New Delhi, February 3
With the arrest of four call girls and a woman pimp, the Crime Branch of Delhi police have busted a call girl racket involving foreign nationals. According to police, while two of the arrested girls are from Uzbekistan, the other two are from Kyrgyzstan. The pimp is also from Uzbekistan.

According to DCP (Crime) Ashok Chand, the breakthrough in the case came after SI Sharat Kohli received information that a high-profile call girl racket involving foreign nationals is being run in Lajpat Nagar. "This information was further developed with mobile number of the pimp was procured. A decoy customer contacted the pimp on her mobile number and yesterday they agreed to meet at a scheduled place in Lajpat Nagar-I. The pimp said the girls would be available on payment of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. A deal was struck and part payment of Rs 5,000 was made to the pimp after which she took the decoy inside the premises," said Chand, adding that, a police team made the raid immediately and apprehended the accused foreign nationals. The girls are all in their early twenties.

It was revealed that the pimp is in India for the past two-and-a-half year and operates from different areas of NCR. "She has been shifting her base frequently to avoid detection and was currently operating from a rented accommodation in Lajpat Nagar-I for the past four months. The accommodation costs her more than Rs 28,000 per month. Some of the girls stay with her and some stay in another rented accommodation at Jungpura which again cost them Rs 25, 000 per month," Chand said, adding that, the girls' average earnings were over a lakh per month.

The girls came to India on tourist visa with their duration of stay ranging between two months and six months.

New Delhi, February 3
With the arrest of three persons, the Delhi police has claimed to have achieved a major breakthrough in a sensational case of loot in which two men fled with an ATM cash van containing Rs 67.5 lakh from the Alaknanda area of southeast Delhi on January 28. However, the cash is yet to be recovered.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as, gunman Sandeep Kumar (24), driver Gautam (20) and their accomplice Arun Singh (33).

According to R.S. Krishniah, joint commissioner (special cell), while Sandeep and Gautam were arrested from outside Bulandshahr city of Uttar Pradesh, Arun was nabbed in Delhi yesterday.

According to Krishniah, Sandeep and Gautam, who worked for Scientific Security Management Private Ltd that provides security services for vans carrying cash to ATMs, had planned their heist in November last year itself.

"They planned the heist in November and had joined the company only with the intentions of executing their plan. Sandeep and Gautam joined the security agency with fake identities. The driving and gun licences submitted by them were found fake," Krishniah revealed.

On the day of the incident, Sandeep and Gautam along with two other persons started out with Rs 97 lakh. After filling a part of the amount in south Delhi ATMs, they reached Alaknanda, from where the duo fled with the remaining cash.

"They chose Alakananda to flee as they knew the vehicle could not be parked near the ATM booth. The van was parked some distance away from the ATM booth and when the other two persons were filling the money, the duo fled with the van," said the official. During investigation, at the instance of Arun Singh empty cash boxes were seized from a place near Mathura. A sum of Rs 15,000, which is part of the booty, was also seized from him.

It has been learnt that remaining part of the booty is in the possession of one of their accomplices. Both the accused, who have been named in the FIR lodged in the case, carried a reward of Rs 50,000 by the police. 

New Delhi, February 3
While the Union Health Ministry probably reacted too swiftly with its decision to sack the AIIMS senior resident over allegations of sexually abusing a minor last evening, the inquiry by the AIIMS committee for addressing sexual harrasment of women is said to be inconclusive.

The investigation carried by the internal committee is said to be preliminary and the report has not given any verdict as yet nor does it suggest that the doctor is guilty of sexually abusing the victim.

Hence, it did not recommend any punishment for the accused.

Even the official dismissal order, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, makes no mention of sexual harrasment and the order to terminate him from services is said to have come owing to the fact that the doctor didn't abide by the protocol of examining a patient and thus committed a breach of the rule.

The facts that were establised by the committee report include: the accused took the eight-year-old to the doctor's room purportedly for helping him to pass urine. He did not respond to the phone calls made by the sister on duty. He also did not respond when the sister on duty knocked at the door of the doctor's duty-room and he did not take the assistance of any nursing staff for the examination of the patient.

