New Delhi, January 10
Along with the harsh weather, delays on the Delhi Metro's two of the busiest corridors, which register a daily rider ship of over 12 lakh people, added to the woes of commuters heading for work on a busy Monday morning.

Delays on the busy Noida Metro line due to a technical glitch and slow movement of trains on the Gurgaon corridor following a track circuit failure left hundreds of passengers stranded for hours, most of them getting late for their destination.

Services on the Line 3 (Dwarka Sector-21 to Noida City Centre/Anand Vihar) were affected in the morning after a train developed a technical problem while in service. The train which was moving towards Dwarka broke down near the Kirti Nagar Metro station due to a technical fault at around 8.30 am, said a DMRC spokesperson. The official claimed that the train was removed within half an hour and taken to a nearby depot. "The entire exercise took about 30 minutes and normalcy was restored immediately," the spokesperson said.

But that half an hour delay led to delays on the line for the next couple of hours as the trains behind the faulty train also lost momentum. Passengers alleged that trains on the line were running late till 11 am. Prime stations like Anand Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Rajiv Chowk and Dwarka were crowded with passengers standing on the platform waiting for the trains to come. Commuters had a horrifying experience while boarding and de-boarding the overcrowded trains. Huge queues could be seen at almost all stations on the line and once the trains started running, these were jam-packed.

Meanwhile, trains on the busy Gurgaon line were running at a restricted speed of 20 km per hour between INA and the AIIMS Metro stations. Normally, Metro trains run at a speed of 40 km per hour. The spokesperson said the trains were being run at a slow speed due to track circuit failure near the INA Metro station.

"The problem has been identified and will be rectified in the night after the revenue services as taking up repairing work immediately will lead to delay in services," the spokesperson said.

"The trains are likely to resume their normal speed by Tuesday morning," the official added.

A track circuit is a simple electrical device used to detect the presence or absence of a train on rail tracks, used to inform signallers and control relevant signals.

New Delhi, January 10
There was some respite from the bone-chilling cold in the capital today as sunshine finally made its way through the cloudy skies leading to an increase in the day temperature by over four degrees today.

However, the morning hours remained difficult, with icy winds blowing at 9 km per hour.

The minimum temperature fell to 4.7 degree Celsius today, two degrees below normal for the season. However, the day temperature rose as the day progressed. By late afternoon, the maximum rose to 15.6 degree Celsius, five degrees below normal.

For tomorrow, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted the weather to improve as the day is likely to begin with mist or shallow fog and the temperatures may also rise by a few degrees.

"The minimum and the maximum temperatures are likely to oscillate between 7 and 17 degree Celsius. However, with the chilly winds in the wee hours tomorrow, the minimum is likely to settle most probably around 5 degrees," said an official.

Today, there was no dense fog in the morning and hence after numerous delays over weekend, the flights ran on schedule at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

However, fog in other parts of north India had its ripple effect in the national capital as Northern Railways cancelled seven trains from New Delhi Railway Station and rescheduled two. Over 65 trains ran behind schedule.

New Delhi, January 10
Food and civil supplies minister Haroon Yusuf today said that the Mother Dairy outlets would sell onion at Rs 35 a kg from tomorrow after the Central government agreed to subsidise 20 per cent of the total price of the onion supply to government agencies.

The onion's price in these outlets had come down to Rs 40, the rate for poor quality onion, but it has shot up to anywhere between Rs 50 and 55 in the last few days. The city government believes that the subsidized rate would bring some relief to the middle classes reeling from the impact of rising prices.

Meanwhile, the income tax department today surveyed the business premises of many onion and vegetable traders at Azadpur wholesale market here and a few other leading markets in the NCR to see if they were hoarding onions.

The IT officials began their operations in Delhi and the NCR simultaneously since early morning and checked traders' account books and other documents to track, if any, irregularity between their purchase and supply of the vegetable.

IT officials said there was a belief that big traders were hoarding onions to keep their price artificially high.

It is not clear if the officials found any major irregularity, but similar actions in the last week have resulted in some dip in the onion's prices in a few states.

Though the IT action has also stoked resentment among traders who said they were targeted to deflect people's anger with the government over the rising prices.

"The government wants to show us as greedy traders who are profiteering even as there is adequate supply. It is wrong. There is a genuine supply crunch but we are being made scapegoats," a member of traders' body said, not wishing to be named.

New Delhi, January 10
A man was shot last night in Rani Bagh and he succumbed to his injuries this morning, but not before a passer-by showed an exemplary presence of mind and recorded his statement on his mobile phone.

Khatri named the accused who turned out to be his former friend. Their relations had soured over a property dispute.

The police said Sahil Khatri, about 40 years, was on his way home on his bike when two persons waylaid him and shot him from the close range. They escaped on his bike.

The police said the accused might have robbed him of his motor cycle to give an impression that he was a robber. The incident occurred around 11 pm. However, the intelligence shown by the passers-by, an advocate and his son, might have provided the police the most damning evidence against the accused.

Khatri identified one accused as Manish Yadav, 41.

The police said Manish had a shop dealing in property and he had helped Khatri a year ago to get into the same business. He had given him a room to open a shop, the police said.

