News across India, Month of July,2010

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ies-during-padayatra-/articleshow/6215576.cms

Congress worker dies during padayatra
PTI, Jul 25, 2010, 08.12pm IST

BANGALORE: A 68-year-old Congress worker died of heart attack during the Congress' Bellary Chalo Padayatra' in the city on Sunday.

Chikkamariah collapsed while undertaking the 320-km padayatra.

He was rushed to M S Ramaiah Hospital, where he was declared brought dead, hospital sources said.

Congress today kick started the padayatra from the city to highlight "failure" of the BJP government in Karnataka on various issues, including illegal mining.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Reddy-drop-yatra-plan/articleshow/6212574.cms

Stung Sriramulu and Reddy drop yatra plan
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 03.38am IST

BANGALORE: Smarting from the central and state leaderships' disapproval, ministers B Sriramulu and G Janardhana Reddy have dropped their Bellary-Mysore padayatra plan. Instead, they will participate in four party conventions at Davanagere, Gulbarga, Mysore and Bellary.

To counter Congress' walkathon, Sriramulu and Reddy had unilaterally announced their padayatra agenda to highlight alleged misdeeds of the Congress and JD(S). However, central and state BJP leaders objected, saying such rallies will be under the party umbrella and not an individual affair.

Now, the conventions will be held to create public awareness about the government's 'achievements' in the last two years. The first will be in Davanagere on August 2; Gulbarga (August 5); Mysore (August 12) and Bellary (August 20), where senior leader Sushma Swaraj will be present.

Ever since Sriramulu announced his padayatra plan, state party chief K S Eshwarappa and CM B S Yeddyurappa have been against it. They even summoned the ministers and warned that such announcements should be brought to their notice beforehand.

Unmoved, both Sriramulu and Reddy placed their proposal before the central leadership last week, but met with little success. They said such a padayatra is the opposition's business, not that of the ruling party.

Sriramulu on Saturday seemed apologetic about his announcement, saying he should have raised it at the party forum.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...route-map-to-governor/articleshow/6212568.cms

Siddu gives route map to governor
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 03.36am IST

BANGALORE: The state Congress is all set to take on the challenge of the BJP with its 320-km 'Nada Rakshana Nadige' that kicks off from the Freedom Park here at 8.30 am on Sunday and culminates on August 9 in Bellary.

On Saturday, Siddaramaiah called on governor H R Bhardwaj to apprise him of the padayatra. Congress is apprehensive that even the slightest provocation en route may escalate into a law-and-order problem.

Siddaramaiah told reporters that it is the government's duty to provide protection to them. He also gave the padayatra route map to the governor.

Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has rejected a CBI probe or dropping the Reddy brothers from the cabinet. But the catch is, if the Lokayukta decides to seek CBI help, he has to route request through the government.

For once, the Congress has been clear on its stand of not wanting to give the JD(S) a piggyback ride. The JD(S) had offered to join the padayatra. After the rejection, state JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy has convened a meeting of intellectuals and litterateurs on August 1 to elicit their opinion to combat illegal mining.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ace-in-the-mainstream/articleshow/6212563.cms

Sealing their rightful place in the mainstream
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 03.32am IST

BANGALORE: Prashant (35) suffers from cerebral palsy but is gainfully employed in Mindtree Foundation, a global IT and R&D consulting firm. In 2007, he initiated the design of a new assistive technology Tool (AT): the typing button.

"The idea clicked when I saw my friend Ananth using the computer. In his case, even a virtual keyboard didn't work." The 'typing button' is a virtual keyboard with just one key, capable of detecting movements. As letters appear on screen, a simple move in front of the movement detector brings the computer to type in the letter displayed on the screen, and on any document.

Thanks to AT, many others like Prashant have managed to find jobs. "From medical intervention to psychological therapy — for decades, AT has helped the disabled.

"It's important we include more and more disabled at workplaces. This can be done by providing them affordable ATs and adequate training," said Rukmini Krishnaswamy, director of Spastics Society of Karnataka. She was speaking at the international conference on assistive technology held in Bangalore on Saturday.

The conference hosted a number of companies that displayed their assistive technology tools, of which many were specially designed for the Indian market.

