New Delhi, July 31
A 23-year-old student of Jawaharlal Nehru University attacked his female classmate with an axe and later drank poison and slashed his neck today, after the girl had allegedly rejected his advances.

The youth has been identified as Akash Kumar, who belongs to Bihar. He succumbed to his injuries at the AIIMS Trauma Centre. The girl, Roshni Kumar Gupta, belongs to Muzaffarpur in Bihar. They were third year students of the Korean language at the university's School of Language.

As the bell rang for the second lecture this morning, Akash with a bag slung over his shoulder came from the back seats of a classroom and went up to Roshni. He told her that he wanted to speak to her. She refused and said, "I am not going anywhere," said a police officer, quoting an eyewitness. There were five students in the classroom at that time.

Her rejection infuriated him. He opened his bag and took out a country-made pistol. He pressed its trigger, but the gun didn't fire. Then he pulled out an axe and shouted at the other classmates not to interfere. He swung the axe at her several times, hitting her on the head and near her neck. He took out a bottle of sulphas, rat poison, and swallowed it. He then took out a kitchen knife and slashed his throat.

As both of them lay in a pool of blood, the police were informed. They rushed them to the nearby hospitals.

Akash was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he succumbed to his injuries, Roshini was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, where she is battling for her life.

At the AIIMS Trauma Centre, Dr Sanjeev Bhoi said, "The patient was brought by the police to the emergency ward at noon. His vitals were in an arrest state. He had a laceration mark on his neck and was suspected with rat poisoning for which there is no antidote. He died after an hour. The clear picture about poisoning would emerge only after his postmortem."

The other 22-year-old victim continues to be critical at the Intensive Care Unit of the Safdarjung Hospital.

"She has suffered multiple injuries on her head, including a traumatic brain injury and is critical now. She would be under observation for the next 48 hours,” said Safdarjung Hospital's Medical Superintendent, Dr B D Athani late in the evening.

New Delhi, July 31
Here are a bunch of Indian college students on a 'peace mission' to Pakistan, who feel that much of the budgetary spending on defence could be better utilised by encouraging goodwill and brotherhood among people across the borders of the neighbouring countries.

They embarked on a 90-day-long cycling expedition on June 1 from Kanyakumari to Islamabad for promoting amity and communal harmony and breaking the conventional paradigm of distrust between India and Pakistan.

Since then the young messengers of peace traversed over 3,200 km and reached Delhi this morning and now after a halt, they hope to reach Wagah Border (Indo-Pak border) on August 14 for Independence Day celebrations.

"On August 5, we will resume our peace march from Raj Ghat and then after another 500 km, we will reach Wagah Border where a 13-member team from Pakistan will arrive and then together we will proceed to Islamabad and reach the destination on August 31," said Praveen Singh of Delhi University, who is also the convenor of the cycle march for peace participated by students from New Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala universities.

Besdies, the students' initiative of running a signature campaign has witnessed a good response both from the people and politicians, including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, former Kerala CM and the Leader of the Opposition VS Achuthanandan and former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hedge.

"We are on a mission from Kanyakumari to Delhi to Islamabad to spread the idea that 'We Love Our Neighbour Pakistan'. We were seven students when we started and with many people joining us in course, 14 reached here today. We are targeting one crore signatures of support and on our way we have received good response with the nearly 5,000 signatures," said Praveen.

Adding that this is a step towards global peace, he said though initially they came across people during their journey who were indifferent to the idea but gradually many welcomed it and extended their support through signatures.

"The purpose is to spread the message of peace and collect signatures for the theme 'Love Your Neighbour'. We want the idea of consideration to be cultivated and then take it further as an international student movement," stressed Praveen.

New Delhi, July 31
Sitting on a large revolving chair, unshielded from the glare of cameras and the furious crowd of reporters, Bhim Sain Bassi made a statement that was meant to change mindsets.

"I want criminals and people to fear the law and not the police," he said, after taking over as the Delhi Police Commissioner today.

By saying that people should "fear the law", Bassi also meant that the police personnel who are found guilty in committing illegal activities will be punished.

To curb the menace of motorcyclists performing stunts, he said that the police will dissuade the youths from performing such stunts and will not shy away from using the law against them.

On Sunday, a teenager, Karan Pandey, was killed in a police firing when he was sitting on a motorcycle with his friend, who was allegedly performing stunts near the Le Meridien Hotel. Bassi while citing his death as an unfortunate incident, asserted that, "the youth who indulge in performing stunts on bikes are not sinners although they may be doing something that transgresses the law. So they are criminals and not sinners."

He asserted that the utmost importance would be given to the safety of women and children. The police will also focus on curbing street crime such as chain snatchings.

He said that his force will undergo an "attitudinal change to make a complainant's life simple and not complicate it".

With the plans to implement the "neighbourhood watch" scheme, the police hope to change the public's perception of it. As part of the scheme, residents of a neighbourhood and police officers, including the beat staff, come together to keep their area safe.

New Delhi, July 31
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) today extended the 30 per cent rebate scheme on actual arrears till January 1, 2014, for all the domestic consumers. This scheme was due to close on July 31.

Till July 25, the late payment surcharge waiver had been availed by 1,50,289 consumers and the arrear rebate by 2,98,694. — TNS

New Delhi, July 31
All out to woo voters ahead of the assembly elections, accident insurance scheme for CNG vehicle drivers of public transport of Delhi was launched today by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappan Moily.

The Delhi Government also announced a corpus fund of Rs 1 crore for the welfare of the drivers of CNG commercial vehicles which would be utilized for healthcare, education and financial assistance.

CNG drivers would not have to make any payment for the premium and the registration under the scheme. Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) would steer the implementation of the scheme and make an annual payment of Rs 35 lakh to the Oriental Insurance Company for this purpose. The drivers are advised to contact CNG stations in Delhi along with the relevant documents to obtain insurance certificates.

Under the IGL Suraksha Yojna, all 2.5 lakh drivers in Delhi would be provided insurance policies in four months. The nominee of the policy holder will receive Rs 1.5 lakh in case of death of the driver in accident while driving the vehicle. Further, Rs 25,000 per child subject to the maximum of Rs 50,000 for two children would be released as education allowance. There is a provision for relief in case of accident, partial disability and permanent disability.

In case of permanent disability that leads to loss of employment, a lump sum equal to 100 per cent is payable to such insured person. In case of partial disability, a graded compensation from Rs 1,500 to Rs 75,000 would be paid to the driver.

"Under the scheme, the funds would be provided to educate the drivers on the best practices in safe driving. The motive behind the scheme is to avoid the deaths taking place in Delhi in accidents," said Dikshit.