New Delhi, January 11
The police while analysing the complex modus operandi and the high-technology involved in the scam of the medical entrance exam, believes that the racketeers were probably involved in a similar incident earlier.

In the ensuing investigations into the scam, sleuths are searching for six more doctors, all candidates, who are identified as suspects.

A manhunt has also been launched to nab an absconding associate of the arrested mastermind, Mohit Choudhary.

During Choudhary's interrogation, he had said that he was a second-year MBBS student at Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The police later learnt that he was lying, because there were no records of him studying at the medical college in Ujjain. Choudhary later confessed that he was a student of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College at Indore. The police has verified this claim.

Sources said that his associate Ravi was a student of a medical college in Rohtak. He was allegedly from PGI, Rohtak, which is the same medical college from where an arrested candidate, Dr Amit Punia, had completed his MBBS.

Ravi had helped Choudhary in searching for the answers to the questions given in the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination, according to the sources.

The correct answers were then relayed to the candidates, in conspiracy of the scam, appearing for the examination, which was conducted by AIIMS on January 8.

The sources added that there were six candidates who had struck a deal with the racketeers. "Four of them were appearing for the exam at a centre in Delhi. The other two candidates were sitting for the exam at the Noida Sector 28 centre," added a source.

A police official said, "Choudhary and his associates were nabbed before they could give the answers to the candidates. If one of the candidates had cheated with the help of the racketeers, the exam would have been cancelled."

The candidates had to pay Rs 25 to 35 lakh to the racketeers if they are selected. To ensure the payment, the gang kept the original certificates of the candidates.

The police is probing the whereabouts of these documents.

The candidates are MBBS graduates and the police has sent their names to AIIMS that will verify whether they are doctors of their institute.

Spokesperson for AIIMS Dr YK Gupta, however, said, "None of the six candidates are from AIIMS. But, we will wait till the Delhi police completes its investigations."

The police further revealed that the scam was only restricted to Delhi, because a pan-India operation would involve a greater amount of complexity. The gang would also require more mobile phones with Bluetooth devices.

Furthermore, the police has arrested five people. Two of them are Kapil Kumar and Krishan Pratap Singh, both MBAs, who were posing as doctors and had appeared for the exam. They were the ones who had leaked the paper by clicking photos of it via their mobile phones. The images were sent via email to their "control room", where they were downloaded and printed by a computer programmer, Bhishma Singh.

The other arrested persons are Mohit Choudhary and Dr Amit Punia.

New Delhi, January 11
During an argument over the payment of a bill, a 22-year-old street-food vendor was killed after two youths stabbed him with a sharp-edged weapon at Kalyanpuri, East Delhi, last night.

The police said that Shabbir, a native of Jharkhand, arrived at Delhi to earn a living. During the day he worked at a meat shop owned by Ziauddin. And at night he ran a small road-side stall near his house.

Sources said that last night he was selling kababs. The accused, Sonu and Bappu, arrived at his stall and ordered food. An argument started over the payment of the bill. The accused assaulted Shabbir. One of them grabbed a skewer, used for cooking the kababs, and stabbed him. They both then fled the spot.

The police said that Shabbir was taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where he died of excessive bleeding.

During the investigation, the police presented some suspects before the witnesses. Sonu and Bappu were identified as the culprits.

Later, they confessed to killing Shabbir.

New Delhi, January 11
In an attempt to woo voters before the municipal elections, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced to increase the widow pension by Rs 500 and allowances for girl marriage by Rs 5,000.

The announcement was made during the question hour of the Assembly session. The topic of discussion was the welfare schemes of the Delhi government. Recounting the various schemes being run by the government, Dikshit said her government had increased the senior citizens' pension to Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,000 and would do the same for the widow pension.

She informed the House that the government would print all its welfare schemes and its norms in a booklet which would be distributed to the Opposition MLAs and councilors.

"This would be done very soon to avoid any confusion among the public officials and people representatives," she said.

"We have decided to increase the widow pension to Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,000 and the allowance for girl marriage from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000," said Dikshit.

