New Delhi, July 16
After having meetings with Delhi MPs, party activists and MLAs, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay today indicated that the saffron party is ready to form a government in the national Capital provided it is invited by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung.

The BJP has given this indication nearly six months after the party refused to take the plunge citing lack of majority.

Newly appointed Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said that all the options are open to form the government. He had a meeting with Delhi MPs, district and block level presidents of the party yesterday. Today he had a meeting with the party MLAs.

Sources said almost all the BJP MLAs and MPs were in favour of forming the government and a decision on the issue is likely to be taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from Brazil.

They said senior leader and former Delhi Finance Minister Jagdish Mukhi was the front-runner for the Chief Minister's post as he is known to have good equation with all quarters in the party.

The BJP will require the support of five additional MLAs to prove majority in the assembly and the sources said the party was confident of getting them.

The sources said at least six Congress MLAs, including three Muslims, were ready to form a separate group and extend support to a BJP government.

The BJP had emerged the single largest party after the assembly polls with 32 seats, including ally Akali Dal's MLA, in the 70-member assembly.

The party fell four seats short of a simple majority and had refused to form government in December last year, saying it did not have the numbers and would not resort to any "unfair means" to take the reins.

New Delhi, July 16
A 36-year-old man allegedly strangled his eight-month pregnant wife and six-year-old mentally challenged son during the early hours today. The accused identified as Mukesh Chauhan allegedly informed the police about committing the two murders and also told them that he was going to the railway tracks to end his life.

The police traced his mobile phone location and arrested him near the Nangloi railway station in outer Delhi, within an hour of his call.

The victims have been identified as Mukesh's wife, Lata (32) and son Dibanshu.

Mukesh lives in a four-storey building with his three brothers and their families. They claimed that they heard no sounds of struggling.

According to the police, Mukesh allegedly killed his wife and son about 6 am, when his brothers and their families were sleeping. The family learnt about the murders about 9.15 am when a police team from the nearby station reached the building.

"The police came to home and told me to take a look at my aunty and cousin. I saw them sleeping on the floor but when I tried waking them up, there was no response," said Lata's nephew, Deepak. There were strangled marks on Lata's necks, according to the police.

Deepak stayed at Mukesh's house as he worked as an assistant with Mukesh, who himself assisted an architect.

Mukesh claimed that the couple often quarrelled. "Lata would ask him to help her in caring for their son Dibanshu, because she was pregnant. He would say he was already burdened with work," he said. Dibanshu was mentally challenged and needed constant care.

A police officer privy to the details of the case said that the couple also fought over money. "Mukesh was not earning much from his work and his wife would often ask him for money that would anger him. He was also under debt," said the officer.

Last night, the couple fought over the same issues. "The fight turned ugly at 4 am and Mukesh strangled Lata and Dibanshu about 6 am. He fled his home two hours later by a motorcycle and on the way informed the police that he was going to kill himself," the officer added.

According to the officer, Mukesh did reach the Nangloi railway station, but did not jump in front of the train, which led to his arrest.

New Delhi, July 16
Refuting reports that the restructuring of courses for last year's batch of students enrolled under four-year undergraduate programme might lead to delay in commencing the new academic session, Delhi University today reaffirmed that the session will begin on July 21 as per schedule.

"The colleges will reopen as per the schedule and the courses are being taken care of. The University is working in close tandem with the college principals and the time table as well as the courses will be ready prior to the commencement of the session," said DU's media coordinator Malay Neerav.

Last week, the varsity had asked heads of various departments to expedite the restructuring of undergraduate courses in the three-year format days after it had scrapped the controversial FYUP.

Following the communication from the Assistant Registrar, various Departments had called Committee of Courses meetings who had submitted their recommendations by Monday.

"A few of the recommendations were sent back by the VC yesterday as the department heads had confusion about allied courses. They have been communicated to revise the recommendations after including the allied courses as per the guidelines calculate the work load," SK Garg, President of DU's Principals' Association, said.

The varsity had earlier this week reassured the students that the session will begin as per the schedule but the move to send back the recommendations to few colleges received criticism from various quarters including DUTA and speculation arose that the session would be delayed. "This may further delay the meetings of the statutory bodies and cause dissatisfaction, unhappiness and worry amongst teachers of colleges. — PTI

New Delhi, July 16
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NOIDA Authority for the construction of Metro corridor between Kalindi Kunj and Botanical Garden in Noida.

