New Delhi, September 21
A businessman, Sonu Sachdev (36), was found allegedly murdered at his apartment in the Moti Nagar area of West Delhi this morning. He was stabbed repeatedly by unidentified assailants. While his wife Aarti was found lying unconscious with her hands and legs tied with a 'chunni' in the rear balcony, Sonu was lying in a pool of blood in the adjacent room.

Additional commissioner of police (West District) V. Renganathan said that Aarti disclosed that two muffled men murdered her husband Sonu, also known as Virender.

"Aarti said that at 4am she woke up to shouting inside the house. She saw two muffled men beating her husband with a rod. Sonu was pleading them to take the jewelry and cash from the house. Blood was oozing from his head and he had fallen on the bed. The two men then tied Aarti with a chunni. Later, she became unconscious due to shock," he said.

"When Aarti woke up, she threw a utensil down from the balcony, which alerted the neigbours. They came to the apartment and untied her. The house was ransacked, but she doesn't know yet what has been stolen," said Renganathan.

"The door was not damaged, which indicates that it was a friendly entry," he added.

Aarti was taken to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and was discharged after first aid.

Sonu's body was taken for a post-mortem to the DDU hospital, added Renganathan.

Sonu owns a fast-food restaurant called SnaXpert at Sudama Market, Moti Nagar. His apartment number is located near the market.

Rajesh Murjani, president of the Welfare Association of Sudama Market, said that Sonu had several stab wounds on his body.

"Sonu's body was lying on the bed in the furthest room of the house. When the police came to take away his body, I saw cut marks on his forehead and 10-12 stab wounds on his stomach. He was stabbed with a screwdriver. A piece of flesh was missing from his thigh. The blanket and the pillow were soaked in blood. There were scratch marks on Aarti's hands and legs. All the closets were open and their contents were scattered on the floor. Their daughter Thriya, around four years old, was sleeping at the time of the murder. She is safe," he said.

Dwarka Nath, Sonu's paternal grandfather said that Sonu's brother, Micky broke the news to him.

"At about 6.30 am, Micky called me from Tagore Garden and told me that he would come and pick me up from my residence. He didn't tell me anything until we reached Sonu's apartment. I saw the police and a large crowd and then I realized that something bad had happened. Sonu did not have any grudges with anyone. The murder probably took place at about 4.30 am. The murderers must have been familiar with Sonu," he said.

There were two mattresses placed on the floor, in a room near the entrance of the apartment.

"Someone must have had sex here, because semen was found on the mattresses," said a police official at the crime scene.

There was also a bottle of alcohol placed near the sink of the kitchen in the apartment.

New Delhi, September 21
An argument between the residents of Sitaram Bazar and supporters of Lok Jan Shakti MLA Shoaib Iqbal over the inauguration of a borewell today, led to his Personal Security Officer (PSO) opening fire at Turkman Gate. The locals then retaliated by pelting Iqbal and his supporters with stones.

The injured are Iqbal, his party members Choudhary Hanif, PSO Gopichand and Bunty, according to the police. They were all taken to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.

Some onlookers said that the supporters of Congress leader Haji Mohammed had thrown stones at Iqbal and his men.

Iqbal's cousin, Omar Farooq claimed that Haji Mohammed's brother had opened fire at the MLA during the argument.

"The opposition party does not seem to accept that Shoaib Iqbal has been an MLA from the Matia Mahal area for the past 18 years," said Farooq.

A senior police official said that Iqbal's PSO had fired three shots in the air to disperse the crowd.

"It was a minor dispute between the residents of Sitaram Bazar and MLA Shoaib Iqbal's supporters. He had arrived at the market to inaugurate a borewell. The residents did not want this and they started an argument with the MLA. Constable Gopichand, the Delhi police PSO, fired three shots in the air to disperse the crowd. The locals retaliated by throwing stones. There were no arrests in the case till evening," said the official.

A doctor at the hospital said that the injured are not critically wounded. "Iqbal was hit with a brick and has received minor injuries. The other five persons also sustained minor injuries and are being given treatment," he said .

