New Delhi, October 4
With numerous "jhankis", "jagrans", kirtans and bhandaras being held throughout the city, the capital today celebrated "Ashtami". Durga Puja, Pandals across the city are buzzing with activities. Clubs and restaurants are oganising dandiya nights and hosting navratas special food menu to lure the customers.

Mouthwatering treats, shopping bonanzas in nearly all markets and celebrities performing at pandals set the mood just right.

Tomorrow is "Navmi"or the ninth fasting day. Be it the Ramlila Ground in north Delhi or the Durga Puja Pandals in Chitranjan Park in South Delhi, crowds of thousands are thronging the venues over the last some days.

The Residents Welfare Association of Lajpat Nagar II organises a "jhanki" rally every year during the navratras. As the rally took off today evening with bhandaras alongside, Kiran Talwar, a member, said, "This is a annual feature. We have been having kirtans in the market since the navratras started. The rally is the culmination of it all. Even the police officials help the rally move in the thick traffic."

Where on one hand during the dasehra celeberation, Hindus abstain from non-vegetarian food, Benagli pandals for Durga Puja serve the most exotic non-vegetarian dishes. At Chitranjan Park, famous singers have also been performing. Local celebrities attending the pandals has also become one of the major highlights of Durga Puja. Singers like Shaan, Sonu Nigam and even Anuradha Paudwal have been performing during the pooja in the capital for many years.

"We roped in Debojit of the "Sa re ga ma pa" fame and other Delhi music bands. We also have been serving the Bengali "phuchka", daal ghari, fish chops, and other mutton and chicken delicacies. As for the main Ma Durga Pandal, it has been decorated exquisitely. Our pandal is one of the best in Chitranjan Park," said Momita Roy, vice-president, Residents welfare Association, Pocket 40, CR Park.

Navratras bring in brisk business for fast food joints which churn out special navratras meals for the customers. Event organisers are running on a hectic schedule with numerous requests of dandiya nights, jagran nights and navratras chowkis.

"The navratras have also become quite a glamorous affair now. People are willing to spend a lot of money for a function this time of the year. They want extravagant decorations with a navrata food menu. With dasehra and divali round the corner, we get a lot of requests for private functions. Business for us mainly gone up over the last few years," said Plavita Kaushik, an event planner.

New Delhi, October 4
For all quacks who carry their business in the capital it is not going to be easy to slip from the law any more as the enforcement agencies would have videographic proof to support cases against the violators in the court later.

In addition, such self-proclaimed doctors, indulging in unsafe disposal of bio-medical wastes, could also be booked under the Biomedical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, apart from the current provisions - the Medical Council Act, Delhi Medical Council (DMC) Act, Delhi Bharatiya Chikitsa Parishad (DBCP) and Delhi Homeopathy Act - under which they are tried.

There have been several instances of people falling victim to the fraudulent practices of unqualified practitioners who seem to be riding high in Delhi following a nominal punishment under the provisions concerned and most of the times due to lack of concrete evidence.

In this regard, the directorate of health services of NCT had provided digital cameras to the chief district medical officers of nine districts last year ahead of the Commonwealth Games, but they have become functional this year.

"In 90 per cent of cases, quacks deny the charges after they are produced in the court and after a while they start their practice in some other area or make somebody else seated at their clinics after learning about inspections. But this time during raids, we are taking photographs so that they cannot escape," the chairperson of the Delhi Medical Council's anti-quackery cell, Dr Anil Bansal, said.

"This year, we have strong measures in place and towards curbing quackery, a week-long anti-quackery drive have been initiated," said an official in the health department.

According to the law enforcers, in Delhi while there are 40,000 allopathic doctors registered under the DMC Act, 6,000 practitioners are registered with the DBCP and 2,000 homeopaths under the act, the number of quacks stands at a worrying two-three times the number, as inferred from the raids carried by the agencies concerned.

In Nehru Vihar, west Delhi, during a surprise inspection today, of the 40 clinics, in only two clinics there were MBBS qualified doctors and when the combined team comprising the members of the law-enforcement bodies reached the sites, 33 clinics were found shut while five quacks were found to be practising without the requisite registration papers.

"Leaving two doctors, remaining have been issued notices and asked to produce their registration documents in front of the chief district medical officer within 48 hours. Many ran away seeing the team and hence the notice was pasted on their clinics," said Dr Bansal.

Yesterday, in Nabi Kareem and the Pahadganj area of the city's central zone, where 70 per cent of the doctors under the allopathic, ayurveda, homeopathy disciplines, were found to be practicing without registered documents.

About 25 quacks were investigated and 19 running their clinics without any medical certificate. They have been asked to produce their original documents to the Delhi Medical Council by October 14.

