New Delhi, April 29
A Delhi court today remanded a senior IAS officer and two others to four-day CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) custody in connection with a graft case. The CBI has alleged that the accused are also involved in a Rs 340-crore excise duty evasion case.

Allowing the probe agency to interrogate O. Ravi, joint-secretary (disaster management) working with the ministry of home affairs; Rakesh Rastogi and Ashok Khemani, additional sessions judge O.P. Saini sent the trio to custody till May 3. During the custody, the CBI will also interrogate the accused about the excise evasion scam.

While Ravi, a 1983 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, allegedly took a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to get a Daman administrator transferred, Rastogi allegedly played the role of a middleman.

The CBI arrested Ashok Khemani, the owner of Royal Distilleries, and three excise officials— two excise inspectors, Ramesh Mahyavanshi and Vijay Halpati, and sub-inspector Suresh Dhodi— on Wednesday night. While Khemani was held from a hotel in Delhi, the others were arrested in Daman.

New Delhi, April 29
When Nikhil Malhotra went to the New Delhi Railiway Station police today to lodge a complaint about illegal withdrawal of Rs 45,000 from his account from an ATM where he had forgotten his debit card, the policemen there had a simple explanation to turn him away. “Don’t you know that there is a law that prohibits police from interfering in what happens inside an ATM booth. Go to your bank,” a head constable, identified as S.Thyagraja, told him.

This reporter was present at the police station as Malhotra was made to run from one place to another and finally asked to leave after almost three hours of struggle and anguish.

Malhotra, a Faridabad resident, had come to drop his friend at the railway station and decided to withdraw money from the HDFC ATM located at the Ajmeri Gate side while his friend collected his luggage. Apparently in a hurry to join his friend, he forgot his debit card inside the ATM booth.

“It was barely ten minutes after I came out of the ATM booth when I got SMSes regarding withdrawal of money from my account. A sum of Rs 40,000 was taken out in four withdrawals of Rs 10,000 each and Rs 5,000 was withdrawn in the fifth time. I rushed back to the ATM, but the thief was gone,” Malhotra told The Tribune.

He hoped that a quick police probe and CCTV footage would help identify the culprit. However, his ordeal had only begun. When he reached the police station located on the other side of the railway station, the policemen there told him to contact the head constable in charge of the beat where he had lost his card.

The head constable, Thyagraja, asked him to bring the ATM’s guard.

“The guard told me that he could not leave his position. I kept running around in the sweltering heat from one corner of the station to another, but they neither lodged my complaint nor took any action,” said Malhotra.

Almost three hours after the incident, Malhotra was still requesting Thyagraja for his complaint to be lodged. And then the cunning policeman left him speechless with his argument that law barred the police from interfering in matters happening inside an ATM booth.

Additional DCP (railway), B.S. Gurjar said the police would take appropriate action if Malhotra approached it again.

“It is regrettable if he was treated this way. I will look into the matter,” he said.

New Delhi, April 29
A Delhi court today framed charges against seven suspected members of Chhota Shakeel gang for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to eliminate a senior Delhi High Court advocate for representing BJP MP Varun Gandhi in the infamous hate speech case.

Citing sufficient prima-facie evidence, additional sessions judge Bimla Kumari ordered trial of Baldish, Dilshad, Nafisul Hasan, Sajid, Ram Shankar, Mirza Mukhtar and Pintoo Mandal under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Nafisul, Ram Shankar and Mirza Mukhtar were also charged with other offences relating to attempt to murder and obstructing public servants from discharge their duties for allegedly attacking a police team of the Delhi police’s special cell at the time of their arrest in July last year.

Baldish, Nafisul and Ram Shankar, who allegedly obtained SIM cards on fake identity, have also been charged of forgery. Dilshad, Ram Shankar, Nafisul and Pintoo have also been charged under various provisions of the Arms Act as they were allegedly found in possession of pistols and cartridges.

According to the police, the accused allegedly wanted to kill senior advocate Siddharth Luthara at the instance of underworld don Chhota Shakeel because the lawyer represented Gandhi after he was arrested under the National Security Act by the Uttar Pradesh government for making a communal speech at a public meeting during an election rally.

