New Delhi, July 29
A class X student was allegedly gangraped at gunpoint by five men in west Delhi's Uttam Nagar locality.

The incident took place on July 19, when the girl was on her way to school. The girl has alleged that the five men shot a video of the act on a mobile phone and blackmailed her into being silent, according to sources.

She informed her parents about the incident. They then reported the matter to the police today.

The police apprehended three of the accused, including two minors. The minors and the 20-year-old accused, Surendra Pahelwan, were apprehended from their residences after the complaint was received, according to sources. Out of the two accused who are absconding, one is a minor.

Sources claimed that four of the accused--two of them were acquainted with the victim--met her on July 19 when she was going to school. They allegedly took her to an apartment of the fifth accused who posed as a policeman and held her at gunpoint. They then allegedly took turns to rape her.

The victim was traumatised and did not go to school since the incident took place. On Tuesday morning, she informed her parents about the incident. They then reported the matter to the police.

The police are investigating the victim's allegations and have launched a search for the two absconding accused. A case of gangrape under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered.

New Delhi, July 29
There couldn't have been a better Eid gift for Md Rushid whose 14-month-old son Zubair can now lead a healthy life after he underwent treatment involving a challenging procedure performed today for a congenital condition--patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) which often results in shortness of breath and pneumonia.

Natives of strife-torn Saharanpur, his relatives brought the infant yesterday to Delhi-based BLK Super Speciality Hospital after he was refused treatment by many other hospitals.

PDA is present in all while being in the mother's womb. It's a bypass for the lungs since they are non-functional in utero. This bypass track is supposed to close within first a few days after birth, but in Zubair's case it has not closed, said HoD of BLK Children's Heart Institute, Dr Vikas Kohli.

"Zubair's condition resulted in flooding of lungs which put high pressure on his lungs. Additionally, it resulted in recurrent of pneumonia and he does not gain weight, and remained only 7 kg. He should have 11 kgs of weight under normal conditions," added Dr Kohli while noting that the challenge was to close the opening without surgery considering the baby's age and weight.

So the procedure was carried out without general anaesthesia under deep sedation so that the patient can get up immediately after the procedure and take a feed early.

"It was done through the groin vein. The process is similar to an angioplasty. From the groin, the wire was passed into the heart and the PDA crossed. Over this a catheter (a plastic tube like the ball pen refill but much longer) was passed over the wire to close the opening," he explained.

PDA is a heart problem that affects babies soon after birth. In PDA, abnormal blood flow occurs between two of the major arteries, aorta and the pulmonary artery, connected to the heart. Before birth, these arteries are connected by a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus. This blood vessel is a vital part of foetal blood circulation. Within minutes or up to a few days after birth, the ductus arteriosus closes automatically.

"But in Zubair's case, it remained open (patent). The opening allowed oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery. This strained his heart and increased blood pressure in the lung arteries," said Dr Kohli after the procedure.

Although the condition can affect full-term infants, it's more common in premature infants. On average, PDA occurs in about 8 out of every 1,000 premature babies, compared to two out of every 1,000 full-term babies.

Md Rushid and his family of 11 members who live in a mosque in Saharanpur on daily rent of Rs 100 are today happy as the baby can now lead a normal life.

New Delhi, July 29
The Delhi Transport department has empanelled only 10 companies to install auto and taxi fare meters in more than one lakh vehicles whereas 21 companies are providing GPS meters in public service vehicles which are just above 10,000.

The monopoly of limited companies has led to overcharging of meters which sell them at Rs 15,000, while it costs Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 in the open market.

"It is because of the monopoly of this limited group of companies that makes it difficult for auto-drivers to get GPS-enabled meters installed. The same meter which they sell for Rs 15,000 is available for just Rs 7,000 with other companies but since they are not registered by the government, they cannot be bought," said Rajender Soni, president, Delhi Auto-Drivers' Union.

The Transport department had appointed Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) to execute the process of registration of companies for providing fare meters to autos and taxis.

However, the process has been withheld by DIMTS, presumably due to procedural issues to be settled by the Transport department.

The Association of Fare Auto/Taxi Meters Manufacturers has written a letter to the Union Transport Minister, Lieutenant Governor and Prime Minister, demanding to reopen the empanelment process.

"The government has blocked new entrants in the market, which has deprived the whole project of fair competition and consequently, denying the auto/taxi owner of the best possible price. We fail to understand the reason for procrastination on the part of the government officials," the letter said.

"In the recent Public Service Vehicle (PSV) project executed by DIMTS, the number of vehicles in which GPS systems were to be installed was a little above 10,000 and 21 vendors were empanelled. While in this case, where the number of auto/taxi is more than one lakh, the empanelment process is withheld only after empanelling 10 vendors," said Harmel Dhiman, president of the manufacturers' association.

In the absence of fierce competition, the auto/taxi fare meters are being sold at Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000. However, if more vendors are allowed to be empanelled, the price would come down to Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000, which would be in line with the objective of the whole project, added Dhiman.

New Delhi, July 29
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today vacated his Tilak Lane government accommodation and shifted to his old flat in Kaushambi.

The flat has been allotted to his wife Sunita, who is senior Indian Revenue Service officer. She had surrendered the accommodation early this year after Kejriwal moved to Tilak Road residence when he became the Chief Minister.

Interestingly, it is the same 'lucky' flat from where Kejriwal chalked out the strategy for the 2013 assembly polls and scripted a spectacular win and went on to form the government.

Before moving to Kaushambi, Kejriwal had been staying in government accommodation at Tilak Lane for nearly five months after resigning as the Chief Minister. He had informed the authorities that he would be staying there till July-end and until then pay rent at a market price.

"Hanuman Road premises will serve as his office-cum-residence. More importantly, he will also stay in New Delhi assembly constituency, which he represents," a party spokesperson said.

The AAP national convener had initially zeroed in on a residence at Civil Lines, but it got stuck in a legal tangle after which he decided to look for another house.

New Delhi, July 29
An alleged member of the terror group, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, who was arrested from the national Capital last week, has told the Delhi Police that top two terrorists were allegedly indoctrinated for 'jihad' while they were lodged inside Delhi's Tihar Prisons a decade ago.

The alleged LeT member, Abdul Subhan (42), who was arrested by the Delhi Police from south Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan locality on July 20, has told the police that Asif Raza Khan, a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist and his brother, Amir Raza Khan, had been indoctrinated in Tihar Prisons. Amir later became the founding member of the Indian Mujahideen, a banned terrorist organisation.

According to the police, Subhan said that Maulana Masood Azhar and Mustaq Ahmed Zargar, the then alleged members of JeM, had indoctrinated Asif and Amir inside Tihar. Asif and Amir were lodged in the prison for their involvement in some criminal cases.

Subhan further told the police that he has allegedly worked with Aftab Ahmed--a notorious criminal of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and is now lodged in Kolkata jail

Subhan who is from Mewat in Haryana, had allegedly joined the LeT in 2001. During the same year, he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his involvement in a case of the recovery of a consignment of RDX and ammunition from a truck in Gujarat.

Subhan was then sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and was released out of Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad in 2010 after completing a sentence of about eight years.

"After his release from prison, Subhan started indoctrinating and recruiting people for terrorist activities. He was given a task to create a new LeT module in Mewat," said a police officer.

The officer said that Subhan was coordinating with his nephew and LeT terrorist Asahbuddin, who was lodged in Kolkata jail, to create the Mewat module.

A Delhi court remanded Asahbuddin in the custody of the Special Cell until August 2 for further investigation into the conspiracy of carrying out the terror attack.