On the issue of getting CCTV cameras installed at important intersections of the city, Dikshit said the cameras alone would not stop crime.

The question was raised by BJP MLA Subhash Sachdeva, who wanted to know whether the government had announced any scheme for installing the cameras.

Dikshit said there was no such scheme at present, but if the Delhi police came up with a proposition in this regard, the government would consider it.

"CCTV cameras alone cannot help. There has to be some centralised connectivity where the footages can be monitored. If the authority (police) which has to react to the situation will have no access to the footages, what is the use of these cameras? I hope a technology is developed which will ensure that the footages of the cameras installed in any area can be monitored at the police station concerned," said Dikshit.

Noida, January 11
The BJP has begun it poll campaign by promising the presence of public representatives on the Noida Authority Board for transparency and a freehold land allotment system in Noida.

The Noida assembly candidate of the BJP, Mahesh Sharma, who is the chairman of Kailash Hospital, and had lost the 2009 parliamentary election to BSP's Surinder Singh Nagar, said today," Though there are several senior and competent candidates in the city unit of the BJP, the national president of the party, after having private surveys, decided on my candidature. Though I lost the 2009 parliamentary elections, I had 41,000 more votes than the BSP candidate in the Noida segment."

Nagar alleged that corruption was at its peak in Noida.

"Corruption and a poor law-and-order situation are two main issues in Noida. Earlier, the bribe rate used to be 10 to 15 per cent of the land rate, but this has now risen to over 100 per cent. Officials may deny this, but it is fact that without paying bribe no file moves in government departments," said Sharma.

"Due to Noida's proximity to national capital, the land rates have risen and plots here have gone beyond the reach of the middle-income families. The farmers, however, are getting very low land compensation. Social and economic imbalances have caused law and order problems. If not checked, a naxal-like situation will crop up here too," said Sharma

"My priority will be to put public representative on the boards in Noida and Greater Noida Authority. My aim would be include 5 or 10 prominent residents on board too so that the proceedings are conducted in a transparent manner. I will also see that Noida residents get freehold system against the present lease hold system," said Sharma.

"I will also try that the authority puts its agendas online and publish them in newspapers a week before the meeting so that public should know and can give suggestions. At present, agendas are kept secret and supplementary agendas are submitted at the last moment," said Sharma.

New Delhi, January 11
The issue of unauthorised colonies today created an uproar in the Delhi Assembly on day three, leading to a pandemonium as the BJP and Congress MLAs hurled allegations at each other and shouted slogans.

The BJP took it as an opportunity to slam the state government for not being able to carry out development in unauthorised colonies. The party accused urban development minister AK Walia of discontinuing work in the colonies falling in the constituencies of BJP members.

BJP MLA from Karawal Nagar Mohan Singh Bisht accused the minister of having instructed stoppage of work in these colonies and requested Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to look into the matter.

"Sadly, because of political reasons, the urban development minister is trying to influence the development works in unauthorised colonies that fall in the constituencies of BJP MLAs," said Bisht, pointing out that development work in these colonies continued till 2008 and was stopped every time Walia took in charge of the department after that.

Walia, however, refuted the allegations and said that he was not targeting any BJP MLAs as far as the development work was concerned. Responding to the allegations, he said projects worth less than Rs 1 crore in the 295 illegal colonies was already going on and only projects involving costs of more than Rs 1 crore had been halted.

"Of the total 1,018 unauthorised colonies, survey has been done in about 300 colonies and boundaries are being built around them. Also, the development projects of less than Rs 1 crores are being taken up. For projects costing more than Rs 1 crore, permission had to be taken from various departments and that is why it takes time," he said.

However, Saheb Singh Chauhan accused the minister of misleading the House and alleged that no work at all was happening in these colonies. He was supported by all BJP MLAs who got up and indulged in slogan shouting.

Walia then requested Leader of Opposition VK Malhotra to control his MLAs. However, when the BJP MLAs did not stop, Walia lost his cool. He charged back and almost losing his temper, said it was not the Congress but BJP which was indulging in politics.

