20-year-old woman fights off snatchers in east Delhi, 3 held

exemplary courage and bravery, a 20-yearold woman took on three scooterborne snatchers who allegedly tried to make away with her mobile phone in east Delhi’s Farsh Bazar on Friday.

The woman, Disha, not only pulled down the trio from the moving scooter but also punched them fiercely until passersby rushed for her rescue in the busy market. Disha’s bravery also helped the police apprehend the three snatchers, one of them a juvenile.

Her acts were also applauded by senior Delhi police officers who later rewarded her with a cash reward and a commendation roll. The other arrested snatchers were identified as Wasim and Faizan. They were booked under sections 356 (Assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft), 379 (theft) and 34 (act committed by several persons) of the IPC. The juvenile has been sent to a juvenile justice centre.

Nupur Prasad, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara), said Disha was going towards Shahdara for some work when three teenagers riding a scooter came from behind and tried to snatch her mobile phone from her hand.

“The mobile phone was in my hand when one of the three snatched it from behind. They fled and I screamed for help and began chasing them. As it was a crowded market, they could not speed much,” Disha said.

She further said that she got hold of their scooter and shook it, because of which they lost balance and fell off the two-wheeler. As they fell on the road, Disha alerted locals and began punching them. In the meantime, locals gathered and joined her in thrashing the trio.

The police were informed and the three were handed over to them.

“Wasim and Faizan were previously involved in one snatching case each,” the officer added.

The three-member panel will submit its report on Monday. The school also canceled the contract of its security agency.

DCP (Crime) Sumit Kuhar said a background check revealed Kumar’s “sexually predatory” nature.

“The CCTV footage clearly shows his presence inside the toilet and eyewitness accounts match the sequence of events. We have strong circumstantial evidence to prove his guilt in the court”, said Kuhar.

The police have added charges under the Pocso Act, which deals with sexual assault on children, in the FIR against Kumar.

Meanwhile, amidst protests and allegations of inaction against the school management, the Gurgaon police vowed to file the charge sheet within a week. Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said police will seek to fast track the trial.

“This is a very grave crime and the police is collecting the circumstantial evidence very minutely to make a foolproof case in the court. The help of a public prosecutor is being sought from investigation stage itself to ensure that there is no loophole,” said Khirwar.

The police are also likely to recommend cancellation of the license of the security agency if lacunae are found on its part. Investigations also revealed that the school management had not run background checks on accused Kumar. Sources said the same was true of a large number of other staff members.

Ami Chand, the father of accused Kumar, told HT that around 4pm on Friday the school sent for his son’s identity documents.

“We were only aware that Ashok and others had been detained for questioning. We had also sent his lunch to school in the afternoon. He is innocent and is being framed,” he alleged.

The Gurgaon administration has also formed a three-member committee to probe possible negligence and lapses on the part of the school management.

“The report will be submitted on Monday and action would be initiated based on that report. The lack of verification of the school staff, violations by security agency and related aspects will be probed in detail”, said Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

The CBSE has also formed a two-member fact-finding committee to probe the killing at the Ryan International and sought a report from its management within two days.

Earlier in the morning, a large number of angry parents from Ryan International’s three branches in Gurgaon protested at the police headquarter.

The victim’s father and relatives also met police officials after which they agreed to accept the murdered boy’s body which was later cremated in Bhondsi.

Alternatively, the government can tweak IBC rules to treat homebuyers as trustees, which would mean that their investments must be protected after a company is taken over for insolvency proceedings.

“Changes in section 9 of the code will require an amendment, which will take time. But elevating homebuyers to a new category of trustees could be done through a notification,” said an official who is privy to the deliberations in the government. He did not wish to be named because Japyee is in litigation with many homebuyers now.

The government is also watching proceedings in the Supreme Court, which is hearing pleas of Jaypee homebuyers who are caught in insolvency proceedings.

What makes real state in India peculiar is that the builders are allowed to take money from homebuyers and use them for construction, unlike other countries where homebuyers pay money only after the construction is complete. As a result, builders raise money from both banks and homebuyers to use for construction.

The Fight for RERA, an umbrella group of about 100 homebuyers associations and consumer groups wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi early this week, demanding amendments to the IBC to ensure that they get “top priority” in insolvency cases involving realty developers.

Insolvency proceedings against Jaypee was admitted by the Allahabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal on August 9 after IDBI Bank, the lead consortium of lenders to Jaypee, moved a petition that the company has defaulted on a Rs 526 crore loan.

But last month the Supreme Court put on hold the insolvency proceedings against Jaypee after homebuyers requested it to ensure their investments are protected.

According to former Dera followers, only his closest aides had access to the gufa, a pink mansion shaped like a half-doughnut and kitted out with modern luxuries.

The victims had alleged that the Dera chief sexually exploited woman devotees in this fortified house.

The second tunnel led to a mud path that looked like a secret escape route opening out about 5km away.

Sources said a geological team from IIT-Roorkee has reached Sirsa to look for anything hidden under Ram Rahim’s home and the sprawling complex that has a stadium, a hospital, schools and collges, bungalows, markets and an ostentatious “7-star MSG resort” with replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Kremlin and Disney World.

