New Delhi, April 25
Armed robbers today ransacked the house of a retired lawyer in Preet Vihar locality, east Delhi, while they held him and his wife hostage and smothered his 35-year-old son.

About half a dozen robbers barged into a two-storey house at B-33, Madhuban in Preet Vihar. A retired Director of Prosecution of the Delhi government, S.K. Dutta (68), his wife Prabha (65) and their son Animesh, alias Baba, stay on the ground floor. They rented out the first floor.

The incident took place about 2.30 am. The robbers reportedly entered the house by breaking through a window. They first entered the room, where Dutta and Prabha were sleeping. Dutta told reporters, "My wife and I woke up to about six-seven people tying our hands and legs. When I tried to stop them, they placed a gun on my forehead and asked me to direct them to the cash and jewellery." The robbers were masked and armed with iron rods, knives and guns.

Their son, who was sleeping in the drawing room, awoke upon hearing the commotion. "But before he could do something, four members of the gang overpowered him. They then smothered him with a pillow," said Mohit, who is a neighbour of the victims.

Dutta said that the robbers ransacked the house and fled. Prabha managed to free herself. "Our mobile phones were stolen. My wife then went upstairs to the first floor and informed our tenant," he said.

They then informed their daughter Bushra, who is married and stays separately in the same neighbourhood.

Animesh was rushed to Metro Hospital in Preet Vihar, where doctors declared him dead. The police said that there are no injury marks on his body and believe he was smothered. They are awaiting his post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of his death.

Animesh owned a textile shop at Preet Vihar. The police have registered a case under Sections 395 (dacoity) 396 (dacoity with murder) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.

A police official said, "The jewelleries which are worth lakhs of rupees, Rs 20,000 and three mobile phones were missing from the house."

The police are examining the CCTV cameras footage of the area. The security guards of the locality are also being questioned.

New Delhi, April 25
A six-day centenary film festival in the celebration of 100 years of Indian cinema was inaugurated today by Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Manish Tiwari at Siri Fort Auditorium in the presence of some eminent personalities from the Indian cinema like director and musician Vishal Bhardwaj, producer of Sholay movie Ramesh Sippy, south Indian actor Nagarjun and playback singer Hariharan.

The festival, dedicated to commemorate the journey of the Indian cinema, will organize the screening of acclaimed contemporary Indian films and classics at Jamia Milia University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and India Habitat Center.

It was a challenge for us to think of an idea which can celebrate the 100 years of experience of Indian cinema, said Tiwari. "After a lot of churning of the minds we came up with this idea that before the national film awards we would create a week long film festival which would capture the essence of an experience which has grown in the last 100 years," he said.

The ministry is trying to facilitate the film maker by creating a single-window clearance system. "As we look towards the next 100 years, we have tried to see how we can facilitate the experience to ensure that the creative energies and the potential of our film makers is not wasted in running around bureaucratic hurdles. And that is why we are trying to set up a single window clearance system," he said.

The festival has a special feature of Satyajit Ray retrospective, display of Ray's artwork, rare documentaries. Apart from that "Cut-Uncut", a three day workshop on censorship in the Indian cinema and two-panel discussions on the "Depiction of Women in Indian Cinema" and "Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema-The Road Ahead".

A play on the life of Dadasaheb Phalke by Aamir Raza Husain and Virat Husain will bring the festival to an end on April 30.

New Delhi, April 25
An 18-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed to death by unidentified persons in the Gokalpuri area on Wednesday night.

The police said that the deceased is named as Aftab, who stayed with his parents at Sanjay Colony in Gokalpuri.

Last evening, Aftab left his house to meet his friends. When he did not return home, his parents telephoned him, but his mobile phone was switched off. Later, someone informed his family that there is a body lying at a main road.

His family went there and found Aftab's body. The police rushed him to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The police said that there are three deep stab wounds on the body. The injuries were reportedly made by a sharp-edged weapon.

A murder case has been registered.

New Delhi, April 25
The resistance against the rushed transition of the Delhi University's (DU) undergraduate courses to four-year undergraduate programme grew louder with Members of Parliament (MPs), representatives from trade unions, women NGOs and activists today expressing solidarity to the "Save DU Campaign".

Under the campaign, a petition signed by at least 12,000 people and sent to the Prime Minister today, seeking his intervention on the matter on urgent basis. Politbureau member of CPI (M) and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechuri during a public meeting held outside Arts Faculty promised to raise the issue in this Parliament session and social activist and National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy assured to take it up during the next NAC meeting. "We have already submitted a call attention motion, which has been accepted on the sorry state of affairs prevailing in DU and that all opposition parties are expected to take on the government on the same.

The four-year programme is to bring DU in line with American universities," said Yechuri. He said that if the four-year pattern is allowed, there will be a storm over the issue in the current session.

The Congress-led UPA government is going to do this for the interests of the foreign universities and these reforms are eventually directed to allow foreign currency. Questioning the pace at which this pattern is being introduced, Aruna Roy demanded a white paper on the Vice-Chancellor's ambitious education reforms.