A team of students from IIT-Delhi presented a set of AT tools designed for the visually impaired. However, their inventions are yet to hit the market.

Explained Raja Shanmugam, CEO Mindtree: "Our job is to make ATs affordable to citizens. We design products keeping in mind that manufacturing costs don't shoot up. We then contact the right manufacturers who'll create the product at affordable rates."

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ded-to-police-custody/articleshow/6211512.cms

Couple paraded naked in Jalgaon; 13 remanded to police custody
PTI, Jul 24, 2010, 08.45pm IST

MUMBAI: Thirteen persons, arrested for allegedly parading a couple naked in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra, were today remanded to police custody till July 31, police said.

"The 13 accused have been sent to police custody till July 31," a police official told PTI over phone from Dharangaon police station which registered the case.

The accused entered the house of 32-year old housewife at Nanded village in Dharangaon taluka on July 19 and dragged her out of the house, along with a veterinarian Anil Chaudhry, who was with her," police said.

"The accused alleged that the woman was having an affair with him," the official said.

The couple were stripped, kicked about after tying their hands and legs with rope and photographed, police said.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...held-gets-bail-in-hrs/articleshow/6208381.cms

Ramee hotel director held, gets bail in hrs
Vijay V Singh, TNN, Jul 24, 2010, 05.41am IST

MUMBAI: More than a fortnight after a seven-year-old boy fell to death from the sixth floor of a four-star hotel due to the management's negligence, the Juhu police on Wednesday arrested one of the directors. However, Ashok Shetty of Ramee Guestline Hotel was released by a magistrate's court a few hours later.

Shetty was produced in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court which released him on bail of Rs 10,000. Reacting to the development, legal experts said the police could have done little. "The law looks at the intention of the accused and in this case, we may assume that the hotel management or its staff had no intention to kill the boy,'' said criminal lawyer Mubin Solkar.

On July 3, Aditya Dube, had gone to the hotel along with his parents and their friends for dinner. The family was dining in the sixth floor restaurant 'Its Mirchi', while Aditya was playing with other kids. By mistake, he stepped on an acrylic sheet that was covering a gap which had caved in, and Aditya went down, breaking the sheet. He died during treatment at the hospital.

The police, however, was non-committal on the action against the hotel's managing director, Santosh Shetty, who was running the restaurant without valid permission and licence. Earlier, the Juhu police claimed that they would take action against the owner and managing director of the hotel and stated that they cannot plead ignorance of the illegal construction.

The remand application filed by the police on Ashok Shetty said, "After recording the statement of concerned witnesses, the police came to the conclusion that the illegal construction in the part of Its Mirchi restaurant was done at the behest of Ashok Shetty. The work was done without any plan and permission. The illegal construction work in the restaurant led to the death. The police are probing the role of other directors in the case.''

Legal experts said the police had no choice but to book the director of the hotel under Section 304 A of the IPC which deals with a "negligent act'' and is easily bailable.

The real way out of situations such as this one—where even those responsible for taking a life—are able to walk free immediately after their arrest, is to make Section 304 A non-bailable. "It is a debate that has been going on for quite a while now but it is ultimately up to the legislature to do so,'' Solkar said.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Landslide-ruins-row-houses/articleshow/6208392.cms

Landslide ruins row houses
Parvathy Gopalakrishnan, TNN, Jul 24, 2010, 05.46am IST

MUMBAI: Heavy rains triggered a landslide at the New Mhada Colony near Nagari Nivara in Dindoshi, Malad (E), on Thursday afternoon, rendering six families homeless. The housing society comprises 21 row-houses set out in three rows. The Mhada complex comprising low, middle, high-income buildings and row-houses was built in 2005.

The landslide brought down a portion of a row-house and mud has swamped six others in the same line, which are now on the verge of collapsing. Residents of the colony allege that the incident is a consequence of excavation of a hill in the immediate vicinity of the row-houses.

Shockingly, there was a landslide at exactly the same place a month ago. Both landslides were a result of the cutting of a hill adjoining the row-houses, separated by a retaining wall. When a well-known city developer began cutting the hill early this year, local Congress MLA Rajhans Singh filed a complaint with the suburban collector as well as the forest department.

