New Delhi, February 15
The Delhi police have launched a helpline for people of the Northeast and also constituted a special cell to monitor cases in which they are the victims.

This move aimed at ensuring their safety was made following the murder of Nido Tania, a 19-year-old boy from Arunachal Pradesh.

The developments were shared by the Delhi Police Commissioner, Bhim Sain Bassi. He added that the heads of the 11 police districts in Delhi will be nodal officers and will maintain close contact with the Northeastern groups. Preventive policing will be carried out in areas such as North Campus, Munirka and Dwarka, where there is a large population of the people from the Northeast, for ensuring action on their complaints.

Bassi also said that sensitisation programmes for officers ranging from constables to inspectors will also be conducted regularly.

Bassi said that the helpline is 1093. There will be five lines for this number at the central police control room.

He said that there is a technical problem when dialling the number from a mobile phone. "In the mobile phones, one has to place 011 before 1093 to dial the number. The service provider will have to modify the mechanism and after one or two days, this problem will be solved," he said.

Explaining the objective of this helpline, he said, "A distressed person hailing from the Northeast can also contact the police on 1093, apart from dialling 100, to immediately address the grievance. We have developed a mechanism to ensure that when such information is received at the police control room, it will be immediately disseminated to the field formations so that the help may be provided without delay," said the Police Commissioner.

The special cell will be functional at South Delhi's Nanakpura area, where residential and official buildings are located. It will be supervised by Deputy Commissioner of Police Kime Kaming, who is from the Northeast and is presently the head of the 4th Battalion of the Delhi Armed Police.

New Delhi, February 15
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said Arvind Kejriwal had no option but to resign after losing majority on the floor of the Assembly and it was not a matter of choice for the Aam Aadmi Party leader who believes in "talking action" and not action.

"His (Kejriwal) government lost majority on the floor of the House, it is not a matter (of choice), so he quit," the 75-year-old Congress leader said in an interview.

She also took a dig at Kejriwal saying the AAP leader had to (quit) because he had said he was not going to rule by the law.

She was responding to a query on Kejriwal's decision to step down after he was prevented from tabling his dream Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly yesterday in the face of stiff opposition from both the Congress and BJP.

Dikshit made it clear that her party's support was very "categorical". "Anything that is good for the city and its citizens, we will back you for it but it does not mean that tomorrow you will say that we will not listen to what the Lt Governor says. We did not promise to support that," the three-term Chief Minister, who lost her own seat to Kejriwal by more than 25,000 votes in the Assembly polls last year, said.—PTI

New Delhi, February 15
The outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is playing politics over the Jan Lokpal, said Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely today.

"Since there was no voting on the Jan Lokpal Bill, there was no question of being for or against the Bill," he said at a press conference.

According to him, the Congress’ stand on supporting the government on the Jan Lokpal remained unchanged provided the Bill had been brought in a constitutional manner.

He accused Kejriwal of pushing his own political agenda in the name of this Bill. "The Congress' support letter to the LG on supporting the Delhi government on the 18 points is still valid, and the party continued to stand by it," said Lovely.

The Congress has never refused to give support to the Bill, he said.

New Delhi, February 15
A 25-year-old woman was killed when she was allegedly attacked with a meat cleaver by two men near the Karol Bagh Metro station in central Delhi on Valentine's Day on Friday.

The victim has been identified by the police as Simranjeet Kaur, who lived with her husband at South Delhi's Nanakpura area. She worked at a multinational company in Noida. She was married two years ago.

"We have registered a case and investigation has begun. It is an unfortunate incident and I can assure you that the case will be solved," said Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi

Simranjeet was going to give a surprise visit to her cousin, who recently became a mother. According to the police, she was travelling to Karol Bagh from Noida via Metro train. She was barely half a kilometre from the Karol Bagh station and near her paternal aunt's house when the incident took place at around 7.30 pm.

Eyewitnesses told the police that they saw two men arriving on a scooter and stopping in front of Simranjeet. One of them allegedly attacked her with a meat cleaver. He struck her twice with it and it is believed that she may have died after the first hit on her chest.

Locals rushed to help Simranjeet even as her attackers fled. She was lying in a pool of blood when the police arrived. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead.

"We are probing the case from all possible angles and expect a breakthrough very soon," added another police officer.

Sources said the crime may have been executed by professional hitmen and the police are also questioning Simranjeet's husband. He was the last person to have had a telephonic conversation with her.