New Delhi, September 21
The Delhi High Court today ordered the central and Delhi governments to pay within three weeks ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the families of each of those killed and permanently incapacitated in the September 7 Delhi High Court blast.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said the amount "should be equally shared by the (two) governments".

It also said that those who suffered grievous injuries should be given compensation of Rs 3 lakh each and those who sustained minor injuries Rs 20,000 each.

"The situation in this case is different as it has happened at the doorsteps of the temple of justice," the bench observed.

The bench on September 14 issued notices to the two governments asking them to file their replies by September 21, while hearing a plea of advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, seeking the court's direction to the government to ensure social security for the terror attack victims and their relatives.

The court today also asked the central government to consider providing education to the victims' children and directed the Delhi government to provide jobs to eligible children of the victims.

"It was a catastrophe that fell on persons on the way to reach court to get justice," the bench said, recalling the horror of the blast triggered outside the court's Gate No.5.

Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhioke, appearing for the central government, informed the bench that ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund had already been released to the families of the deceased while Rs 1 lakh each had been given to those permanently incapacitated.

"The government is ready to pay any amount as compensation that the court may wish," he said.

"The law officer made the submission when the court desired that at least Rs 10 lakh each be given as compensation in cases of people who lost their lives or who were permanently disabled in the terror attack," Chandhioke said.

The Delhi government's chief standing counsel Najmi Waziri informed the bench that the state government has released Rs 4 lakh each to the relatives of the people who were killed in the blast and Rs 2 lakh to the permanently disabled victims, besides Rs 1 lakh to the seriously injured ones.

The state released the fund from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

After hearing the submissions from counsel, the bench directed the Delhi government to provide the blast victims the "best possible treatment" under a 'Free Treatment Quota'.

"If any artificial limb is required for any victim, the same will be provided by the government," the court said.

Fifteen people were killed and several were disabled in the blast outside the Delhi High Court on September 7.

While disposing of the petition, the court said this issue was not to be debated. "We should take care of it with great concern and responsibility." — IANS

New Delhi, September 21
Along with the festival season, the college fests are also approaching Delhi University. However, the ECA (extracurricular activities) students are having a tough time balancing practice schedules with the studies under the newly introduced semester system.

The ECA students are required to participate in the college societies to maintain their record.

These students are granted attendance in case they miss classes. However, their studies do suffer as the teachers try to finish the syllabus.

"We are nearing the completion of the routine. We cannot miss even one session. It requires our constant presence at the practice sessions. On top of it, the syllabus is running past us. Our teachers assure us that they would help clear our doubts in tutorial classes later, but we are still worried," said Mohita Mukherjee from LSR's choreography society.

"Once the colleges reopen after the October break, everyone will focus on their performances and competitions. October and November are very important months for ECA students. Some important competitions also take place in January and February. But with the exams being in December, we will not have even a month to prepare ourselves for them. We are missing a lot of lectures," added Kirti Bhatnagar from Kirori Mal's theatre society, "The Players."

One of the faculty heads at Ramjas College said, "I had requests from students as early as in the last week of July to conduct the auditions for the society. They did not want to waste even a single day. I couldn't permit it at that time, but even now whenever our students go out for debates in other colleges, they are reluctant in case it's a major lecture they have to miss. We have to have a second option in case someone backs out. The teaching faculty is also tense about the ECA students. Many have offered to take extra classes for a few days in the October break."

"We are proud of our students who despite the hectic lifestyle still perform in the examination hall and on stage. The semester system is new right now. It's a difficult transition for both the teachers and students. We have asked the teachers to maintain special logs of students. ECA and sports students have our full support. I understand they have to struggle hard, but we are here to help them out," said Mauli Nathan, ECA committee and physics faculty member at Venkateswara College.

New Delhi, September 21
The Crime Branch of Delhi police arrested a man who tried to extort Rs 2 crore from a businessman in east Delhi by posing himself as a terrorist. To make his claim sound true, he got a low-intensity incendiary device blasted near the house of the businessman.

