New Delhi, April 8
Fourteen years after a Maruti car laden with explosives went off in the crowded Central Market of Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi, killing 13 and injuring another 38, a trial court today convicted six out of the 10 accused facing trials for the blast. The quantum of punishment will be decided on April 13.

“I convict six accused in this case. Now the matter is fixed for April 13 for advancing of arguments on quantum of sentence,” district and sessions judge S P Garg said while pronouncing the verdict in a packed court room today.

As many as 10 persons, including a woman, all from the Kashmir valley, faced trial in the case after the accused were arrested soon after the police tracked the calls made by them to various media houses, claiming responsibility for the terror attack.

Those convicted include Mohd Naushad, Mohd Ali Bhatt, Mirza Nissar Hussain, Javed Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Khan and their woman associate Farida Dar. The remaining four — Mirza Iftikhar, Latif Ahmed Waza, Syed Maqbool Shah, and Abdul Gani — were acquitted for want of evidence.

While Farooq Ahmed Khan and Farida Dar have been convicted under the lighter provisions of the Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act, the other four were convicted under the stringent penal provisions dealing with criminal conspiracy and murder, which could attract maximum of death penalty.

During the arguments, Khalil Ansari, counsel for the accused, had said his clients were innocent and had been framed in the case by the police. At the same time the prosecution, maintained that recovery of goods gave ample evidence about the antecedents of the accused and their role in the blast that took place on the evening of May 21, 1996.

A spokesperson of the little-known outfit Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front called up media houses later and claimed responsibility for the blast. Ironically, it was their bravado of calling up media houses that did them in, providing cops with some vital leads. Though the police believed that the JKIF was just a front organisation for jehadi groups operating in the valley.

Ghaziabad, April 8
In the tragic killing of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) jawans by Naxals in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, Ghaziabad lost two of its brave sons—Khalil and Narinder. Both of them belonged to the Bhojpur block of Modinagar. Khalil belonged to Fazalgarh village while Narinder hailed from Mohamadpur-Surajpur village. The news of their deaths has cast a gloom on the villages in Modinagar.

According to Fakhrudin, the father of Khalil, he was the youngest of his three sons who joined CRPF in Rampur in 2002. Narinder was also recruited from Rampur.

Both of them were serving in the G-32 company of the CRPF.

On the day of the killings, on watching TV reports of Naxal attack on CRPF men in Chhattisgarh, Khalil’s elder brother Rahmuddin and elder sister Rashila called on his cell phone and were shocked to learn that their brother was no more.

Similarly, Narinder’s brother Krishen Pal also got to know about his death from a defence serviceman, Hukam Singh, in Shamli.

Since the time the news of their deaths broke, the houses of both the martyrs have been full with grieving people.

Khalil has left behind his wife, four-year-old daughter Khushbu and two-and-half- year-old son Joshen. Narinder is survived by wife and 10-month-old son Kunal.

New Delhi, April 8
A BMW car ran over an elderly man who was taking a morning walk near Akshardham Temple this morning.

The man bled to death on the spot as the police allegedly did not respond immediately. Agitated locals blocked the busy Vikas Marg, causing massive jams as they demanded action against the callous cops. The traffic movement on the stretch was disrupted till noon.

Raman Singla, son of a businessman, who was driving the car was arrested. He was later bailed out.

Singla was trying to overtake a bike and hit Om Dutt Chauhan, 62, a retired DTC official. He lost control of car in which two other persons were also sitting and rammed it into the divider. The car then overturned.

Eyewitnesses held the police who reached late equally responsible for Chauhan’s death as they let him lie and bleed on the road.

Om Dutt Chauhan, a resident of Pandav Nagar, was accompanied by his son Dinesh and neighbour S P Shukla. They were on their way back when he met with the accident.

I B Rani, Additional DCP (east), blamed the accident on the rashness of Singla. However, he denied any police apathy.