An accused in the case, Mohinder, has been earlier discharged by the court due to lack of sufficient evidence against him.

New Delhi, April 29
A 60-year-old shopkeeper has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl in the Uttam Nagar area of west Delhi. According to the police, Hira Lal, alias Pandit Ji, was arrested last night after the medical examination of the victim confirmed rape.

The incident took place yesterday afternoon when Renu (8) had gone to Hira Lal’s shop in the Bipin Garden area of Uttam Nagar.

Ghaziabad, April 29
With the arrest of four persons, the Sahibabad police has solved the murder of an 80-year-old man on night of April 7-8.

The arrested accused have been identified as the victim’s son, his son’s brother-in-law and their two accomplices.

The killers were reportedly upset by Abbas’ wayward lifestyle.

SP (city) Avdesh Kumar Vijaita said that 80-year-old Abbas was stabbed to death on the night of April 7-8 at Jawahar Park in Sahibabad.

He added that one member of the victim’s family was involved in his murder. Abbas used to beat his wife almost daily and was living separately from his family. This annoyed his son.

The police took his son Rafsan, alias Bubbloo, in custody and questioned him. He has confessed to the crime. He told the police that his father led the life of a debauch.

Abbas neither contributed money in running the household nor did he get his daughter married. Rafsan told the police that Abbas used to beat his wife daily and loved the company of women. Abbas even wanted to marry another woman and transfer his property in her name.

Ghaziabad, April 29
Around 85 animals and 418 hides and skin of animals have been seized during a raid conducted on a factory in Dasna.

It was also found that the license of the factory, Nafees Frozen Food Factory, had expired a year ago.

The raid was ordered by district magistrate R. Ramesh Kumar and SSP of Ghaziabad, Raghuvir Lal, after they got reports from the residents of the area around the factory that animals were illegally butchered in the factory.

Tehsildar (Sadar), Satish Chander Shukla, has lodged a case against Mushtakeen, the owner of the factory, for illegal butchering of animals.

The DM was told by the residents that smoke and foul order coming out of the factory was polluting the atmosphere.

Kumar had ordered the tehsildar to probe the complaint, after which the tehsildar raided the factory along with a police force. The district veterinary doctor, Dr Vinod Kumar, and veterinary officers— Dr Basudev Tomar and Dr Sanjeev Kumar— were also present at the time of the raid.

During investigation, it was found that the factory license had expired on May 31, 2009. Despite this, 85 animals were kept inside the factory for slaughtering. About 300 animals were killed at one time, engineer Abdul Rehman told the probe committee.

Samples of meat seized from the factory have been sent for examination in labs.

A similar incident was reported from Loni last Tuesday when illegal cattle pens were raided and 15 people were arrested. Four policemen, including a police post in-charge, were transferred in connection with the case. 

New Delhi, April 29
The outer district police has arrested a man and a woman for allegedly posing as IAS officers and trying to dupe Gurgaon-based American credit card company.

DCP (outer) Chhaya Sharma said that the accused Manoj Kumar Shastri (32) and Madhu Singh (44) were apprehended after American Express Banking Corporation, the company they had applied for credit, complained at the Vijay Vihar police station suspecting their documents.

In his document submitted to the company, Shastri had claimed to be an IAS officer working with the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension.

“When the company representatives approached him, he introduced Madhu Singh as another IAS officer and his personal assistant. The company became suspicious of Shastri’s claims and approached the police. The police found that no such officer worked in the ministry,” said Sharma.

The police further found that Shastri had worked with the Delhi Vidyut Board as a junior engineer but resigned as he was not satisfied with the job. Then he started a career in a consultant firm where Madhu also joined him.

The police said that Shastri was involved in cheating a bank in 2005. “In 2005, he posed as an IAS officer, Puru Gupta, and managed to obtain a credit card from American Express. He duped the bank of Rs 4.5 lakh. Later, he helped Madhu get a credit card using fake documents and duped another bank of Rs 65,000,” said Sharma.

The police said that Shastri used to go through the profiles of senior government officials on the Internet and created fake identity cards. He used the same documents to obtain SIM cards. The police has seized four mobile phones, 12 credit cards, nine PAN cards, a computer, fake stamp papers in the name of an IAS officer and other documents from Shastri’s possession.

