Delhi News Highlights: PM Modi inaugurates BJP Delhi office

The Delhi tourism department organised a two-day Dandiya Festival, coinciding with Navratri, at the Yamuna Sports Complex and Rugby Sports Ground, Delhi University North Campus, drawing large crowds.Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra attended the event on Sunday accompanied by senior officials from Delhi Tourism. The festival is aimed at promoting the rich tradition of Indian folk dance, music, and celebration. The venue featured food stalls and music stages, including special performances by Bollywood artists.

Delhi woke up to an unusually hot Monday, with the minimum temperature rising to 28.2°C, five degrees above normal — marking the hottest September morning in six years.

The same minimum temperature was logged on Sunday, pointing to persistently warm nights at a time when temperatures usually begin to ease. The last time the city recorded a higher September minimum was in 2019, when 29.6°C was reported on September 12 of that year.

For this milestone year, all the three pandals have dipped into their Bengali roots for the themes. If Mela Ground is turning to Bengal’s glorious past to reimagine a colonial era ‘rajbari’ (a palace or a mansion), K-Block is celebrating Bengal’s rich cultural legacy by recreating the historic fortress from Satyajit Ray’s 1974 film — Sonar Kella.

The puja pandal at B-Block, on the other hand, is going back to the roots, quite literally. Their theme is ‘the soil’. “In this golden year, the soil is the true gold,” reads their tag line.

The regal ambience of the British-era structure manifests at Mela Ground in the form of the lofty ionic columns bearing ornate patterns in gold. The traditional ‘thakur dalan’, a sacred courtyard often present in rajbaris for people to gather and worship during annual festivals, has also been recreated. The idols — Durga with her four children — have been made in the ‘daaker saaj’ (a decorative style using silver foil and sequins, materials that would come from abroad via daak or post ), historically used by the elite rajbaris of Bengal.

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It is that time of the year again. Despite the dust kicking off all the feet walking into Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park, a whiff of the ‘pujo pujo gondho’ (scent of Durga Puja) is unmissable — a heady mix of the sweet aroma of blooming shiuli flowers, the earthy smell from the clay idols and the woody notes of the ‘dhuno’ (incense made from Sal tree resin). The veil has been lifted, and you know Durga is home.

Three of the over 10 puja pandals — K Block (cooperative), B-Block and Mela Ground — in the predominantly Bengali neighbourhood in South Delhi mark their golden jubilees. The celebrations began on the fourth day of Navratri — two days earlier than usual — with cultural programmes.

A one-and-a-half-year-old boy who went missing in Delhi was rescued after he was traced in Uttar Pradesh, the Delhi Police said on Sunday, adding that four accused and a minor have been arrested and apprehended, respectively, in the case.

The child, who had gone missing from Pusa Road in Karol Bagh and was located in Mahoba, had been sold for Rs 45,000 and was to be adopted by a couple, the police said.

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The arrest followed allegations levelled by at least 17 current and former students of the institute, most of them from the Economically Weaker Section, that Chaitanyananda made unwanted physical contact with them. The accused was brought to Delhi and produced in a local court, which remanded him in police custody for five days.

He would allegedly make his staffers call officials and demand favours such as pilot and escort cars, and accommodation, by falsely claiming that he was a part of the PMO, an officer said.

“He had given them threats. (CCTV) cameras were installed to monitor their movements… some were installed in bathrooms. Around 16 girls have complained. Several other allegations need to be verified,” the prosecution claimed before the Duty Magistrate Ravi at Patiala House Court, where the accused was produced Sunday afternoon.

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In other news, the chancellor and director of a private educational institute in South Delhi, who has been accused of sexually harassing at least 17 women students, was arrested from a hotel in Agra by Delhi Police early Sunday. According to the police, they recovered fake visiting cards from the accused, Chaitanyananda Saraswati alias Parthasarathy — one card claimed he was Permanent Ambassador at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and another that he was Commission member and Indian Special Envoy De Premiere at BRICS. The police said they also recovered three mobile phones and an iPad. According to officers, Chaitanyananda allegedly changed locations over the past two months, moving through Mathura, Agra and Vrindavan, and stayed in 13 hotels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the BJP Delhi office at Deendayal Upadhyay Marg today, party’s Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva announced. Union Minister J P Nadda will also be present at the inauguration.

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