New Delhi, October 14
A city court today granted bail to the three attackers of Prashant Bhushan and asked each of them to fill a personal and surety bond of Rs 25,000.

"I do not find proper grounds for sending the accused to police custody. The accused are booked under Sections 452, 323 and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They have got bail and have to pay a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each. The accused are not allowed to enter the premises of the Supreme Court (SC) without prior permission," said metropolitan magistrate Sudhesh Kumar.

The three assailants have been identified as Inder Verma, Delhi president of the Sri Ram Sene, and Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga and Vishnu Gupta of the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena. Tejinder is the president of the group.

On October 12, they allegedly beat up Bhushan when he was about to be interviewed by a television news crew in his SC chamber. The attackers were angry with Bhushan for advocating plebiscite on Jammu and Kashmir during his visit to Varanasi some weeks ago.

While Inder was arrested immediately after the attack, his accomplices had escaped. They were arrested the next day from Baba Kharag Singh Marg near the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.

They were produced before the Patiala House Court yesterday, which remanded them to one-day judicial custody.

During the trial today, the public prosecutor said a fourth accused, Arun Kumar, who is the general secretary of the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena had to be arrested.

"We have to arrest Arun for the progress of the investigation. So, it is necessary to interrogate the accused. The assailants had taken an appointment with Bhushan by pretending to be students. They wanted to take the law into their hands. They should not have beaten a senior advocate on the Supreme Court premises. It was a shameful act," said the prosecutor.

The defence counsel said, "In the television footage of the attack, Inder appears injured before he assaulted Bhushan. There was no intention to assault the lawyer. The three just wanted to question him about his statement on Kashmir. They are not absconding and no further investigation is needed. Bhushan has been commenting on Kashmir on different forums. His statements are leading to unrest in society. He is committing sedition by making such statements."

Following the court order, supporters of the accused distributed sweets.

"No advocate or anyone else has the right to speak against the nation. Tejinder, Vishnu and Inder are not criminals. I saw their bravery on the television," said Gurcharan Lal Bhatia, one of the defence counsellors.

Noida, October 14
With rose petals, prayers and thousands of people looking on, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today inaugurated a Rs.684-crore park dedicated to the Dalit cause in this satellite town adjoining the national capital.

Thousands of people had gathered since morning to watch Mayawati inaugurate the park on the outskirts of New Delhi, with many political observers saying that it was a move aimed at the assembly elections next year.

Unmindful of the criticism that she has received for the park with some describing it as monumental folly, Mayawati touched down in a helicopter at 4.50 p.m. in Film City in Noida.

As TV cameras captured the moment, a beaming Mayawati went around the premises. Buddhist monks chanted prayers. Unusually, her parents Ramrati and father Prabhu Dass were with her.

Traffic in and around Noida came to a standstill.

Police officials said they had a tough time in controlling the surging crowds.

With statues of 24 elephants, the symbol of her Bahujan Samaj Party, and of Dalit icons B.R. Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram and of herself, the 82-acre Rashtriya

Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden has been a subject of massive controversy.

She took it as an opportunity to launch the election campaign. She alleged that the Congress was anti-Dalit. She termed the BJP leader LK Advani's rath yatra a 'nautanki'.

Speaking about the case of possessing disproportionate assets, Mayawati said during the BJP government in 2003, a case was lodged against her and her house raided. The Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had then called her and condemned the raid. Gandhi had even assured her that when her government came to power, she would see to it that such cases were withdrawn.

Though the Congress had been in power since 2004, the CBI had lingered the case to use it as a tool in order to put pressure on her, the Chief Minister said.

Regarding her Dalit vote bank, she felt that even if the Congress made Meira Kumar or Sushil Shinde as Prime Minister, her vote bank would not get transferred as the Congress had not done anything for the Dalits.

On the western side of the Yamuna, there are several historical places of Nehru and Gandhi families, but there was not a single memorial of Dalit leaders.

Now on the eastern side of the river in Noida, she has formed the Dalit memorial, said Mayawati.

She alleged that the Centre was giving a stepmotherly treatment to the state.

