New Delhi, January 12
A 35-year-old taxi driver was arrested today for allegedly murdering his wife and daughter by bludgeoning them in his house in south-west Delhi on Saturday night.

The man has been identified by the police as Jaswinder, who works as a taxi driver. He lived with his wife, Sarita (35) and 10-year-old daughter, Shallini at Indira Park. Sarita worked at a factory in Mayapuri that manufactured pans.

The police arrested him today from a railway station in south-west Delhi's Sagarpur area. "We caught him while he was trying to flee," said a police officer, privy to the investigations of the case.

During his interrogation, Jaswinder claimed that he suspected his wife of having an affair. "According to his interrogation, the couple had been having a strained relationship for the last three years. They were married 10 years ago," explained the officer.

In regard to Shallini, the police said that Jaswinder didn't hold any grudge against her. "He simply thought as to where she would go after her mother was gone. He assumed that she might be mistreated. He didn't want that, so he murdered her as well," said the police officer.

On Saturday night, Jaswinder allegedly murdered Sarita and Shallini with a hammer. Sarita's niece was also staying with them. She discovered their bodies in the morning.

"She shouted for help and people then rushed to the house. Someone made a call to the police and we immediately went there," said the officer.

The police were informed about the murders at about 9 am today. "Sarita and his wife had sustained severe injuries on their heads. They died on the spot," said the officer.

The police registered a case of murder under the Indian Penal Code section 302 (punishment for murder) at the Sagarpur Police Station.

They began searching for Jaswinder and caught him while he was attempting to flee in a train.

New Delhi, January 12
The Janata Darbar launched by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal outside Delhi Secretariat on Saturday was criticised by many persons who failed to meet him. They suggested that it should be held in the assembly constituencies.

Narender Kumar, a resident of Jaitpur in South Delhi, said the Chief Minister should be aware that there are lakhs of persons who have grievances and just one person cannot listen to all of them. The Darbar should be held locally.

When the Chief Minister saw a rush of thousands of people on Saturday, he should have deputed his MLAs to collect the complainants' applications. Such kind of darbar is sheer wastage of time, he added.

Izhar Alam had a complaint against the Delhi Jal Board that had laid a sewer line in Jamia Nagar. He said instead of having Janata Darbar outside Delhi Secretariat, the Chief Minister should have asked his MLAs to have such meetings in their assembly constituencies. In the constituencies where the AAP candidates were defeated, its local leader should be authorised to have the meetings.

Suresh who came from Sundar Nagari cluster in East Delhi said organising Janata Darbar seemed to be an impractical idea. It should be held in each assembly and in blocks where people can easily submit the application of their grievances.

If local leaders are assigned to listen to the grievances, people can meet them in future also to know the fate of their applications.

But if they submit their complaints to the Chief Minister, they cannot meet him in future, he added.

New Delhi, January 12
The BJP today announced that it would launch a 'Bijli andolan' soon if the AAP government in Delhi failed to take corrective measures immediately, said Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel.

Since Arvind Kejriwal has taken charge as the Chief Minister, confusion has prevailed over the power cuts and water bills. There is crisis in governance also that has affected the common man badly, said Goel.

"The AAP government has failed to bring any clarity on the issue of power. No step has been taken to repair the tampered meters. The Chief Minister has shifted the onus for cuts on the power companies as Delhiites are facing long and unscheduled loadshedding.

Those consuming above 400 units per month will continue to pay high tariff. Taxpayers' money is being given to power companies in the name of tariff," he said.

The Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues are busy in making populist statements and the administration has come to a halt.

“There is complete confusion in every sphere of governance. Instead of utilizing the skills of officials, they are being subjected to humiliation and arbitrary orders. This has led to a grave crisis of governance," the Delhi BJP chief said.

The BJP will launch a 'door-to-door' campaign if power tariff is not rationalized for all sets of consumers.

Also, all the power meters should be corrected immediately. The power companies should be penalized for cuts, he demanded.

The AAP government should focus on administration and not indulge in political gimmickry. The people of Delhi have got a raw deal by the AAP-Cong alliance.

The BJP will not tolerate this and continue to expose the unholy tie-up between the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress, said the Delhi BJP chief.

New Delhi, January 12
In a letter written to the Delhi Government, Reliance Infra-backed BSES that controls supply of power in 70 per cent areas of the Capital, has rejected allegations that it did not pass on financial benefits on account of bringing down aggregate technical and commercial (AT & C) losses to consumers, government sources said.

According to the sources, the letter pointed out that an increase in the cost of purchasing power by more than 300 per cent over the past 10 years has fully negated the benefits of reduction in AT and C losses and created a deficit of over Rs 8,000 crore.

It said the reduction in AT and C losses from 57 per cent in 2004 to 18 per cent in financial year 2013 has resulted a gain of Rs 19,258 crore for the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited.

The increase in power purchase cost more than negated the gains from AT&C loss reduction leaving BSES discoms with a deficit of Rs 8,146 crore before operating expenses, said the letter written two days ago.

"It is unfortunate that instead of recognising the substantial contribution of BSES discoms in reducing AT &C losses, supplying 24X7 quality power supply and providing world-class consumer service, misleading and baseless allegations are being made, and the real issues leading to increase in power tariffs are not being addressed," the BSES said.

