New Delhi, April 22
The national capital is soon to get under the scanner of surveillance cameras in order to step up the security for Commonwealth Games.

The Delhi government will keep a hawk’s eyes around the city, as it has planned to install 63 high resolution cameras at the top of mobile phone towers across the capital. The sets of cameras will be backed by 10 monitoring centres and two control rooms. The project would be implemented at a total cost of Rs 120 crore.

Official sources said the control room would be commanded by the police and the city government, while various agencies like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) would be utilising the real time reporting of the footage for their various purposes.

“We have approved the project for installation of 63 IP surveillance cameras around the city. This project is expected to get completed in two or three months. These cameras will cover the entire area falling within 5 km radius from the place of installation of the camera,” said a senior official.

The number of cameras would go up gradually and the whole set-up will be operational by the time the city hosts the games in October this year.

He said that the purpose of installation of cameras is to control as well as monitor in order to help various departments in improving planning for development of the capital.

“The new set-up equipped with real time reporting of the footage of various localities would help the urban development department to keep a tab against any carrying out illegal construction activities,” he said.

The Delhi government is also in talks with the city police to become part of the initiative and use control rooms and command centres to keep a check on crimes taking place in the capital.

“Along with the Delhi government, the two control rooms will also be manned by the city police, which will help in improving the concept of neighbourhood policing. Given that a number of robberies and burglaries are taking place nowadays in the capital, the high resolution cameras could help the police to nab culprits apart from deterring such crimes,” stated the official. 

New Delhi, April 22
From a Metro train made of a broken mouse trap running on a cardboard track to wind chimes made of used coffee glasses, students from 27 city schools displayed some of the most innovative handicrafts created from waste material at the ‘Waste to Craft’ competition in the Capital today.

Organised by the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee and the department of environment on the occasion of Earth Day today, the event was held at the CWG headquarters.

The eco-club members of Delhi schools prepared craft objects from material that had been discarded as waste and which if not utilised would end up in the landfills.

The young minds came out with some of the most innovative ideas at this on-the-spot activity. The students were provided with waste material at the venue itself.

Class XII students from Modern Barakhamba School chose to depict the imbalance of green earth and the deteriorating earth using a balance. “We have used cardboard, newspaper, dumped water bottles and colours to make both ends of the scale. We want to show that the polluted earth is heavier than the green earth,” said Soumya, a student.

DTEA Mandir Marg students made a model where the earth was shown crying for help as it suffered from the load of big industries, deforestation and melting glaciers.

“We have used inverted egg tray pieces to show the mountains. Bottles with strategically placed paper show a section of the bark of cut trees. We have also used coconut shells, colours and other waste material,” said Nisha, a participant.

Many students said earth would be more beautiful, if people treated the waste material more judiciously.

“We want to drive home the fact to students that ‘waste is not waste unless wasted’. This will also promote Green Games and help in making Delhi a clean city. The competition was organised because it is imperative that youths understand the relevance of green cover and contribute towards the success of the Commonwealth Games,” said Suresh Kalmadi, MP and Chairman of CWG organising committee. 

New Delhi, April 22
With the arrest of Mohit Jain (26) of Indirapuram, UP, and Mukesh Dhir (43) of Gandhi Nagar, the central district police has busted a racket of cheats who would allegedly steal bank drafts from couriers and use these drafts for taking delivery of goods fraudulently.

 Thirteen such drafts of various banks worth lakhs of rupees and readymade shirts bought with such DDs have been recovered from their possession. 

According to the police, the arrest came following a complaint by Hanumant Singh, a readymade garment merchant of Lajpat Nagar who reported that he was given cheques for Rs 3.77 lakh in lieu of 2000 readymade shirts by Mohit Jain but the cheques bounced. During investigation, it was learnt that this Mohit Jain had cheated a number of people in Gandhi Nagar Cloth Market. 

The police received secret information that Mohit Jain would come at the shop of Jai Bhagwan who is also a garment merchant in Gandhi Nagar for taking delivery of readymade garments. 

