New Delhi, January 14
Unidentified assailants robbed jewellery worth lakhs of rupees and Rs 30,000 in cash after killing Gurpreet Kaur (29), businessman Gurpreet Singh's wife, and their eight-year-old daughter, Jasmine this evening when they were alone in their Manakpura Extension house in the Rajouri Garden area of West Delhi.

The police received the information on twin murder by a relative. The victims were taken to DDU Hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead.

According to the police, having examined the spot of crime, it seemed that there was a friendly entry of the accused who had ransacked the almirah from where jewellery and cash were found missing. There seemed to be some resistance. The victims were attacked with sharp-edged weapons. Gurpreet had injuries on the chest and stomach while her daughter was injured on the neck.

Apparently, the assailants killed Gurpreet's daughter for fear of being identified and to finish the evidence. The police is making a list of friends and relatives of Gurpreet, who often came to the house and were aware of the cash and jewellery. Later, they would also be questioned, the police said.

The deceased were living on the first floor of the building. On the ground floor, the maternal uncle of Gurpreet's husband Baldev lived. The murder came to light when Baldev's servant went upstairs for some personal work. The servant informed Baldev about the murder. Later, Baldev informed the police and Gurpreet Singh.

A case of murder-cum-robbery has been registered, the police said.

New Delhi, January 14
Kamran Siddiqui, who threw black ink on Baba Ramdev's face, had contested unsuccessful elections from Lucknow and Delhi.

An activist of Lok Janshakti Party said that Kamran had contested parliamentary elections from Lucknow in 2004 as an independent candidate. But he could not secure sufficient votes.

In 2006-2007, he had contested the election for municipal councillor from Okhla in South Delhi, but he had to forfeit his security. Again, he had contested the last assembly election on the ticket of the National Loktantrik Party against sitting MLA Asif Mohammad Khan. Kamran forfeited his security this time also.

Besides, he is one of the petitioners of Batla House encounter case in which two alleged activists of Indian Mujahideen were killed.

However, the ink-throwing incident has been condemned by all the parties. At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi decried the attack, but alleged that such incidents happen as the BJP gives provocative statements.

"The BJP had said in Kanpur yesterday that a civil war can happen in the country and the next day, it (attack on Ramdev) happened. Nobody should try to create such an atmosphere," said Alvi.

He, however, declined to answer whether he was alleging that the attack had been plotted by BJP.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh today alleged there was a "well-orchestrated conspiracy" by the RSS behind the attack on Ramdev and the NGO activist who did it was "anti-Congress" and has links with BJP.

He (Kamran) is "anti-Congress" from the very beginning and had opposed our candidate Parvez Hashmi in elections to the Okhla Assembly constituency in South Delhi. It should be probed how much fund his NGO got from various government departments during the NDA rule," Singh told reporters here.

Condemning the 'ink attack' on Ramdev, senior BJP leader L K Advani today demanded suitable action against the person behind the incident.

Speaking to reporters here, he said his party had reacted to the incident and that he can "only endorse it".

"And we hope that the person who has done it, is identified by the government and suitable action taken," he said.

New Delhi, January 14
The West district police arrested two persons for selling spurious lubricants by using the logo and design of the branded company, 'Gulf'. They were identified as Bijender Kumar, resident of Rohini and Anshu Aggarwal, resident of Nangloi.

The police recovered 400 bottles of lubricant oil of GMO, 420 bottles of GLF, about 3,600 fake stickers, one packing and filling machine of lubricant oil, an electric press and a drier.

A case for infringement of trade mark and cheating was registered on the complaint of Pankaj Gupta, an authorized representative of M/s Gulf Oil Corporation Limited.

The complainant stated that his company is engaged in the business of lubricant oil throughout India. The company has a trademark registration in respect of lubricant oil in the name of "Gulf" and any unauthorized and illegal use of company logo and design without company's consent is an infringement of trademark.

The complainant alleged that they have information about some persons who are engaged in selling spurious lubricants in the area of West district by using the similar logo and design of their company.

During interrogation, Bijender Kumar Gupta who belongs to a middle-class family and studied up to class 12, disclosed that wanted to become rich through easy means. It came to his notice that some persons are selling spurious lubricant oil of a branded company and earning lots of money.

He also started taking the lubricant oil from the open market and packed it in the bottles which are similar to those of the branded company Gulf and pasted the sticker of GLF on the bottle. The logo and design of GLF were also similar. He used to sell one carton of GLF for Rs 1,000 while the price of one carton of Gulf is Rs 2,500.

Anshu Aggarwal disclosed that he also belongs to a middle-class family and studied up to 10th class. He took a godown at Swarn Park Mundka and started the business in lubricant oil.

He installed a packing and filling machine. He used the sticker of GMO in which the logo and design were like those of Gulf. He sold the spurious products at a lower rate in comparison to those of the Gulf company.

Efforts are being done to apprehend other culprits, the police said.

New Delhi, January 14
Two persons, including an airport employee, were yesterday arrested at the IGI airport for allegedly smuggling 8,000 memory cards worth over Rs 12 lakh, a senior Customs official said.