"The anti-quackery laws have not been implemented satisfactorily and the people, mostly poor, have been at the receiving end. To curb the menace, there have been demands for booking them under the IPC 420 (cheating), IPC 304 (if cases involving deaths), bio-medical waste management rules apart from demanding fast-track court for such cases," Dr Bansal added.

New Delhi, October 4
Rahul Gandhi, general secretary of All India Congress Committee, today said corruption could be curbed only through political system. Youth should come forward to make the system strong.

He was speaking at a function organised by the All India Youth Congress Committee to increase membership of the youths in Delhi.

Everybody talks of corruption. But this cannot be eliminated only by talking. It can be eliminated through democratic way, he said.

He said this in the background of Gandhian Anna Hazare who had sat on hunger strike in Ramlila Ground last month pressurising the government to bring the Jan Lopal Bill to eliminate the corruption.

Appealing youths to join the Congress by obtaining its membership in all the blocks and districts, Rahul said there was democracy in India, but it was surprising that politics was beyond the reach of common people. Ordinary people should come in front to play politics, as they were the one who faced the problems at all the stages. They understood the society well.

With the consent of party activists, appointments on senior levels are done. Senior leaders sitting on top do not interfere. If ordinary people join the party, their decision will be most important for appoints. Ordinary people will also be given chance to work in the party on top level, he said.

New Delhi, October 4
The crime branch of the Delhi police has arrested one of the most notorious gangsters of the capital, Krishan Solanki, alias Bilu, known to be involved in more than 20 cases of murder, extortion, robbery, attempt to murder, assault on government servant, the NDPS Act and the Arms Act.

Solanki has been detained under the National Security Act and was wanted in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Ashok Chand, DCP (crime), said he was wanted in abduction and robbery of his own lawyer on July 15 in the Dwarka area. "Solanki had been evading the police dragnet for the past two years. He was arrested following a tip-off that he would be coming to Ghevra Mor, Mundka, to meet a contact. One sophisticated pistol, along with five live cartridges, were seized from his possession," said Chand.

On July 15, he along with his associate Vickey abducted his lawyer in his car and burnt and tortured him by a lighted candle. He then contacted the lawyer's wife and demanded Rs 15 lakh for his release.

"On his wife agreeing to pay, they took the lawyer and his driver to the lawyer's house at Sector-3 in Dwarka. While they were waiting near the lift of the apartment where the money was to be delivered by the lawyer's wife, the lawyer managed to escape their clutches. A case of abduction, robbery and criminal intimidation was registered on the complaint of lawyer," he said.

Solanki is also wanted in a case of MCOCA which had been registered against him and his associates for being involved in cases of contract killing, landgrabbing and extortion in the area of south-west and outer Delhi. The case of MCOCA had been registered in 2009 at the Narela police station. Since then he has been evading the arrest.

In 2004, while in Tihar Jail, Solanki assaulted BS Bhatia, the then deputy superintendent of the jail, with an improvised sharp-edged weapon. During a search, 44 gm charas was seized from his possession.

"In 2002, while he was in jail, through his associates he extended extortion calls to businessmen. When the few businessmen refused to pay extortion, his associates on April 5, opened fired on three businessmen at different locations in the Dabri area," the DCP added.

Thirtyfive-year-old Solanki turned to crime when his elder brother was murdered by Cheena in 1990. To avenge his brother's death became his obsession and in 2000, he shot Cheena dead. 

New Delhi, October 4
A woman set her two children and herself on fire allegedly to get rid of evil spirits at Jahangirpuri last morning.

The police said Ramila (35), a resident of H-block, Jahangirpuri in north-west district, set her two daughters Jaya (5) and Geeta (3), who is also known as Diksha, herself on fire. The incident occurred around 10 am.

The neighbours had reported the matter to the police, which rushed Ramila and her daughters to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital.

Sources said Ramila and Jaya were declared brought dead to the hospital. Geeta, however, succumbed to her injuries last night.A police official said Ramila thought that her family was hounded by evil spirits.

"She was acquainted with some black magicians. Ramila probably thought that killing her daughters and herself would stop the evil spirits from harassing them," said the official.

New Delhi, October 4
Four persons were killed in two separate road accidents reported from two different parts of the national capital last night.

In the first incident reported from the Barapullah flyover in the Sarai Kale Khan area of south Delhi in the wee hours of today, two youngsters were killed when they were on a joy ride with two other friends on a motor cycle.

According to the police, the accident took place around 2 am, when their motorcycle skidded and banged into the boundary wall of the flyover.

"Two persons, including a minor, Montul (16) and Rizwan (20) were killed in the accident. Their friends, Nitin (18) and Ashish (18), also known as Ashu or Franco, were injured. They were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Center, where Montul and Rizwan were declared brought dead. Nitin and Ashish were treated for their injuries and discharged later," said a police official.

According to the police, the accident was the fallout of overspeeding. "They were overspeeding and skidded at the turning of the flyover. As a result of the high speed, Montul and Rizwan were thrown over the wall," said the official.

