New Delhi, February 5
Shahzad Ahmed, the suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative involved in the September 13, 2008 Delhi blasts has taken names of at least three politicians, including a former MLA from Azamgarh, who allegedly helped him to flee from Delhi after the Batla House encounter.

According to police sources, Shahzad has claimed to know the former MLA, a local leader believed to be a councillor and another leader whose help he took to flee from the national Capital. The 21-year-old accused, allegedly involved in the 2008 Delhi serial blasts and Batla House encounter, claimed he went to the former MLA’s residence in Shaheenbagh after he fled from Delhi on September 19, 2008.

“This is what he told us. We are investigating whether the people whom he approached after the encounter helped him or not,” a senior police official close to investigation said.

Without identifying whether they are politicians or otherwise, Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said Shahzad took “some names” that he claimed had helped him. The crime branch is investigating their role.

However, as on today, no politician has been summoned for police interrogation. Meanwhile, Shahzad, who allegedly escaped from Batla House after the encounter, was taken to Shaheenbagh near Sarita Vihar and later to Jasola. He was also taken to Children’s Park at India Gate where he allegedly planted a bomb which did not explode.

Shahzad will be produced in court tomorrow as his remand ends. The special cell of the Delhi police which is investigating his role in the bomb blasts is likely to demand for his custody. The crime branch which sought his custody for three days was investigating his role in the murder of inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed in the Batla House encounter.

New Delhi, February 5
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in meeting today decided to regularise mobile towers in Delhi.

“We do not want to compromise on connectivity and have decided to regularise most telecom towers,” said

Though the civic body’s special committee will submit its report on mobile towers in the meeting of standing committee on February 9. The decision will be taken thereafter.

“There are an estimated 2,500 illegal towers in the Capital which provide access to various telecommunication services. We will focus on solving the matter without disrupting the mobile services,” said Meera Aggarwal, chairman of the committee looking into the issue.

She said according to the findings of the report there were around 4,500 mobile towers in the city, of which over 2,000 towers were raised with permission, nearly 2,500 were illegal, including those pending approval. “All unauthorised towers would not be sealed. We are mulling over a plan to regularise most of the towers for which authorisation is pending with the MCD,” she said.

However, Meera added that the MCD might have to seal some towers which have not followed the guidelines or those against whom there are complaints.

New Delhi, February 5
An ambulance service for trees was launched today to protect the green reserves of trees and plants in the Capital.

“The service is one of its own kinds in the NDMC area for treating infected and diseased trees. If need be, the service will be made operational in other areas also,” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The tree ambulance is equipped with materials to provide the required treatment to the trees. It is fitted with water tanks of 5.5 thousand liters capacity and includes equipment like chain saw, tree pruner, sprayer, ladder, water pumps, etc. A green truck with warning lights has cost Rs 14 lakh. The NDMC has 1,250 acre total green area which includes six major gardens, five nurseries, 53 roundabouts, 122 small parks and 981 parks of CPWD colonies for maintenance.

“Around 10,000 trees are avenue trees which are not only our natural heritage but also serve as important environmental and ecological reserves. All the avenue trees are indigenous trees of Delhi region. They are popular and have contributed immensely to the rich bio-diversity of Delhi,” said Suhas Borker, an activist of The Green Circle which has helped in the initiative.

The ambulance will have six members of the plant protection cell trained for a month at the Forest Research Institute of India, Dehradun. If any tree is found infected or diseased, the team will spray it with pesticide. If the team finds any part decaying, that part will be removed and the cavity filled. Sixty members of horticulture department will be trained for the purpose.

New Delhi, February 5
Wednesday’s RTV (rural transport vehicle) accident that killed three persons and injured many others has brought trouble for RTV owners, as the government today cancelled the permit of 200 such vehicles. This was announced by secretary-cum-commissioner, R. K. Verma.

Verma said the transport department had launched a drive against RTVs whose drivers do not carry relevant documents while running on the roads.

A total of 2,400 RTVs are registered with the transport department, but the number of RTVs running on the roads is much higher. So far, 40 RTVs have been impounded for plying without relevant permits.

Further, 150 other RTVs have been impounded because though they have permit for use as passenger buses in rural areas, they do not have other relevant documents like fitness certificate.

