra, member of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, said.

These unpublished writings are with individuals and institutions.

Scholars and admirers of Mahatma Gandhi feel this should all be compiled and brought under a designate authority.

“Now we want to regularise and make available the original corpus of his work. The concept is to collect, restore and reprint all the regional ‘Gandhiana’ and to bring it into public domain,” said Dina Patel, a senior Gandhian scholar from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.

Gandhians, representatives of the cultural affairs ministry as well as legal experts have met to discuss whether a perpetual copyright was feasible and what could be done to ensure that literary works were not altered and placed out of context.

In 1944, Gandhi signed a deed where he assigned the copyright of his writings to the Navjivan Trust in Ahmedabad.

According to the country’s Copyright Act of 1957, the works of a person go into the public domain 60 years after his or her death.

Under this clause, the Navjivan Trust lost the copyright on Gandhi’s works on January 1, 2009.

Since its inception, the trust has published some 300 volumes of Gandhi’s works including articles, letters and speeches, apart from translations of his autobiography.

“We hope that since Navjivan and Sarva Seva Sangh have not stopped publishing cheaper versions, Gandhiji’s works remain within the common man’s reach,” said Ramachandra Rahi, secretary of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. — IANS

New Delhi, October 3
Two cranes working at Delhi Metro’s construction site in the Said-ul-Ajaib area of south Delhi toppled over today afternoon.

The mishap, blamed on “mechanical failure”, took place at the proposed Saket station around 12.15 pm. Nearly 38 workers were present at the site when the incident took place. Although, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials have denied injury to anyone, eyewitnesses said at least four persons were injured and taken to hospital. However, according to police sources, only two persons were injured and were discharged from hospital after first aid.

Responding to media queries, DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said a crane operated by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) overturned and that senior officials were investigating the matter.

“The incident happened when a 50-tonne capacity crane, which was lifting a smaller capacity crane (Hydra), developed a mechanical problem as one of the cylinders used for lifting the boom (lifting arm) of the bigger crane failed,” he said. “This crane was hired by L&T from Global Hydraulic Sales. It was manufactured in 2006 and certified for fitness for operations. The DMRC chief project manager and other senior officers are supervising the recovery work,” Dayal added.

According to an eyewitness, there could have been many casualties had the smaller crane fell on the road close to the construction site.

Tribhuvan Singh, an auto driver who was standing at the site of the accident, said “The driver of the bigger crane showed presence of mind and dropped the smaller crane in the construction site enclosure itself. Had he swiveled a little, the crane would have fallen on the road and the commuters could have come under its impact.”

The Saket station is on the Metro route that will link Connaught Place in the heart of the Capital to Gurgaon in neighbouring Haryana. The line is set to open in March 2010.

This is the third accident reported at Metro sites in this year. On July 12, a section of an elevated track collapsed in south Delhi’s Zamrudpur area killing six persons and injuring around 20. A day later, a crash caused by cranes involved in the relief operations there injured six persons.

Under pressure to complete projects before the upcoming Commonwealth Games in October 2010, the DMRC has come under fire for frequent accidents at construction sites. It is being alleged that to meet deadlines, the DMRC is ignoring the safety issue. Even the recent CAG report criticised DMRC for compromising on checking and testing of equipment. 

New Delhi, October 3
The Model Town police in north Delhi has arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly abducting and raping a minor girl for 10 days.

According to the police, the accused Deepak had allegedly kidnapped 14-year-old Guddi over 15 days ago and kept her captive in a house, where he and one of his friends raped her for 10 days.

Guddi managed to escape on Thursday.

She reached her home in Model Town after which the police was informed.

New Delhi, October 3
Convicting a man of murdering a minor girl because she refused to talk to him, a city court on Saturday sentenced him to life imprisonment, with no possibility of a remission till he served 30 years, as his offence was not only “gruesome but diabolic in nature.”

Sentencing Mangal Singh, additional sessions judge Bharat Parashar said that no leniency should be granted to him while he was undergoing imprisonment.

“I am of the opinion that the present case can easily be classified a rare case, which falls short off the rarest of rare category. I accordingly hereby sentence convict Singh to rigorous imprisonment for life with the direction that he shall not be considered for being granted remission till he undergoes an actual sentence of 30 years,” the judge said.

A fine of Rs 1,00,000 was also imposed on Singh, who was accused of killing Ritika in a fit of rage when she refused to talk to him. Singh also injured Ritika’s brother Harry Chaudhary, who intervened to protect his sister.

The incident occurred on July 26, 2004 when Ritika, along with her brother and a friend, was going to her school at the CRPF camp at Tilak Vihar in a cycle rickshaw. Singh came on a motorcycle, stopped the rickshaw and told her that he wanted to talk to her in private.

According to the prosecution, Ritika kept quiet, at which he asked her to get down from the rickshaw. Ritika then asked him why he was troubling her. Mangal Singh suddenly took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed her 19 to 20 times — IANS