Exec missing, family alleges police inaction

A 34-year-old executive of a private housing finance company has been missing from his Connaught Place office since July 25. Karn Pratap Singh reports.

A 34-year-old executive of a private housing finance company has been missing from his Connaught Place office since July 25.

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The missing executive, Tarun Sharma, has been employed in the loan section of GIC Housing Finance Ltd for the past seven years, police said.

Sharma's family members have alleged that he was abducted by people who had been threatening him on the phone for the past couple of days.

They also alleged that the police made no efforts to trace Sharma though a complaint had been lodged at the Greater Kailash police station the same day.

"For the first three days, investigators at the Greater Kailash police station took no action," his uncle VK Sharma, a Supreme Court lawyer.

"On the fourth day, they told us that they can not register the case as Sharma did not go missing from their territorial jurisdiction. They asked us to approach the Barakhamba Road police station and lodge our complaint," he said, adding a case of abduction was registered only on Sunday evening.

According to the lawyer, Sharma had been receiving threat calls from at least five persons who had claimed that he had taken a lot of money from them promising them flats through a scheme of the company he was working for.

KC Dwivedi, additional CP (New Delhi), said some persons were being questioned.
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Schools protest govt's bus order
HT Correspondent
htreporters@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi
Schools are up in arms over a Delhi government order directing them to disclose routes of their buses and the names of the students travelling on them.

The protests by the schools come a day after the government directed them to submit details of the routes and the names of students to the traffic police, transport department and the directorate of education.

The schools claimed the move will compromise the security of the students and lead to more paperwork.

"It is ridiculous to expect the schools to disclose the list of students travelling by buses and the bus-stops where they
will get down. This kind of information doesn't serve any purpose and it will unnecessarily increase the documentation work that schools need to do, since we are already bogged down by a lot of paperwork," said Ameeta Wattal, vice-chairperson, National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), which has 110 private schools as members.

The Delhi government, while asking for the details, also directed the schools to appoint conductors with a valid licences and in-charges to monitor bus fleets.

This, the schools said, would unnecessarily add to the teachers' workload.

"Where does one find a conductor with a valid licence? It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the conductors have licences. It is also ridiculous to expect in-charges or teachers to man these buses. Unless the government can take care of their conveyance after a whole day's work, they shouldn't expect such things. Instead, the bus conductor can take a roll call to keep track," Wattal added.

Some other schools also added that the disclosing names of children and bus-stops would pose a security threat to the students.

"Providing a list of students and the bus-stops is a risky proposition. How do we know who handles this information? In case of providing licenced conductors, there needs to be more clarity from the Delhi government instead of randomly asking for information," said MI Husain, principal, Delhi Public School (Mathura Road).
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Tailor among four held for smuggling fake currency
HT Correspondent
htreporters@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi

Four persons, including a tailor, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in smuggling fake Indian currency notes.

Abrar, Firoz Saifi, Farukh, and Bashir, brought the fake notes from their Malda-based contact, who they identified as Ajeebul, said Sanjay Kumar Jain, deputy commissioner of police (crime). Ajeebul managed to give a police team the slip.

"On July 16, we received information about the gang headed by Farukh and Abrar, and sent a decoy customer to strike a deal with them," said DCP Jain.

Around 5.30 pm, two persons came to a pre-designated spot near north Delhi's Mukarba Chowk and were arrested as soon as they stuck a deal with the decoy customer, the police claimed.

Fake currency notes worth Rs. 1.90 lakh were allegedly recovered from the duo, Abrar and Firoz, who later identified their associate Farukh as the supplier.

"At their instance, Farukh, a tailor who used to work at Seelampur, was apprehended and fake currency worth Rs. 8,500 was recovered from his possession. He claimed that six months ago he met Bashir, who lured him into the business," DCP Jain said.

Farukh's interrogation, police claimed, led them to another gang member, Bashir, who was arrested from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh on July 25. Fake notes worth Rs. 4 lakh was found on him.

"The gang bought Rs. 1 lakh of fake notes for Rs. 55,000 and would then sell them for Rs. 65,000. Farukh got his supply from Bashir in Malda who in turn got his counterfeit notes from Ajeebul," Jain added.