New Delhi, October 31
A 48-year-old businessman along with his wife were found murdered after being strangulated inside their house in the Rani Bagh area of northwest Delhi, said police officials today.

The deceased Satpal Garg (48) and his wife Ram Kali (46) were lying in a pool of blood in separate rooms inside the house. They were discovered by their Sanjay, 24, at around 8.30 last night, said a senior police official.

They were taken to the Jaipur Golden hospital and declared dead on arrival. "We received the call at about 9:40 pm," said the official.

The couple had been living in the area along with their sons, Sanjay and Naveen. Both his sons were looking after father's business. The businessman used to run two shops, one of metal scrap in Tri Nagar and another of car accessories in Buddh Vihar.

"Several valuables, including gold jewellery and cash, are missing from the house. We are investigating the case from all possible angles," said P Karunakaran, Deputy Commissioner of Police, northwest district.

The police said that Garg's body was lying inside the drawing room. A strangulation mark was on his neck. Kalawati's body was discovered from the store room. Her body had an injury mark on her head, said 60-year-old Satyanarayan, Garg's elder brother.

In the preliminary investigation, the entry was found to be friendly. "The assailants apparently knew about the things in the house. When the couple resisted the robbery, they were attacked, said the officer.

The family members have claimed that jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh and Rs 2 lakh in cash were taken away by the assailants. A case has been registered at Subhash Place police station. The police has questioned neighbours and several others known to the family.

New Delhi, October 31
A high drama ruled the joint demonstration by Delhi University Teachers' association (DUTA), Delhi University and Colleges Karamchari Union (DUCKU) and Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) on north campus today as the varsity's security guards tried to stop the teachers from burning the effigy of the Vice-Chancellor (V-C).

"The V-C had called in the security and the police to prevent us from organizing the protest. The university security took away the head of the effigy and tried to snatch the remaining part. The police constables also tried to disperse the human chain, formed around the effigy by teachers and students. However, the protesters were able to assemble another effigy and burnt it," said Abha Dev Habib, senior DUTA executive.

"Every attempt was made to stall our protest. Chaos prevailed when the police intervened and tried to break the human chain," she added.

"DUTA as well as karamcharis, who had assembled in support of the protest, strongly condemns the administration today for preventing the teachers from even protesting," said a DUTA statement.

Students in large numbers also assembled in support of their teachers and spoke about their grievances related to the semester system and the varsity's recent decision to do away with the policy of "span extension", limiting the time span to complete a degree to six years.

The DUTA executive will now review the ongoing indefinite relay hunger strike on November 3 and chalk out the further course of action.

New Delhi, October 31
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) will become the first civic body to launch biometric attendance system in its municipal schools. Initially, the system will be installed at a primary school in ward number 54 on trial.

Chairperson of education wing of the NDMC Rekha Gupta said that the project is being launched in collaboration with a private company. "The company approached us after which we gave permission for the trial," said Gupta.

The new system will ensure regular attendance of the teachers. "The advantage of this technology is that students and teachers will not be able to bunk the classes.

This will also help in improving our education system. We will get to know how many children are studying in a class, if less then 40 are being taught by one teacher, more students will be included in the class," she said.

Gupta further said that tender for the project has not been called so far, and it will be called if the trial is successful. She said that around 10 biometric machines will be installed at one school, and all the school staff and students will be given an identity card that will have a chip containing a unique PIN code.

She said that fingerprint of teachers and students will be taken and the machine will mark their attendance by identifying the same. "In case the system develops some problem, manual procedure will be followed," she said.

However, Gupta did not reveal the cost of the project and said that it is yet to be decided.

The East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations are also mulling to install biometric attendance system at their schools, if the trial run is successful.

New Delhi, October 31
The CBI has arrested a sub-inspector (SI) of the Delhi police, Dinesh Dahiya, who was posted in the Crime Branch office at Prashant Vihar, for allegedly demanding a bribe and accepting Rs 3 lakh from the complainant.

The complainant alleged that one of his brothers-in-law was accused in a case that was being investigated by the SI. He threatened to frame charges against another brother-in-law also in the same case, if he was not given Rs 15 lakh.

When the complainant said that he could not give Rs 15 lakh in one go, the SI agreed to accept it in instalments and asked for Rs 3 lakh as the first instalment. The complainant agreed to pay the amount and informed the CBI also. The CBI laid a trap and caught the SI red-handed.

During the search of his residential and official premises, the CBI recovered Rs 4.25 lakh, besides the documents pertaining to the acquisition of properties and investments made by the accused.

New Delhi, October 31
Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami instructed the department to ensure that all the autorickshaw dealers submit their report on booking, sales and stock position regularly. There were some legal difficulties in sale and purchase of autorickshaws in Delhi. The government wanted to work out the difficulties, the minister said.

He said that keeping in view the increased number of passengers in the Capital, it seemed that 50,000 autos registered in Delhi were not enough. There should be more autos to provide transport facility to middle-class people. The department has been assured by the dealers that the reports are being compiled, though could not be dispatched due to some difficulties at the ground level.