Cops said the accused is son of a Karkardooma-based businessman Baburam Singla. A case of culpable homicide and rash and negligent driving has been registered against him, they said. Raman got bail from the court in the evening on the personal bond of Rs 20,000.

“My father was not immediately taken to hospital. He bled to death as the police did not rush him to hospital promptly. Police took the BMW occupants to police station first and then took my father to hospital. If they had taken prompt action, he could have been saved,” said Mahesh, son of the deceased.

Vinay, an eyewitness said Chauhan was conscious and the police took a lot of time to take him to hospital.

“He could have been saved if the police had taken him to hospital on time,” alleged Vinay. However, the police denied the allegations.

As the news of Chauhan’s death spread, hundreds of people reached the spot and damaged the BMW and blocked traffic. Senior police officials visited the spot and tried to pacify the agitators.

New Delhi, April 8
Thousands of activists and supporters of the Left parties, including women, descended on the Capital today and staged a massive demonstration as part of their nation-wide ‘jail bharo’ agitation. However, leaders claimed that around 25 lakh people had participated in the rally.

They were protesting against the government’s failure to check the rising prices of essential commodities.

CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan, Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc and Abani Roy of the Revolutionary Socialist Party led the demonstration at Parliament Street. Hundreds of activists courted arrest.

The protestors said the UPA government was “deaf and dumb” by choice adding that the government voted to power by the public had turned a blind eye to the problem of ever-increasing inflation and was not even trying to find concrete solutions.

“Neither is it a government for the people nor of the people. A government that boasted of aiding the ‘aam aadmi’ has failed even to cater to their basic needs,” said an agitated Karat at the rally.

Karat joined by other leaders threatened that their protests would take a more fierce turn if the government did not come up with any effective measure to roll back the spiralling prices by April 12.

“Besides relief from the burden of high prices, people need strengthening of public distribution system, implementation of land reform schemes and more employment opportunities. The Left leaders and those from other secular parties will meet on April 12 to decide the future course of action,” Karat said.

Many who had arrived from outside Delhi, the Left supporters challenged the police. Many of them tried to force their way to the Parliament Street police station but were pushed behind the barricades by the police.

New Delhi, April 8
A major fire broke out in the slums near of Ghazipur area in east district this evening resulting in injury to two people while about 150 shanties were burnt down. A fire brigade official said that the fire was reported around 2.50 pm from the Ghazipur slum area and 15 fire trucks were rushed into operation.

“The fire broke out after a high-tension wire fell on the shanties in Ghazipur and spread to other shanties due to wind. Fifteen fire engines were immediately rushed to the spot to douse the flames,” the fire official said.

The local police investigating the matter maintain that anything from 100 to 150 shanties were burnt down and it is difficult to say the exact figure.

“In the incident two people received minor injuries and were released from the hospital after providing preliminary treatment. It took about three hours for the fire service personnel to completely douse the fire,” said the police adding that there was substantial loss of meager belongings of the dwellers occupying the shanties.

While the police refrained from putting the blame of fire on anyone, the BSES, electric supplying company clarified the matter. According to the BSES officials, fire broke out after a high tension wire from UP Transco Corporation Limited (UPTCL) fell on the slums.

“The UPTCL transmission line from Sahibabad to Ghazipur was affected and a conductor snapped and caused a high voltage line to fall in BSES Yamuna Power Limited’s area (BYPL) in Ghazipur causing fire in the settlement around the area,” said a senior BSES official. He said that the power discom has informed the UPTCL through the office of Delhi Transco Limited. “BYPL sent teams to the spot to help out with any electrical emergency and help to the affected people,” he said. The official said that all efforts have been taken to ensure that supply to the surrounding areas does not get affected.

New Delhi, April 8
The Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee today flagged off the 10th Perfect Health Parade to sensitise doctors about tourist-related health hazards.

“The parade focuses on the health of widows and children. Besides, it spreads the message of clean, green and hygienic Delhi,” said Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee.  

