Restaurant will have take-away counter on ground floor and separate seating area on first floor

The German Bakery has started its renovation work. The bakery will be a two-storey structure with a take-away counter on the ground floor. Those who want to sit and enjoy the food will have to take a spiral staircase to reach the seating area on the first floor.

Owner Smita Kharose wanted to keep the renovation plans under wraps but MiD DAY lensman Nikhil Ghorpade sneaked inside to get a sense of how the bakery will look like.

Kharose said, "The reopening of the bakery will take at least a month-and-half."

Kharose said the renovation was delayed as the loan procedure took longer than expected.

Kharose's daughter Snehal said, "Many waiters went back to Nepal as they didn't have any work. They will come back once the bakery reopens." 
 
 

(malathi)

The Shivaji Nagar police released around 40 members of the Shiv Premi Jan Jagram Samiti after they were arrested at 9 pm last night for carrying out an agitation outside the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) office.

Approximately 5,000 members and other supporters of Shivaji Maharaj had called for the Dadoji Hatao Gherao Andolan at the PMC office.

The samiti demanded that mayor Mohansingh Rajpal remove the statue of Dadoji Konddeo, after the state government mentioned that he was not Shivaji Maharaj's teacher as mentioned in history.

Mukand Kakare, president of the samiti said, "We want the statue to be removed from the Lal Mahal, as it is official that he was not Shivaji Maharaj's guru. We have demanded that the corporation and mayor get the statue removed immediately."

Despite the demonstration being peaceful, protestors told MiD DAY that they were arrested by the police. "We fail to understand the reason behind it. Though we were released around 10.30 pm, why were we arrested in the first place?"

Soon after the incident security was beefed up at Lal Mahal and the PMC office.

Around 30 police officials from Shivaji Nagar and Faraskhana police station, SRP and CRPF officials were stationed at Lal Mahal at the time of going to press. 
 

(malathi)

City filmmaker held for carrying jihad literature in Houston is a scholar on the subject and wants to discourage youth from taking to violence in the name of religion, say friends       

Malad-based filmmaker Vijay Kumar arrested at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental airport last Friday for carrying jihadi literature has been undertaking an anti-jihad campaign and was in the United States for the same, say friends.

At 40, Kumar, a native of Rajasthan, has donned many roles -- that of a social worker, an anti-jihad preacher, a real estate businessman and a documentary filmmaker. MiD DAY does a background check on Kumar only to learn that he is a man who wears many hats.

Family background
Kumar moved to the city from Gurgaon four years back to make a foray into filmmaking. He purchased an office in Oshiwara and a flat on Link Road, Malad where he has been living for the past six months.

Kumar originally comes from the Aggarwal family of Sardarsehar village in Rajasthan, but his ancestors have been living in Delhi for a long time now. His brother still lives in Gurgaon. While his mother passed away 18 months ago, his father died a long time back. Kumar is a bachelor, and those close to the family say that he did not get married as he wanted to take care of his ailing mother.

A patriot 
Kumar is not connected to any Hindu organisation or political party, but is associated with the Patriots' Forum, a voluntary group in Delhi, that came into existence in March 2006 to promote patriotism.

A former special director of the Intelligence Bureau, D C Nath, is now the president of the organisation. Kumar has been an active member of the group for the last four years. 

"He has been fighting to protect the Indian civilisation from Islamic assault -- population explosion and jihadi sentiments. He has been travelling across the country and is now in the US to educate people on this subject. He has also used his filmmaking skills to spread awareness about jihad," said Nath. "I appeal to Indians in the US and others to support Kumar; he is far from taking to terrorism or jihad."

Anti-jihad work
According to friends, Kumar is a scholar in jihadi fundamentalism and has read a number of books and literature on Islamic jihadis and the reason youth are drawn towards it.      
 