“The police team laid a trap around his shop.  As soon as Mohit Jain gave bank drafts to the merchant against delivery of goods, he was apprehended. On verification, the bank drafts were found to have been issued by SBI, Mairwa, Bihar, in the name of a company.  The drawee of these drafts disclosed that these drafts were reported stolen during delivery by a courier and, therefore, he stopped the payment of these drafts,” said S.Dash, Additional CP (New Delhi). 

During interrogation, Mohit Jain disclosed that he along with his accomplices Mukesh Dhir and Chander would cheat garment merchants on the basis of bank drafts which they had stolen from courier agents. 

They would take the delivery of garments from the merchants on the basis of these stolen drafts and before the merchants could know their genuineness, they decamped with the goods.  Mohit Jain kept the delivered articles in his rented godown which he would vacate soon after the delivery of goods.  These goods were then sold in the retail market. 

“At his instance, Mukesh Dhir has also been apprehended from the area of Gandhi Nagar and some drafts of different banks and goods taken against DDs were also recovered.   Further, some other bank drafts were recovered from the garment merchants to whom they had cheated with the similar modus operandi,” said Dash

Mohit is a commerce graduate and planned cheating since he desperately wanted money for his marriage. 

New Delhi, April 22
A speeding RTV mini-bus crushed two men to death in northwest Delhi early today morning.

According to information the accident took place near Keshavpuram Depot around 8 am.

The victims have been identified as Rajesh Kumar, resident of Nangloi, and Anil Kumar, resident of Nihal Vihar.

The two were delivery agents of LPG cylinders and were on bicycle when hit by the speeding bus from the rear.

“The victims were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were declared dead. The bus driver is absconding,” a police official said.

After the incident, a mob attacked and burnt the RTV bus, while pelted stones at other buses coming on the route.

According to information, more than six buses, including DTC and low floor ones, were damaged by the angry mob. It took hours of persuasion by the senior officials to pacify the angry people.

Fire in factory

A major fire was reported in a factory from the Peeragarhi area in the wee hours of today.

The fire was reported at around 1.15 am in a cardboard making factory situated in Udyog Nagar.

According to fire officials, no casualty was reported in the incident. “Nine fire trucks were rushed to douse the fire and it took close to 4 hours to douse the fire by around 5 o’ clock. There were some goods stored on the third floor which were damaged,” said a fire official.

According to him, although there was no casualty, but a fire official from Mundka fire station got unconscious and fell getting hurt in the operation.

Local police is investigating the cause of fire. 

New Delhi, April 22
In a move to strengthen the enforcement wing of transport department, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today flagged off 35 specially designed Tavera vehicles from Delhi Secretariat. This is being done to check the violators of transport rules.

Dikshit described these vehicles as a red signal for violators on roads and a step further to contain incidents of overspeeding and accidents. This will go a long way in strict enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Act and Rules and book offenders under the Act and take immediate appropriate action.  

She stated that the vehicles are fitted with GPS, wireless system and will be able to function as an eye and a strict enforcement unit on road.  Officials in vehicles will act as an interceptor to catch violators on the spot and challan them under the rules. 

New Delhi, April 22
A Delhi court today dismissed the plea of a senior Congress leader and key accused in two cases relating to the 1984 anti–Sikh riots, Sajjan Kumar, seeking directions to the CBI for providing copy of some documents on which the probe agency relied while chargesheeting him.

Declining the Kumar’s plea, additional sessions judge Sunita Gupta rejected the applications filed by former outer Delhi MP and others seeking

entire judicial and police records connected with the three FIRs registered with police station Sutanpuri and Delhi Cantt areas in the case.

The documents also included a copy of memorandum of action taken on the report of Justice G T Nanavati Commission of inquiry which was set up to inquire into riots of 1984.

The application was filed by Kumar on April 5.

His counsel I U Khan had submitted before the court that the production of the documents is necessary and desirable for the purpose of any enquiry, trial or proceeding of this case because the documents are the wheels of the present case and are related to the investigations made earlier regarding the killing of some persons.

Earlier too, a similar plea was filed by Kumar before the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, which was denied and was not taken on record as the court observed “the accused is trying to set up his defense by placing the material in the form of documents on record which, otherwise, he could not do so at this stage.”

However, the court had said that the accused shall be at liberty to exercise the aforesaid rights as and when appropriate stage for its exercise shall arrive during the trial.