Following the complaint, the cutting of the hill was stayed. But the developer did not remove the loose earth, said residents, with the result that during a heavy downpour last month it came crashing down. Meena Murbadkar, whose house has partially collapsed, said after the first landslide the developer started removing the earth around three weeks ago. Local civic officials alleged that under the guise of clearing the earth, the developer began to further cut the hill.

"I was talking on the phone after lunch when I heard a roaring noise. To my horror, I saw mud and slush gush into the house crashing the walls under the impact,'' said Ravi Murbadkar, whose row-house No 15-D was damaged in the landslide. Last month, the earth had merely come crashing into the compound. "I have incurred losses of more than Rs 6 lakh with all the furniture damaged. The kitchen, living room and the dining hall are all buried under the muck,'' he said. The family has temporarily shifted to a neighbour's home in the opposite row.

The residents' woes do not end here. The road leading to the colony is full of slush, making the road virtually inaccessible on foot. "The developer is responsible for this. They are not just cutting down the hills but also harming the environment by burning the shrubs and cutting down trees frequently,'' said George Kutty, another resident.

A month back, the retention wall of the colony gave way, providing an easy entry route to leopards. The hills form a buffer zone on the north, around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Civic officials blamed Mhada for the second landslide. "When Mhada issued a notice to the developer, it did not spell out how the work should be done. The developer used the notice to further cut the hill and has even cut a road through the hills,'' said officials.

On Friday, local Congress MP and union minister of state for IT and communications, Gurudas Kamat along with Mhada chairman Amarjit Manhas visited the site of the devastation. Kamat said he had directed the collector to stop the excavation. "The families who have been affected must be compensated. The developer is responsible for the mishap,'' he said. Manhas said Mhada had issued five notices to the developer to stop excavation. "We have written to the collector to revoke the excavation permission,'' said Manhas. He added Mhada would provide temporary accommodation to affected families.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ver-false-caste-claim/articleshow/6220824.cms

5-time MP loses seat over false caste claim
Ananthakrishnan G, TNN, Jul 27, 2010, 03.50am IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major embarrassment to the Congress, the Kerala High Court on Monday annulled the election of five-time party Lok Sabha MP and AICC secretary Kodikkunnil Suresh (48) from the Mavelikkara reserved constituency on the ground that he did not belong to the Scheduled Caste and was wrongly claiming such status benefit.

The order came on a petition filed by his rival from Mavelikkara R S Anil of the CPI and two others. Allowing the petition, a bench of Justice Sasidharan Nambiar noted discrepancies in Suresh's claims, whose name, as per school records, was J Maniyan, his religion Christian and caste Cheramar. But his election affidavit showed him as Hindu. Suresh, whose parents converted to Christianity, submitted that he had returned to Hinduism in 1978. However, he could not produce evidence to support the claim.

The order highlighted the conflicting stands in two certificates produced by Suresh to establish his caste. According to one, he was Hindu Cheramar; and according to another, a Hindu Pulaya.

Anil's advocate A Jayasankar, said, "In all cases of reconversion, the concerned person must produce certificates to show that he was accepted by community. But Suresh could not produce this.'' The HC also noted that the returning officer had wrongly accepted Suresh's nomination papers.

Suresh, elected to the Lok Sabha four times from Adoor which has ceased to exist after delimitation, held his rivals responsible for the adverse verdict. "Some Congressmen who failed to get the seat and certain others in the local leadership were behind the campaign,'' Suresh said from New Delhi. He said he had not seen the judgement and would decide on challenging it in the Supreme Court after talking to the party leadership.

Meanwhile, Anil termed the HC order as a victory for social justice. The BJP, however, went for the Congress's jugular and accused it of "cheating the Scheduled Castes''. Demanding that the party apologise for "appropriating benefits due to SCs'', BJP state president V Muraleedharan said, "It's now clear that Suresh got elected using false certificates. A criminal case should be registered against him and all benefits to him as MP should be taken back.''

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...le-for-blogs-it-hosts/articleshow/6220796.cms

HC to decide if Google liable for blogs it hosts
Swati Deshpande, TNN, Jul 27, 2010, 03.52am IST

MUMBAI: Is Google India liable for criminal action when bloggers post defamatory content? Contending that the search giant can't be held responsible for defamatory blogs that the site hosts, an ex-employee of Google India has now challenged summons issued to him by a Mumbai magistrate.

