The Pauri Kotwali police have submitted charge- sheet against three persons, including Pauri municipal council chairman Yashpal Benam, under Section 353 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday. The trio- Yashpal Benam, Sarita Negi and Ashok Bisht- have been charged with using force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty.
However, the police had registered a case after the matter had been taken up with the Uttarakhand cabinet minister Yashpal Arya who is also the minister in charge of the district on April 27, 2017.
The district excise officer Prabha Shankar Mishra had stated in his report that the trio had abused him while asking him to leave Pauri or face dire consequences when he had said that the licensed shops had been opened according to the prescribed norms of the Supreme Court and Uttarakhand Government.
He had further mentioned in his report that the incident had happened in the presence of the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police.
It is pertinent to mention here that after assuming charge of Pauri senior superintendent of police, Jagat Ram Joshi asked the investigating officer to speed up the process in the case and finally the charge sheet against the three persons has been submitted in the court of the chief judicial magistrate.
Replying to a question being raised by the common citizens about why the trio had not been arrested, Joshi said that the police was following Supreme Court guidelines for offences with punishment involving less than seven years imprisonment.