"Through the Patriots' Forum and independently he has been conducting seminars across the country, explaining to the youth the correct fundamentals of the Quran and how it is misinterpreted. He has been doing this to help the youth avoid using wrong means in the name of jihad," said I G Khandelwal, a close friend of Kumar's.

In his films, Kumar has spoken to former Punjab DCP K P S Gill, DGP (law and order) Mumbai K P Raghuvanshi, a former Indian ambassador for Pakistan. Experts such as the ex-chief of CBI and IB officers also appear in his documentaries, say Kumar's friends.

"While he has made a number of documentaries, he also made a commercial film on jihad, but it was not cleared by the Censor Board," said Khandelwal.

Kumar is said to be a spiritual person. Nath said, "Yes, he's spiritual and has been to the Himalayas a number of times to meditate."

Religious teachings
Kumar has also delivered religious preachings after his close interaction with sadhus from the Himalayas. He has also been invited by several organisations to give lectures on the subject, said his close aides.

Business
Before Kumar moved to Mumbai, he ran a real estate business in Delhi.

Khandelwal said, "He was a good real estate businessman, but he incurred some losses and then turned to film-
making."

Personal life
Friends and people know Kumar as a humble and well-read person who always wanted to do something for the country.

"He would never ever think of doing anything wrong and being arrested in a 'jihad' case is far beyond our imagination," said his friends, requesting anonymity.
 

(malathi)

Mumbai's infamous craters spare no one; soap queen trips on a pothole and fractures her wrist while jogging

Producer Ekta Kapoor is still raking in the moolah from her last film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai but she won't be cashing any of those cheques just yet. The soap queen has cracked her wrist bone, rendering her right hand unusable for the time being.

Ekta loves her daily jog and makes it a point to do so once a day. If work doesn't permit her to do it during the day, she makes sure she hits the road at night,  her bodyguards in tow. On Tuesday morning, Ekta was running near her home in Juhu, and while trying to miss one of the big potholes, she tripped on the rubble and fell. She injured her right hand, which took the entire weight of her fall.

Rushed to hospital
Says an insider, "Ekta landed hard on her right hand wrist, cracking it. She began screaming in agony, even as her guards rushed to help her. They helped her into the car that follows them and rushed her to a hospital in Juhu Scheme."

The doctor nursed the open wound, gave her a tetanus shot and asked her to rest her hand. The source adds, "Right now, the wrist has been plastered and she is wearing a sling around her neck to support her wrist. She is having a tough time eating as she isn't used to using her left hand to hold the spoon. The wrist will have to remain in plaster for four weeks. The doc has also advised her to stay at home and recuperate."

But the TV czarina will be travelling to Dubai over the weekend. "Ekta hasn't taken a break for a long time and this trip is a work-cum-holiday. She is in no mood to pay heed to the doc's advice, though she has promised him that she will take all the necessary precautions and wear the sling all the time and won't exert her wrist. She plans to be careful while jogging as the road near her house is a mess with too many potholes."

FACT: Ekta hates to jog indoors even though there are state-of-the-art treadmills at her home. She prefers to run outdoors.

In the USA, if you do something as simple as tripping and falling over a broken sidewalk and incurring a premise liability claim injury, you and your premise liability attorney can only file a premise liability lawsuit if you first file a notice of claim with the government agency that "owns" that sidewalk within 60 days, and that claim is rejected. Various states have various rules pertaining to premise liability claim injuries.
In New York, for those who have been injured as a result of a broken or uneven sidewalk, a claim and/or lawsuit will most likely be brought against NYC (subject to certain legal conditions) as it is responsible for ensuring public roadways and sidewalks are reasonably safe.
In most cases, sidewalks are public easements essentially owned by the Town or City where they exist. However, in New Jersey it is difficult to sue the governmental entity responsible for the sidewalk. Even if it causes serious personal injuries, the New Jersey Tort's Claim Act places restrictions on the ability to sue a government entity for an accident caused as a result of a condition of their sidewalk.
 