The next hearing of the case at the Bombay High Court is on Thursday. The case is significant at a time when over 300,000 words per minute are blogged on the largest search engine site.

The legal issue here is who to hold criminally liable for libel, especially when bloggers are anonymous. Google India said neither it nor its US-based parent company Google Inc which "provides service to blogsites'' is reponsible for the content on blogs. Actions of intermediaries like Google which provide a platform for blogs do not amount to their "publication''. So, they can't be hauled up for defamation, the HC was told.

Sundaraman K worked with Google India between 2005 and 2007 and headed its online sales and publications. In June 2006, a blog post was considered to be libellous and defamatory by a senior mediaperson who moved the Bombay HC against Google India to prevent further posts on that blog.

In April 2007, a criminal complaint for defamaton under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code was also filed against the alleged blogger and the Google employee for its publication. The maximum punishment both could face is two years in jail.

The HC in October 2008 granted an ex-parte injunction restraining further posts on that blog. In June 2007, a magistrate initiated criminal action against the two accused. In March 2009, the magistrate also issued non-bailable warants (NBW) against Sundaraman who said he did not get the summons as he had left Google and had shifted out of Mumbai by then. Later, on a surety of Rs 5,000, Sundaraman's NBW was cancelled by the magistrate.

This year, Sundaraman moved the HC challenging the very basis of the magistrate's actions. He said the magistrate failed to note that Google India Pvt Ltd and its employees have "no control or power of supervision over Google Inc or the service it provides on www.blogger.com. Even employees of Google Inc have no access or ability to remove content of blogs without a court order''.

Besides, Sundaraman said, as a sales or publication head he wasn't responsible for selecton of blog content and that blog posts by end-users are not `publications' by Google and hence the site cannot be held responsible.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...unning-government-SC-/articleshow/6220060.cms

Courts have no business to attempt running government: SC
TNN, Jul 27, 2010, 03.55am IST

NEW DELHI: "It is not the court's business to attempt to run the government in a manner which the court thinks is the proper way," said the Supreme Court in a stinging observation while frowning upon the Madhya Pradesh High Court's fiat about regular supply of electricity to Jabalpur hospitals.

A Bench comprising Justices H S Bedi and K S Radhakrishnan took strong exception to the zealous manner in which the HC went about enforcing its order and initiated contempt proceedings against state electricity board officials despite their pleading that shortfall in power supply was neither of their making nor in their control.

It said the HC had no jurisdiction to direct CBI inquiry into the alleged non-compliance of its orders passed on a PIL filed by an advocate alleging that regular power cuts in the city caused serious inconvenience to patients in hospitals.

Terming the direction for CBI probe "completely misplaced", the Bench said PILs were to be entertained sparingly. "Any order made in PILs must be reasonable and must not reflect the pique of the court, particularly as it is not the courts' business to run the government," it said while discharging the electricity board officials of contempt.

Peculiarly, the apex court had nearly six years ago taken up a similar issue suo motu and the case got listed before it titled "power crisis in NCT Delhi". Under this, the apex court has been monitoring the power supply situation in Delhi for the last six years and had been informed by the Delhi government that the Capital city would be having a power surplus situation by 2011.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...power-for-Lokayuktas-/articleshow/6220446.cms

Activists demand more power for Lokayuktas
TNN, Jul 27, 2010, 03.58am IST

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the recent trend of activists being targeted for exposing corrupt practices, civil society groups on Monday demanded that Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states be given more teeth. RTI activists also said that cases where people were being targeted for using the information law should be referred to the CBI for investigation.

Activists claimed that as many as eight people had died in the country in the last six months with vested interests trying to stop the use of RTI as a tool against corruption.

The demands are part of a petition sent to PM Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat CM Narender Modi. The move comes close on the heels of the brutal murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa who was from Ahmedabad. Jethwa had filed a PIL relating to illegal mining in the Gir forests.

