New Delhi, December 14
The Delhi police today stated to have arrested four other accused in the Ramjas College forged mark-sheets scam, while the mastermind is still at large.

Copies of an original and a fake mark-sheet.

Naresh, known as Naresh Tau (25) and Rohit Lamba (25), are dropouts of Ramjas College, besides Kuldeep and Sitta who are beneficiaries in events organised by the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU). They were produced before the court today.

Deputy Commissioner of police (DCP), north district, IB Rani, at a press conference said, “Naresh Tau, who secured 20 illegal admissions in Ramjas College, has been sent to the police custody. Lamba, Kuldeep and Sitta have been remanded to judicial custody. However, the mastermind is yet to be apprehended. The four accused would entice students with inadequate marks and promise to admission under the general category to Ramjas College. The gang demanded from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per admission. They scanned original mark-sheets and changed the photograph and identity of the persons. They also increased the marks.”

A case of cheating and forgery has been registered against them.

The DCP pointed out to the involvement of the college staff.

“The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) provided DU colleges with a CD containing mark-sheets of several boards. However, the Ramjas authorities did not use it to verify the forged mark-sheets. These illegal admissions could not have been possible without the involvement of the college staff. We have got clues and are investigating the matter as well,” added the DCP.

The police said Kuldeep was a native of Sonepat, Haryana. Naresh, who belongs to Rewari (Haryana), ran a restaurant named “975” at Kamla Market. He had completed a course in hotel management three years ago.

Prior to these arrests, the police had earlier apprehended Sahil, a II year student of SRCC; Mukul, a II year student of Ramjas College; Sanchit, a graduate of Ramjas College and Rahul, an owner of a cyber-café at Vijay Nagar.

A case of cheating and forgery was also registered against them and remanded to the judicial custody.

New Delhi, December 14
The Ramjas College principal today refuted allegations made by the police who stated that a particular CD containing mark-sheets of several boards was not used to verify the forged documents submitted by 28 students to secure admission this year.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Commissioner of Police, North District, I B Rani, said, "The CD containing mark-sheets of several boards was provided to DU colleges to be used to verify students' documents during the admission. However, the Ramjas authorities did not use it."

Dr Rajender Prasad, the Ramjas College principal, said that verifying the mark-sheets of students during the admission process was not possible due to the heavy rush.

"It is not possible to verify the documents of students at the time of admission. We had to first complete the task of admitting students in the college. And we thereafter started the verification process in the first week of July using the CD. On July 7, there was a case of Anuj Sharma, who had arrived at the college to take admission on behalf of a person, Sanyam Arora," he said.

The clerk at the counter wanted to re-check the documents that Sharma was submitting. Sharma panicked, ran towards the boundary and tried to climb over it. He was however, nabbed by the police and is still under custody. The police registered an FIR at the Maurice Nagar police station on the same day. Sharma was a second-year B Com (Pass) student of Kirori Mal College. Arora had mentioned that Sanjeet Dahiya is the "kingpin" of the scandal and is assisted by one, Rahul, according to the FIR.

The vice-principal of the Ramjas College, P N Gupta, said that following this incident, there were two more cases involving illegal admissions.

"On July 26, we expelled two students, Raghav Gupta from BCom (Pass) and Shiv Kumar Mandal from Zoology (Hons). The college authorities then decided that thorough checking of all the submitted mark-sheets would be conducted. Between August and September this year, we discovered that 35 more students were illegally admitted to the college on the basis of forged mark-sheets. We informed the police about this matter. However, stringent action was only taken after we tabled this scandal in Parliament in mid-November," said the vice-principal.

He pointed out that the 35 students who were illegally admitted to the college had submitted only CBSE mark-sheets.

"Out of the 35 students, six were in the second year, while 28 in the first year. They have all been expelled from the college. There was a 36th candidate, who, however, did not turn up at the time of the admission. Most of the students have taken admission mainly in the BCom (Pass) course," he said.

The vice-principal added that the CD given to them by the Dean Students' Welfare (DWS) was helpful in the verification.

"The CD contains mark-sheets of about 11 boards, including CBSE, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, ISC and Uttar Pradesh," he added.

New Delhi, December 14
The chill went up few notches in the capital today as both the day and night temperatures settled below average for this time of the season.

Delhiites today experienced the coldest day of this winter with the mercury dipping to a low of 6.4° C, two degrees below the average.

The low temperatures accompanied by chilly breeze forced the residents to wrap themselves with extra woolen clothing.

The weather department has indicated that the temperatures are likely to dip further towards the weekend and hence the chill is bound to get more severe.

“The maximum temperature today recorded at 22.4° C, one degree below the average,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The humidity levels wavered between a high of 97 and a low of 24 per cent.

“The temperatures will dip further and a chilly weekend is expected. For tomorrow, there will be light mist in the morning, however, the day will remain clear and sunny. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to oscillate between around 22° and 6° C,” the official added.

In December last year, the minimum had come down to 5.2° C on 22nd of the month.

In the past decade, the lowest minimum for the month was recorded on December 12, 2005, when the mercury recorded 3.3° C while the highest maximum was 28.4° C on December 15, 2003.

The record for the lowest minimum for the month of December is 1.1° C recorded on the 26th of the month in 1945 and the highest maximum was 29.3° C on third of the month in 1987.

