New Delhi, July 8
Terming the Rail Budget presented by Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda 'useless', scores of Congress workers led by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Arvinder Singh Lovely today staged a protest outside the minister's residence.

The leaders said that the budget was intended to provide benefits to the 'Adanis' and the 'Ambanis'.

The protesters reached Gowda's 1, Tyagraj Marg residence around 3 pm and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gowda. They also demanded an immediate rollback of the recent rail fare hike.

"Modi government's budget is useless and the bullet train proposal is just eyewash. They should first roll back the recent rail fare hike. The BJP-led government has unleashed 'bullet inflation' on people," said Mukesh Sharma, DPCC chief spokesperson.

Yesterday, the Congress leaders had tried to gherao Parliament House to protest against the general price rise and rail fare hike.

"Dangling the promise of introducing a bullet train and speed trains, the minister is fooling the people in the name of providing relief to the poor. The whole budget is intended to provide benefits to the rich and through this intended privatization of the Railways, ordinary people's mode of transport is being turned into a luxury for the rich," Sharma said.

The leaders questioned BJP's attempt to implement FDI in the Railways which the party had always opposed in the past.

"By not rolling back fare hikes, the BJP has once again exposed its anti-poor fang. The Congress will continue to hold its peaceful agitations," added DPCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely.

New Delhi, July 8
An 81-year-old woman was murdered allegedly by her 21-year-old servant in south Delhi's posh Greater Kailash colony last night, the police said.

The body of the woman, Rekha Duggal, was found burnt on bed by her family and the police.

Rekha's son-in-law, Manmohan, a former Roving Editor with The Tribune, told this correspondent that she belonged to Gujranwala, Pakistan. Her husband, K K Duggal, was a former Editor of the United News of India (UNI).

"She was a freedom fighter who had participated in the girls' resistance against the British in Gujranwala," said Manmohan.

The police have registered a case of murder and arrested her servant, Neeraj Saki. Saki has allegedly admitted to the police that he killed Rekha.

"He has also admitted that he sexually assaulted Rekha, but only the postmortem report will ascertain this. The report is the main evidence in this case," said a senior police officer, privy to the details of the case.

Narrating the sequence of events, Manmohan said that at about 9 pm on Monday, Rekha's neighbour, Siroj Prakash, called his wife, Sadhna Mohan, informing her that her mother had not returned home. He explained that Rekha would go for a walk at 6 pm every day. She would return home at about 7.10 pm and watch a religious programme on television at 7.15 pm.

Manmohan and his wife rushed to Greater Kailash around 9.25 pm. "We searched at a park near Rekha's residence to check if she was there, but we didn't find her. She had breathing problems. We searched her residence after opening the main door using the keys that her caretaker had. We didn't find her there either," said Manmohan.

Rekha lived on the ground floor (S- 93) at a building in Greater Kailash. The building had a basement and a car park above it. Rekha had given the first floor of the building to her daughter, Sadhna. The second floor belonged to the builder of the house. The third floor was rented out to a Gurgaon-based company by Rekha.

"We don't live in this building. We live at Press Enclave," said Manmohan.

After informing Sadhna, Siroj had also called the police, reporting that Rekha had gone missing.

The police arrived at Rekha's residence by about 9.30 pm. "We thought that she would be on the first floor. She would check our house on that floor after a carpenter would finish his work, to see if the lights had been switched off. My wife had the keys to the residence, she opened it and came running outside. She said there was smoke everywhere. A police control room team and I went inside. The fans, bathroom, walls and curtains were burnt. We entered the front bedroom which overlooks the main road and found her lying on bed. She was completely burnt," said Manmohan.

The police said that Rekha had sustained 60 per cent burns. "The teams of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory of the CBI and Delhi Fire Services were called to examine the crime scene. They opined that the bed and the body were deliberately set on fire. The conduct of Neeraj was found to be suspicious. On questioning him, he admitted to killing Rekha. He was arrested. He has been working for her for the past nine months," said the police officer.

New Delhi, July 8
The issuing of provisional regularisation certificates to nearly 900 unauthorised colonies in the national Capital by the Sheila Dikshit government was a 'political fraud,' North Delhi Mayor Yogender Chandolia has alleged.

Chandolia and NDMC's Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj today criticised the former Dikshit government for issuing provisional certificates to unauthorised colonies 'in haste without providing the basic amenities' as submitted by the CAG.

"Chandolia and Bhardwaj have termed this action of the former Delhi government a political fraud and demanded that a criminal case be registered against the then government leaders for misleading the public in declaring the unauthorised colonies authorised," the BJP-led NDMC said in the statement.

The NDMC Mayor further alleged that the then Congress government 'failed' in providing civic facilities in the colonies which it declared authorised.

New Delhi, July 8
A 19-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by a doctor when she visited his clinic at east Delhi's Krishna Nagar area on Monday evening.

The accused has been identified as 44-year-old Sheesh Pal, who is a resident of Krishna Nagar. He is yet to be arrested, but was detained by the police for questioning. He runs a private clinic at the Krishna Nagar market.

According to the police, the incident took place at about 7 pm on Monday.

A police officer privy to the details of the case said that the victim in her statement has alleged that she had been visiting the doctor for treatment regularly.

The victim has claimed that she had been having stomachache, the police said.

"The girl has alleged that she had visited the same doctor about four times in the past. However on Monday when she arrived at the private clinic with her female friend, the doctor asked her friend to go outside to purchase medicines. He meanwhile raped the victim," said the police officer.

According to the officer, the girl left the premises and met her friend who was returning from the chemist. "She told her about the incident and decided to call the police," added the officer.

A case was registered against the accused at the Krishna Nagar police station.