Also, most of the RTVs do not have proper doors, windows and seats. The drivers of the RTVs are supposed to wear uniform and seat belt while driving, but most of the impounded vehicles are not equipped with the belt system.

The RTVs were issued permits for plying in rural areas because villages have narrow roads.

New Delhi, February 5
The Delhi police’s preparations for the Common Wealth Games (CWG) are on in full swing and by the end of next month, it is expected to be armed with Mobile Surveillance Unit (MSU), a hi-tech SUV with PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) cameras considered very handy during riot situations. The Delhi police had long felt the need for the MSUs, a common vehicle in western metropolitan, and according to reliable sources, it would have at least 10 such vehicles at its disposal before the beginning of the Games in October.

“A Gurgaon-based company would be giving a demonstration of one such MSU at the police headquarters in the presence of commissioner of police. If it meets our requirement, we would place the order in a day or two and hope to have at least one by the end of next month,” said a senior police official close to the procurement.

Speaking about the facilities in the MSU, the officer revealed that it is fitted with 3 PTZ cameras while the fourth one is attached with a 400-metre wire for indoor coverage.

According to an official of Vision Secures Technology, the company presenting the demonstration of their MSU today, it would be able to send photographs via radio connectivity within 8 kms of its radius.

“The fixed cameras on the roof of the vehicle could be stretched up to 30 to 40 metres depending upon the need. Besides, the photographs could be transported via radio frequency within 8 kms of its radius,” said the official.

He added that the vehicle can be customized as per the needs of customer. “Delhi police told us their requirements and the vehicle has been accordingly provided. However, if they want some changes, that would also be effected,” he said.

Ghaziabad, February 5
A man and his wife who had shifted to a rented house at Ankur Enclave in the Loni area three days ago were found charred to death yesterday morning. The beddings were also burnt. .

Dhanjay Pandey, 32, his wife Babita, 30, and their seven-year-old son had shifted just three days ago. Last night Pandey’s son Udhan had slept in the house of his elder brother Sunil Pandey who also lives in the same colony.

Dhanjay Pandey who works as a security guard at Yamuna Vihar in Delhi had reportedly come to home late on Wednesday evening. After dinner the couple had gone to bed.

A burning candle kept in the room caused the fire. The entire room was engulfed in fire charring the couple to death.

In the morning, Preeti who lives next door noticed smoke coming out Pandey’s room and informed the police.

The Loni police has sent the bodies for postmortem.

The police is investigating if there was any foul play into the incident.

New Delhi, February 5
It is a common during admission time at Delhi University to see school passouts bumble through admission process, running from one place to another and not being equipped with the required information.

To alleviate students’ misery, the biggest central university in the country, Delhi University (DU), will be catching them in their schools so that they know the admission process inside out long before they turn up on the DU campus.

Gurpreet Tuteja, deputy dean (Students Welfare), DU, said the university would hold a workshop, the first of its kind, for school teachers and administrators in the coming days regarding the admission process so that they could educate students.

Four sessions would be held on the second and third Saturdays of February in which teachers categorised in three sections would be accommodated.

In fact, DU would also be priming students for choosing those subjects for Class XII which suit them rather than picking out convenient subjects.

“Students are generally confused when they arrive at DU to apply for undergraduate courses. The university administration is now taking a step ahead to clear misconceptions even before students choose their subjects for class XII,” DU officials said.

“We have seen in the past that the students opt for certain subjects in XII which are not recognisd by DU,” said Tuteja.

He said this confusion needed to be cleared primarily as it created last-minute inconvenience to the students. Hundreds of students take physical education as one of their main subjects in XII boards just to get good marks, but the subject could not be accounted for in the percentage of best four subjects at the university, he said.

Sources in the administration said the idea for workshops for school administration was taken from the open sessions conducted by DU in the past where counsellors clarified doubts of the applicants.

“Instead of each student coming to the university right before the admissions, it is better to educate teachers at school level to help the students at the primary level,” said Tuteja.

As teachers from three different kinds of schools in Delhi have separate characteristics, three categories of public, government and Kendriya Vidyalaya schools have been formulated, he said. Schools have been selected randomly out of total 1,200 schools in Delhi.