The letters signed by activists like Medha Patkar and NAC members Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander are critical of the existing systems. As a systemic change, the activists have demanded that selection of Lokayuktas and Lokpals be made transparent and the agencies be given powers to investigate politicians and bureaucrats without requiring permission from other agencies.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...s-7-lakh-in-cash-held/articleshow/6216175.cms

Person carrying Rs 7 lakh in cash held
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 10.20pm IST

SURAT: A person was arrested from Sahara Darwaja area here on Saturday night with Rs 7 lakh in cash. Mohammad Arshad Mohammad Rafi, 40, could not give a convincing reason to the police for carrying so much of cash in his bag.

Rafi, originally from Kojiwala of Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh, was nabbed from Sahara Darwaja crossroads when he was walking on the road with a heavy bag. The bag raised a police team's suspicion and as they tried to approach him, he tried to run. When he was caught and his bag was checked, police found bundles of Rs-500 notes totalling Rs 7 lakh. The cash had the seal of a bank in Jalgaon.

Rafi could not give a satisfactory reply when cops asked him where he got so much of money from. He told the police that he was to give the money to some person. Police are checking from where exactly had Rafi come to the city and for what purpose.

Initially, police thought the money could be a part of loot from some bank. Cops are also trying to ascertain whether it is hawala money or a fund to finance some criminal activity.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...or-sister-on-siblings/articleshow/6220654.cms

Youth booked for raping minor sister on sibling's
TNN, Jul 26, 2010, 10.15pm IST

BHARUCH: Police have launched a manhunt for a 24-year-old youth, originally belonging to Uttar Pradesh-based family, who is absconding after allegedly raping his 10-year-old sister here on Sunday.

The victim's second brother (18), lodged a complaint in this regard at Bharuch City A division police station.

"The victim and brother were alone when the accused elder brother reached home drunk. He forced his younger brother to leave the house and then allegedly raped the minor girl," police inspector A M Parmar of Bharuch City A division police station said.

The victim's father is unemployed and her mother has married someone else. Police have sent the girl to Nari Sanrakshan House. "The medical examination of the girl has confirmed that she has been raped. An FIR against her accused brother has been registered and manhunt launched to trace him," Parmar added.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ree-new-IPS-officers-/articleshow/6197954.cms

City gets three new IPS officers
TNN, Jul 21, 2010, 10.43pm IST

SURAT: In the mass promotions and transfers of IPS officers in the state, the city got three new IPS officers while one IPS officer has been transferred out of the city. Bharuch, Valsad, Navsari and Dang have got new superintendent of police in the region.

BD Vaghela was appointed as additional CP (traffic and crime) in the city. The post was vacant for a long time and Vaghela has been transferred to the post from his current posting in Gandhinagar as IGP, law and order. Vaghela is 1993 batch officer.

The city got two new deputy commissioners of police (DCP) Raghvendra Vats, who has been transferred as DCP Zone II from Bharuch SP's post and Manindarsingh Pawar, new crime branch DCP and who is currently posted as SP, Junagadh. Both officers coming to the city as DCP are 2005 batch officers. The current DCP zone II, D R Patel, has been transferred as SP Sabarkantha.

Valsad SP DJ Patel has been promoted as deputy IGP, Vadodara, arms division. D B Vaghela, SP intelligence, Gandhinagar, will replace Patel as Valsad SP. Navsari SP Premvir Singh has been transferred as Surendranagar SP and Ajay Chaudhary, DCP zone IV, Ahmedabad will replace him. Gautam Parmar, SP Dang has been transferred as Bharuch SP and Sharad Singhal, deputy SP Himmatnagar, will replace Parmar.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ht-in-Behala-mob-fury/articleshow/6212538.cms

Sourav caught in Behala mob fury
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 03.19am IST

KOLKATA: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was caught in an ugly mob violence at Behala Chowrasta on Saturday when locals agitating against the death of a youth in an accident chose to vent their ire on his car.

Sourav's bodyguard Bivash Biswas, who stepped out to protest, was brutally assaulted and had to be taken to hospital. It was only when Sourav stepped out of the car that the agitators realized their mistake and fled. Sourav's driver gave chase and managed to catch one of them, who was later handed over to the police. Besides Sourav, his wife Dona and daughter Sana were in the car. None of them was hurt. Sourav himself drove home the BMW, which wasn't heavily damaged.

