In brief

Babloo,two others acquitted in Ghazipur abduction case
Additional District Judge of Lucknow,Shashank Shekhar,on Tuesday acquitted gangster Babloo Srivastava and two others — Sumit Shukla and Pradeep Gupta — in an abduction case that took place in 1999. Babloo is currently lodged in Bareilly district jail. The case pertains to the abduction of a Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Agarwal from Ghazipur where he had come to attend a marriage ceremony. It was learnt that kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 crore and released the businessman after they received the money. During investigation,it came into light that Babloo,who was then lodged in Naini jail,had executed the abduction with the help of his associates. “During the trial,the prosecution failed to produce evidence or witness which could corroborate the police theory,” said defence lawyer H A Alvi.

Seek Centre’s instruction on Amar ED probe case,High Court to counsel
Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre’s counsel to seek instructions on a writ petition demanding that the investigation into corruption cases against former SP leader Amar Singh be handed over to the Enforcement Directorate. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justices Vinod Prasad and Rajesh Chandra,which fixed April 2 as the next date of hearing.The order came on the writ petition of one Shivkant Tripathi who had lodged an FIR alleging that Singh was responsible for large scale financial irregularities that took place in awarding contracts while his party was in power in Uttar Pradesh.

Bhartendu Puraskar for Lucknow professor
Dr Ramesh Chandra Tripathi,Associate Professor of Lucknow University,has been honoured with Bhartendu Harish Chandra Puraskar (Mann Award) for his manuscript entitled Sanchar Srijan. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni awarded Tripathi at a function in New Delhi on Monday.