The businessman lodged a complaint on August 30 that a low-intensity blast had taken place near his house, but there was no loss of life and property. Subsequently, he received threatening calls and letters from a person claiming himself to be a member of a terrorist organization.

The businessman was asked to pay Rs 2 crore or else, the 'terrorist' would place a high-intensity explosive device and kill all his family members.

Thereafter, a case under the appropriate sections of the law was registered and after intensive investigation, Parvesh Kumar, neighbour of the complainant, was arrested yesterday, the police said.

During interrogation, Parvesh disclosed that he and his neighbour had amicable relations once.

However, with the passage of time, his neighbour got rich while his economic condition remained the same. This irked him.

Parvesh stated that his neighbour had lent some money to his family and recently he demanded his money back, which led to arguments. Parvesh Kumar then decided to extort money.

In order to intimidate his neighbour, he got an incendiary device blasted near his house on the night of August 30.

He prepared this device by using inflammable materials used in crackers.

Gt Noida, September 21
Though corporal punishment is banned in the country, some teachers of government schools reportedly carry sticks to classrooms. Even class monitors allegedly use them to control their classmates.

At Rabupura in Greater Noida, a teacher yesterday allegedly beat up a student. The basic shiksha adhikari (BSA), Dharamvir Singh, today ordered an inquiry into the incident.

"A teacher allegedly beat up Anil Kumar, a class IV student, with a stick after he failed to answer a question. The boy fell unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital. I have ordered an inquiry into the incident," said Singh.

"The school has suspended the teacher, Vishal Kumar. If found guilty, strict action will be taken against him," Singh added.

"Four cases of corporal punishment have been reported from various schools here in the past one year. But in all cases, the victim students patched up with the accused teachers during the inquiry and the culprits could not be punished. However, the schools have dismissed the teachers from their services," said Singh.

"As per a Supreme Court ruling, corporal punishment is banned in schools. A teacher can neither slap nor beat any student with a stick. Any punishment which leads to physical torture attracts action against the teacher, which may be suspension or dismissal from service, depending on the nature of the injuries received by the student," said Jyoti Prasad, district inspector of schools.

The habit of using sticks does not seem to be limited to teachers. A visit to government schools in Sector 12 on Tuesday revealed that student monitors of classrooms also carry sticks and thrash their mates for making noise. When asked about it, they said, "Our teachers too use sticks and beat us whenever we do anything wrong." Similar complaints were echoed by students of government schools at Harola, Chaura Rahgunathpur, Nithari, Naya Bans and Jhundpura in the city.

"Corporal punishment complaints are also reported from private public schools. However, less than 1 per cent students report the case to their parents and only half of them report it to the school management," said Anoop Khanna, general secretary, Gautam Budh Nagar Students Guardian Association.

Gt Noida, September 21
The first Indian Grand Prix Formula One fever has gripped the city. The Red Bull RB7, a Formula One racing car model, was put on display at Amity University on Tuesday.

Automobile engineering students were seen looking at the design and other technical specifications. It was on display only till evening.

"The budding engineers of Amity University have designed and developed some of the brilliant concept cars, including "India's first tri-fuel hybrid concept car", "4WD BAJA vehicle" and "suitcase car". The students have also presented the design of F1 racing car to David Marshall Coulthard, former British Formula One racing driver from Scotland," said Savita Mehta, spokesperson of Amity University.

Meanwhile at Buddh International Circuit where the event is scheduled to be held from October 28 to 30, officials discussed about the plan to transport the teams and equipment from the airport. More than 1,500 tonnes of material will be flown for the event.

The administration and the police have been holding meetings with the organizers Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) to provide security during the event.

Formula 1 race is scheduled to be held at Dankore around 10 km from the zero point of Yamuna Expressway from Greater Noida Expressway.

Around one lakh visitors are expected to watch the event. They will get a signal-free drive from Delhi till the event site via DND Flyway, Gautam Buddha Expressway and Yamuna Expressway.

New Delhi, September 21
Nature photography is a fascinating genre but to achieve success in the field, a photographer requires more than photographic skills, talent and creativity to portray the mood and emotion.