Trouble started around 10.30pm when a youth was knocked down by a trailer and died on the spot. Furious locals blocked roads. Sourav and his family, who were returning home after dinner around the same time, were caught in the commotion. Blinded by rage, the agitators started attacking any vehicle they could lay their hands on, including Sourav's BMW, unaware perhaps that the man they affectionately call 'Dada' was inside it.The blockade was cleared after an hour.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ntra-party-clash-dies/articleshow/6212201.cms

Howrah youth caught in intra-party clash, dies
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 03.17am IST

HOWRAH: Seikh Mantu, a 25-year-old youth, was killed after he was caught in a clash between two rival factions of the Congress at Howrah's Bhatora Island on Saturday.

A huge police picket has been posted at the area to prevent any further untoward incident.

On Friday night, officers of Jaypur police station raided the area and seized about 500 handmade bombs from the hideouts of Bilu and Bala, two brothers who are known criminals. The two have escaped.

Trouble started early from Saturday as one of the rival factions alleged that it was the other gang who had informed the police about the brothers hideouts. A violent clash occurred between the two factions. At least 10 houses were ransacked and the gangs hurled bombs and fired at each other. Mantu who had gone to the local market got trapped in the clash while returning home. He received bullet injuries and died at the spot. A huge police force along with the RAF then rushed to the spot to control the situation. The police had to resort to lathicharge.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ng-jam-on-Jaipur-road/articleshow/6230016.cms

Night-long jam on Jaipur road
Sumi Sukanya, TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 06.07am IST

GURGAON: Delhi Metro is credited with easing congestion on the capital's roads but on Tuesday night it triggered a massive jam on Delhi-Jaipur highway!

Thousands of commuters were stranded on the high-speed corridor on Tuesday night after a truck carrying a Metro coach hit a road divider near Mansear on NH-8 and broke down blocking both the carriageways. As the highway control room did not have any facility to remove the truck from the spot, traffic in both the lanes came to a standstill. The jam spilled over to Delhi-Gurgaon expressway on Wednesday morning. The situation returned to normalcy only around 11am.

Sources said that some Metro coaches were headed to Delhi from Gujarat. "While 4 trucks crossed the stretch around 8pm, the last truck carrying a coach hit a divider and its front portion jutted into the fast lane of the other carriageway. It blocked the traffic from Delhi to Jaipur while the rear end of the truck caused massive jams on the Jaipur-Delhi lane,'' said Hukum Singh, control room officer in highway control room.

The official added that crane available with the control room couldn't lift the truck and the coach as the coach alone weighed about 60 tonnes. "It was removed only on Wednesday morning after DMRC sent its cranes. Our cranes can only lift a weight of up to only 40-45 tonnes,'' he added.

Amid delays, commuters were stuck in the jam for the entire night on Tuesday. "We were coming back from Jaipur. We should have reached our Sushant Lok home around 1am but due to jam we remained stuck near Bilaspur for 6-7 hours. Children were thirsty and water wasn't available,'' said Chankya Verma, an MNC executive.

Many commuters headed for work too were stranded. "When I left for Manesar from my Dhaula Kuan house this morning, I absolutely had no idea that I am going to get stuck in a massive jam. I had left home around 7am and after 10.30am, I finally dropped the idea of going there,'' rued industrialist Sumit Khanna.

Sources said that on Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, Hero Honda Chowk and Kherki-Daula toll plaza were worst hit. "The traffic had come to a complete standstill at Hero-Honda Chowk. Vehicles took several hours to cross Kherki-Daula toll plaza. There was no movement of vehicles at all. I was cursing myself for choosing this day to go to Jaipur today,'' said Amit Mallick, a Delhi resident on way to Rajasthan.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...husband-tries-suicide/articleshow/6230025.cms

Woman found dead, husband tries 'suicide'
Indrani Basu, TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 12.15am IST

NEW DELHI: A 26-year-old woman was found dead at her residence in Narela on Wednesday while her husband allegedly tried to commit suicide `on finding her dead'. Ajay Malik (31) allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming sulphas tablets after he found his wife Manisha (26) lying dead in their bedroom. Said a senior police officer, "Ajay alleges that he found his wife dead around 12.30pm. Overcome with grief, he tried to drink a glass of water mixed with the poisonous tablets. When his parents Kadam Singh and Amravati knocked the glass out of his hand, he consumed the undissolved paste of the tablets.'' Ajay and Manisha were rushed to Harish Chand Hospital by police where Manisha was brought dead while Ajay was admitted to ICU.