Due to the above-mentioned findings, as reads the dismisssal order, "And whereas on the basis of the above actions of the doctor (name withheld) amount to conduct unbecoming of a medical doctor at the institute," the decision is said to have been premature and warrants futher investigation.

The reasons as to why the inquiry committee, in its report, felt the matter needs to be probed further: Child repeated the written complaint verbatim (hard to believe for many and his version could have been orchestrated) even as the child's version, as given in the parent's compliant, didn't talk about his telling the doctor that he wants to pass urine until he was asked by the inquiry committee after the doctor mentioned in his reply.

Apart from this, the fact that the decision has been taken entirely on the basis of the version of the nurse who was on duty on the night. More so, as the nurse didn't check the door whether it was locked rather she assumed it to be.

Many other things that have come to light from sources is that the family took considerable time to come to the ICU even after two announcements were made and why wasn't the doctor locked the door even as he knew about the announcements.

"There were procedural lapses and, at most, he touched the boy's private parts, which even the doctor didn't deny in his reply submitted to the committee on January 28. The doctor, when questioned by the committee, said he examined the boy on the bed of the duty-room when he complained of pain while passing the urine. The time-span was too short, yet it needs to be investigated," said a source from the ministry.

Meanwhile, the Resident Doctors' Association today held a general body meeting to discuss the outcome of the investigation carried by the AIIMS committee. As gathered from many, who were present during the meeting, it felt that the sacking of the senior resident doctor was perhaps too severe.

Ghaziabad, February 3
Thirty Dalit students of a privately-run institute in Ghaziabad, affiliated to the Uttar Pradesh Technical University, were forced to tonsure their heads as the state government delayed payment of their fees, a student said today.

The incident took place last month at the Institute of Management Studies (IMS), where the victims launched a protest earlier today and were supported by their colleagues.

The students suffered the humiliation because the social welfare department of the state government delayed to deposit their fees with the institute, said Shivesh, a student.

"Four students - Vipin Kumar Rana, Aswani Kumar, Dinesh Kumar and Manish Morya - have submitted their written complaints to the police and sought to register a case," he said.

"The district magistrate and the senior police officials visited the institute and assured us of initiating action against the erring staff of the institute," he said.

He said when it was pointed out to the students that the state government has delayed payment of their fees, they paid the money from their own pocket, along with a late payment surcharge. Yet the institute insisted on tonsuring the students.

"Although each student paid a late fee of Rs.1,500 for the fault of the government, we were victimised before appearing in examination," said one of the students.

The students said they were issued admit cards for the 7th semester examinations in December 2010 only after their heads were shaven off, he alleged.

"We kept mum in view of our examination that ended Jan 17. We also did not speak out in view of our internal assessment (accounting for 500 marks awarded by the institute) that ended on January 21," said a victim.

The institute closed for the vacation soon after the examination and reopened today, when the students launched their agitation.

Shivesh alleged institute director Prabal Chakraborty humiliated not only the students but also their parents. He called their parents and used abusive language.

When contacted, a senior director of the institute refused to comment on the issue. - IANS

Surajkund, February 3
Miss Universe Ximena Navarrete had her first encounter with India's rich cultural heritage when she visited the Surajkund Crafts Mela (fair) in Haryana's Faridabad district today.

The Mexican beauty was floored by the rich culture and crafts on display at the fair and checked out hand-crafted sarees and bangles.

On her maiden visit to India, the Miss Universe got 'mehendi' (henna tattoo) applied on her hands and even enjoyed grinding a traditional 'atta chakki' (traditional flour milling machine).

While showing keen interest in the articles of handloom, handicrafts, terracotta and Indian dresses, she picked up a shawl and even got a portrait prepared at a stall with craftsmen from Sri Lanka.

Navarrete, clad in blue jeans and a black top, even danced with folk artistes.

"India and Mexico are multi-cultured countries and I don't feel that I am away from home here," she said. -- IANS

New Delhi, February 3
The opposition Congress in the MCD, while discussing the Budget in the House meeting today, slammed the ruling BJP for not implementing the proposals introduced during last year's Budget session.

