The court of chief judicial magistrate in Dehradun granted bail to Uttarakhand cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, former Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay among others on Tuesday in connection with the agitation they staged in the Assembly in December 2009 when BJP was in power. The next hearing would be held on May 4. Notably, Rawat was in Congress when the incident happened. later he switched to BJP. Notably, the court had earlier issued bailable warrants against Rawat, Upadhyay and about two dozen persons in connection with the case.
While hearing the nine- year- old case where the accused had tussled with the police near the Vidhan Sabha, the court had earlier directed the district police chief to serve the warrants as accused were absent during previous hearing.
It will be recalled here that along with supporters and party workers, the incumbent cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat had taken out a rally to the Vidhan Sabha in December, 2009. The police had stopped the rally at the barricade set up near Rispana bridge. They had then attempted to break through it.
The protesting leaders had allegedly manhandled the police which had reportedly led to deterioration of the law and order. A case under appropriate sections of IPC had been registered against the accused in Nehru Colony police station. Though the hearing of the case in the court had started in 2013 none of the accused leaders had appeared in the court. The other are Khanpur MlA Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ and Congress leaders Dinesh Aggarwal, Hira Singh Bisht, Pritam Singh, Kishore Upadhyay, Pradeep Tamta, Suryakant Dhasmana, Braham Swaroop Brahamchari, Satpal Brahamchari, lalchand Sharma, Sangram Singh Pundir and Vikas Chowdhary.