New Delhi, July 14
Two people, including a Delhi Police constable, were arrested for allegedly facilitating the paper leak of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) examination for the post of constable.

The accused have been identified as Jai Karan Singh, a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Mohit Kumar, who belongs to Baghpat in UP.

Mohit is a Delhi Police constable posted at the Defence Colony police station. They were arrested following the interrogation of six persons last month for allegedly leaking the examination paper. The examination was conducted by the RPF, Gorakhpur.

According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav, one of the arrested accused, Robin, said that Jai had helped him in obtaining the answers to the RPF paper before the exam.

The police conducted a raid in Meerut and arrested Jai. "A cell phone used in the commission of the crime was seized from him," said Yadav.

Jai allegedly told the police that he had helped various persons to clear competitive examinations through his accomplice, Vikas, a native of Muzaffarnagar.

Jai also said that Robin was appearing in the examination of Multi Tasking Staff (MTS), conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. He had approached Jai, who had taken Rs 70,000 from him for providing the answers to the MTS exam. Another accused, Sunny, arrested last month told the interrogators that he had received the answers through SMSes.

Investigators found that one of the mobile phone numbers was being used by a Delhi Police constable, Mohit.

Mohit was apprehended and he allegedly confessed to his involvement in the case, said Yadav.

"Mohit said that a man named Pawan was running the racket," said Yadav. Pawan allegedly struck a deal for Rs 3 lakh with Mohit for providing the answers through SMSes.

"Mohit took casual leave to orchestrate the cheating. He received SMSes from Pawan and forwarded them," added Yadav. The police are now looking for the main accused, Pawan, and conducting raids at several places to unearth the entire scam.

New Delhi, July 14
Some 39 colourful paddle and rowing boats have recently shifted their base from the India Gate to the canal near the busy Central Secretariat Metro station. However, the sweltering July heat deters people from venturing out to take a ride in the lime green waters. The Delhi Tourism department is hopeful that the new venue will draw crowds of picnickers once the heat ebbs.

A shallow canal adjacent to the historic India Gate was the earlier location of the Boat Club. As the most-visited monument, the 42-metre-high India Gate was built by Sir Edwin Lutyens as a memorial to 90,000 soldiers who fought and died for the British Empire during the First World War. Beyond the iconic monument of the Raj, on the lush green lawns, the vendors had sold everything from soft drinks to fast food, balloons and neon-coloured toy helicopters. It made the Boat Club a perfect destination to end a family's day out.

However, the historic monument became an epicenter of widespread protests over the years. A violent protest that rocked the venue was following the brutal gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old girl on a moving bus in Delhi. While the monument remained untouched, hundreds of people clashed with the police amidst the vicious stone pelting, the firing of teargas shells and the water cannons.

Following the protests, the Delhi Police as a counter measure cordoned off the India Gate. The once-crowded Boat Club near the monument was also shut down. There was no movement around the monument except for the patrolling khaki-clad men.

"The India Gate Boat Club remained closed for the next one and a half months. During this period, Republic Day celebrations were held at India Gate with tight security. After the event was conducted, the club was not opened on a regular basis. There were days when it would be shut citing the security reasons. And on the days it was opened, it would usually be operational only for a couple of hours," said Vinod, who works at the club that has shifted near the Central Secretariat Metro station.

It is one of the oldest clubs in Delhi and has symbolic significance for the political rallies that were held in its vicinity. Chaudhary Charan Singh, the late Prime Minister, held a rally here consisting of 10 lakh people in the 1980s. A kisan (farmer) rally forming a group of close to 10 lakh people also demonstrated here in the late 1980s.

The Boat Club was closed in 2010 when the construction of the Central Secretariat Metro station started. It has been 12 days since the club was reopened. Only a rickety floor-board with the words "The Boat Club" printed on it stands at the beginning of the dirty green canal. Renovation work has begun with the laying of pink and white-cemented tiles. The CPWD and the Delhi Tourism department are working round the clock repairing and giving the finishing touch to ensure that the club gets heavy footfall. The Delhi Tourism will acquire about 35 new paddle and rowing boats.

Sribabu is an old worker at the club. "Now only 22 boats are used in a day. Most of our customers are couples. They find their private world here. Some of them would ask me to row the boat to a faraway corner of the canal, away from people. They do whatever they want. I don't mind. Where else would they go?" he says with a grin.

Vinod claims that the current drought of customers is because people are not aware of its reopening. After all, the club had not been functional for nearly three years. "Earlier, when it was situated near the India Gate, people would come with their kids to Children's Park nearby. They would then come to the club. Now, no matter how much the children crave for a boat ride, the parents would rather go inside the air-conditioned Metro station!" Vinod said.

