Uttarakhand BJP legislature party to elect new leader one day after Tirath Singh Rawat's resignation
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand BJP legislature party will meet on Saturday afternoon to elect its new leader, a day after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned as chief minister after a less than four-month stint.
Ending days of speculation about a change of guard in the state, Rawat on Friday handed over his resignation letter to Governor Baby Rani Maurya past 11 pm, hours after returning from Delhi where he was summoned by the top BJP leadership on Wednesday.
The legislature party meeting will begin at the BJP headquarters at 3 pm in the presence of central observer Narendra Tomar and BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam.
All the MLAs have been asked to be present at the meeting, Pradesh BJP president Madan Kaushik, who will chair the meeting, said.
However, the names of nearly half a dozen MLAs have already begun doing the rounds as probables for the top job, including Chaubattakhal MLA and cabinet minister Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Khatima MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami.
A section of party leaders have also suggested the name of former chief minister and Doiwala MLA Trivendra Singh Rawat.
Their argument is that with less than a year to go for the next assembly polls it is safe to reinstate Trivendra Singh Rawat, who has the experience of helming the affairs of the state, rather than gambling on a new candidate.
However, nothing can be said with a degree of certainty given the BJP's penchant for springing surprises.
Even Tirath Singh Rawat had emerged as the surprise choice of the party for chief minister belying all speculation when Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced by him in March this year.
The choice is by no means easy for the BJP as the new chief minister also has to lead the party to the next assembly polls, which are due early next year.
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UP man gets life term for electrocuting mentally challenged wife to death in Bareilly
Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A local court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his mentally challenged wife by repeatedly electrocuting her while she was tied to a cot, lawyers said on Thursday.
Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar (45) for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, he was allegedly frustrated with his wife Satyavati's mental illness and often assaulted her.
Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses to establish the charges against him.
As per court records, on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, Vinod tied her hands and legs to a cot using ropes and then connected an aluminium cable to an electric board to repeatedly administer electric shocks to her.
"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.
After committing the crime, the accused threw the rope and cable on the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am to create a false alibi.
He later tried to mislead the police and the victim's family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.
However, the victim's brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur district, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim's body could not have been self-inflicted.
The police also recovered the rope and electric wire used in the crime on the accused's identification, officials said.