“Though we have selected schools on random basis, administrations of interested schools are welcome to call and register themselves,” said Tuteja.

To ease out the stress when thousands of students rush to the campus to apply for different courses, the university will also start a helpline, where students could call and ask for clarifications and guidance.

New Delhi, February 5
A Delhi court today sentenced three men to three years’ of rigorous imprisonment in a fake stamp paper case.

Holding the trio— Kunwar Pal Singh, Kunwar Pal Sharma and Rajender Bharti— guilty of processing and selling counterfeit stamp papers and possessing fake government instruments, additional sessions judge Bimla Kumari also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them.

“I am of the view that all the convicts have committed serious offence not only against the society but also against the nation as the economy of the country is adversely affected with the sale of fake stamp papers,” the court said.

The prosecution produced as many as 23 witnesses to prove its charges against the convicts.

The Delhi police’s special cell arrested Kunwar Pal Singh on September 18, 2003 on a tip-off that he was selling fake non-judicial stamp papers at half the rate near Shyam Lal College.

The police recovered 12 stamp papers having a face value of Rs 5,000 each and 10 papers of Rs 1,000 each from his possession.

Following his disclosure, the investigators nabbed Sharma from Kanti Nagar with seven stamp papers of face value of Rs 5,000 each and 15 papers of face value of Rs 1,000 each. Another convict Bharti was arrested later.

New Delhi, January 5
With the fast approaching Commonwealth Games, the ongoing World Book Fair may have selected sports as the prime theme, but the pavilion lined up with hundreds of sports books seems to have failed in drawing the expected crowd and attention.

Even after five days of the fair, the sports books’ pavilion has hardly recorded any sale. Even the organizers admit that the exorbitant publicity of the 2010 Commonwealth Games has not made difference to the sales at the pavilion.

With the kind of publicity and media attention CWG has been getting, we were quite sure that the fair would turn out to be a suitable platform to promote literary works from this genre, but the results have been disappointing,” said a National Book Trust spokesperson at the pavilion.

“Not just the popular games like cricket and tennis; we have books on judo, wrestling, volleyball, badminton and others. In fact, a special section was dedicated to Indian street sports like gilli-danda, chupan-chupai (hide and seek), kancha, etc. Apart from the children who visit the pavilion on school trips, it is rare seeing anyone buying books at the pavilion,” said Vivek from the Khel Sahitya Kendra at the pavilion.

“We have received a far better response at the Frankfurt and Lahore book fairs. Readership in India still feeds on English authors. Sports books have a long way to go, it seems,” he added.

However, most visitors have a different story to tell. They say that the pavilion does not justify the theme of Commonwealth as stalls hardly have any mention about the Games.

“All that one sees is the Commonwealth logo inside the pavilion. We asked at a couple of counters if we could find any information about the Commonwealth Games, but most of them were clueless,” said Alankrita, a Delhi University student.

Mausin, a schoolteacher, said, “Children were quite enthusiastic about the sports pavilion. However, they fail to project their queries to anyone. To cap it, they cannot even flip through books in this section as most of them are on display and not for sale.”

New Delhi, February 5
An employee of a jewellery shop was last night robbed of 1.25 kg gold by four unidentified men in the Anand Parbat area.

According to information, the man, Surya Dev (33), works as a helper at a jewellery shop in Chandni Chowk.

“Dev was going to Nangloi with bags containing 1.25 kg gold when four men beat him up and escaped with the gold in the Anand Parbat area last night,” said the police.

According to information, Dev took an auto-rickshaw from Chandni Chowk, but the driver stopped the vehicle, midway saying there was some problem.

“Even as the auto driver was struggling to start the vehicle, four men entered the auto-rickshaw and started beating him up. After travelling some distance, they threw him out in the Wazirpur area and escaped with the bag containing the gold,” said a police official.

Dev later called his employer, Ram Niwas Verma, who informed the police about the incident.

“The gold was worth Rs 22 lakh and Dev was taking it to the jeweller’s registered office in Nangloi,” said the police.

Meanwhile, Surya Dev is recuperating at a private hospital while the efforts are on to identify the auto-rickshaw.

“The auto driver is surely a suspect in the case and we are trying to identify him,” said the police.