A dispute over a property had emerged between them and Manish was not able to sell it due to Khatri's opposition.

As Khatri lay wounded, his cries were heard by a nine-year-old boy who immediately alerted his father, Kulbhushan, who was nearby. The man, an advocate, asked the victim if he knew the killers to which he replied in the affirmative and named one of them.

Khatri added that his killer was from Madipur in west Delhi. He video-recorded his statement, which could prove to be the most crucial evidence in court.

Kulbhushan said the cops had not arrived at the spot for nearly 15 minutes, then he spotted a police control room vehicle and ran to it to catch the attention of the cops.

The PCR vehicles took Khatri to Mahavir Hospital where he breathed his last today.

New Delhi, January 10
Raising concerns on the increasing crime rate in the Capital, four incidents of loot, including two armed heists reported from a west Delhi locality last night, have shocked the national Capital yet again.

Armed robbers struck in the Uttam Nagar area and within 90 minutes injured victims and fled with cash and articles worth Rs 14 lakh last night, the police said today.

All the incidents occurred in Uttam Nagar between 10:30 pm and 12 midnight on Sunday. The first incident took place around 10:30 pm when some unidentified men barged into the house of Kuldeep Batra, a businessman when he and his family members had gone to a nearby Sai baba temple. After returning from the temple, Batra found his home ransacked and informed the police.

The second incident was reported half an hour later when four armed robbers barged into another house of a person named Harnam Singh and fled with Rs 2 lakh and some jewellery. Singh was out of home, but his wife and children were present when the incident took place.

Harnam’s wife had given descriptions of the robbers and investigations were on, he said.

A little later, two armed men stabbed a youth and robbed him of cash and valuables worth Rs 5,000.

Hari Krishan was returning home after closing his medical shop when the robbers fired in air to scare him. “When he resisted, they stabbed him and fled with the money,” the official said. The fourth incident was reported from Pankha Road, where three armed men stopped a property dealer’s car and snatched it at gunpoint.

New Delhi, January 10
A Delhi court today sentenced a 25-year-old man to death for murdering his own father and chopping his body into parts as a sacrifice to a deity in 2008.

Terming the crime as the 'rarest of the rare' and the murder 'brutal', additional sessions judge R K Gauba awarded capital punishment to Jitender, a resident of Nabi Karim, saying that the act warranted nothing less than the gallows.

"The brutal murder of the father followed by the mutilation of his body, all in the name of human sacrifice to appease the deity for his own welfare, adds a grave dimension to this case and leaves no scope for escape from the conclusion that it is a case falling in the category of the rarest of rare, meriting the extreme penalty," the court said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

The court went on accusing the convict of breach of trust, saying, "The manner in which the convict butchered his father and hacked off his head and organs for no conceivable fault of the victim is, figuratively speaking, the gravest case of breach of trust."

Initiating arguments on sentence, public prosecutor R K Tanwar, submitted that this case of murder involving human sacrifice, was extremely barbaric and heinous and hence the convict should be strictly punished.

While the defence counsel pleaded for a lenient view on the grounds that the convict was 25 years old with no criminal record. He deserved to be treated sympathetically.

On March 12, 2008, Jitender killed his father with a knife to appease the deity, in the belief that it would remove his troubles with wife.

"He said that he had a dream in which the deity asked him for a human sacrifice to ward off his troubles with his wife," the accused had stated during the hearing.

New Delhi, January 10
The Delhi police has arrested a 22-year-old man, who allegedly stole articles, especially mobile phones, from shopping malls with the help of street children, the police said today.

The accused has been identified as Laxman Kumar, a resident of Gokulpuri.

He was arrested from Select City Walk in Saket, on January 9, while he was trying to flee with the mobile phone of a man who had gone there for shopping.

"The victim was standing outside the mall waiting for his wife, when Kumar came and stole the cell phone from his pocket and tried to escape. The thief was caught by the police as an alarm was raised," H G S Dhaliwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said.

The police has recovered three mobile phones from his possession.

On interrogation, he said that he got a shopping-cum-discount card made from Pantaloon, MGF Mall in Saket so that he could come to the mall freely and steal mobiles.

After stealing five to 10 mobiles, he would escape to trans-Yamuna and sell the cell phones at traffic signals, the officials added.

He made friends with some street children by giving them chocolates, eatables and pocket money. He would steal the mobile phones and asked them to hide the sets in nearby bushes and dustbins.

New Delhi, January 10
The Delhi police special cell have unearthed a unit which was illegally minting fake Indian currency notes and circulating these in the market, police sources said.

The accused have been identified as Omprakash (40), along with and his associates Sanni (22) and Rohit (21).

Their arrests were made after the investigation was taken up on the information that a person in the Bhajanpura area of north east Delhi is involved in an illegal minting and circulation of fake Indian currency notes.

The intelligence was developed and the accused were apprehended after a trap was laid near Power House, Yamuna Pusta Road, on Januray 8.

The accused were present there to deliver fake Indian currency notes, said a senior police official.

