New Delhi, May 25
A 27-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide after killing her two children by strangulating them in her residence in Mehrauli today.

The woman, Vineeta Katara, lodged a complaint of harassment against her in-laws at the Mehrauli police station at 2 pm today. She lived with her husband, Deepak Katara and two children, Harshita (5) and Harshit (2) at Deluxe apartments in ward number six of Mehrauli.

Deepak Katara is a nursing assistant at AIIMS.

Sources said that after filing the complaint, Vineeta telephoned her brother-in-law, who lives at Kota in Rajasthan. She reportedly told him about the problems she was facing at home. During their conversation, the call was disconnected.

Vineeta's brother-in-law tried to phone her back, but could not connect. He suspected that she would do something wrong. He placed a call to the police control room and informed them about the matter.

When the police reached her residence, they found Vineeta hanging from a ceiling fan. Her two children were lying dead on the floor. They had been strangulated.

The police found a suicide note at the site of the incident. According to the note, Vineeta blamed her in-laws for harassing her.

A case under Indian Penal Code section 306 (abetment to suicide) has been registered at the Mehrauli police station.

Sources said that the woman's husband, Deepak, has been arrested. IPC sections 304B (dowry death) and 302 (murder) might be registered.

New Delhi, May 25
Nineteen inmates of Tihar Jail were given employment by different companies with annual salary packages ranging from Rs 78,000 to Rs 5 lakh at the fifth placement drive held there today.

It was the second placement drive organised in the jail this year and the first for convicts-- the earlier ones were for undertrials.

Fourteen companies from the hospitality and construction sectors, including Agarwal Packers and Movers, Relaxo Footwear, Frontline Group, ABC Constructions, Adecco Consultant, Ashwords Network and Jyoti Portfolio Limited, participated in the drive.

Twenty-four convicts had appeared for the interviews and 19 of them were selected. One of them, Sanjay, has been offered an annual salary of over Rs 5 lakh by a risk management enterprise, Premier Shield. The company has clients in South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Americas. He has been selected as a business development officer of the company based in Lajpat Nagar.

The previous placement drive was held on January 27 this year. A total of 142 inmates were selected and three of them were offered packages of Rs 3 lakh per annum. In the earlier three placement drives conducted last year, 192 inmates were employed by different companies.

Officials of Tihar Jail assert that the placement drives are to rehabilitate prisoners after their release as the convicts who have been selected are likely to complete their jail terms in the next six months.

A total of 353 inmates have been employed through such placement drives till now. 

New Delhi, May 25
Delhi Lokayukta, Justice Manmohan Sarin has advised the Lieutenant-Governor Tejindra Khanna to ensure that announcement of any welfare scheme by the city government and the civic agencies should be preceded by a thorough evaluation of their feasibility within a specified timeframe.

The recommendation came in the case of unauthorised construction in a house owned by a close relative of a former MCD councillor, Anjana Pracha, in the Trilokpuri area of West Delhi.

The Lokayukta dismissed the case as the house in question was built on a plot of land given under the DDA's jhuggi jhopri removal scheme that was likely to benefit from a policy being framed by the Delhi government.

Holding that the MCD was free to revive punitive proceedings against the former councillor, Justice Sarin, in the order took a dig at the government and the civic bodies, saying it has become usual for those in power to hold out sops, particularly to the weaker section for political benefits without examining the feasibility of their implementation.

The plot of land in Trilokpuri on which the house in question was constructed was allocated to Pracha's father in-law Shyamu who had raised the construction before her marriage.

"Pracha was in no way responsible for the said construction and was only residing with her husband," said the Lokayukta order.

Giving example of Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana and regularisation of unauthorised colonies, the Lokayukta observed that "very often these (announcements) remain unfulfilled assurances".

