In brief

Budget session from January 21
The Budget Session of the state legislature will commence on January 21. Earlier,the session was scheduled to begin from January 28.

On way from court,undertrials escape
Two undertrials being taken back to the district jail after a court hearing fled from the custody of the Gosainganj police on Thursday. Home department sources said the two,booked under the NDPS Act,fled from a tempo.

Rajnath on 3-day Lucknow tour
Former BJP national president Rajnath Singh will begin a three-day visit to Lucknow on Saturday. This is Singh’s first visit to the state after he was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari. According to officials,Singh will reach Lucknow on Saturday evening.

Four arrested,33 pistols recovered
The Meerut police arrested four persons and recovered 33 countrymade pistols and cartridges from their possession. The arrested persons were identified as Ramesh Kumar,Pramod Chaudhari,Haneef and Kursheed. While Ramesh and Pramod are residents of Bihar,the other two are from Meerut. The duo told the police that they had bought the weapons from Bihar for sale in Meerut. They named Hanif and Khurshid as their agents,who were later arrested.

Freedom fighter Dwivedi dies at 94
JAUNPUR: Veteran freedom fighter and former MP,Nageshwar Dwivedi,died here on Friday morning following prolonged illness. He was 94.
Dwivedi had taken active part in the freedom struggle and after Independence he was elected MLA of the first Assembly of Uttar Pradesh from Gadwara. He was also elected MP from Machchlishahr parliamentary constituency later. For over a decade now,he had been living in the Acharya Vinova Bhave ashram in Matiyahi village,sources said. The body was cremated in Allahabad with full state honours.

ens/pti

Inmates attack jail staff in Aligarh
Seven staff members of the Aligarh district jail,including deputy jailor R P Choudhary,were injured when a group of inmates attacked them on Friday. The incident took place after the jail staff seized a cellphone and a SIM card from Babu — an inmate who is serving life sentence — on Thursday evening.
On Friday morning,the inmates demolished a brick structure inside the jail complex and threw brickbats on the staff. Additional Superintendent of Police Man Singh Chauhan said,“An FIR will be lodged against the inmates who were involved in the incident. We are waiting for an application from the jail staff.” The condition of those who had sustained injuries was stable,he added.

UK national dead
A 78-year-old British national died under mysterious circumstances in Bhadohi district,official sources said on Friday.Seager Geaffery Wilfred Michael,who had married an Indian woman,Kuki Kumud,in 1978 and was engaged in carpet trading,was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Gopiganj area,Home department sources said. A case has been registered and investigations are on to determine the exact cause of the death,they said.
ens/pti