New Delhi, December 21
Two middle-aged brothers were allegedly shot dead by two bike-borne assailants in the Najafgarh area of southwest Delhi last night.

According to the police, the brothers -- Suresh Kumar (41) and Satyender Kumar (49) -- were shot in the head and the chest, respectively, while they were returning in their WagonR car around 11 pm.

"The victims along with a friend were returning by their car from their book binding shop in Hari Nagar last night. Around 11 pm when they reached near Rao Man Singh School on the outskirts of Papravat village, two bikers intercepted them. They broke open the car's windowpanes and fired at the two brothers from point-blank range," said a police official, adding that the duo was rushed to the Mata Chanan Devi Hospital in Janakpuri by their friend Varun, who was unharmed. The doctors declared them brought dead. Their bodies were taken to the Rao Tula Ram Hosptial for postmortem.

According to sources, the brothers had a long-standing rivalry with some people and it seems the duo was murdered for the same reason. "There was no robbery attempt by the bikers. They shot at the brothers and left without even hurting the third person present in the car," said the official, adding that a case of murder has been lodged at the Najafgarh police station.

According to preliminary investigation, the brothers were having a rivalry with another family in the village and it could be the reason behind the incident.

The angry family members of the victims, led by the victims' brother Naresh, and Varun held a protest at Janakpuri Block 1, Panka Road, and demanded the arrest of the assailants.

"There was a minor attempt to block the road," said the official. The police has picked some persons from the village. 

New Delhi, December 21
If Ashok Mittal, owner of the Ramada Plaza hotel, thought that a court verdict endorsing his claim over the five-star hotel would be the end of his troubles, he was wrong.

A series of threatening calls warning him with death has turned his world upside down even as cops have launched a probe to reach the culprit.

Mittal approached the Delhi police after an anonymous caller threatened him with dire consequences last month.

A complaint running into 50 pages was made at Connaught Place police station. It says an anonymous caller called up the hotel board number (4355-5555) on November 12 and demanded to speak to Mittal.

When hotel receptionist Enna Anand and later Mittal's personal security officer, Satyapal, refused the demand, the caller used abusive language and warned Satyapal to prepare his boss for the dire consequences if he did not leave claim to the hotel.

"The caller used abusive language when Satyapal demanded to know his identity and purpose with Mittal. Towards the end of conversation, the caller told Satyapal that he is today calling only to speak with Mittal and will teach him a lesson soon if he did not give up the claim to hotel," said the complaint.

According to the police the call had been made from a Surat (Gujarat) number, but has not been since in service.

In the various papers as part of the complaint, Ashok Mittal has expressed fear that his elder brother and his family has an ulterior motive and should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to him.

A letter expressing his apprehensions was written by Mittal to the then Delhi police commissioner Y S Dadwal after he had received threat calls on his mobile number in June this year.

"There has been a dispute over the Ramada Plaza hotel between Ashok Mittal and his brother and the matter was settled by the court in favour of the former. Now he fears that his life is in threat from his brother," said the official.

Though his brother has rebutted the allegations, Mittal insists that his life is in danger.

"Mittal has claimed that he was locked by his brother's men in the hotel room once and his security officers had to rush in to save him. On ce, oil was splashed on the stairs so that he slipped to his death," said the police official.

New Delhi, December 21
A teenaged youth was arrested allegedly for murdering his landlord, a retired schoolteacher, in his home in a south Delhi area today.

Devendra Kishore Joshi, a retired Sanskrit teacher, was found murdered in his Vasant Kunj home on Sunday. He had been hit on his head and stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors. The rear door of the house was ajar and valuables were missing, police said.

The 17-year-old IIT aspirant from MP killed Joshi as he was caught stealing jewellery and valuables from his house in March this year. Though Joshi did not press charges, he asked the boy's parents to cough up Rs 3 lakh.

"We detained the boy from his uncle's residence in Gurgaon early this morning. He is from a well-to-do family. His father is a businessman while his sister is pursuing MBBS," DCP (south) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said. "The accused used to live as a tenant at that time. The deceased had a few more young tenants and bonded well with them," police said.