The parade has a special tableau that aims to create awareness on health problems of widows and their children.

The parade has been organized by the Heart Care Foundation of India in association with the Loomba Trust. The other associated partners are department of health, Delhi; Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and department of women and child development.

Padma Shri awardee Dr K.K. Aggarwal and Dr B.C. Roy said that a plan had been rolled out to ensure that tourists did not face any health hazard during the Games.

Aggarwal said that widows were at a higher risk of heart attack, diabetes and paralysis. The problems faced by widows are depression, social disorganisation, insecurity, health deterioration, dependence on others, deviance and delinquency. It is important that special care is taken of them.

New Delhi, April 8
The implementation of 27 per cent OBC quota from this year, which is likely to bring more students from outside states, and consequent increase in the number of seats to offset any loss of seats for general category students, have resulted in a different kind of crisis at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Both the central universities are likely to fall short of heightened demand for hostel rooms.

Though the universities had chalked out plans to strengthen the infrastructure considering the increased number of students, no new hostel facilities would be available for the year 2010-11.

DU being the biggest university in the country with around 80 colleges running under its affiliation, a huge influx of outstation students is witnessed here. Providing students with the hostel facility has always been a big challenge for the university administration as not more than 10 colleges have hostels.

The DU administration plans to construct some new hostels on the south campus. Funds have already been allocated for them, though no construction work has started yet.

“Quite a few meetings have taken place for building the hostels, but we have no information on their construction,” said Prof. Malashri Lal, joint director, DU South Campus.

Most of the categories under DU’s OBC list would invite students from outside Delhi who would prefer to stay on campus. Last year, the university had added 7,000 extra OBC seats with the creation of some temporary infrastructure like bamboo classrooms.

On the other hand, JNU being a university cut off from the main city is considered a residential campus. At present, the university has 17 hostels, including one girls’ hostel that was added this year.

The JNU administration has planned to add one more hostel with two wings each for boys and girls. While the university sources said the hostel should be ready by the end of 2010, the complicated terrain of JNU campus makes it difficult for the contractors to complete work on time.

“It would be a mixed hostel with a capacity of 544 students in 272 rooms. Though we are expecting it to be ready by the yearend, the topography of the university makes it difficult to take water and electricity connections to the hostel,” said Sachidanand Sinha, associate dean of students, JNU.

The JNU is expecting around 2,400 new students applying for hostel rooms in the coming year. “We make sure that socially deprived sections within students are given 100 per cent accommodation and for the rest of the students we have priority lists,” said Sinha, adding that there were practical constraints faced by the university in creating infrastructure.

New Delhi, April 8
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has announced its support to the strike called by the petrol pump dealers tomorrow to protest the Delhi government’s hike of Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel.

Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT, said, “The state governments are acting like dictators. That is why traders in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Nagpur are fighting with their respective state governments against the hike on VAT slabs. “

Delhi state president of CAIT, Ramesh Khanna, and general secretary, Narender Madaan, said that changes in the VAT slabs by various state governments was backstabbing as it was agreed in the white paper on VAT that slabs would never be increased.

New Delhi, April 8
As part of the Delhi government’s beautification plan, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today carried out a demolition drive in Paharganj.

The civic body had to face the ire of shopkeepers who alleged that they were not given any prior notice about the action. The MCD officials along with the Delhi police came with bulldozers and demolished some shops.

“Despite all the shopkeepers having their original registration papers, the MCD chief engineer and executive engineer present at the venue, did not even care to see them and went ahead with the razing of shops,” said Shyam Tondon, one of the shopkeepers.

Paharganj is one of the key trading areas in the Capital. The market witnesses thousands of footfalls every day. Most of the business in this market comes from international tourists.

“We are ready to support the MCD and the Delhi government’s beautification programme for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. But demolition of shops without prior notice is not acceptable,” said another trader.