Surinder Singh Arora, a resident of Tilak Nagar, arrived here yesterday on a Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong along with 8,020 memory cards, the official said.

Arora deboarded the plane and went to the washroom of the aerobridge and handed over the smuggled cards, packed in four packets, to Kamaldeep Singh — an employee of IT firm IDDS posted at the airport.

“Singh concealed the packets in stocking and was to hand over the goods to Arora at the domestic arrival, as there is a way to reach the domestic arrival without crossing the emigration and customs offices,” the official said. - PTI

Noida, January 14
Though the district courts have started functioning from the new Greater Noida court building from this year, visitors and employees complain about lack of basic facilities like drinking water and proper toilets here, with women being the worst sufferers. The space meant for the record room is being used as the lock-up room.

It's been 10 days since the courts shifted here, but visitors and employees can be seen urinating in the open.

"I had to go to the commercial tax building for using toilet," said Shanti Devi, a visitor to the court building.

Moreover, drinking water is not available here.

"I had to buy mineral water bottle from an outside vend," said Hargovind Singh, another visitor.

Several employees with whom The Tribune spoke to echoed similar complaints and said they too were urinating in the open. The toilets have been constructed at far-off place on the other side of the premises.

"I saw a board showing the way to the toilets, but could not see them even after walking over 200 metres. I urinated in the open space along the boundary wall," said another visitor Amar Bhatti.

Even worse, initially several undertrials brought to the courts from jails had to reportedly urinate in the lockup itself. Now, toilet arrangements for undertrials had been made upstairs, staff said.

Construction is still going on on the premises. However, across the court complex, several rooms meant for fast-track courts have been fully constructed. But since fast-track courts have been abolished since last year, these rooms have either been occupied by PAC men or are being used as temporary record rooms.

Adjacent to fast-track court premises, there are public toilets. But these are being used only by PAC men and the employees working at the temporary offices from the fast-track court premises.

Advocates too are sitting in corridors and open spaces as their chambers have still not been constructed.

"Our chambers will be ready by March-end. Lack of proper urinals and drinking water are major problems here. The complex will have proper facilities in the next six months," said Sanjay Singh Bhatti, president of the Gautam Budhh Nagar District Bar Association.

New Delhi, January 14
The BJP has demanded from the Union government that the Delhi government should be dismissed immediately and a judicial commission under the chairmanship of a Delhi High Court Judge be constituted to inquire into the bungling in the Commonwealth Games because according to the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), bungling of thousands of crores of public money was committed in awarding contracts disregarding all the rules.

President of the Delhi unit of the BJP Vijender Gupta said that the CAG on the basis of the records provided by the Delhi government proved bungling of thousands of crores. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had estimated expenditure of Rs 1,200 crore for the Commonwealth Games at the initial stage. But it was increased to Rs 18,532 crore subsequently. Piece-meal decisions were taken under a well-considered strategy for this purpose.

Gupta alleged that due to the incompetence of the Delhi government out of the 40 projects, which should have been completed before the start of the Games, 18 projects are still incomplete. The CAG rejected all the arguments given by the Delhi government in its favour on the basis of the records and found that all the charges of bungling given in the report are true.

All the circumstances of this case are like the 2G Scam in which a non-Congress minister A Raja is in jail. Suresh Kalmadi has also been sent to jail for bungling in the Games on the basis of the CAG report.

If the Chief Minister continues on her post, there is possibility that the documents related to the bungling may be tampered with and all the efforts will be made to implicate the bureaucrats for it. The CAG in his report on the Games has clearly noted that at the time of awarding contracts the consultants and contractors were selected without following the criteria fixed for it.

New Delhi, January 14
Though the day started on a foggy note for Delhi, there was some respite for the residents later as the maximum temperature settled two notches above the normal.

During the day, the sun shone even as winds blowing through the city kept the cold feeling intact. While the maximum temperature was recorded at 22.6 degree Celsius, nearly four degrees up from yesterday's 18.7 degrees, the minimum was recoded at 6.7 degrees, one notch below the average.

The visibility till 8.30 am was recorded at 1,800 metres and the day remained clear till early evening, said Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) officials.

While the weather affected the rail traffic, with 39 trains running late by several hours, the movement of flights was also hit due to bad weather at the destinations.

Many trains like the Kalka Mail, Utkal Express, Dadar Express and Seemanchal Express ran behind schedule by more than 20 hours while the Vikramshila Express and Magadh Express ran late by 10 hours.

An official from the Northern Railway said, 39 trains have been cancelled due to the prevailing weather conditions. Further, 14 other trains already stand partially cancelled till the 20th of this month.

For tomorrow, the weather department has predicted mist and shallow fog in the morning hours along with a partially cloudy sky with a possibility of rain or thundershowers towards the evening and through the night.

The mercury levels are expected to oscillate in the range of 24 degree Celsius to 9 degree Celsius 

High drama took place in the Assembly recently when Shoaib Iqbal, MLA from Turkman Gate in the walled city, protested against giving permission to Salman Rushdie to attend a literary festival in Jaipur.

