New Delhi, October 16
In a cold-blooded murder, a woman was killed after her throat was slit when she was with her two children at her residence in Jehangirpuri last night.

The deceased is identified as Abha Gupta (23), who lived with her husband, Naresh Gupta, two-month-old daughter Roli and son Rohan (2). Naresh runs a food stall near an Axis Bank ATM in his locality. They live at I-506, first floor, Jehangirpuri.

A senior police official said that a PCR call was made about 11.30 last night.

“Naresh had discovered his wife’s body when he reached home from work about 11.30 pm. He carried her body downstairs to show the neighbours and after that he placed a call to the police. Abha’s body was found near a bed in her room. It does not appear to be a case of robbery, because the jewellery that she was wearing was not stolen. The items in the house are not scattered either, but she seemed to be struggling while being killed. Her throat was slit,” said the official.

The official said that the two children were at home when their mother was murdered.

The police said that they are suspecting the role of Naresh’s two helpers, Umesh and Raju. They helped Naresh in running his business.

“Umesh and his friend Raju were helpers of Naresh. We are investigating their role in the murder,” added the official.

Abha’s body was taken to the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital, where she was declared brought dead.

“We are yet to conduct the postmortem as her family members have not arrived. Abha’s parents could not bear the news of her death. They had to be hospitalized after hearing the news. Abha’s brother will probably come tomorrow to claim her body,” said the official.

Naresh said that he had employed Umesh and Raju on September 25.

“Both of them wanted leave. I told them that they cannot simultaneously take leave and discharged them after paying Rs 2,000. They had threatened me before leaving. I last spoke to my wife about 7.30 last night. There was no theft in the house. Abha helped me make spring rolls and momos. Before opening a food stall, I was working in a chemist’s store. We had married on July 16, 2007,” said Naresh.

Umesh’s sister, Priya said that her brother along with Raju had gone back home in Bihar.

“Umesh and his friend started working for Naresh for the past five days. On Friday, they both left for their village in Bihar. The police interrogated my husband Suraj Kumar yesterday. They had mercilessly beaten him. He is only a rickshaw puller,” said Priya.

Naresh’s cousin, who is also named Raju, said that Rohan’s clothes were stained with blood.

“When Naresh came back home, he saw his wife’s body. He loved his wife and never had any grudge against her or anyone else in the locality,” said Naresh’s cousin.

New Delhi, October 16
A heavy industries businessman Angad Singh (23) and his brother-in-law Sherry Singh (28) escaped a near-fatal accident when their Posche Carrera rammed into the boundary wall of Children Park near the Zakir Husain Marg radial in the wee hours of today.

A police official said that the accident occurred about 3.30 am today.

“Angad and Sherry were coming from their house in Faridabad. They were heading to the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara for morning prayers. The car was speeding at the India Gate radial when the driver lost control and rammed into the Children Park. The foolproof safety system of the car saved the two. The airbags of the Porsche costing about Rs 1 crore caused minor injuries to Angad and Sherry,” said the official.

According to auto experts, the accident could have been fatal if another vehicle was being driven at the speed of the Porsche, said the official.

“The side impact protection technology in each door for the driver and the front passenger and integral airbags prevented a fatal accident,” the official added.

According to the official, the two persons were not driving under the influence of alcohol.

The car, which had a Punjab number plate is owned by Angad, added the police.

New Delhi, October 16
A Delhi police constable was stabbed to death outside the Adarsh Nagar Metro station last night when he had arrived there to meet someone, according to a senior police official. The police said that the victim was wearing plain clothes at the time of stabbing, suggesting that the killer was probably an acquaintance or was not aware that he was a policeman.

The deceased has been identified as constable Harikesh Meena (23). He was posted at the Narela police station a few days ago.

The official pointed out that robbery is probably the motive behind the crime.

"We found Meena's phone with him, but his purse was missing," added the official.

According to the official, the police received a call around 11.30 pm yesterday.

"Meena had finished his duty about 8 pm and was heading to the Adarsh Nagar Metro station. He had arrived there to meet someone. Meena's body was found outside the station," said the official.

The police said that Meena was found unconscious and declared brought dead at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.

The postmortem was conducted at the same hospital. The police said that Meena had a stab wound on his chest.

The body was handed over to his parents who had reached Delhi from Rajasthan.