"If you people can shout, we can also shout more than you. Don't hurl baseless allegations," said Walia amid the uproar when members from both the sides got into a heated exchange on the issue.

New Delhi, January 11
The Delhi High Court has turned down the plea of a nurse seeking restoration of her job in the Military Nursing Service after she was dismissed on the ground of her "below average performance" in 1988.

"Since the performance of the petitioner was found to be below average during the period of extension of two years from 1986 to 1988, the respondents (armed forces) were justified in not extending her service any further," a bench of Justices Anil Kumar and J R Midha said while dismissing nurse C Reethama Joseph's plea to restore her job.

The court dismissed her plea also on the ground of inordinate delay in filing her appeal against the dismissal after the Supreme Court asked her in 1997 to approach the relevant High Court to redress of her grievances.

"The petitioner has not given any satisfactory reason for the delay in filing the present writ petition after she was permitted to challenge her release order (from service) on dismissal of the petition by the Supreme Court in 1997," the bench said.

The court pointed out that the petitioner was released in the year 1988 and she had filed the appeal before the apex court in 1989 which was disposed of by April 1, 1997.

"Thereafter, she moves the high court in 1998. However, she failed to disclosed as to why she delayed (for over 17 months) the filing of the appeal," the bench said.

"The petition is (also) liable to be dismissed on account of delay and latches," it said.

A native of Ernakulam in Kerala, Joseph had come to the high court alleging that she had been dismissed from the service in 1988, when she was posted in a military hospital at Ranikhet, on the ground of her marriage some months ago.

"It cannot be inferred from the facts and circumstances that she had been released from the service solely on the ground of her marriage," the bench said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 11
The city government was asked today by the Delhi High Court to provide artificial limbs to the victims injured in the bomb blast at its reception counter on September 7 last year.

A bench of acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked the government to provide prosthetic limbs through All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to the victims within a month.

The court also directed it to foot the bills in case the victims get treated from any hospital other than the AIIMS.

The bench passed the order on a public interest lawsuit filed by an advocate seeking a direction to the government to provide prosthetic limbs to the blast victims, including Vipin Kumar Gautam.

Petitioner Gaurav Bansal argued Gautam became permanently incapacitated as his left leg had to be amputated following injuries sustained in the blast which killed 17 people and injured over 90 others.

When Gautam had approached the AIIMS for artificial limb, the institution asked him to foot the bills, leaving him running from the pillar to the post for the artificial limb, argued Bansal.

He pointed out that the court had on September 21 last year directed the government to pay Rs 10 lakh to the permanently disabled victims and had also directed to provide free treatments to the victims under its "freeship medical treatment quota". — PTI

Gurgaon, January 11
To check the fast-depleting water table and ensure an effective groundwater management, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has declared the entire Gurgaon district as a notified area. By doing so, the CGWA has totally prohibited the construction or installation of any groundwater extraction structure in the district.

An advisory committee will now be constituted under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner PC Meena to monitor such matters. The other members of the committee will be the executive engineer of the public health department, representatives of municipal bodies and the pollution control board, hydrologist, district development and panchayat officer.

"Eighteen surveillance teams are already on the job in different areas," the DC said and added that on the basis of the groundwater resource assessment undertaken by the Central Ground Water Board in consultation with the state government, the CGWA had identified Gurgaon district as an overexploited area where groundwater withdrawal was more than the average annual replenishment of the groundwater resources and the groundwater levels were also declining on a long-term basis.

Meena maintained that the authority had issued a public notice in the leading daily newspapers, through which objections and suggestions were invited from all stakeholders. The authority had considered all the objections and suggestions, he added.

Now, to protect and preserve the groundwater here, the CGWA has declared the entire Gurgaon district of Haryana as a notified area.

It has imposed restrictions on the construction and installation of any new structure for the extraction of groundwater resources in the district without prior approval of the authorised officer, that is, the deputy commissioner.