(malathi)

Hackers used Education Department ID to dupe victim of lakhs of rupees

A cybercrime that took place about a year ago, involving the hacking of the e-mail ID of the Education Department of Delhi government, has come to light only now. In the incident, Atul Kaniyal, a resident of Rohini area, has alleged that he was conned by a person called Sumeet, who claimed to be referee to the Delhi government. Atul runs a company by the name of Divine Touch Winter Solution and also deals in computer-related businesses.

The victim met Sumeet a year ago through a common friend. Sumeet allegedly lured Atul by claiming that he could help him in getting tenders of maintenance of computers with the Education Department of Delhi government.

"Sumeet said that he will only charge legal fees from us in return. The accused filled the tenders and was in touch with us. I received the first e-mail of acknowledgement of filling of tenders from tenders@edudel.nic.in on June 15 at around 11 am. This was purportedly sent to me by the Secretary to the Directorate of Education. After a few hours I received another e-mail of acceptance of our tender by the Education Department. After this Sumeet contacted us and took two lakh rupees," said the victim.

Atul claimed he got suspicious about Sumeet when he started ignoring his calls. The victim tried to contact the Education Department on the same e-mail ID but all his messages bounced back. Atul then decided to approach the police.

"I registered a complaint with Narela police station as Sumeet was living in the area at that time. Narela police called me four to five times and promised action. A month passed but the cops did nothing expect giving me assurances. After that the police started ignoring me. They told me they were helpless and couldn't lodge an FIR as the accused had fled from the area. I even suspect some cops might have helped Sumeet escape. Now I have complained to the Commissioner of Delhi police I S Dadwal and other government officials and the Education Department," the victim said.

When contacted by this reporter, the Director of Education Department P Krishan Murthy said:  "I don't know about any such matter. If you have such documents in your possession give them to us and we will probe the matter. We can't say whether our email was used or it was hacked or not before going through the complaint and conducting an inquiry."

Meanwhile another official of the department, who did not wish to be named, said: "If something is amiss we will approach the police. We have taken documents from you and would like to conduct a departmental inquiry first in the matter. If the allegations are true the accused can be an insider."

"If the e-mail ID of the Education Department was used they should approach us. Then only will the police take any action,' said Deputy Commissioner of Police, outer district, Chhaya Sharma.

CYBER WARS
India and Pakistan are fighting a silent war in cyberspace. In the last two weeks, hacker groups from the two countries have defaced thousands of websites, sent trojans (viruses) to government-operated 'safe' networks, and planted spyware in the bureaucracy's email servers.

According to cyber experts, more than a thousand websites were hacked into and defaced on August 14 and 15, when Pakistan and India celebrated their Independence Days respectively. The day came as a nightmare for some website owners from the two nations. Pakistani hackers were the first to strike on August 14, when they defaced Indian sites. Indians returned fire the next day.

 Hackers from both nations hacked into rival websites and posted flags of their countries. Two Pakistani groups, the Pak Cyber Army and PakHaxors took the lead. As per zone-H data, these groups have defaced around 10 to 20 websites. Retaliation from the Indian side was led by Indishell and Indian Cyber Army,  who claim to have defaced 1,226 Pakistani sites.

The Pakistani hackers intensified the volume and nature of the attack, resulting in the hacking of the official website of UB group chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Vijay Mallya.
 

(malathi)

Police pass on the buck; say the incident didn't happen under their jurisdiction

A student from Baldwin Boys College was in for an unpleasant surprise when a cop stepped up to him and punched him straight in the face. The reason? The student was answering his phone while waiting at a traffic
signal.

Mohammed Shafiulla (18), a second year science student, was on his way home at 4. 30 pm to break his fast when Constable Ramesh from the Cubbon Park police station thrashed him, as a surprised crowd looked on.