New Delhi, April 29
After days of unrelenting heat, light drizzle in some parts of the city today came as a pleasant surprise for most residents.

The city might witness more rain as the Metrological department has forecast thundershowers for tomorrow. The mercury level, however, remained above the average today.

While the maximum temperature was recorded at 41.4 degrees Celsius today, three notches above the average, the minimum was also recorded three degrees above normal at 26.4 degrees Celsius.

“There is a cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan because of which there has been a light drizzle in Delhi. The sky will remain cloudy tomorrow and there is a possibility of thundershowers in the evening,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

While the maximum temperature is expected to slide down to 41 degrees Celsius tomorrow, the minimum is expected to hover around 26 degrees Celsius.

“The rainfall today was, however, in traces,” the official added. The humidity was recorded at 53 per cent.

“It was a pleasant evening to move out and enjoy with friends. Such a time has come after a long wait. The entire evening, we enjoyed at India Gate. I just wish it rains some more in the coming days,” said Aarushi, a DU student.

New Delhi, April 29
The outgoing Mayor of Delhi, Dr Kanwar Sain, today said that the Mayor's tenure should be of more than a year.

Sain, the councillor from Vishwas Nagar, was the first doctor to serve as Delhi's Mayor.

"One year is too short for the post of Mayor, who leads the entire civic body. Given the pace at which government works are taken forward, one year is just not enough. By the time one reaches the stage of execution of any project, the tenure ends," said Dr Sain.

Saying that in UP and Gujarat, the Mayor's tenure was five and three years respectively, Dr Sain said, "I have no grievances that I was not given one more chance as Mayor. But I feel that there should be a uniform tenure for Mayors across the country. From one year, it should be extended at least to three years," he said.

Dr Sain also listed the achievements of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in the past one year.

He expressed happiness over the fact that the new Civic Centre, which was a long-pending project, was inaugurated during his tenure. "It is a remarkable achievement," he said.

He said that projects relating to the Commonwealth Games were nearing completion. The parks at Kushak and Sunheri nallahs would be completed in a month and the streetlights would be upgraded by July. He said if he was given more time, he would have ensured that the Commonwealth Games went well.

However, Dr Sain suggested that a Mayor should be given more powers like writing annual confidential report of the municipal commissioner. He also called for a council of mayors formed by the government. He said that mayors from across the country should be its members.

Every year, the city's councillors choose the Mayor. Kanwar Sain has completed his tenure and the election for the new Mayor and deputy mayor is scheduled for Friday.

New Delhi, April 29
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today felicitated schoolchildren at an environment awareness initiative ‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’. 

Dikshit appreciated their role in making Delhi the greenest Capital in the world adding that 3,000 eco clubs were concentrating in conserving natural resources here. She exhorted people to work together towards making an eco-friendly world. 

Dikshit also talked about the concept of green building in Delhi. The entire construction for the Commonwealth Games is based on the concept of green building.  

‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’ focuses on fun-learning and hands-on environment workshops for schoolchildren. The aim is to capture the imagination of children and build their enthusiasm through fun activities and projects in school, she said.  

As part of ‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’ activity, a competition for schoolchildren was also held at the India Habitat Centre. Seven thousand five hundred children from 150 schools participated in three categories— dance, drama and songs; poster painting and declamation on ‘What I can do to keep Delhi Green and Clean’.

New Delhi, April 29
Now Delhi MLAs cannot feel free in the next session as Speaker Yoganand Shastri has constituted an Ethics Committee to check their behaviour both inside and outside the Assembly.

The committee headed by a chairman consists of eight members. Ramkant Goswami is the chairman while Congress MLAs Narendra Natha, Mukesh Sharma, Barkha Singh, Hari Shankar Gupta; BJP MLAs Harshvardhan, O.P. Babber, Ravindernath Bansal and LJP’s Asif Mohammad Khan will act as its members.

To maintain the highest traditions in parliamentary life, members are expected to maintain a certain behaviour both inside and outside the House. The committee will oversee the conduct of members. It will also frame the code of conduct specifying acts, which constitute unethical conduct.