Meena is a native of Rajasthan and was staying alone in the police barracks at Malviya Nagar. He was recruited in the Delhi police in 2010.

There were also two separate cases recently in which one constable and one traffic cop were killed.

In the first case, constable Tanvir Singh (28) was shot dead at his residence in Nangli Vihar by two property agents on September 28. The killers were identified as Ravinder and Pradeep Sharma who have been arrested. Tanvir had been posted as a beat officer at the Ranhola police station for the last two years.

In the second instance, head constable Mahender of the traffic police was killed when he was run over by a Tavera car at the DND flyover. Mahender and his colleague, constable Ankit, were on duty when they flagged down the SUV for overspeeding. The Tavera driver, Yash Rai (22) was apprehended near the toll plaza of the flyover. 

New Delhi, October 16
A man, who surrendered himself before police after killing his wife but later took up the alibi of insanity, has been sentenced to life term by a Delhi court. "This court holds that the accused did commit murder of his wife," Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar said.

Rejecting the accused alibi of mental insanity and epileptic fit, the court quoted various apex court rulings to say that insanity or unsoundness of mind has to be shown at the time of the commission of offence.

It said though Pappu is shown to have got fits even on the day of the incident, "there is nothing in the statement of this witness that at the time of commission of the present occurrence, the accused suffered from any such fits."

The case dates back to June 9, 2008, when West Delhi resident Narender Kumar, alias Pappu, surrendered himself at Patel Nagar police station in blood-stained clothes after killing his wife.

Prosecution witnesses told the court they had seen Pappu dragging his wife Sheela by hair out of the house to the street and leaving her there, while also yelling that he had finished his wife and was going to the police to surrender and that his son should be taken care of by neighbours.

Pappu's nine-year-old son Tannu deposed that on the fateful day, his mother Sheela came back home from work and phoned her brother which infuriated his father, who flared up and smashed the phone.

Pappu's brothers too deposed against him.--PTI

New Delhi, October 16
The walled city, Delhi's historical part can finally hope for some facelift after the announcement of its redevelopment by various civic agencies.

Ironically, the redevelopment proposal of the walled city was tabled in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) some 10 years ago. With both the BJP-led civic body and the Congress-led state government preparing for next year's municipal elections, the Delhi government finally announced to implement the proposal two months ago.

The restoration will be done while retaining the heritage environment of the area.

The Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation will supervise the implementation of the redevelopment plan which has been finalized in consultation with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The plan has been finalized by all the three agencies.

The project is slated to be completed by June next year. This includes an expenditure of Rs 18.94 crore on laying new footpaths, repair of roads, installation of new signage and streetlights and improving public utilities.

"In the first phase of the project, new footpaths will be laid and attractive streetlights installed, Besides, roads will be repaired and hazardous overhead power cables shifted to underground utility duct at a total cost of Rs 32 crore," said chief secretary PK Tripathi.

However, the residents are doubtful as to how the project will be completed in such a short time.

"The year has almost come to an end and I am not sure how all the work will be completed by June next year. The two essential parts of the project are the traffic decongestion plan and the proposal to restore all the heritage structures in the walled city," said one of the members of Resident Welfare Association.

According to senior officials of the Delhi government, the project was delayed due to differences of opinion between several agencies on how the area can be given a fresh look.

"We had made several plans, but they could not be implemented due to various objections by the different bodies. Now we have finalized the project, identifying the areas where nobody has any objection," said a senior official.

The implementation of the projects will also solve the problem of overhead wires in the area that posed a 24-hour danger to the residents and shopkeepers.

This will be done at a cost of Rs 13.2 crore and it will cover almost all the areas in Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj.

A total of 533 kms of cables will be shifted underground in the Chandni Chowk area while 410 kms of cables will be put underground in the Daryaganj area.

All the transformers in both the areas will also be put underground.

New Delhi, October 16
A power distribution company today alleged that the illegal jeans factories in east Delhi's Krishna Nagar were stealing power worth Rs 2 crore every month.

"We have been writing to the police, excise and sales tax and environment departments for assistance in our campaign against these factories, as they are causing losses worth crores of rupees, not just to us but also to the tax department," said a senior official from BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL).

These factories were stealing 5000-KW electricity every month, causing a loss of Rs 2 crore to BYPL, the official claimed. This was also leading to trippings in the area, he added.

"When the enforcement teams of BYPL raid these factories, they are not only stopped from entering the premises, but also manhandled," said the official.