Khalid Shafiulla, Mohammed's father, a travel agent from Pillana Garden told this reporter, "My son was at the signal. When his phone rang, he took off his helmet to answer it.
 
 
Khalid Shafiulla, Mohammed's father, said that his son was on his way home to break his fast when Constable Ramesh from the Cubbon Park police station thrashed him. (Right) Mohammed shows the injuries he sustained when the cop hit him.
 

The light was still red, but the constable came straight to him and started abusing him asking why he wasn't wearing his helmet, and then hit him." He added, "My son now has a broken nose and has bruises all over his stomach. He then lost his temper and hit the policeman back."

Dr Keshav, Casualty Medical Officer from Bowring Hospital, said, "The patient is bleeding from the nose and there is swelling over it. He also has abrasions over his chest." He added, "The full extent of his injuries still isn't known, we'll know once a complete examination is done."

A medico-legal complaint was filed with the Bowring Hospital police station after doctors had a look at him.
 Inspector Dawood Khan from Bowring Hospital Police Station said, "A medico-legal complaint has been filed with us which will be passed to the Cubbon Park police authorities." He added, "Since the incident occurred in that area, it is their jurisdiction. They'll take the necessary action."

Inspector Jagdish from the Cubbon Park police station said, "We still haven't received any complaint so there is no question of a suspension or any other action. The complaining party still hasn't come to us."

To add insult to his injury, Mohammed was taken to Victoria Hospital because of 'lack of space' at Bowring Hospital, said Khalid Ahmed. 

(malathi)
 

 
A group of enterprising eunuchs took advantage of Raksha Bandhan and came up with a clever ruse to earn some extra bucks. Four eunuchs, who were later identified by the police as Kashinath Shinde, Subhash Shinde, Ramesh Shinde and Ganesh Madogar were taken to Bandra police station when they approached a man, tied him a rakhi and forced him to fork out Rs 500.

The incident occurred around noon at S V Road, Bandra when the four drunk eunuchs approached a man and tried to tie him a rakhi. Once they accomplished the task, they started harassing the man and demanded for Rs 500 as a present. When the man refused and attempted to escape the scene, the eunuchs followed him and hassled him even further.

The unidentified victim approached the Bandra police station and informed the authorities of the incident. The police reached the spot where the eunuchs were and brought them back to the police station to investigate into the matter.

Surprisingly enough, when this reporter reached the police station, he saw that the eunuchs were demanding chicken tandoori and chicken biryani. Sub Inspector S B Bhande attached to Bandra police station said, "We have the four eunuchs with us in custody. We will be sending them to a remand home in Chembur and a case of begging has been registered against all four of them."

Other celebrations
Approximately 15 to 20 women came to the police station and tied rakhis to every policeman in Bandra police station. Preeti Mane, one of the women who came to the police station, said, "The whole year they keep us protected and do their job. Therefore for the last four years we tie them a rakhi on their hand."
 

(malathi)

Seven years in jail and a fine of Rs 1,000 -- that was the verdict.

 
Around 6 pm on Monday, after sessions judge AM Mirza pronounced the judgment in the robbery case, convict Sajjan Ali (30) ran out of the second-floor courtroom, screaming and punching in the air, said sources who were present in the court at the time of the incident.

Even as onlookers tried to fathom what was happening, he ran towards the corridor and tried to leap out. Ali, a Shivaji Nagar resident who seemed to be unhappy with the judgment, ended up creating quite a commotion in the corridors.

Retired assistant commissioner of police A Pathan who happened to be close by at the time, stopped him from leaping off the corridor. Another police constable slammed the window shut even as Ali continued to holler, abusing nobody in particular, the source said.

He was arrested on March 12 for robbing valuables worth Rs 85,000 from Shivaji Nagar.

Minutes later, Ali's mother who came out rushing, tried to placate him. "The incontrollable man yelled angrily at her too," said the source.

The drama came to an end after the police overpowered Ali. A few other police personnel who were present on the court premises at the time were summoned.