New Delhi, December 14
The delay in paying dues to the NTPC and other power generation companies by the private power distribution company may prove costly to the BSES as the government reportedly plans to cancel its licence to give chance to other companies that have expertise in power distribution.

According to sources, the government is in no mood to sanction loan or subsidy to the BSES. A few days ago, some senior officials of the BSES met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for financial help, but she said that the company had to manage on its own. The government would not pay any dues.

“A large part of the Capital is covered by the BSES for power supply. Only North Delhi is covered by the NDPL. If the BSES is given financial help, it will draw criticism of the people,” said a close aide of the Chief Minister.

The BSES has to give Rs 3,000 crore to the NTPL and other power generation companies. Earlier, the government had given indication to help the company, but when it was criticised by the opposition parties and some members of the Congress, the government had taken a U-Turn.

Now a meeting will take place to work out the crisis, the sources said.

New Delhi, December 14
Parliament today passed a bill which puts a stop till 2014 on demolitions in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies and village settlements.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Bill, 2011 was passed by the Rajya Sabha after a brief debate in which Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath said the time of three years will be used to improve the Master Plan of Delhi. “Till that time, people living in the unauthorised colonies and village settlements should not fear demolitions,” Nath said.

This protection will, however, not be extended to encroachment on government land and unsafe structures. However, any punitive action will have be approved by the Lt-Governor of Delhi.

“The proposed act will provide temporary relief and minimize avoidable hardship and irreparable loss to the people, while facilitating realistic revision of Master Plan for Delhi and ensuring its smooth implementation by maintaining status quo in the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi,” Nath said at a press conference later. — IANS

New Delhi, December 14
A 45-year-old woman in the Indian Navy died allegedly after jumping before an approaching Metro train here today, the police said.

Maninder Kaur, a resident of west Delhi’s Vikas Puri, left behind a note saying her wealth and assets be donated to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib.

“The incident took place around 9 am at the Subhash Nagar Metro station. Although we are still investigating, it appears to be a suicide case,” a police official said.

According to police, Kaur worked with the Indian Navy and might have been depressed. — IANS

New Delhi, December 14
After the Supreme Court gave a green signal to students’ elections at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), students’ parties are busy mapping their future course of action.

However, most party representatives maintained that even though the excitement among the students after a three-year gap is high, it will be hard to bring back the lost fervour into elections.

“Under the circumstances, the All India Students’ Association (AISA) is in favour of elections, though the apex court’s ruling has not been completely in favour of the students. There are some specifics where the court ruled against the students, but still students need a platform to voice their opinions. We just hope that it doesn’t affect the elections,” said Sucheta De, general secretary of AISA.

Soon after the court’s order, university general body meeting was called in and the parties collectively decided that the elections will be held in January. The next UGBM will be held on January 6.

“The university has been closed for winter break since December 5, so the course of action can now be decided only on January 6. However, parties are busy making internal preparations and mapping their potential candidates. This year we are expecting either an absolute blast or a dull affair during elections. The election scenario has sobered down at DU as well. The involvement of the students has considerably reduced. We just hope that the three-year gap hasn’t affected the excitement of students at JNU,” added a senior ABVP leader.

“This is an extraordinary situation as the academic year usually begins around August and the judgment has come at a time when the campus is on vacation and we will not be able to reach any conclusion till we have a university general body meeting in January. Most parties see this as an “interim arrangement”, and not a “final settlement”. The next session will begin in August, and the union to be elected in January will only have six to seven months,” said Bonojyotsana, Executive Committee Member of Democratic Students’ Union.

JNU’s elections used to be incomplete without handmade posters, ideological speeches and the nightlong vigil for poll results amid drum-beating and sloganeering. As the union will now be in session for 6 months only, the elections may be a lukewarm affair. We will have to do campaigning to involve maximum students,” added SFI leader Rohan Kishore.

Noida, December 14
Fortis Hospital today launched Fortis-Zila Khan Music Therapy Centre in association with Sufi singer Ustad Maa Zila Khan. This will be paid therapy.

The centre aims to promote holistic healing and enhance a patient’s recovery through music therapy. It will offer supportive treatment that uses music to bring about positive changes in the emotional, psychological and physical health of a person.

Research revealed that music therapy is beneficial for the patients coping with autism, learning disabilities, dementia, depression, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer as well as neurological disorders.

According to Sukhmeet Singh Sandhu, director, Fortis Healthcare, “Fortis believes in constant innovation and seeks solutions and novel technologies for better patient care.”

Zila Khan said, “I am excited to embark on this new journey.”

New Delhi, December 14
The Delhi police today arrested a member of the interstate syndicate of drug traffickers and recovered 4 kg fine quality heroin worth crores from his possession.

Information was received that members of a drug syndicate from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, are supplying huge quantities of heroin in Delhi.

Further investigations revealed that on December 13, a member of this syndicate would come to deliver the consignment to its customer at Peeragarhi.

As the syndicate member was waiting for his customer on the day of the transaction, the police arrested him and seized 4 kg of fine quality heroin, concealed in a bag.

The accused Lala Ram is a 8th class dropout and used to work as a casual labourer. After marrying off his two daughters, he was badly in debt. To pay off this debt, he started supplying heroin to the drug traffickers of Bareilly and Delhi. He used to procure raw opium from Murshidabad which was then processed into heroin in Bareilly.