The Lokayukta advised the Lt-Governor that "feasibility, workability and implementation of the schemes should be studied before their announcement to the public or to the press by the government. If the scheme is dependent on approval of the Central government, it should be highlighted equally so that citizens fully understand the limitation or conditional nature of the scheme.

The Delhi government had announced the Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojna scheme a few years ago under which it plans to allocate low-cost houses to thousands of slum dwellers. It is also in the process of regularising 1,639 unauthorised colonies which were given provisional regularisation certificates in 2008.

New Delhi, May 25
A 55-year-old woman was found strangulated at her residence in Narela this morning. Sources said that the woman, Dhanpati, was staying with her son and daughter-in-law at Gautam Nagar in Narela, Outer Delhi.

In the morning, her family members knocked on the door of her room several times, but did not receive any response. They broke open the door and found her lying dead with her stole around her neck. They found her room ransacked. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.

Sources said that robbery could be the reason behind her death, because the room was ransacked.

The police is trying to ascertain if any valuables were stolen. It could also be the work of an insider. The police is questioning the family members.

The members told the police that after having dinner, she went inside her room to sleep. The next morning when she did not open the door of her room, they became suspicious. They then broke open the door.

After post-mortem, the body has been handed over to the family. A case of murder and robbery has been registered at the local police station.

New Delhi, May 25
With Delhi University significantly lowering the eligibility criteria for the Common Aptitude Test for English (CATE), the rush for registration has certainly increased.

This year, the general category candidates require 45 per cent marks in their best four subjects of Class 12 to appear in CATE, instead of the last year's requirement of 60 per cent.

At almost all the 21 colleges that participate in CATE, sale of forms has increased this year. Popular institutions such as Lady Shri Ram College, Hindu College, Miranda House, Kirori Mal College, Indraprastha College for Women and Kamla Nehru College are witnessing a huge rush for the course.

"Last year, the department received nearly 10,000 applications. The final figures will be arrived at on June 4, but yes, the numbers are better than last year. The course has become more reachable due to the lowering of the eligibility criteria," said a senior professor of the department of English of the university.

CATE, the entrance test for those seeking admission to BA (honours) English to colleges of Delhi University, was introduced in 2009.

Of the 21 colleges that accepted CATE score last year, Deshbandhu College (morning) has dropped out this year while Satyawati College (morning) has joined in.

The SC/ST and the physically handicapped candidates have been exempted from the entrance this year. They will need to register themselves centrally with DU for English (hons). The test is being held on June 9. The last date of submission of forms is June 4.

Regarding the syllabus, Tapan Basu, associate professor of the department of English said, "There is no fixed syllabus for the test. We test a candidate's literature, writing skills and ability to appreciate literary and non-literary texts."

This year, the test duration has been increased from one and a half hours to two hours.

New Delhi, May 25
A wish of a moderately fit life during the sunset years is encouraging many oldies to resort to knee replacement procedures with a total of 19 such patients undergoing bilateral (both knees) total knee replacement (TKR) at an average age of 83 years at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

Among these patients, between the age group of 80 and 93 years, who reported during a span of almost 15 years to Apollo, two are the oldest living couple, the Bhatts from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh who have also made it to the Limca Book of World Records.

S N Bhatt (94), a retired principal and an avid horse rider, underwent the TKR in a single sitting in April last year. His success convinced his wife Vijay Laxmi (87), suffering from ischemic heart disease, to undergo the same operation in November last year.

According to Dr Raju Vaishya, a senior joint replacement surgeon who has performed the procedure on both of them at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, the Bhatts are a model couple who've shown other old people a way.

The nonagenarian, who also holds the credit of being the oldest man to undergo TKR, was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and bound to a wheelchair until he was operated upon and now after one year, he is enjoying an active life.

"Arthritis is degenerative which worsens with time and is the number one cause of disability in the elderly, with 49 per cent worldwide being affected by it. It damages the joint and persistent excruciating pain is an indicator. Delaying surgery only worsens the case," cautioned Dr Vaishya.