Police have called divers to search the big ponds.

The search will continue on Sunday.

Besides Chennai, searches were conducted in New Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi and the company’s office in Rajgangpur, an industrial town in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.

The corruption allegations first surfaced during Natarajan’s one-and-a-half year tenure from July 2011 until she quit in December 2013 to work for the party before the general elections next year.

Natarajan had denied the charges before. She couldn’t be reached for comments on the FIR.

The CBI said Natarajan approved the ECL proposal without adhering to the advice of director general forests and directions of the Supreme Court.

According to the FIR, the Jharkhand government forwarded in 2005 a proposal from ECL to the environment ministry for leasing 192.50 hectares for mining in the Saranda forests of Singhbhum district. The company was also setting up a steel plant.

The proposal was then sent as a rule to the forest advisory committee.

In 2008, the Jharkhand government submitted another proposal that 55.79 hectares of the total 192.50 hectares should be diverted for non-forest use.

The committee rejected the plan and observed that “the proposed mining area was part of the core zone of the Singhbhum elephant reserve and critical to wildlife conservation”.

A year later, the ECL resubmitted the proposal to the Jharkhand government, which sent it the Union environment ministry under Jairam Ramesh.

The CBI’s preliminary probe revealed that the proposal was listed during an advisory committee meeting on August 20, 2009, but it was not taken up.

Ramesh rejected any reconsideration if the proposed land was within the core area of Singhbhum elephant reserve. He also noted that all previous approvals for mining in the core zone should be cancelled.

The company wrote to the Prime minister in 2010 for reconsideration. And the proposal was again put before the advisory committee, which rejected it.

On July 13, 2011, Natarajan succeeded Ramesh in the ministry. A fortnight later, the Jharkhand chief minister wrote for a “pragmatic” environmental clearance to projects since the steel plant was coming up in a most underdeveloped region.

In August, the file was marked to the new minister and company managing director Kejriwal met her next month, the FIR report said.

Thereafter, the minister in her noting asked whether any recommendation or report has been received from the Jharkhand government about other mines located in the elephant reserve.

A reminder was also sent to the state government in October 2011, seeking details of four other mines located in the core zone of the reserve.

The state government replied and the matter was resubmitted to the minister.

That is when the director general of forest and the special secretary advised that the case should be referred to the advisory committee again.

Before that was done, the minister approved diverting 55.79 hectares of forest land on February 4, 2012.

An exhaustive account of Colonel Mahadik’s courage has been documented in India’s Most Fearless, an upcoming book from Penguin authored by this correspondent and news website Livefist editor-in-chief Shiv Aroor.

In the book, Major Pravin Kumar, who was part of the operation with Mahadik, reveals details of the mission hitherto unknown.

“While Col Mahadik was being airlifted to Srinagar, I received a call from his wife. She had already heard,” remembers Major Pravin, then adjutant at 41 Rashtriya Rifles headquarters. “Her question still haunts me: ‘Zinda rahenge ya nahi rahenge? Bas itna bata do’ (Will he live or not? Just tell me that).”

“She called again a short while later. This time, she asked me how many rounds had hit her husband. I mustered my strength to inform her that he had taken 7 bullets. She hung up the phone.”

For Swati, the training process had its own challenges. “The 40-km runs can be very difficult. I couldn’t cope with the training initially. But then I would think of Santosh’s sacrifice and get inspired, and my course-mates were very supportive too,” she said, recalling how a buddy female cadet would massage her feet after cross-country runs.

The government had on 4 September authorized the Council to raise the cess on cars attracting 15% cess to a maximum of 25% through an Ordinance.

Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India said taxes on the automobile sector were already very high and that the industry expected its unfulfilled potential to increase after the implementation of GST and rationalization of taxes.

The Council also expanded the ambit of the 5% GST on branded packaged food items to include those products which were earlier sold under a brand name but the producers chose to abandon their trade marks to escape the tax.

The Council also decided to exempt handicraft makers below ₹20 lakh sales and sell in other states from the need to take temporary registration. Khadi fabrics sold through Khadi and Village Industries Commission will be exempt from 5% GST.

The Council also decided to give extra time to file various tax returns for the month of July in view of the technical glitches in the return filing process.

As per the revised return filing schedule decided by the Council, the last date for filing GST return 1 dealing with supplies made by companies that was to expire on Sunday, has been extended to 10 October. The Council also gave extra four months for filing a summary return for the month of July, the original deadline for which had expired on 25 August.

Acknowledging technical glitches in the system, the Council decided to set up a ministerial panel to oversee the functioning of GSTN, the company that processes tax returns.

“The extension of the filing deadlines was essential for industry as there were many technical and systems issues,” said AbhishekRastogi,Partner,Khaitan & Co., a law firm. “The GST council took a middle path (on car cess) and benefit is provided to all categories across different segment compared pre-GST regime,” said Abdul Majeed, partner and national auto practice leader, PWC.