Ali has now been taken to the Thane Central Jail.

(malathi)

Pulling strings: Dr Indira VMD (centre) travelled to Sree Chitra orphanage in Thiruvananthapuram and hosted a puppet show
 
It was activism mixed with celebration for newly-weds Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor yesterday when they visited the Sree Chitra orphanage in Thiruvananthapuram. Tharoor was following an annual ritual and treating the children to lunch on the occasion of Onam, which was made even more special for the couple as they had tied the knot just a day before the festival.

Dr Indira VMD (26), an agricultural scientist from Andheri, had read about Tharoor's plans to host a lunch for the kids and wrote in to him, asking if she, too, could do her bit for the children. On receiving a nod, Indira travelled to the orphanage with gifts for the children and hosted a puppet show with the message: do not cut trees and save nature.

Unexpected treat
"It was an unexpected treat for the children at the orphanage as many of them hadn't even heard of a puppet show before," said Indira, minutes after she boarded her flight to Mumbai last evening. "When I read about Shashi Tharoor's plans of hosting a lunch in an orphanage a day after his marriage, I was surprised as that is exactly what I wanted to do for my marriage. I was amazed to learn that Tharoor, who I hold in high esteem, shared similar views."

"He (Tharoor) was looking for me, but I was behind the curtain and they could only hear my voice. I could see Sunandaji wearing the traditional kasav saree and Tharoor was in a kasav mundu and kurta. Around 150 people had gathered inside the auditorium, including the children," she added.

Tharoor's twins Kanishk and Ishan, with their grandmother Lilly, and Sunanda's son Shiva and his sister Smriti, too, attended the lunch. A beaming Indira got acquainted with everyone in the Tharoor family and even exchanged contact details.
 

(malathi)

Released after jihadi drama in US. Documentary filmmaker Vijay Kumar, who was arrested at Houston  airport for carrying  jihadi literature, was released on bail last night; has been charged only for carrying brass knuckles

 
A 40-year-old Malad resident, Vijay Kumar who was arrested at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental airport on the night of August 20 was released on bail last night after he spent five days at the Harris County Jail.
However, he was detained by Houston immigration authorities in the wee hours today for questioning. Kumar ran into trouble with airport authorities and was arrested for carrying Jihadi literature, brass knuckles, a gun manual and other Islamic books with him. But, he was charged only for carrying the knuckles unlawfully.

Rs 2.34 lakh bail  
Assistant Distrcit Attorney Gonna Hawkins said, "Kumar had paid a bond on Monday and was released yesterday, but he will have to be produced in the court on Friday.

Kumar has been released on a bond of $ 5000 (Rs 2,34,000) and has been charged for unlawfully carrying the weapon (brass knuckles) at the airport. Moreover, Kumar has been ordered not to move out of Houston till Friday."   

State district judge David Mendoza had lowered Kumar's bail amount from $50,000 to $5,000 after learning more details about the case.

According to Roger Jain and Grant Scheiner, two criminal lawyers representing Kumar, their client is a documentary filmmaker, who made movies on Islamic terrorism and has been researching a lot on the subject. 
"He was invited by the Hindu Congress to participate in a discussion regarding Islamic terrorism and hence he was carrying literature on the subject. There is no other reason for him to carry the material," said Jain. 

Scheiner added, "There is a hearing of the case on Friday, where Kumar has to be present. As of now, he has been only charged for carrying the weapon. But, the weapon was in the check-in baggage and he did not want to attack anyone. If he had such plans, he would have kept it in the hand luggage."

Suspicion
"The check-in bag that was carried by Kumar set the alarm ringing while he was passing through the X-ray machine. This alerted the airport security, who suspected that Kumar was carrying explosives. But it was the brass knuckles that sent the alarm ringing at the airport," Hawkins said. "Moreover, the security guards got suspicious as Kumar started sweating."
 

(malathi)