Around Town

Five arrested for killing man
Five persons,including a 61-year-old man,were arrested in the Capital for allegedly murdering a man,who had beaten up a youth,police said on Monday. Vijay Nakwal (24),his brother Jaivi Nakwal (22),Sunil Tank (25),Itwari Lal (61) and Rakesh (22) were arrested for the murder of Rajesh (35) on November 30 after kidnapping him,a senior police official said. “Rakesh and his friend Rajbir were kidnapped by the gang on December 4 from near St Stephen’s Hospital on Boulevard Road. They were forcibly taken to the subzi mandi mortuary where they were beaten with sticks. “When they became semi-conscious,the accused threw them inside a car. After that,they dropped Rajbir near Hindu Rao Hospital and took away Rajesh,” the official said. Later Rajesh’s body was recovered. Rakesh was first arrested and he told investigators that the deceased had beaten up his friend Rohit,who is the son of Itwari Lal. In order to take revenge,Itwari allegedly conspired to kill Rajbir and Rajesh.

CM for more powers to Delhi
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,on Monday,renewed her demand for transferring control of the MCD,DDA and some aspects of policing to the city government to ensure better governance. Dikshit said although the Centre had given certain powers to the city government over the MCD it still was “not enough” to overcome the problem of multiplicity of authorities.

Illegal encroachments
Minister of Environment Jairam Ramesh on Monday admitted in Parliament that there are illegal encroachments in Sanjay Van in Delhi Ridge,even by Government buildings. “There are some very old encroachments near Sanjay Van near JNU. Some are more than 15 years old. Most of them relate to religious monuments,institutional buildings,graveyards,cremation grounds,government building etc.” However he added that there are no new encroachments.” As reported by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA),no new encroachment has been permitted since the last more than 15 years.” He also admitted that the crime rate has marginally increased in the area. “Analyzing the comparative crime report of the present year with the last year,it has been observed the crime rate has marginally increased in the area,” he said.

Dengue cases on decline
The national capital reported just one fresh case of dengue on Monday,with health officials citing the advancing winter as the reason for the decline in the number of patients. With the dip in temperature,the number of dengue cases reported in a day has been gradually declining over the past few days. Health officials said the dengue virus is most active in relatively warmer and humid weather with temperatures ranging between 16 and 30 degrees Celsius.