"The DMRC is working on the new project of extending Metro line from Kalindi Kunj to Botanical Garden in Noida. The MoU regarding this was signed today," said SD Sharma, DMRC director.

The Kalindi Kunj-Botanical Garden stretch is a 3.962-km-long elevated section, which will be a part of Delhi Metro Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor. This project is expected to be completed in 2017.

Okhla Bird Sanctuary and Botanical Garden will directly connect Noida with various important areas in Delhi such as Jamia Milia Islamia University, Kalkaji, Okhla, Nehru Place, IIT, etc.

DMRC official said that the Botanical Garden Metro station in Noida will emerge as the first-ever interchange Metro station in the National Capital Region.

This station will provide interchange between the currently operational line of Noida City Centre-Dwarka Sector 21 and the upcoming Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor.

The DMRC network's fourth bridge over the Yamuna is coming up on this section. This bridge will also be the second bridge to come up in Metro Phase III after the one which is being built along the Nizamuddin Road bridge on the Majlish Park-Shiv Vihar Metro corridor.

This link will be the second Metro connection between Delhi and Noida. The presently operational Line III connects Noida City Centre with Dwarka and covers Golf Course, Botanical Garden, Sector 18, Sector 16 and Sector 15 areas of the satellite city.

New Delhi, July 16
The National Human Rights Commission today issued notices to the Delhi government and Delhi Police seeking report over the "filthy" atmosphere and "insecure" surroundings of an orphanage (Bachchiyon ka Ghar) for Muslim girls at Matia Mahal in Old Delhi.

The orphanage, built in 1891, is one of the oldest buildings in the city and is approached through congested and dark bylanes.

According to a statement released today, a notice has been issued to the Chief Secretary, Delhi government and Commissioner of Police, calling upon them to submit detailed reports within four weeks. The notice was issued after the NHRC has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that the girls of an orphanage at Matia Mahal in Old Delhi are facing problems due to shortage of space, filthy atmosphere and insecure surroundings.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of girls living in the orphanage.

The three-storeyed orphanage building consists of one hall and six small rooms. It is infested with rats which often bite the girls in sleep. The hall serves as a drawing room, dining room and bedroom. More than 50 inmates, aged from seven to 18 years, cannot play outside as the narrow streets approaching the orphanage are frequented by vagabonds who tail them up to their school, according to the statement.

These vagabonds snatch their dupattas at times and hold their hands. When these girls resist their attempts, false complaints are filed against them. Chances of an untoward incident happening are always there, the statement said.

New Delhi, July 16
A 36-year-old Tanzanian national was caught by the Central Industrial Security Force at IGI Airport for allegedly carrying 22.7 kg of pseudoephedrine, a precursor chemical used illegally to manufacture 'party drugs'.

According to the CISF, at about 12.14 am on Tuesday, the accused, Rashid Biwa Ramdhanni, had arrived at gate number three of Terminal-3 of the airport. She was to travel by a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"During the checking of her baggage, 68 packets were found. They were tested with the drugs detection kit which showed the substance as pseudoephedrine. It was 22.7 kgs of pseudoephedrine worth Rs 18 lakh," said Hemendra Singh, Deputy Commandant, CISF's Public Relations Officer. 

New Delhi, July 16
A 62-year-old retired Indian Foreign Service officer allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself at his rented accommodation in south Delhi's Shanti Niketan locality today.

The deceased has been identified as Dr Rakesh Shankar, a 1979 batch IFS officer who had retired under Voluntary Retired Scheme in 2010.

Shankar had served as a diplomat in the Gulf, Europe, Africa and Canada. He was also appointed as India's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, according to sources.

The incident was reported at about 3.40 pm when Shankar's son made a call to the police. When the police reached Shankar's residence, they found him lying in a pool of blood on the floor. He had shot himself in the head and the gun was lying by him. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. The police will conduct the postmortem.

No suicide note has been recovered from his possession. Shankar's son told the police that his father had been ill for the past couple of years and therefore had taken voluntary retirement at 58. Shankar had been undergoing treatment at the Fortis Hospital since then. The police did not want to disclose his illness.

"We have taken Shankar's mobile phone and are examining its call details," said a police officer, privy to the details of the case. The police's investigations point to suicide, but they are investigating all "plausible" angles.

The police claimed to have found a diary from a study table in Shankar's bedroom.

"Several poems have been written in the diary. His recent poems point towards his depression over something," said police sources.