KEEPING HER BALANCE: A folk dancer from Rajasthan performs on the inaugural day of classical dance festival, Indradhanush Dilli 2012, at the ICCR auditorium in Delhi on Saturday. Tribune photo

According to Iqbal, the government should respect the sentiments of the minority community and stop him from entering the country.

However, when Speaker Yoganand Shastri said that the visa is issued by the Central government, Iqbal was outraged and said 'blood will spill on the streets of Delhi if Salman Rushdie was allowed in the country. Our feelings should be respected. The Central government should be made aware of our sentiments."

When he continued with his protest despite several warnings by the chair, Iqbal was marshalled out of the House.

Speaker embarrassed

The issue of backlog of hospital projects during the just-ended winter session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly didn't seem to have made the current Delhi Health Minister A. K. Walia as uncomfortable as Speaker Yoganand Shastri and several others.

While many city government officials connected with the hospital projects for which construction is yet to be taken up even after three years of inauguration and legislators belonging to the constituencies in which the hospitals are to be set up were obviously on the back foot, the Speaker was visibly embarrassed following a question on the issue.

The question was related to the hospital for which the Speaker had laid the foundation stone. So when the BJP legislator raised the question followed by another, reminding him about his association with the project, Shastri had no option than to give an assurance that the construction would begin soon.

How to win MLAs!

The presence of senior Congress leaders-Janardhan Dwivedi, Dr Karan Singh and Parvez Hashmi-during a high tea party at Delhi Assembly hosted by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit surprised the House members.

A few MLAs remarked in a lighter vein that the Rajya Sabha election had made them come to the tea party. This was the best opportunity to shake hands with a majority of the party MLAs at one place.

These leaders were elected to the Rajya Sabha six years ago. Their term has expired now. They are making all-out efforts for their re-election.

An MLA complained that the Delhi Secretariat is located not far from Parliament, but the Central party leaders do not come there thinking it's their demotion. But when they need the support of MLAs, they do not think of demotion!

Online admission process likely

If all goes well, Delhi University will introduce the online admission process from the next academic session. This decision was taken by a high-powered committee last week.

Sources said that the varsity has also decided to scrutinise the mark-sheets and other required documents to prevent their misuse. Students who are not computer-savvy and do not possess the facility for online submission of forms, the university will provide alternative facilities.

The teachers have also given a nod to the whole process. For students belonging to the OBC and other backward sections, the committee has decided to give them a chance to change their subject after admission. For example, if a student has opted for sociology, and then wants to change it to history, he/she will be allowed to do so according to the availability of seats.

(Contributed by Himani Chandel, Ananya Panda, Syed Ali Ahmed, Jyoti Rai)

New Delhi, January 14
The national cadet corps (NCC), with 15-lakh strength of cadets, has been creating disciplined citizens with all constructive approach since its beginning, said the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit.

Speaking at the NCC Republic Day camp today, Dikshit congratulated the cadets for their amazing performances in diverse fields such as drill, presentations, articulation, crafts and skills in aero-modeling, ship-modeling, cultural programmes, etc.

The Chief Minister expressed her gratitude for the great show put up for her by the cadets.

Conveying praises to the NCC, the premier youth organisation, she exhorted its members to continue the dynamic mission of nurturing the tender youth and grooming them to take on the mantle of the country's leadership.

She had an hour long visit to the NCC Republic Day camp where she was received by Lt Gen PS Bhalla, AVSM, DGNCC. She was given an impressive Guard of Honour by a mixed contingent of smartly turned out young cadets.

A NCC boys' band from Sainik School, Kapurthala, performed a very fine band display, playing melodious martial tunes. Their enchanting tunes and light movements earned a big applause from one and all.

The NCC had laid out tableaus from all directorates that depicted the quintessential politico-socio-cultural nuances of all states.

The versatile NCC cadets had also pieced together a superlative cultural performance.

The programme included two group dances and a ballet which brought to the fore the vast talent of the cadets. While the group dances from Delhi and Karnataka manifested the rich cultural heritage of the nation, the attraction of the day was the ballet based on the woes of the child labour.

The powerful act refined to perfection moved the spectators into a pleasant mood.

New Delhi, January 14
Under the Know India Programme of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), 37 students/participants of 11 countries visited IGNOU to acquaint themselves with the educational system in the Capital yesterday.

These participants had an interactive session with Prof. M. Aslam, vice-chancellor of IGNOU. They were particularly interested in knowing about the prospects of placement, admission procedure and academic programmes being offered by IGNOU internationally. The students showed a lot of interest in the university programmes.

The vice-chancellor in his address to the students stated that IGNOU is operating in 43 countries across the world through 82 partner institutions. It was also mentioned that there are 44,000 students from these countries.

The vice-chancellor said that IGNOU will reach learners wherever they are and this is what IGNOU calls 'Education at your Doorstep.'

In his address, M.K. Pandey, undersecretary, MOIA, stated that these young participants were the children of Indians settled abroad and were visiting different educational institutions in India.

The basic idea of the programme was to expose them to the diversity of our country.