Dhaliwal said the boy came to Delhi last Thursday, armed with a khukri. He then procured a wig from a beauty parlour in Kalkaji, run by one of his friends. "He told one of his friends that he could arrange a job for him and went to his house to take his bike. He also arranged some interviews for him. The teenager then took him to Vasant Kunj on the pretext of collecting some money," Dhaliwal said.

Joshi, who had gone out for shopping, found the boy outside his flat on his return. The boy pushed his way in the house and stabbed him with the knife ans scissors.

Joshi was living alone here for the past seven years.

The murder came to light when the victim's son called him up several times Sunday morning. As the calls were not responded, he asked a relative to visit his father. The relative found Joshi lying in a pool of blood. — IANS

New Delhi, December 21
A head constable in the Delhi police was injured, after he was allegedly stabbed several times by some assailants in the Tis Hazari Courts in north Delhi last night.

According to the police, the victim Ved Prakash is posted at the Subzi Mandi police station with duty at the Tis Hazari Courts. "Ved Prakash was returning after duty last night. He was crossing the tracks to catch a train to reach home when he came across some anti-social elements who stabbed him several times. The assailants also robbed him of his money, mobile phone and watch. Some passers by informed the police about the incident, after which Prakash was rushed to the Bara Hindu Rao Hospital in a critical condition," said a police official, adding that a case had been registered against unknown persons.

New Delhi, December 21
Raising questions over the security and rights of the prisoners serving punishment, two inmates of Tihar Jail today appeared before a Delhi court here, claiming that the jail superintendent along with other authorities allegedly pressurized them to kill the arrested CWG officials.

The petitioners, Amit and Nishant, both brothers, who are presently serving life imprisonment in a murder case, were shifted from Tihar Jail to high-risk ward where the arrested CWG officials - Darbari, Mahendroo and Jeychandran are remanded.

The duo, presented before the Saket district court on December 20, told the court that the authorities also gave them a knife and a countrymade pistol to kill the officials.

The court responding to their application, asked the station house officer, police station Hari Nagar, to check the ward from where the SHO recovered the knife.

Today, they brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav and filed an application before him, stating that the jail superintendent D S Pushkarna gave them a knife and a countrymade pistol asking them to kill the two CWG officials.

They, however, refused to name them.

"Pushkarna firstly gave us the weapons and then shifted us to high-risk ward from Tihar Jail to kill CWG officials. The jail authorities also threatened us that if we did not obey their orders, they would kill our family members," the application said.

"Warning us further, the jail officers clicked a photograph of our parents and showed it to us, saying that if they can click the photograph, they can even shoot them," said the petitioners.

Meanwhile, the CMM ttransferred the matter to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Choudhary for the next hearing on December 24.

New Delhi, December 21
Sleuths of the food and supply department will conduct raids on hoarders of onion to bring its prices down in retail market. The action may include the cancellation of licenses of wholesale dealers. This was decided at a meeting called by the Chief Minister today.

In case the situation demands, the government will facilitate sale of onions at reasonable prices from outlets of NAFED, NCCF, Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and Mobile Trucks. The department of food and supplies has already initiated the process, the Chief Minister said.

Addressing the media, the Chief Minister stated that onion prices are bound to stabilise in couple of days. The average consumption of onions in Delhi is approximately 300 MT per day; hence it is not difficult to meet the demand. There has been a decline in arrival from onion-growing states due to delay in planting because of unseasonal rains and partial damage to crops.

It was stated in the meeting that prices have already started coming down with more arrivals from Gujarat and Maharashtra. There has been a 13.5 per cent decrease in wholesale price of onion in Azadpur Mandi as compared to the situation on December 20.

The modal rate as per quintal on December 20 was Rs. 5200 per quintal against Rs.4500 on December 21.

Azadpur Market is at present receiving the maximum stocks, mainly from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.

However, wholesale dealers and member of Delhi Agricultural Board, Rajender Sharma and Umesh Agarwal said that hoarding of onion in winter is not possible because it is a perishable vegetable. The prices of onion will be high for 15 to 30 days. Once the new crop arrives, the prices will stabilise.

Today's morning rate in Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Market was Rs 30 - Rs 65 per kg, but in the evening, it was Rs 25 - Rs 55 per kg.