The party said the corporation was committing a fraud by promising to hike fund for development work by councillors.

Congress member Rakesh Rajora said the BJP was playing games by promising to sanction Rs 1.5 crore for development work in each ward .

The Congress has been saying that releasing the fund in remaining two months of this financial year is not possible while the BJP insists the money will be available over the next few months if it is booked till March 31.

Rajora also demanded release of stalled payment for contractors as well as pension for widows, elderly and physically challenged which had been halted for the past few months. Congress councillor Anita Babbar said the BJP did not properly or fully implement several schemes and proposals unveiled in the earlier Budget such as door-to-door garbage collection, night cleaning of markets and hostel for working women.

The BJP councillors raised issues like need for improved sanitation services in unauthorised colonies and took on the Congress over price rise and terming it 'anti-poor'.

New Delhi, February 3
Following a rescue operation gone wrong when 50 trafficked child labourers were forcibly taken away by their employer, the Delhi High Court today directed the Delhi police to find the children and file a status report before the court in two weeks' time.

According to a statement by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), a child rights organisation on whose complaint the rescue operation was conducted by the police and the labour department, the incident happened on November 1, 2010.

"A rescue operation was conducted on November 1 in southeast Delhi, led by the sub-divisional magistrate of Defence Colony along with the local police. It was, however, foiled by the traffickers and employers, who managed to force the 50 children away and also attacked the BBA activists," the statement said.

"Acting on an application filed by us, the High Court of Delhi today (Thursday) directed the deputy commissioner of police to recover all the child labourers and file a status report. It also directed the other relevant government agencies, including the deputy commissioner of the district and the labour department, to extend all cooperation to the police in the recovery process," it added.-- IANS

New Delhi, February 3
A 25-year-old man working at Azadpur Subzi Mandi was last night stabbed to death in north Delhi because of personal enmity. According to the police, the victim, Rohit, was stabbed around 11 pm yesterday in Indira Market.

A case of murder has been registered at the Subzi Mandi police station with the police claiming to have identified the accused.

"Rohit had some personal enmity with a person whom we have identified. Last night, while he was the Indira Market area, this person stabbed him. Rohit was rushed to the Bara Hindu Rao Hospital with five knife wounds, but the doctors declared him brought dead," said a police official.

According to information, the accused could not be arrested till late evening today. 

Noida, February 3
The supply water in Noida is eight times harder than the permissible limit for drinking water. This was revealed by Earth Water Group, a private firm, during a media interaction held recently at Noida.

Keeping in view the several problems faced by Noida and Greater Noida, H. Subramaniam, COO, Fontus Water, a firm working in the area, said, "Noida is developing and has seen an increase in the number of residential colonies. About 36 per cent of the city has been developed as residential townships, and so, the water supply has emerged as one of the prominent civic problems here."

"The main complaint is about the hardness of the water which makes it unfit for human consumption. Two types of minerals-- magnesium and calcium-- are commonly found in Noida soil and they get dissolved in water, making it hard. The hardness ranges from 108 mg/l to 838 mg/l, depending on the source," said Subramaniam.

"Another major problem faced by the people here is of unclean water, as the water tanks are rarely cleaned," Subramaniam said.

"The residential areas of the industrial sectors in Noida and Greater Noida are facing lots of difficulties. The water table has sunk, not just in the industrial areas where factories guzzle hundreds of gallons of water pumped to the surface by pumps, but also in the rural areas where there is hardly any bore well on the landscape," he said.

"To improvise the situation, the water department in Noida has decided to blend ground water with Ganga water and then supply it to the residents. Currently, Noida gets only 20 cusecs (48 MLD) of Ganga water, whereas the city requires 84 MLD," he said.

'Presently, the city is using Ganga Jal, being brought to Noida from the Ganga canal situated in Ghaziabad, 22 km away from here. Before reaching Noida, Ganga Jal is being treated at Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad, which is 3.2 km from this place," he said.