These instructions would not apply on any owner of a non-energised dug well or bore bell fitted with handpump used solely for drinking and domestic purposes, Meena added.

New Delhi, January 11
Reacting to the order of the Delhi High Court asking them to withdraw their PIL for holding the students' union elections at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), the petitioners told The Tribune that they would continue to fight for the cause.

Afroz Alam Sahil, Iqrar Khan and Naseem Ahmed, former students of the university, had petitioned in the Delhi High Court regarding holding students' union elections in the university. But the court declined to hear the petition, observing that the petitioners were outsiders and non-interested parties in the case.

The university had said in the court that the apprehensions of rowdy elements entering Jamia Millia Islamia campus was one of the main factors that had compelled it to refrain from encouraging students' union elections though it had been around six years since the last elections were held.

Reacting on the matter, Afroz Alam Sahil said the Jamia Millia Islami authority "misguided" the court by making a genuine case for students' union elections appear to be petitioners' personal or political agenda.

"The university had argued in the court that students did not want elections. This is not true as a couple of months ago more than 4000 Jamia students had taken part in a signature campaign for holding the students' union elections. Further, some facts need to be clarified. The issue of me not attending classes does not arise as I had left the university long ago," he said.

The Forum for Student Democracy, a platform of students from JNU, JMI and DU, has been fighting for the democratic rights of the students of Jamia.

"Very soon, with the support of more students, we plan to approach the court again," Sahil added.

He alleged that by not holding students' union election, the university was violating rules and instructions issued by the Supreme Court and various government agencies associated with education like UGC and the ministry of HRD, all of which have written to the university, asking it to hold the elections.

Raising the issue of the money collected from the students as the fee for the students' union elections, Sahil said Rs 50 had been collected from every student. In the past six years, more than Rs 42 lakh had been collected for the elections, he added.

Where on the one hand the administration asserted that the money would be used for the benefits of the students, the petitioners alleged that the authorities were not ready to formally disclose anything about how that money was being used.

"I have filed several RTIs asking JMI about the money, but the authorities have consistently refused to answer," added Sahil.

New Delhi, January 11
The Delhi police today arrested four persons, including one former employee of Incredible Management Services (IMS) and busted a gang of fraudsters for being allegedly involved in forging documents and posing as bank agents.

Accused Vishal Pawar (31), Ajit (26), Subhash Sharma (25) and Kamal Kumar (28) allegedly cheated innocent people on the pretext of settling their default payment of loans. They were arrested by the south district police.

The matter came to light after several complaints were received regarding cheating of bank customers on the pretext of settling their default payment of loans by a gang of fraudsters who pose them authorised collection agents of reputed banks.

On sustained interrogation, the accused confessed to have cheated several people by pretending to be bank representatives. "They used to procure the details of loan and installments of bank customers and clients from Subhash, who works in IMS for the past three years. Then, they would approach the selected customers to settle their default payments of loan or payment of installments," said Chhaya Sharma, DCP, south district.

They disclosed the names of their associate as Kamal Kumar and Hem Prakash and at the instance of accused, their associate Kamal was arrested from his house in Jangpura and incriminating documents were seized in a huge quantity.

During investigation, it was revealed that IMS company is associated with the Royal Bank of Scotland for collection of installments of personal loans availed by its customers. He has information regarding customers' database and their due loan payments. Subhash used to provide this information to his associates Vishal and Ajit, who were former employee of IMS. Accused Ajit got the fake receipts printed from a shop in Daryaganj, said the DCP.

The accused cheated the customers by posing as authorised collection agents for the Royal Bank of Scotland on the basis of information they have and issued them fake receipts of amounts fraudulently received by them. They had exposure to banking practices because of their work experience with a collection management agency and used it to convince the customers that they were paying their hard earned money into safe hands. So far, six such incidents have come into notice related to the Royal Bank of Scotland, involving lakhs of rupees, she said.

The police has seized fake receipt books, ID cards, SIM cards and letter pad of the bank.