Two BSP leaders, including one MLA, were arrested late on Thursday night for their involvement in the torching of UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s house in July 2009.
The arrested persons are Jitendra Singh Babloo, BSP MLA from Bikapur in Faizabad, and Intezar Ahmad Abdi Bobby, who is the chairman of the Ganna Sansthan and enjoys the status of a state minister.
The two leaders were arrested by the CB-CID, which had been probing the incident and produced before a magistrate later in the night and then sent to jail on 14 days’ judicial remand.
The arrests were made at a time when a large section of the media was present at the inauguration of the Kanshi Ram eco park by chief minister Mayawati. By the time the media got wind of the arrests, the two leaders were on their way to jail.
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Maya opens Kanshi Ram eco park
Age Correspondent
Lucknow
March 4: With animals carved out of bronze and pathways made of pink sandstone, UP chief minister Mayawati threw open her newest dream project — the Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji Green Eco Park — on Thursday night.
The 112 acre eco park is located on the land where the Lucknow jail once stood and has been constructed at a cost of `834 crores. The construction of the park began in October 2009.
A huge bronze fountain with water bodies and greenery surrounding it marks the focal point of the park which has been designed with the environmental aspect in mind. The park has 10 other fountains, a rock garden and different varieties of saplings.
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EC rejects plea to put off TN polls
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
March 4: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday rejected the demands from Tamil Nadu political parties that the elections date be postponed. The EC has also ruled out the possibility of advancing the date of counting from May 13. The parties from Tamil Nadu had expressed reservations over the month long gap between polling and counting. Polling is scheduled for April 13.
Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said in the national capital that the schedule was finalised after taking into account all relevant factors.
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Bengal Speaker Hashim not to contest polls
KAUSHIK PRADHAN
Kolkata
March 4: With the end of the ensuing session of the Assembly on March 25, curtains will fall on Hashim Abdul Halim’s three decade long stint as the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly. “I have informed the party leadership about my inability to contest the coming election due to my poor health and the party has agreed to relieve me,” he announced on Friday.
Mr Halim has won seven consecutive Assembly elections since 1977. He is possibly the only CPI(M) leader who was a part of the first Left Front government .