Nirbhaya case: Tihar Jail gets ready for final act

TNN | Mar 17, 2020, 04.57 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The preparations to execute the death warrant of the four Nirbhaya gang-rape-cum-murder convicts began in full swing at Tihar Jail on Monday. A team of engineers from the public works department visited the jail premises to check the tenacity of the gallows and also conducted a suspension test on the hanging bar. They will also be present when the hangman conducts a dummy hanging from these bars on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the jail authorities conducted a brain mapping test of the four convicts — Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma — during a counselling session to gauge their anxiety level. The exercise was conducted to ensure that they don’t suffer from sleep disorders or loss of appetite, leading to a weight loss, a source said.

The PWD team inspected the newly constructed portion of the gallows built to accommodate all four convicts. The final tests were carried out on Monday under the supervision of an additional inspector-general-rank jail officer. The pathway between the solitary cells and the hanging well, too, was inspected to remove any obstruction.

A jail official said the Manilla ropes that would be used in the hanging were greased with butter and mashed bananas on Monday and will be kept ready for the hangman, Pawan, when he arrives on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the jail counsellor and mental health experts from AIIMS who have been counselling inmates spoke to each of them individually. A source said that while Singh had been a recluse, the three others were still in denial about their execution and had expressed hope that their execution might get stalled after they moved the International Court of Justice on Monday.

While family members of Singh and Gupta have had their last meeting on Friday, Sharma’s family will meet him on Tuesday. Thakur’s family had last met him earlier this month after which no one reached out to the jail authorities for a meeting.

The jail authorities allowed the family members of the two convicts to have a one-to-one meeting with them during which they could physically touch them.

To avoid any untoward incident, additional personnel have been deployed round the clock outside the solitary cells of the four convicts since Monday.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Covid- 19 scare: Inform about foreigner patients, Delhi government tells private hospitals, nursing homes

TNN | Mar 17, 2020, 04.18 AM IST

NEW DELHI: All private hospitals and nursing homes have been asked by Delhi government to mandatorily report on foreign nationals undergoing treatment at their facilities. Delhi has many corporate hospitals that are frequented by foreigners.

Officials said some of them may have arrived before the imposition of visa restrictions and they have to be traced and screened to ensure that the foreign nationals aren’t carriers of the novel coronavirus.

Covid-19 has affected as many as 162 countries till date. China, Italy, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Spain are among the worst affected nations.

India has, so far, reported only 114 cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and two individuals have succumbed to it.

This is because that disease has been limited to persons with travel history to the affected countries and those who came in contact with the infected individuals. There is currently no community transmission of Covid-19, according to the government.

However, experts agree, the risk of such an eventuality where Covid-19 breaks out in communities affecting larger number of people cannot be ruled out. “Tracing the high risk individuals and quarantining them until they recover is the only way to contain the disease spread. We need to focus on tracing each and every individual, Indian or foreigner, who has travel history to countries affected by Covid-19,” said a health official.

As of Monday, Delhi had reported seven Covid-19 cases and one death. State health officials said at least two out of the seven patients have been discharged from the hospital.

Last week, Delhi government declared Covid-19 an epidemic and issued Delhi Epidemic Disease Covid-19 Regulations 2020 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the capital. The regulations give officials the power to take “coercive action” against any person if he refuses to “cooperate” with the authorities.

“Action will be taken against any suspect/confirmed case if they refuse to take measures for prevention/treatment,” it states. The government has suspended operations of all gymnasiums, Spas, night clubs and theatres in the state till March 31 to contain a potential Covid-19 outbreak.

It is advised that people with the disease symptoms should watch out for severe symptoms such as shortness of breath. Those with mild symptoms like fever and dry cough tend to recover on their own with symptomatic treatment.

India’s ban on OCI cardholders sparks panic, anger, acceptance

Naomi Canton

17.03.2020

Thousands of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders have been forced to cancel trips to India owing to the recent ban on their entry by the GOI and are apprehensive they will not be able to get back in the event of an emergency.

