Haridwar:

Two prisoners who escaped from the Haridwar district jail had hatched the plan with a third inmate, who also tried to scale the prison wall with them but failed as the ladder fell, police sources said on Sunday.

The three had planned the prison break about a week before a Ramlila event in jail which they took advantage of to escape, they said.

Police, however, are yet to find any leads on the whereabouts of the two prisoners who managed to escape.

Pankaj, who was serving life imprisonment, and Ramkumar Chauhan, an undertrial in a kidnapping and ransom case, escaped from the prison on Friday night. Six jail officials, including jailer Pyarelal, were suspended for negligence after the matter came to light.

Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Doval formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which will be led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Jitendra Mehra, on Friday night to re-arrest the prisoners as soon as possible.

The police sources said preliminary investigation revealed that Pankaj and Ramkumar had planned to escape with another inmate, Chhotu. The three planned the prison break about a week before the Ramlila performance.

Taking advantage of the fact that the prison staff was preoccupied with preparations for the Ramlila performance, the three tied two ladders together using a piece of cloth and put them next to the wall. Pankaj and Rajkumar managed to successfully scale the wall. But when Chottu started climbing the ladder, it fell and he failed to escape, the sources said.

Ten teams have been deployed to nab Pankaj and Rajkumar. The teams are yet to find any clues about their whereabouts, police said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Haridwar:

A debt-ridden businessman from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur allegedly died by suicide on Monday after jumping into Gangnahar canal along with his wife.

The couple also took a selfie together on Hathi Pul before jumping into the canal and sent it to a person who worked at their jewellery shop in Saharanpur, asking him to share it with their relatives, a police official said.

While the body of Saurabh Babbar (35) has been recovered, a search is still on to find his wife Mona Babbar who also jumped into the canal along with him, Ranipur police station incharge Vijay Singh said.

A suicide note left behind by the couple said they were putting an end to their lives as they were reeling under heavy debt and could no longer pay the interest on loans to their creditors.

A mobile phone and a purse was retrieved from the man’s pocket, he said, adding that Saurabh ran a jewellery shop named Sai Jewellers in Saharanpur and was under huge debt.

The couple has two children whom they left with their maternal grandparents.

Saurabh came along with his wife here on his own motorcycle which he had bought recently.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Haridwar:

A day after she joined the BSP and was named candidate from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat, Bhavna Pandey on Tuesday quit the party, dealing a blow to it.

Ms Pandey said she will join the BJP on March 28. “I will campaign for BJP candidate Trivendra Singh Rawat,” she told PTI.

Soon after Pandey quit the BSP, the Mayawati-led party declared Maulana Jameel Ahmed Kazmi, former party MLA in Uttar Pradesh, as its new candidate from Haridwar.

BSP chief Mayawati had also contested from Haridwar in 1984. She had garnered around 1.25 lakh votes but lost the polls.

The BJP has been winning Haridwar seat since 2014 general elections. It has fielded former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat from the seat this time, replacing Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

The Congress has fielded former chief minister and party veteran Harish Rawat’s son Virender Rawat from Haridwar.

Former journalist and independent MLA from Khanpur Umesh Kumar has also entered the fray from the seat as an Independent.

Mr Kumar had made a sting video of the then Chief Minister Harish Rawat in which he was seen negotiating a deal to buy back the support of rebel MLAs in 2016.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)