According to the sources, the BSES CEOs said the cost of per unit of power has gone up to Rs 5.54 in 2013 from Rs 1.42 in 2004 which is an increase of around 300 per cent. The additional power purchase cost during the past 10 years was Rs 27,404 crore.

Tariff of Central Public Sector Undertakings is determined by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and State Public Sector undertakings.

Both BRPL and BYPL have been maintaining that they are going through difficult financial conditions. They have been demanding a significant hike in tariff citing rise in power purchase cost.

The company said it has been finding increasingly difficult to get bank loans due to delay in announcing a liquidation plan of the existing regulatory assets and the new government's approach towards tariff.

New Delhi, January 12
To make roads safer and to discipline drivers and bring down the number of deaths due to accidents, a Road Safety Week with a campaign-"When on Road Pehle Aap"-has been launched by the Delhi Traffic Police in association with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the India Chapter of the International Road Federation (IRF).

Vijay Chibber, Secretary, Union Ministry of MoRTH today kicked off the Road Safety Week and the campaign as part of the 25th National Road Safety Week at India Gate. A march by students, Delhi Traffic Police personnel and various NGOs was the highlight of the campaign.

The march commenced from C-Hexagon point at India Gate and moved along Rajpath, Ashoka Road, Rajendra Prasad Marg and terminated at Jawahar Bhavan.

India accounts for 10 per cent of the total road accident deaths in the world, said Chibber.

"The Delhi Traffic Police has initiated various steps to discipline road users in the Capital, including e-challaning, use of cameras and regular road safety programmes. This has helped in bringing the fatal accident figure to 1,800 in 2013 as compared to more than 2,000 in the previous years," said Taj Hassan, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

The Traffic Police, along with the IRF, has started a major initiative of installing retro-reflective tapes covering 10 lakh bicycles in the Capital. More than 25,000 bicycles have already been fixed with reflective tapes free of charge.

This helps make bicycles a safer mode of transportation on various busy roads, particularly during the late hours.

The campaign is being carried out in 57 locations in various parts of the city in five phases, said K.K. Kapila, IRF chairman.

New Delhi, January 12
While the prospect of losing a part of capital city's colonial legacy might have upset heritage lovers, a top INTACH official says the dismantling of over 500 British-era bungalows in Lutyens' Zone will not affect the nomination for Delhi as a World Heritage City.

"The government decision to dismantle and rebuild over 500 Lutyens' bungalows will not affect our UNESCO nomination for Delhi as a world heritage city, because as part of the dossier, we had only included the layout of the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone and not the bungalows per se," said INTACH Delhi convener A G K Menon.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH) on behalf of the Delhi Government has worked on the nomination for past few years preparing a heritage tag dossier which includes -- the Mughal-era Shahjahanbad and the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone.

"If it is the bungalows we had listed in our dossier, then the proposed dismantling would have affected the nomination. But, since we only kept the town planning as a whole, and the new bungalows are planned to be rebuilt in the original style, it doesn't," Menon said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 12
A 35-year-old collection agent of a cellular company was allegedly shot at and robbed of Rs 4 lakh in the Kanhiya Nagar area last night.

The victim has been identified as Raj Kumar, who lives in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

He works as a collection agent with a cellular company in Delhi.

Yesterday about 8.45 pm, after collecting Rs 4 lakh from customers, Kumar was returning to his office when the incident took place.

"When he reached near Kanhiya Nagar he was accosted by three persons travelling on a motorcycle. The assailants held him hostage at a gun point and directed him to give the bag containing the money. Kumar tried to shout for help but the assailants shot at him and decamped with the bag," said a police officer.

Kumar suffered a gunshot wound in his waist. He is undergoing treatment at a government hospital, where his condition is said to be critical.

The police have registered a case of robbery and attempt to murder.

New Delhi, January 12
Three men from Bihar have been arrested for allegedly smuggling high-quality Fake Indian Currency Notes from Pakistan via Nepal.

The men who were apprehended by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have been identified as Shajahan (43), Mahesh Prasad (40) and Mohammad Nisar (38). They are residents of East Champaran in Bihar.

"We have seized currency amounting to Rs 4.5 lakh from them. The notes were in the denomination of Rs 1,000.

“The fake currency was smuggled from Pakistan to Nepal and then to India through the porous Indo-Nepal border," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.

On January 11, the Crime Branch was tipped off that three residents of East Champaran, who are allegedly involved in supplying fake currency in Delhi and the National Capital Region, will come near the Adarsh Nagar Railway Station in Delhi to deliver a consignment of the fake currency. The police apprehended them there.

The investigations revealed that the kingpin of the racket procures the fake currency from Nepal through the Indo-Nepal border.

"He then circulates it in different parts of the country through his agents. We have identified the local receiver of the fake currency," said Yadav.

According to the officer, the currency is allegedly produced at an old currency note press in Pakistan. "Its circulation is managed by Iqbal Kana," said Yadav.

He said that the value of fake currency of the denomination of Rs 1,000 is worth Rs 200 in Pakistan, Rs 400 in Nepal and Bangladesh and when it reaches the National 
Capital Region its worth is Rs 700.

"The profits derived out of fake currency funds anti-state activities like terrorism and narcotics trade," said Yadav.