U'khand Cong says crime against women 'rising' in state seeks governor's intervention

    Drehradun, Sep 10 (PTI) A Congress delegation on Tuesday met Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd) to draw his attention to the alleged declining law and order situation in the state, especially "rise" in crime against women, and seek his intervention in the matter. <br>       Led by Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara, the delegation consisted of a number of party leaders including former chief minister Harish Rawat, ex-PCC chief and Chakrata MLA Pritam Sigh and deputy leader of opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Bhuvan Kapri. <br>      "The state government has failed to keep its promise of providing a corruption and fear-free government. Over the last two-and-a-half years of its tenure there has been a huge rise in incidents of murder, theft, robbery and heinous crimes like rape of minors," a memorandum signed by 20 party leaders and submitted to the governor said. <br>      Apart from the "declining" law and order situation, the rise in crime rate and the growing insecurity of women has tainted the reputation of Uttarakhand, it said. <br>      Citing incidents like Ankita Bhandari murder case in Pauri, alleged rape and murder of a nurse in Udham Singh Nagar, alleged gang-rape of a teenager at ISBT, Dehradun, and alleged molestation of a minor in Salt (Almora), the Congress leaders urged the governor to direct the state government to conduct a high-level inquiry into all the cases.<br>      In a separate memorandum submitted to the governor, the party leaders said the Vigilance Department has sought instructions from the Council of Ministers regarding filing a case against Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi on charges of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. <br>      The Congress leaders requested the governor to immediately dismiss Joshi from the post and direct the Council of Ministers to give permission to prosecute him in the court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Manish Mishra.<br>      The memorandum also demanded an NIA inquiry into the recent arrest of Satish Nainwal, brother of BJP's Ranikhet MLA Pramod Nainwal, with live cartridges and cash on the Indo-Nepal border.<br>      The Congress leaders also demanded a high-level inquiry into the recent death of a suspected beef smuggler in Haridwar. They alleged that without any investigation, the police caught a person named Waseem, a resident of Sohalpur, beat him up and then drowned him in a pond.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)