Dozens managed to get last minute-flights before the ban on visa-free entry to OCI cardholders came into effect on Friday.

Tara Sahgal, a student a King’s College, London, bought a last-minute ticket to Delhi, as she is convinced the pandemic will get worse in the UK. “They are doing nothing to stop the spread in Britain and the UK is going to be the next Italy. It is unfair because OCI cardholders are as Indian as anyone else. If there is an epidemic, we need to go home,” the 19-year-old said.

Others who rushed back included pupils at private schools in Britain and those with business in India.

“At least, the Indian government is taking drastic action to avoid the virus spread. The UK is leaving everything in God’s hands,” said Harendra Jodha, head of the Rajasthan Association UK. “Those who flew back feel they can get cheaper and better treatment in India and that is where their family is,” Jodha said.

“People think the NHS can’t cope. You can’t even get through to the NHS number. The UK should ask the world for help and not have such a big ego. Other countries can send testing kits. This is about humanity. People who are OCI cardholders still feel they are Indian citizens. This is the first time they have felt they are a bit different and not equal to Indian citizenship. But they understand the government rationale,” Jodha added. There is a Covid-19 emergency visa form for OCI cardholders online, but Jodha said there was still a sense of fear in people’s minds.

Nandini Singh, from Reach India, said OCI cardholders forced to cancel trips home accepted the decision, as they did not want India to become like China or Italy.

Full report on www.toi.in

Two women among 4 more held for fake call centre racket, hunt on for other gang members

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17.03.2020

In the continuing crackdown on a gang involved in duping loan aspirants of crores of rupees through fake call centres, the central crime branch of the city police on Monday arrested four people, including two women. A court later sent P Satishkumar, 30, of Walajapet, P Prasanna, 29, of Kolathur, E Preethi, 32, of Virugambakkam and R Kalpana, 28, to jail. The last named was arrested for a house break-in last year and was later released on bail.

Sleuths of the CCB’s Bank Fraud Prevention Wing had on March 12 arrested seven suspects and nabbed three others on March 7 as part of the same probe. Those arrested on Monday, investigators said, were working under prime suspect Munir Hussain, helping him set up three fake call centres. A hunt is on for Muni Hussain who police say has been involved in the racket for the past three years..

Those arrested earlier were working under other kingpins spread across the city and its suburbs, police said, adding that they expected to arrest others in the coming days.

The modus operandi of the gang, which investigators believe could have more than 100 members, involved tele-callers, mostly women, contacting members of the public over phone and convincing them to invest in insurance schemes to secure high value loans at low interest.

All they needed to do was to transfer the amount for the first annual premium and a commission to a bank account, the women at the other end of the line would tell the unsuspecting victims. She would also give out her personal phone number that the victims could call anytime. Once the money flowed into the given account, it would be moved to another account and the call centre staff would disappear after chucking the phone number given.

While Satishkumar and Prasanna were part of the back office staff monitoring the collection of money, Preethi controlled the team leaders at Thousand Lights centre and Kalpana had been running a ‘call centre’ in Sithalapakkam.

The probe in to the fake call centre gang is being supervised by Additional Commissioner of Police (CCB) C Easwaramurthy. Police have requested the public to be wary of callers who come up with attactive online loan offers.

The CCB sleuths last week arrested at least ten people including ‘Benze Club’ Saravanan, after busting several fake call centres across the city.

Class XII physics, economics papers tough, say students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.03.2020

Physics and economics papers were tougher than expected, said Class XII state board students who appeared for the board exam on Monday. Students said both the papers had ‘unexpected’ questions and the physics paper was also lengthy.

“In economics, the five mark section was tough,” said K R Gurusakthi. His sister K R Gurubharathi who wrote physics paper said it had unexpected questions in the five mark section where they had to write long answers.

