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Uttarakhand in 09: Khanduri's lost battle, fake encounter case
A change in leadership capping a long-drawn rebellion in the BJP camp and the ruling party's debacle in Lok Sabha polls dominated the political scene of Uttarakhand.
A change in leadership capping a long-drawn rebellion in the BJP camp and the ruling party's debacle in Lok Sabha polls dominated the political scene of Uttarakhand, which also witnessed uproar over the death of an MBA graduate in an alleged fake encounter.
Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri stepped down as chief minister after being rattled by dissension led by his bete noire B S Koshiyari. Khanduri, who rode the party to victory in the 2007 assembly elections, was replaced by Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank in June.
BJP's poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections precipitated the fall of Khanduri as the party lost all the five seats to Congress. However, Koshiyari was edged out in the race for chief minister and poet-politician Nishank was chosen for the top job.
Raising questions on the credibility of state police, alleged fake encounter death of Ranbir Singh (22), an MBA graduate from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, hit headlines. He was termed as a terrorist and allegedly shot dead by police from a close range.
According to police, he was killed in an encounter after three motorcycle-borne youths fled away with the service revolver of a police officer while searching their bag, which allegedly had a fire arm in it.