Funds were not being released on time. This was affecting the development.

On the land acquisition policy, she blamed the Congress for not bringing the amended policy favourable to farmers. She said she has announced a land acquisition and rehabilitation policy in favour of farmers in UP.

She further said Jewar Airport, Ganga Expressway and Upper Ganga Expressway projects are being held up at Centre even though it has nothing to spend on these projects. Just clearance is required and the projects will be developed through the PPP model.

Mayawati said she was in favour of smaller states and had sent several letters to the Centre for trifurcation of the state.

New Delhi, October 14
Though the power situation in the city has improved in the past 24 hours, many areas are still facing power cuts because of the reduced power generation in many thermal and hydro plants.

According to the power distribution companies (discoms), the situation will improve over the next few days. But till then, the discoms, including BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), might be constrained to undertake loadsheddings to maintain grid security and discipline, said an official of BRPL. But the durations of the loadsheddings were likely to be shorter over the weekend, he added.

The shortfall of power has come down to around 400 MW after the state-run NTPC increased supply to the city from its generation stations in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

"Some of the BRPL areas of south and west Delhi, which may witness loadsheddings on Saturday and Sunday are Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash, South Extension, Alaknanda, Nehru Place, Nizamuddin, Defence Colony, Nehru Place, Sarita Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Saket, Hauz Khas, Lajpat Nagar, RK Puram, Najafgarh, Jaffarpur, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, Nangloi, Janakpuri, Tagore Garden, Vikaspuri, Palam, Dwarka and adjoining areas.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today met union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to apprise him of the problem of the discoms which are not being able to withdraw their share of power from the Northern Grid.

The minister assured that the power situation in the city would improve before Divali as the ministry had directed the generation companies with surplus coal to pass on some fuel to the stock-starved units.

"Divali would be celebrated with light. The power situation would improve in four-five days," Shinde said.

Meanwhile, BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) has tied up with German lighting major Osram to bring LEDs and CFLs at discounted prices. Also, as part of the offer, on purchase of an LED bulb, a consumer will get a 15 W CFL free of cost.

A BYPL official said the offer would be open for two months, starting October 13. Special stalls would be put up at all the 14 BYPL division offices in east and central Delhi. The CFLs and LEDs will carry replacement guarantees.

New Delhi, October 14
In the wake of the proactive measures taken by Jawaharlal Nehru University students to revive their election process, the students of Jamia Millia Islamia have now taken upon themselves to knock at the administration's door, demanding elections.

Under the banner of Forum for Students' Democracy, students have written a letter to the university administration in this regard. The letter questions the inability of the university in providing basic democratic rights to the students.

Noted RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil, convenor of the forum and an MPhil student, said, "We have written in the letter that students must not be deprived of their democratic space. The letter states recent revolutions in the Arab world and anti-corruption uprising in India that prove that the youth have a constructive role to play in society. So it is wise to give them their due space and facilitate their political participation."

Questioning the university administration for not allowing students to form students' union, the letter says, "Violation of our basic right to form students' union in our colleges and universities isolates the Muslim community in India's vibrant democratic space."

It should be noted that students' union elections have not taken place in JMI for years while JNU and DU elections are providing national political platform to students and giving them opportunities to make career in politics.

"With hopes of elections in JNU after three years, even we want that there should be elections in Jamia. There have been hopes for years now, but let's see if something concrete happens this time. Just because the university doesn't have elections, the aspiring candidates haven't given up. Everyone is involved in politics with their respective parties and still nurturing their dream to be a successful politician," said Zoya Naseer, another member of the Forum for Students' Democracy.

The letter further says that the forum will launch a movement in the university if the demands are not met.

"So far the university has kept its silence on this issue. It should be clear that I have no political ambitions," Sahil added, clarifying that the petition has nothing to do with his own political aspirations and is only a representation of the wider will of the students at the university.

New Delhi, October 14
The south-east district police has busted a gang of cheats by arresting one member, Devinder. The gang cheated people on the pretext of providing them employment in multi-national companies (MNCs).