“It was not from the book bank. The questions were from inside the textbook. We didn’t think that we would get questions from here in the long answer section. I lost a lot of time thinking here,” said T Saloni who wrote physics paper.

Another student, R Thyagarajan, said the five mark section in the economics paper also had questions from inside the textbook and that they were creative.

“Though I did attempt the questions I might lose a few marks here. I wasn’t prepared,” he said.

Students had mixed reactions when asked about the marks they were expecting in the papers. “I’m sure of scoring a 90 at least,” said Gurusakthi, while Thyagarajan said he expected no more than 75 in economics. “It was tough,” he said.

Saloni, who wrote physics, said, “If I score a 70, it would be enough. I hope the examiner is not too strict.”

Students said both physics and economics had ‘unexpected’ questions and the physics paper was also lengthy

OMR residents oppose plan for new TTD temple

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.03.2020

Residents of Rajiv Gandi Salai are up in arms against a Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) move to build a temple on OMRECR Link Road, saying it would choke traffic and have an adverse impact on the ecologically sensitive area.

In a letter to chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday, Federation of OMR Residents Association (FOMRRA), an apex body of resident associations on the IT corridor, said the proposed land parcel for the temple is close to the Buckingham canal and is bound to create ecological issues. “The 2015 floods have shown how crucial the waterway is for this part of the city. Any development in its vicinity is bound to create serious ecological repercussions.”

The problems of OMR and Sholinganallur were not considered, it said, adding that Sholinganallur junction, surrounded by hospitals, hotels, educational institutions, IT parks and business houses, is almost 1km from the proposed site.

“On a normal working day, at least 55,000 vehicles/ hour use the junction, taking anywhere between 30 minutes and 45 minutes to cross the junction,” the letter said, adding the need of the hour is to ease the traffic flow by investing over infrastructure projects, which still do not exist.

FOMRRA coordinator Harsha Koda said the objection was over gifting public land that belongs to the residents of OMR to a religious body without showing any regard to the completion of infrastructure projects. “We want the government to give priority to complete all the infrastructure projects,” he added.

It may be recalled that a high level TTD delegation met the chief minister on Sunday to formally lay the foundation stone for the temple on April 9.

Air Asia, Sri Lankan flights cancel services from Trichy

TNN | Mar 17, 2020, 04.24 AM IST

Trichy: The Kuala Lumpur-bound Air Asia and Malindo Air and Colombo-bound Sri Lankan Airlines have suspended their services for a brief period from Trichy international airport, as the airlines are witnessing poor passenger traffic following the advancing Covid-19 and subsequent travel advisory issued by the civil aviation authorities.

Sri Lankan Airlines has been operating two services a day from Trichy to Colombo. They have cancelled the morning service – arrival at Trichy at 9.10 am and departure to Colombo at 10.10 am-- for three days from March 16 to 18, for three days, authorities said.

Meanwhile, sources from the airlines said that they are also going to cancel the evening service – which arrives here at 3.05 pm and leaves to Colombo at 4.05 pm, for 13 days from March 19. Sri Lankan flight acts as a connecting flight for Trichy passengers who have to travel to several gulf countries. However, due to the announcement made by the gulf countries restricting international flights, citing Covid-19 threat, the passenger traffic has considerably come down. Out of 150 seats, the airline could hardly fill 50 seats, sources from the airline said.

Meanwhile, Air Asia has also cancelled its two services from March 17 till April 15. Air Asia is operating three services between Trichy - Kuala Lumpur sector on a daily basis. Morning flight arrives here at 8.55 am and leaves for Kuala Lumpur at 9.25 am. Another one lands here at 10 pm and departs at 10.30 pm. The flight, which arrives here at 11.40 pm, usually takes off from here at 12.10 am. Following the Covid-19 outbreak, the airline has announced to cancel two services except for the one, which arrives here at 10 pm. The other two services will not be operated from March 17 till April 15, a notification from the airlines said.