An analysis had revealed that though the five substations serving Krishna Nagar supplied 7,000 KW of electricity, payment was made for only 2,000 KW and a whopping 5,000 KW was stolen, claimed the BYPL official.

"During the past few years, the quantum of load in the Krishna Nagar area has significantly increased, prompting BYPL to increase the number of substations from two to five. But because of an excessive power theft, the transformers get overloaded, causing frequent trippings," said the official.

Most of these jeans factories have either not taken an electricity connection or have a mere 1-KW domestic connection, but are stealing electricity from BSES lines.

According to BYPL officials, the factory owners hook their cables from BSES lines some two or three kilometer away from their factories and bring them to the factory underground.

Greater Noida, October 16
About 30 persons comprising the family and relatives of an MCA student, Mohit, who has been missing since October 11, gheraoed Kasna Kotwali in Greater Noida. They alleged that the police had made no efforts to trace him.

However, the police said that it had questioned the college authorities and was also trying to locate the student from the details of his cell phone.

Mohit Poswal, resident of Phitkery village on Mawana Road in Meerut, was an MCA management student of Global College, Noida. He had left for the college on October 11, but did not reach there. Mohit along with his brother was living in Kasna. His father, Vijay Poswal is a farmer.

When Mohit did not return home even by the late evening, his family started looking for him. His mobile phone was found to be off. The family then gave a written complaint to the police.

The police has not been able to trace him so far. He had talked to a girl student of his class last time, his family said. Subsequently, his mobile phone was found off. On October 13, his cell phone was found on. His location was traced to Paharganj in Delhi. All this information has been provided to the police, but the police is not taking any action, the family alleged.

Mohit' father alleged that the police is indifferent to the whole matter. Even his classmate, the girl student, who was the last person to have talked to Mohit on phone, has not been questioned.

SP (Rural) Rakesh Kumar Jolly said Mohit's call details have been dug up and the college authorities also questioned," the SP said.

Noida, October 16
The Noida Authority has decided to step-up vigilance and increase transparency in its functioning. After regulating entry to its premises, directing all officials to report to work by 10 am and introducing a citizen's charter, the Authority has now decided to install global positioning system in the official vehicles.

The decision is aimed at checking misuse of the vehicles and sale of fuel from them.

"Of late, the number of incidents of fuel theft and misuse of official vehicles has gone up alarmingly. Drivers produce false bills to hide the thefts. So, we have planned to install GPS in the vehicles to keep a check on their movements," said Balwinder Kumar, chairperson of the Noida Authority.

Three private firms have expressed interest in the project and the Authority is hoping to finalise the details soon.

To begin with, GPS devices will be installed in 100 vehicles of the health and horticulture department. The plan will be extended to the vehicles of the senior officials, including the chairperson, to eliminate resistance from other staff. The cost of installing and maintaining the system will be about Rs 400 to Rs 500 per vehicle every month.

"The GPS devices will help us pinpoint errant vehicles and identify the occasions when fuel was misappropriated," Kumar said.

"With the system in place, we can track the routes taken by the vehicles and check the misuse of official vehicles," he added.

A central monitoring system will be set up to track the vehicles. The work of keeping an eye on the vehicles and maintaining the records will be outsourced to the private firm in charge of installing the GPS.

New Delhi, October16
Owing to the rush, numerous queries and requests, Delhi University has decided to extend the deadline for student registration with the central placement cell by another 15 days.

Earlier, the last date to register with the placement cell was October 13, but now the students will able to register themselves till the end of the month.

The cell has already exceeded last year's figures, registering 14,000 students till yesterday, while the collective registrations received last year were 12,000.

For the first time, the placement cell has opened up its wings to the School of Open Learning (SOL) as well as the Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board (NCWEB.

"Last year, roughly 12,000 students registered themselves. This year, after the inclusion of SOL and NCWEB, the number is 14,000 till now. Many more students will sign up with us," said deputy dean student welafre, Gulshan Sawhney.

"Non-collegiate students come to the university only on Saturdays and Sundays, and we want to give them some more time to register with us. SOL students are also not regular, and hence we want to wait so that the new inclusion of both the SOL and NCWEB can actually benefit students," he added.

This time, the registrations are open for the physically handicapped, SC/ST and the OBC candidates as well.

With this extension, the registration for companies will also get extended.