Meanwhile, the court has fixed the case for further proceedings relating to arguments on the charges for April 27. 

Noida, April 22
Two items that could serve as important evidences in Aarushi murder case is missing, say sources. The missing of a foot mat and bed cover has also become a mystery now.

According to sources, the CBI superintendent of police from Dehra Dun, who is investigating the case, has written a letter to the Noida police raising this question. The Noida police in its reply has stated that it has already handed over all proofs connected with Aarushi murder, including the two items, to the CBI.

After the Sector 20 police in Noida received the CBI's letter, it checked the record book that contained a list of proofs collected from Aarushi's house on May 16, 2008.

The Noida police stated that on June 1, 2008, it had handed over all records and evidences to the CBI, which started investigating the murder mystery the same day.

The foot mat was bloodstained and had the footprints of many people who had gone to Aarushi's room on May 15, 2008-the day she was allegedly killed.

Aarushi's body was found on the bed cover that had bloodstains.

It is suspected that the bed cover might contain the evidence of Aarushi's killer. 

New Delhi, April 22
A 28-year-old convict serving life imprisonment in Tihar Central Jail committed suicide this morning. The convict, Vishav Chaudhary, who was serving life term in a murder case, was found hanging in the jail hospital early today.

“We found Vishav hanging around 5:30 am in the jail hospital,” confirmed a Tihar Jail official adding that the local police have been informed and investigation in the matter would be carried out by a judicial magistrate.

The official added that the convict’s father had paid him a visit yesterday and it seemed he was depressed over some thing since the visit.

Driver found dead

A 38-year-old auto-rickshaw driver was found dead in the New Usmanpur area of north-east district today.  

The incident was reported from the Khzoori Chowk area of New Usmanpur around 9 am, the police said.

“The deceased identified as Ramesh Kumar Yadav was found with his throat slit and some stab injuries on his body. His body has been sent for postmortem to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital,” said a police official.

Ramesh lived on a rented accommodation with his wife, Malti, and three children at C- Block, Jai Prakash Nagar.

“On Wednesday, he had gone out of his house around 5.30 pm but did not return home. A missing complaint regarding him was registered at New Usmanpur police station,” said the official.

He added that a case of murder had been registered against unidentified persons and a hunt was on to nab the culprits. 

New Delhi, April 22
Three students of Delhi Technological University (DTU) were detained late last night, following the violence that broke out just outside the university campus on Tuesday night.

The police set two of them free but one of them was arrested today.

On Tuesday, a group of 10 DTU students were severely beaten by a gang of 30 persons, which consisted of both outsiders and students from the university.

Nitin Baraiya, a final year student active in the students’ agitation at DTU, confirmed, “Following Tuesday’s violence, three students were detained by the police for most of the night on Wednesday. The students— Mirza Faraz Alam, Ankit Mittal and Ankit Babbar, were from our group. They had been active in the agitation. They were detained for most of the night and suffered mental torture. Later, two of them were freed and one of them was arrested today. The student who has been arrested was beaten up badly on Tuesday and had sustained injuries.”

The police has lodged three FIRs. Two of these were filed by students on Tuesday and one was filed by the opposing gang on Wednesday.

However, the police believes that Tuesday’s violence has nothing to do with the agitation.

While some students said, “We suspect a foul play. The university authorities have a hand in Tuesday’s violence.”

Meanwhile, the additional district magistrate’s enquiry committee visited the campus today and talked to students.The atmosphere at DTU remained chaotic and no classes were held even today.

A third year student said that the university authorities were not reaching out to students and were quiet on the incident. He added, “No one has been talking to us since the incident took place, neither the VC nor the registrar or any faculty member has reached out to us. The college administration is not ready to give us a hearing.”

After a month of agitation, when the university seemed to be slipping back to normalcy, violence broke out outside DTU campus on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, student’s demands of changing DTU’s name back to Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and removing vice chancellor P.B. Sharma have neither been accepted by the university authorities nor the Delhi government.

However, the college had accepted lesser demands made by students and a rapproachment had been reached.

But the atmosphere at DTU has turned volatile and students are highly suspicious of the university administration.