A sense of adventure, sensitivity and patience are the secret weapons of a nature photographer and best volumes of work are produced by those who eat, breathe and exist with their subjects-- something that is quite evident from the work exhibited by the First Lady of Jammu and Kashmir, Usha Vohra, at the IIC here.

Showcasing the splendours of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in all their magnificence, the photo exhibition--Mirror to Nature--was inaugurated by Vice-President Hamid Ansari at a well-attended gathering this evening.

The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, NN Vohra, was also present on the occasion.

The 42 breathtaking frames shot with a Cannon D 40 had the Vice-President commenting on their sheer depth, vivaciousness and colour.

The fact is no one can be creative and produce inspirational imagery if they are bored and Usha's frames depict the excitement she feels in doing what she loves, even though she prefers to give the credit of her work to the beauty of the state that has been her home for the past couple of years.

"Kashmir is so beautiful and inspiring," she says.

But whether it is the different shades and beauty of the state ranging from Siachan Mountains and Amarnath Cave to plains, meadows and water bodies of Panong and Dal lakes or simple shots of cheerful ducks floating on the Dal, Usha's love for the art seeps out of each lively frame.

The colourful view of maple and chinar trees from Pari Mahal and magnificent views of mountains, particularly the one with a row of sharply pointed peaks covered with snow, each shot has the uniqueness, the depth and the vastness to showcase to the world the diverse shades of the state. The depth of the frame, "Standing Tall…Forest at Bandipur" gives an insight into her skills as someone who knows the nuances of her art.

The exhibition can be viewed at the Art Gallery in the IIC Annexe, Lodi Estate, between September 22 and 28 from 11 am to 7 pm.

New Delhi, September 21
The Delhi Metro plans to add two more stations near the domestic airport in the upcoming Janakpuri West-Kalindi Kunj corridor, an official said Wednesday.

"In the Phase III project, the Janakpuri West-Kalindi Kunj Metro corridor initially had 24 stations. Now we will add two more stations to cover more residential areas," a DMRC official said.

One station will come up at Sadar Bazar near Palam in west Delhi and the other at Shankar Vihar in south Delhi near National Highway 8.

The Janakpuri West-Kalindi Kunj line will cover about 34 km and will have 26 stations, out of which 14 stations are elevated and 12 underground.

Delhi Metro now makes over 2,400 trips a day, covering about 69,000 km and carrying around 1.7 million passengers on working days. By 2016, it is expected to transport about four million passengers daily.— IANS

New Delhi, September 21
The Delhi social welfare department has launched a scheme to train the unemployed youth so that they can get jobs. The courses are of short term nature.

The government has engaged a few private business houses as well as its departments for the scheme. It has assured placement for the trainees. The placement will start in January, next year.

The beneficiaries have been identified from slums, katras and rehabilitation colonies where the concentration of poor families is substantial.

The beneficiaries will get a stipend during the training and will be paid at least the minimum wages on appointment.

Eleven career melas, covering all nine districts of Delhi, were conducted to enroll the beneficiaries for different trades over 18 months.

The applicants are of the age group of 15-38.

Premier Skills Private Limited will impart training in security and fire safety management, Great Indian Dream Foundation in retail marketing, customer service and housekeeping, IACM Smart Learn Limited in computers, Network for Information and Computer Technology in computer-aided teacher training and Acharya Shri Atmaram Jain Dharmarth Samiti in MS Office, tally and basics of computer operations. Besides, Bhartiya Sarvodaya Computer and Management Educational Society will provide training in mobile repairing, electrical works and Centurm Workskills India Limited in tower maintenance and telecom customer service associates (DTH).

New Delhi, September 21
Down with severe pneumonia, renowned sitar maestro Pt Uma Shankar Mishra is on life-support systemand his condition is critical, said doctors at Rockland Hospital, where he was admitted on September 7 after he complained of short breath.

"Pandit ji was admitted to the hospital with fever and lung infection and he was later diagnosed with acute pneumonia and currently is on the ventilator," said sources from the hospital.

He is under the treatment of Dr R P Singh, who is the head of the hospital's medicine department.