New Delhi, September 5
In an incident that the police suspect was an outcome of gang rivalry, a man in his mid-thirties was gunned down by two motorcycle-borne assailants this afternoon in the Pushpa Vihar area, south Delhi, located near the Saket Court.

The deceased has been identified as Kapil, a resident of Sangam Vihar. The firing took place about 3.45 pm at Sector 1 in Pushpa Vihar.

According to the police, Kapil was standing near his Mahindra XUV car, near a park. He was with his friends when two men on a black Pulsar motorcycle stopped in front of him. "The two men alighted from the motorcycle and walked towards Kapil. He found them suspicious and tried to run away, but the assailants took out their guns and fired two shots at him. Kapil's friends, who were with him at the time of the incident, tried catching the assailants. The assailants threatened them with dire consequences and fled on the motorcycle. They reportedly fired some rounds in the air to clear their way," said a police officer.

Passersby informed the police. The police cordoned off the crime scene to carry out their investigations. Meanwhile, Kapil was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead on his arrival there.

The police said that prima facie, Kapil allegedly had a grudge against the assailants and they suspect the incident to be an outcome of gang rivalry. They are also suspecting the involvement of criminals belonging to the Pul Prahladpur area, south Delhi, because a few months ago, Kapil had a tiff with the locals there.

Investigators learnt that Kapil was involved in criminal cases that are registered in Delhi.

"Kapil's friends are being questioned to get some leads in the case. We have formed teams to catch the culprits, who are absconding. The perpetrators have been identified, their possible hideouts in Delhi are being raided and they will be caught very soon," said the officer, adding that a murder case has been registered at the Saket police station.

New Delhi, September 5
Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi, who will officially join the Congress tomorrow, is set to mend fences for the party in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections which has been facing Sikh ire for its support to 1984-riots accused Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.

The party also faced debacle in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections when its candidate Paramjit Singh Sarna was defeated by huge margin indicating anti-Congress sentiments among the Sikh community.

Trying to win the Sikh votes, the Congress has roped in Mehndi, who is expected to contest the election from either of the two constituencies, Tilak Nagar and Hari Nagar in west Delhi, which are domination by 1984-sikh riot victims.

Thirty-four per cent of the total population of Tilak Nagar is Sikh, while 25 per cent is Punjabi. The total population of the area is 1,36,857, of which 73,232 had polled in the last elections. Whereas, 17 per cent people in Hari Nagar are Sikh and 18 per cent are Punjabi, which has a total population of 1,43,320. From Hari Nagar, 81,954 people had cast votes.

Given the demographic constitution of these two constituencies, they pose challenge for the party in the coming polls.

The Congress is confident of winning one of the seats with Mehndi reviving the hope of the Sikhs in the party.

The party was knocked out in both the constituencies in 2008 assembly elections with its candidate Anita Babbar, bagging 26,202 votes in Tilak Nagar and Ramesh Lambha winning 22,606 votes in Hari Nagar. However, BJP's contestants OP Babbar had managed 38,320 votes in Tilak Nagar and Harkishan Balli, 51,364 votes in Hari Nagar.

On the other side, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to field former journalist Jarnail Singh from the Tilak Nagar constituency who had hurled a shoe at a press conference of union minister P. Chidambaram ahead of the general elections in 2009. He protested against the Congress for giving tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar which later led to withdrawal of their tickets. The leaders are accused of instigating mobs to attack the Sikhs during the riots.

New Delhi, September 5
Responding to the recommendation of the Delhi Lokayukta, Justice Manmohan Sarin, the President, Pranab Mukherjee, through the Union Ministry of Home Affairs advised that departments concerned had no need to print photographs of the Chief Minister and the minister concerned on loan application forms as the practice did not benefit the prospective loanee in any manner.

He also advised to the department concerned to be more careful in future and formulate policy guidelines on publicity.

The Lokayukta had issued the recommendation against the photos of the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the then Revenue Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, on loan application forms for SC/ST, OBC and minority, after hearing a complaint submitted by BJP MLA Harsh Vardhan.

In his complaint to the Lokayukta, Harsh Vardhan had said that Dikshit and Chauhan had got printed their photographs on the loan applications forms of SC/ST/OBC finance and development corporation. The department concerned had charged Rs 100 for the form with printed photographs from every applicant which was earlier free.

Harsh Vardhan had claimed that the printing of photographs was intended to get on edge in the assembly elections by forming an image in the minds of the electors.

In his recommendation on May 6, 2013, the Lokayukta had observed that there was no justification or reason for printing of the photographs on the application forms and that the purpose for putting the photographs was to gain political mileage at the cost of public funds.

He recommended to the President to issue advisory to the Chief Minister and minister concerned to desist from printing and is blocking printing of their photographs on the application forms under "Dilli Swarojgar Yojna".

New Delhi, September 5
Former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana's elder son, Vimal Khurana, is seeking ticket to contest the assembly election from the Moti Nagar constituency that is being represented by the BJP MLA Subhash Sachdeva.

Sources said that Madan Lal Khurana's family considers Moti Nagar as its home constituency as he had nurtured it and contested election from here since 1977. He once vacated the seat in 1996 when he contested the parliamentary election.

While he was giving this seat to Sachdeva, a few senior party leaders advised him not to give it to any outsider. However, Khurana chose him as he considered Sachdeva a family member.

Sources said that Vimal had asked for the ticket though the party has yet to take a decision in this regard. If this seat is given to him, Sachdeva would be adjusted in some other constituency.

Vimal said, "I have always been active during the elections whenever my father contested. Now the family members and prominent people of Moti Nagar are pressurizing me into entering the fray myself. However, I am busy in looking after my father who has been in hospital for the last 50 days."

According to sources Parvesh Verma, son of the late Sahib Singh Verma, is also seeking ticket to contest the assembly election from West Delhi. Earlier, he had tried to contest the parliamentary election. But the BJP had given ticket to Jagdish Mukhi, a senior MLA, though he lost the seat.

Besides, the leader of the Opposition, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, is trying to get ticket for his son.

New Delhi, September 5
On the occasion of Teachers' Day while the President, Pranab Mukherjee, today presented national awards to teachers, celebrations to commemorate the day were seen in schools and colleges across the capital.

At Maharaja Agrasen College, Delhi University, the attractions of the celebration were a traditional style of lunch served by the college students' council, games like arms-wrestling, blowing balloons, tie knot and tongue twister for teachers.

Yesterday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) honoured 16 mentors and 34 teachers for their contribution in the field of education.

The principal mentors are being awarded to recognise their efforts to promote the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to its best. This is the second batch of mentors to receive this newly constituted award by the CBSE. Each mentor is a principal and 16 mentors were identified by the CBSE to help schools build capacity within the schools to implement CCE effectively.

At the event of the CBSE, Minister of Human Resource Development MM Pallam Raju, who was joined by Ministers of State for Human Resource Development Jitin Prasad and Dr. Shashi Tharoor said, "Teachers are the backbone of a society. Teachers empower children to rise up to any challenge in the life. It is hence crucial to felicitate teachers who rise above the call of duty."

Mentor awards are given to principals for demonstrating exemplary volunteerism and dedication in mentoring schools and ensuring effective implementation of CCE.

This framework aims to incorporate best practices developed by schools and bring together the islands of success that various schools have created in CCE adoption.

According to the chairman, CBSE, Vineet Joshi, "Mentors and empowered teachers play an important role in CCE. They are the hallmark of education. The awards are a token of respect to their valuable contribution to the Indian education system."

Tharoor emphasised on the need to recognise teachers for their contribution to the Indian education system and praised all awardees for rising above the call of duty.