The official pointed out that they were not drunk at the time accident and no one had been arrested.

Montul's body was found in a 10 feet gutter.

Nitin and Ashish said that Montul was riding the motor cycle, according to the official.

The four persons are residents of Dakshin Puri.

Sources said that they were heading towards Kalkaji Temple after visiting the Chhattarpur Temple.

"They had lost their way and were riding on the Barapullah flyover near Sarai Kale Khan. The rider lost control of the motor cycle, which banged into the railing of the flyover," said a source.

Rizwan's elder brother, Afsar Ali said that they were cruising in the city.

"We received a call regarding the accident at about 7 am today. Rizwan and his three friends had gone out in the night to roam the city. Rizwan is a mechanic at a garage in Dakshin Puri. His work got over at about 7 pm yesterday. My brother was also carrying Rs 11,000 at the time of the accident. We have only received Rs 4810 from that amount. With the money he had wanted to open a shop," said Ali.

Montul's father said, "He would often go out with his friends. Yesterday he told me that he would come after meeting his friends."

In the second accident, a speeding truck crushed two motorcycle-borne people to death at Okhla last night.

The deceased have been identified as Ashok (29) and Deena Nath (32). They are relatives and natives of Bihar.

They were heading home in Tehkand Village, South Delhi, when the truck rammed into their motor cycle. Sources said that they were taken to AIIMS, where they were declared brought dead.

They both were running an export firm, according to sources.

New Delhi, October 4
With the direction of the Election Commission of India, the department concerned of the Delhi government has started the revision of the electoral rolls that is to be completed in the first week of January next year.

The electors who are already registered can apply if they need any change in their electoral rolls. Reading of relevant section of photo electoral rolls in local bodies and RWAs is to be done on October 8 and 11.

Special campaign dates with booth-level agents of political parties for receiving claims and objections are to be completed in this month.

The chief electoral officer, Rina Ray, said objective of this exercise was to update the electoral roll by including the names of the eligible citizens and deleting the names of non-existing voters.

All the application forms are available free of cost. Electors can check their particulars in the electoral roll if their names are not available in it.

They can submit duly filled forms for getting their names registered. While applying for the electoral rolls, the applicants must submit the proof of date of birth and residence.

Helpline will be available for the general public in election office at 23918888 and 1950 (toll free) from 9.30 am to 6 pm.

Ray convened a meeting of the representatives of all the recognised national political parties in Delhi on September 30 and apprised them of the instructions of the Election Commission of India for conducting the exercise of special revision of electoral roll in all the 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi and sought their cooperation for smooth conduct of the exercise.

In the meeting, all the political parties were requested to appoint booth-level agents for each polling station in all the constituencies in accordance with the commission's instructions.

At present, the number of electors in all the 70 assembly constituencies of Delhi has been 113.22 lakh with 63.37 lakh men and 49.85 lakh women. The Matiala constituency is having highest number of electors with 2.56 lakh followed by Bawana with 2.51 lakh, Vikaspuri 2.37 lakh , Karawal Nagar 2.13 lakh and Badarpur with 2.11 lakh electors.

The Delhi Cantonment constituency is having the least number of electors with 0.89 lakh.

Out of 113.22 lakh electors in Delhi, 107.52 lakh electors (94.96 per cent) possess the electors photo ID cards.

Noida, October 4
KK Kaushik, a senior citizen and resident of Sector 19, is in a quandary as his son has been asked to refund the land compensation of Rs 82 lakh taken two years ago for the land located at Bisrakh Jalalpur, one of the Noida Extension villages.

"In 2004, I, along with my friend SN Aggarwal, had bought 2.238 hectares of agricultural land at Bisrakh Jalalpur through a property dealer, YP Singh. The sale deed was executed in the name of my son Varun Kaushik and my friend's wife Shashi Aggarwal on 5 April, 2004," Kaushik said.

"We had checked the land revenue records at the tehsil office for the past more than 30 years. The land was in the name of seller Hatam Singh when we bought it. Hatam had bought the land more than 15 years ago from original land owner Kartar Singh. This record too was checked by us," said Kaushik.

Now the court says that the original land owner had sold the land to some persons in 1974. "It said they hold the title of the land. We have become the victims of fraud," he said.

"How is this possible? These people's names were nowhere in the tehsil records. Moreover, after 12 years, if mutation is not done in the tehsil records, the sale deeds become ineffective," said Kaushik.

"As the authority had acquired the land we were given the land compensation after the additional district magistrate (L&A) verified the records from the tehsil office in 2009," he said.

"We will move the Supreme Court challenging the high court," said Kaushik.

"What a bona fide buyer like me can do? We can only check the land records from the office concerned," he added.

Shashi Aggarwal (67), along with family members, resides in Lucknow and Varun Kaushik (30) in Noida.