New Delhi, August 7
Thirty-six children, in the age group of 5-14, were rescued from garment factories and eateries in a building at Geeta Colony, here today. Six employers have been arrested and eight places sealed during the raids conducted by a joint team of the police, officials of the labour department and members of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in the presence of sub-divisional magistrate of Geeta Colony Sandeep Gulati.

What came as a surprise is that the building where these children worked also houses the office of the Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely.

BBA has requested Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to ask Lovely as to how he and his workers remained blind to the crime.

The children, trafficked from villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, had been engaged in several hazardous works.

The children worked in a deplorable condition.

"I came to visit Delhi a few months ago, but was made to work in this factory against my wish. I do not want to work. I want to go to school," said a rescued child.

Expressing shock and anger over the practice of child labour in the education minister office building, BBA founder Kailash Satyarthi said, "These children have been rescued from the building where Arvinder Singh Lovely has his office. What could be a bigger shame?"

New Delhi, August 7
A 32-year-old man killed his brother as he allegedly had an illicit relationship with his wife and continued making advances towards her despite being warned repeatedly, police said today.

Noor Mohamad and his wife Afsana (30) were arrested for killing Noor's brother, Shehryar and dumping his body in a trunk at Rani Bagh in northwest Delhi. The couple had smothered him, slit his throat and then kept the body in the trunk before fleeing, according to the police.

Noor and Afsana, both belong to Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, and were presently living at Rani Bagh. They were arrested from Gazipur bus depot in east Delhi, while trying to flee on Monday, said Deputy Commissioner of Police P Karunakarn.

The police on Saturday received a tip-off from one, Naveen Kumar, a resident of Rani Bagh. He said that that a foul smell was emanating from his rented accommodation, which was locked.

The police reached the place, broke the lock and found an unidentified body of a man in a trunk. Naveen told the police that on July 2, he heard a commotion from the house. When he went to find out the reason, the tenants said that there was just a minor dispute in their family. The next day, the house was locked and the couple were missing.

The police later identified the body as that of Shehryar, Noor's younger brother. "A police team rushed to Sitapur, the victim's native place. They learnt that the victim had an illicit relationship with his elder brother's wife, Afsana," said Karunakarn.

The victim's father, Bakridin, came to Delhi and took the body for the last rites.

Meanwhile, the police got a tip-off and arrested the couple from Gazipur bus depot, while they were trying to flee to Uttar Pradesh.

During interrogation, the couple told the police that Shehryar had an affair with Afsana. "When Noor discovered it, he had a fight with Shehryar and his relations with his wife became strained. Later, Afsana assured her husband that she would discontinue the relations with Shehryar," said Karunakarn.

The couple resolved their differences and started living at rented accommodation. But, Shehryar allegedly did not stop making advances to Afsana.

Karunakarn added that the couple then planned to kill Shehryar.

New Delhi, August 7
There are over 92,000 defaulters of property tax under the jurisdiction of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The overall realization of revenue from the property tax has decreased and the number of tax payers has also come down.

The total revenue earned last year in the form of property tax was Rs 3.54 lakh till August, whereas the corresponding figure this year is Rs 3.29 lakh.

In the year 2010-11, the erstwhile MCD earned Rs 322 crore as property tax from 4.42 lakh tax payers, which reduced to Rs 313 crore in 2011-12 as 4.24 lakh people paid the tax.

The matter was raised in a meeting of the Standing Committee today, where the councillors expressed their concern over the depleting tax revenue.

"We are exploring the possibility of increasing the house tax of high-end properties like five star hotels. As per the rules, they can be levied 6 to 20 per cent of tax. We will try to make sure that all high value properties pay 20 per cent tax," said a senior SDMC official.

The official explained that the corporation does not levy tax on the Central government buildings, though they should pay service charges of 50 or 75 per cent depending on the services provided by the corporation.

The number of properties registered under the demand and collection of property tax in SDMC are 4.59 lakh. However, the actual number of properties which are liable to pay tax are much higher, around 5.44 lakh.

The corporation has set a target of 581 crore for the current financial year of 2012-2013, out of which a sum of Rs 299.88 crore has been collected, added the official.