Ajay is reported to be stable and Manisha's body has been sent to the mortuary for postmortem and an SDM inquest ordered. Said a senior police officer, "There are some faint marks on Manisha's neck that suggest death was due to strangulation with a wire or a cord. The husband's behaviour is slightly odd and we have not ruled out foul play yet.'' Neighbours claimed that they had not known the couple to have a single fight in their six years of marriage and that Ajay had always been an excessively devoted husband. He had reportedly requested Manisha to leave a teacher's training program that she was pursuing in Jammu midway as he could not stay away from her, claimed the neighbours. "No allegations have been made against any person yet,'' said police. Investigations are on to ascertain the nature of death.

Manisha and Ajay have a four-year-old son, who was in school at the time of the incident, and an 18-month-old daughter who was asleep at home. Ajay's parents Kadam Singh (70) and Amravati (65) a retired government school teacher had been relaxing outside the house when the incident occurred. The family of six resides in a house in Gali number 6 in Swatantra Nagar in Narela. Ajay works as a security guard in a corporate firm.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...2-wears-deserted-look/articleshow/6230027.cms

On its last day, T2 wears deserted look
TNN, Jul 29, 2010, 12.15am IST

NEW DELHI: Entrepreneur Roma Nongpiur was disappointed when she realized she would not be arriving at the swanky new terminal T3 on its first day of operations. Nongpiur arrived in the capital from Dubai on Wednesday afternoon on Emirates flight EK 516 one of the last few to operate out of the old terminal, T2. But she took consolation in the fact that she was among the last few passengers who arrived at the decades old terminal just before it shut for commercial operations.

Normally bustling with activity and brimming with passengers, T2 wore a deserted look in the afternoon, specially at the departure wing, as most operations shifted to T3. The terminal was commissioned in May 1985 when the oldest terminal 1B, which also doesn't exist any longer, proved to be too small for the growing operations. Constructed at a cost of Rs 95 crore, the building had a passenger handling capacity of 3,300 per hour. However, it did not take long to exhaust this capacity and till Wednesday when it was finally decommissioned it was handling almost double the number of passengers it was built for.

Many passengers who walked out of the terminal for the last time on Wednesday were actually quite pleased that T2 was being shut. "I am very relieved that this terminal is closing. It was too small to handle operations and my past experiences have not been very good. There wasn't enough staff to handle the passenger rush,'' said Navjot Singh, a passenger from Dubai.

Others frequent fliers shared similar views. "I often fly overseas and I always thought T2 was in desperate need of an overhaul, specially when compared with other airports,'' said Romit Sengupta, a businessman who returned from Muscat on the last flight that arrived at T2.

Some, however, became nostalgic about the terminal that had served Delhi for several years. Though, they were eager to use the swanky new terminal in future. "It has not yet sunk in that I am one of the last passengers coming out of this terminal. I will be reminded of this every time I fly out of the country in future,'' said designer Kanika Mittal, who was flying on a Gulf Air flight to the Middle East.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ns-fire-at-schoolmate/articleshow/6227441.cms

Class IX student opens fire at schoolmate
PTI, Jul 28, 2010, 02.04pm IST

NEW DELHI: A clash between two groups of students in a south Delhi school today took an ugly turn when a Class IX student allegedly opened fire on a schoolmate, leaving him injured.

The shocking incident took place in Veer Chandra Garwhal Public School in Saket at around 9 am and the injured has been identified as Gaurav Yadav, a Class VIII student.

The firing took place during a clash between two groups of students over some issue, a senior police official said.

"The Class IX student had brought a .22 pistol to the school. During the fight, he allegedly opened fire in which Gaurav suffered minor injuries on his shoulder," the official said.

Gaurav was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre from where he was discharged after treatment, he said.

The student who allegedly opened fire has been taken into police custody.