The police has recovered currency notes of the denomination of Rs 50 and Rs 100 amounting to Rs 20,500 apart from the copier, scanner, printer, unfinished fake currency notes, ink, stationery, blades and other instruments from their possession.

On sustained interrogation the accused revealed that they were minting currency notes of small denomination as they thought that big denomination notes were generally identified, said an official.

Omparkash generally used to travel at night in autos for short distances wherein they would use these fake Indian currency notes and get the remaining amount of actual currency notes.

"For the last three months they have minted more than Rs 3 lakh at their unit and circulated in the market, especially during night. Further investigation is in progress to ascertain their other links and associates in this nefarious activity," added officials.

New Delhi, January 10
A Delhi court today sentenced a man, convicted under the stringent now-repealed, anti-terror law Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), for raising funds for terror outfits, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Additional sessions judge R K Gauba also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the 52-year-old convict Jafar Umar Khan, besides the prison term.

"These foot soldiers of forces bent upon sabotaging the peace and tranquility in India, have to be neutralised in order that their activities be checked and controlled… The convict before this court has been found assisting terrorist outfits in collecting funds for their members," the court said while pronouncing the judgment.

During arguments on the sentence, counsel for the accused M S Khan pleaded leniency, saying, "The convict is an old man and some of his family members had been killed in terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir."

He added that Khan had already been imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh under the FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) in a separate case.

The court, however, denied any leniency, saying, "The challenge of terrorism is to be met at various levels, including the judicial form which must share the responsibility of dealing with such elements who are found indulging in terrorist violence or in activities connected therewith…the inflow of funds to the terror organisation has to be stopped."

"India's war against terrorism is to be waged not only by security measures but also by all organs of the state, including the judiciary which must share the responsibility of dealing with such elements with an iron hand."

The special public prosecutor sought maximum punishment for the convict, saying, 'the menace of terrorism has to be dealt with a heavy hand'.

The court had, on January 4, convicted Khan after taking into account his confessional statement.

"The confession of the accused has shown that he has been working in close coordination with terrorist groups Harkat-ul-Ansar, Hizbul Mujahideen and Peer Panjal Regiment…It shows that he had received the said amount of money (Rs 4 lakh) from one Rakesh intending to pass it on to the said terrorist groups," the court had said.

Delhi police's Special Cell arrested Khan in May, 2003, with Rs 4 lakh havala money, a pistol and some cartridges. This is the second order in the three POTA cases that were pending in the national capital.

New Delhi, January 10
President of Kendriya Shri Guru Singh Sabha and Congress MLA, Tarwinder Singh Marwah today asked the Sikh community to boycott the president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Paramjit Singh Sarna, and appealed to Shri Akal Takhat Sahib to punish him for using word "Brahminwad against the supreme seat of power of the religion".

He also appealed to all the Singh Sabhas to boycott Sarna. If he is invited to any Sabha, he will be shown black flags and will not be allowed to attend any meeting.

Addressing a conference, Tarwinder Singh said Shri Akal Takhat Sahib had forgiven DSGMC president many times in the past, but he had learnt nothing. "Now enough is enough. Sarna must be punished for dividing the society in Brahmins and non-Brahmins. All rahmins are with us and we are with them," he announced.

He said, "I have no interest in community politics. But Sarna's statement of Brahminwad and giving a chairman's post of a college to a man who was involved in a few cases has forced me to enter the politics of gurudwara committee. After getting him punished by defeating in ensuing DSGMC elections, I will leave the community politics to work for the Congress that I represent from the Jungpura Assembly constituency."

Earlier, the government used to observe holiday in all the schools on the occasion of Parkash Utsav. But this year it was not declared holiday due to the infighting in Sikh community and for that Paramjit Singh Sarna and his brother were responsible, he said.

He appealed to the Chief Minister of Delhi, AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare the day of Parkash Utsav a holiday.

Condemning DSGMC president's statement that Shiromani Akali Dal, Delhi, celebrated Parkash Utsav on January 5 on the advice of five jathedars, he said it was not based on fact. The date was later changed and an announcement was made two weeks later that the function of Parkash Utsav should be celebrated on January 11. This was a decision of Shri Akal Takhat Sahib. However, Sarna said, "As a president of the DSGMC, I have followed the Nanak Shahi calendar. I admit that I had said that the date of Parkash Utsav had been changed under the influence of the RSS and the BJP."

Noida, January 10
Two security guards drugged the third guard and stole copper wire and other goods from a factory here last night.

According to VC Tripathi, deputy superintendent of police, the incident took place at Sector 63 C block electronics factory. The company has security guards from Supersonic Security agency.

Last night three guards Satish, Deepak and Santosh were on duty. Santosh was found unconscious this morning. Copper wire bundles and other goods were also missing. The other two guards were not seen anywhere.

Santosh told the police that the two guards had given him some laddoos to eat. After eating them, he fell unconscious.

Security agency company owner Gyanender Yadav was questioned. It was revealed that the guards were hired without any verification either by the police or the company.

This is the fourth theft case involving guards in last one month. SSP Amitabh Yash had directed the security agencies to get the antecedents of their guards, including fingerprints, checked. However, only few complied with the order.