2 held with knives at Modi’s UP rally
lucknow: Two men were detained on Thursday for carrying large knives into the venue of a rally in Uttar Pradesh to be addressed in the afternoon by BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, police said.
The men were detained hours before the Shankhnad rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party was to begin in Gorakhpur, ahead of the arrival of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
The men, both in their mid-40s, were whisked away by policemen to the Chilwataal police station nearby for interrogation. Policemen found the knives in bags carried by the men, while frisking them after a metal detector set off an alarm. “They had no explanation for why they were carrying the knives, but claimed that they had only come to hear Narendra Modi, and meant no harm,” an official said.
Kashmir links stay
snapped on day 2
Srinagar: Both the Srinagar-Jammu highway and the Baramulla-Banihal rail service in Jammu and Kashmir remained shut for the second day on Thursday, authorities said. No flights to Srinagar could be operated on Wednesday as well due to poor visibility amid continuing snowfall. Traffic police officials said heavy snowfall in Banihal and Patnitop areas of the over 300-km long Srinagar-Jammu national highway has hampered road clearance operations.
4 abducted, another
2 rescued in Manipur
Imphal: In yet another case of kidnapping, five persons including three contractors who are engaged in a construction of RCC Bridge at New Boljang, Saikul in Senapati district were abducted by a suspected Kuki UGs on Wednesday, said a police source on Thursday. At about 6 pm the five persons were abducted from the work site while they were resting for the day. Till the filing of this report it cannot be ascertain who had kidnapped them. Meanwhile, Imphal West police commandos rescued two persons who were abducted on Jan 17 from Separmaina who were engaged in blacktopping of National Highway-2 Imphal-Dimapur section.
Kerala Tourism wins UN award
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Tourism has been awarded by the United Nations for creating innovative initiatives for sustainable tourism. This is the first time such an award has been given for a tourism initiative in India. Kerala Tourism walked away with the top honours at the annual United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism presented Jan 22 in Madrid, Spain’s capital, where the UNWTO headquarters is located.