New Delhi, March 20
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has dispatched the list of ticket seekers for the MCD elections to MPs and MLAs in the districts to recommend the names of the candidates whom they find strong in the wards. The lists have been dispatched after proper scrutiny.

The committee consisting of MPs and MLAs have been given three to four days to send the names of prospective candidates back to the state party office. Each MLA has been given a form to attach with the applications of the prospective candidates, sources said.

According to the sources, some wards have a list of 40 candidates while some only two. For example Narela and Shakarpur wards have forty applications while Tilak Nagar and Shastri Nagar, reserved for women candidates, has only two applications from each ward. This makes clear that the Congress is short of woman candidates, sources said.

The list will be announced on March 23 or 25. The party has stopped accepting the application forms, still many people come with bio-data and applications for the ticket. They even approach the state party president at his residence, the sources added.

A senior Congress leader said that in the beginning there were some differences between MLAs and MPs in some parliamentary constituencies. Now it has been worked out except in North Delhi that is represented by Krishna Tirath.

North Delhi has six Congress MLAs - Rajkumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri, PWD Minister in Delhi government, Jai Kishan from Sultanpuri, Vijender Singh from Nangloi Jaat, Devender from Badli, Jaswant from Narela and Surender from Bawana.

The sources said if the differences were not worked out within one or two days, final decision for selection of candidates would be taken by the apex committee consisted of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, DPCC president Jaiprakash Agarwal and in charge of Delhi affairs Virender Singh.

New Delhi, March 20
Pointing finger on the State Election Commission (EC) for violating the Model Code of Conduct, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has objected to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's photo on its official website delhi.gov.in.

This website is the only link to the Delhi State EC for queries, nomination forms and instructions of the EC.

In a letter written to Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta, Mayor Rajni Abbi has asked the regulator to remove the photograph. She said that the official website of the EC not only had the Delhi Chief Minister's photo, but a whole page was dedicated to display her portfolio and schemes.

"The EC is an independent body and when anybody opens its website for information, the photograph of the Chief Minister leads to an obvious conclusion which I feel is the violation of the Model Code of Conduct as the MCD elections are on an anvil," said Prof Abbi in the letter.

"If the EC itself commits the violation of the Code of Conduct, how can it expect political parties and its candidates to follow it," she said.

The Mayor asked the EC to take necessary steps in the matter as soon as possible. "We request the EC to look into the matter immediately and get it redressed," added Prof Abbi.

Earlier, Anil Soni, convener of the BJP legal cell, also wrote a letter to the Delhi State EC to immediately remove the photo of Sheila Dikshit from the website. Citing example, the BJP leader said that the EC of Uttar Pradesh had posted the photograph of its Commissioner rather than the Chief Minister.

"It is unfair to use her image on the home page as it is not in accordance with level-playing field and violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The State Election Commission, Uttar Pradesh, has the photo of the Election Commissioner and not the Chief Minister's. Delhi should follow the same example," said Soni.

New Delhi, March 20
Even as the national capital woke up to a hot and sunny morning,. Dusty winds ruled the day.

The minimum temperature today settled at 21 degree Celsius, five degrees above the average. The maximum temperature, on the other hand, was recorded at 34.5 degree Celsius, five degrees above the average for this time of the year.

For tomorrow, the weatherman has predicted a clear and sunny sky. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover between 33 and 16 degree Celsius.

"Strong surface winds are likely to blow tomorrow as well. There are no indications of rainfall in the Capital over the next couple of days," said a senior meteorological department official.

The humidity level this morning touched 82 per cent.

Yesterday, the maximum temperature settled at 37 degree Celsius, seven degrees above the average, while the minimum was recorded at 19.4 degree Celsius, three degrees above the average.

New Delhi, March 20
Indian journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi, who has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the Israeli embassy car bomb blast, has not been interrogated by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, the Delhi police informed a local court today.

On Saturday, the court of chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav had directed the police to give a detailed reply to the allegations of Kazmi being interrogated by Mossad.

The police today told the CMM that Israeli intelligence agencies can question Kazmi if they are part of the international convention since India is a signatory of the convention.

"Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has not interrogated Kazmi. They have not even made any requests for interrogation. But if they do, we will have to allow because we are part of the international convention," said the police.

Meanwhile, Kazmi's counsel Vijay Aggarwal alleged, "Besides the foreign agencies, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) are also interrogating him when he has been remanded only to the custody of the Delhi police."

The police responded by saying that the IB and RAW had not interrogated Kazmi, but were allowed to question him.

The CMM on Saturday had also directed the police to present a register consisting of the record of the officials interrogating Kazmi after he complained that besides Delhi police officers, Israeli intelligence agency officials were interrogating him. They were not wearing their uniforms in order to conceal their identity, Kazmi had alleegd.

The police today submitted the register in the court. It said since the issue was sensitive, its men were not wearing uniforms.

New Delhi, March 20
A leading industrialist of West Delhi and an alleged regular power thief has been convicted by the court of stealing a whopping 540 KW of electricity.

The court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Suresh Kumar Gupta, not only imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 8 crore on the accused, Manoj Kumar, but also sentenced him to three-year rigorous imprisonment (RI).

On the civil liability component of the fine, the court ordered the accused to pay an interest of 6 per cent from January 2008 till realisation of the amount.

Additionally, he has also been barred by the court from getting electricity from any source for one year.

Disregarding the pleas of the accused, the special court judge ruled, "I have no hesitation to hold that the complainant company has proved the case against the accused beyond shadow of reasonable doubt. Hence, the accused is held guilt under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and is convicted."

The court said that there was indiscriminate theft of electricity by the convict because he knew that he has not to pay for consumption charges. Such kind of offenders should bear in mind that they will have to face the serious consequences, including conviction and imprisonment, said the court.

The case was unearthed in a joint inspection by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) enforcement teams and officials from the Delhi police and the CISF on December 20, 2007, when a large industrial unit revealed unprecedented power-theft of 540 KW.

New Delhi, March 20
Three men have been arrested for allegedly acquiring car loans from banks by using forged documents to buy more than 50 luxurious cars which they sold to customers across the country.

The accused identified as Aditya Gupta, Harinder Chaudhry and Ashutosh Rana. The police is searching for the kingpin of the gang, who has been identified.

The gang sold the cars across the states such as Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

A police official said that the gang gave fake addresses during the verification procedure while applying for car loans at banks.

"When the bank officials reached the given address, they would discover that it was false. Sometimes the gang would rent a house for about a month. After the verification process was completed and when they had to repay the loan, they would flee," added the official.

A team of the IP Estate police station has been probing the case for the past three months. Investigations began following a complaint by HDFC Bank officials who said that they were duped of Rs 40 lakh by the gang which wanted car loans.

The investigating team had a tough time in finding the culprits, as their mobile numbers were bought on fake addresses. The police discovered clues from the engine registration numbers of the cars that were bought by the gang. The numbers led them to the owner of the car, who was questioned about the source of the vehicle.

The cars were sold at low costs to customers who were unaware of the way they were obtained. The police has recovered two cars, a Verna and a Swift, from the pile of more than 50 cars that were bought on the loans.