On October 13, officials of the MTS Company, a service provider of mobile phones and internet connections, complained that some persons were operating a job racket near their office in Okhla and had duped people of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. They had promised them jobs in the company, said a police official.

ACP (south-east district) Ajay Chaudhry said most of the victims were electronics and computer engineers.

"We have apprehended a gang members, Devinder, who confessed to his involvement in the case," said the ACP.

The gang contacted unemployed engineers via mobile phones and lured them to reach the MTS Company office in Okhla for an interview. One of the gang members would approach them with a proposal of an engineer's job in the company.

"If the candidate agreed, he would be taken to the people working for an outsourcing company and had access to the conference hall. The victim was taken there and interviewed by Devinder. He assured the candidate that he had been selected. Devinder handed over an appointment letter with a joining date 10 to 15 days later. The victim was asked to pay Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 for this. When the victim reached the company with the appointment letter, he would discover that he has been cheated. The appointment letter was also forged," said the ACP.

Devinder works for an outsourcing agency. The accused has an access to the MTS office. "He is a graduate of Delhi University and has been working in the MTS office since March 2011," said Chaudhry.

New Delhi, October 14
With the arrest of one Rajesh Sharma, alias Tilak Raj Sharma, the Delhi police has busted an interstate racket of human trafficking.

He has cheated hundreds of innocent persons from different parts of the country on the pretext of sending them abroad.

Sharma was arrested when an FIR was lodged by a resident of Amritsar who said that he noticed an advertisement in Jagvani newspaper regarding the requirement of carpenters, drivers, operators, cook mason, plumber and helper for Singapore.

The advertisement was given by UK International in Janakpuri. Later, he contacted the manager of the firm, Bharti, and deposited Rs 5,000 on June 6. Bharti took the original copy of his passport.

He was sent for a medical examination to Gulf Medical Centre in Rajender Place where he paid Rs 2,250.

The police said that on June 16, Shamsher was asked to deposit Rs 15,000 for a flight ticket. Later, he tried to contact Bharti many times for the ticket and other documents, but she was not available.

He then got a compliant registered with the local police where a number of other persons were for also making complaints against Bharti.

She was arrested from Lajpat Nagar in June and her accomplice Paramjeet Singh was arrested in September. Their interrogation led to the arrest of Rajesh who is the kingpin of the racket.

New Delhi, October 14
A body with a gunshot wound in its chest was found at the Central Park in Krishna Nagar this morning.

A police official said Shaqim Qureshi (30) had committed suicide by shooting himself.

"Around 5 am we received a call that a man's body was found in D-Block, Lal Quarter in Central Park. Initially, we were suspecting the cause of death to be murder, but Shaqim's relatives said he had committed suicide.

His two brothers and two cousins said his marriage was fixed for November 20. Financial constraints and the expenditure of the marriage ceremony made Shaqim apprehensive," added the official.

A suicide note was recovered from Shaqim's pocket of the shirt. The note read: "I am responsible for my death and the police should not trouble my family."

The police has registered a case under Section 174 (police to inquire and report on suicide, etc.) of the CrPc.

One countrymade pistol, along with one live and one used cartridges, has been found, said the official.

The postmortem was conducted at the Sabzi Mandi mortuary in Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital. The body has been handed over to his family.

Shaqim operated a business of repairing ACs and fridges at Krishna Nagar and Gandhi Nagar. He lived with his five brothers and four sisters at Brahmapuri.

New Delhi, October 14
The crime branch of the Delhi police has arrested two youngsters wanted in a murder case of Sahibabad (UP).

The accused have been identified as Sandeep (21) and Manoj (22), both residents of Gangan Vihar, Ghaziabad.

They were arrested from Kalyan Puri where they had gone to meet their associates yesterday.

On October 5, Mohit (18) was returning home from the market in the Sahibabad area when he had an altercation with the accused regarding giving of the way as they were standing in the middle of the road.

Sandeep and Manoj beat him up with iron rods and fled from the spot. Later, Mohit succumbed to his injuries, said a senior police official.

The Sahibabad police station has been informed about their arrest.