Delhi Police arrest the accused in New Delhi on Sunday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

New Delhi, July 14
A 32-year-old man was arrested for allegedly cheating 4,500 ICICI Bank credit card customers of Rs 2 crore in more than a year. Investigators have found the data of about 30,000 ICICI customers in the laptop of the accused, Raju Tevar.

The Delhi Police claim that Tevar allegedly stole the data from one of his acquaintances, Zakir, who is absconding. Zakir had probably stolen the data from the bank.

"It seems that either Zakir's girlfriend or a close friend who works in ICICI Bank has helped him in stealing the data from the bank's database," said an investigating officer.

Earlier this week, the Delhi Police arrested Tevar from Mumbai and brought him to Delhi. A local court remanded him in police custody for eight days.

Investigators have contacted the ICICI Bank officials, who said they have received complaints and started an internal inquiry into the matter.

Tevar is a class seven dropout and allegedly involved in four criminal cases, including a murder in the Ambarnath area of Mumbai. After being released from jail, he got in contact with Zakir through a friend, Abhijeet.

"Tevar learned to use a laptop in Zakir's company. He also became aware that Zakir is involved in the Internet banking fraud," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi District) S B S Tyagi.

After staying with him for a few months, Tevar allegedly stole the data of ICICI customers from his laptop and started cheated them.

Tevar's modus operandi was that he would collect electricity and phone bills from the shopkeepers and households in some parts of Mumbai. He would make online payments of the bill and charge them a nominal fee.

"He made payments to the Maharashtra District Electricity Board and PayTM mobile company through the stolen data. He would keep the money given by the customers," said Tyagi. Tevar allegedly maintained a lavish lifestyle.

The police have so far received only one complaint from Abhya Srivastva whose account was hacked and an amount of Rs 44,911 debited from her credit card in April this year.

"After an investigation done over three months, Tevar was traced to Mumbai. He used an SIM card for the Internet transactions. His photograph was taken from his Facebook profile on the instance of one of his customers in Mumbai," said the officer.

New Delhi, July 14
Commuters will be asked to give suggestions and feedback on various aspects of the Metro operations, their expectations and improvements required in various fields during the "Customer Satisfaction Week" beginning tomorrow.

During this week, a host of activities will be undertaken by the DMRC staff under the supervision of station managers such as customer satisfaction survey, smart card promotion drive, women coach drive, reverse journey drive and spread awareness about the use of lifts, escalators, making queues at token counters, online recharge facilities and energy conservation.

One of the main activities of the week - the customer satisfaction survey - will be conducted at top 22 Metro stations having the highest ridership, including Rajiv Chowk, Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Central Secretariat and Inderlok.

The survey will include seven aspects pertaining to the Delhi Metro services, such as availability, accessibility, availability of information, quality of service, customer care, comfort, safety and security.

Some of the initiatives include reserving more seats for elderly and disabled commuters, raising awareness about them through conduction of special drive on weekends, imparting training on sign language to station staff to facilitate hearing impaired passengers, said a spokesperson for the DMRC.

New Delhi, July 14
Delhi University is doing its bid to empower differently abled students and in the attempt also furthering the India-UK relations. The university had sent a contingent of 22 students with disabilities along with two student volunteers and six officials from various colleges and departments as its representatives to Kings College, London and Edinburgh University for an International Educational Excellence programme.

Following the 10-day visit ending on July 9, which aimed at promoting bilateral ties, the university is now looking forward to a joint proposal for working on innovations, barrier-friendly technology and student exchange in the future.

"We are looking to start working on joint projects, research and technology advancement to facilitate disabled-friendly and assistive technologies in higher education for such students. We will collect feedbacks from the students who will then go on to participate in the joint projects," informed Dr Bipin Tiwari, Officer on Special Duty, DU's Equal Opportunities Cell.

This was a pilot project whose idea was to broaden the intellectual capacities and cultural understanding of the UK with focus to equip differently abled students with assistive technologies and other facilities, he added.

"It took almost six months to finalise the trip, starting from talks with the British Council of India to establishing links with the universities," he said.

Sent in two batches of 15 each to both the universities for 10 days, students were imparted lessons on the state-of-the-art technologies, facilities, health, hygiene, religion, heritage and art in the summer school classes at Kings College, London and University of Edinburgh.

"Students got exposure and an opportunity to have interactive sessions with students and officials there to understand the problems, scope and solutions to overcome the challenges in their lives," said DU registrar Prof Alka Sharma.