Bijnore district shares boundaries with Uttarakhand and the Zila panchayat members were staying in the resort. The election for the post of chairman of Bijnore Zila panchayat is scheduled to take place on January 21.
Rohit Kumar, son of a Zila panchayat member pawan Kumar, had lodged a complaint with Lakshman Jhoola police station in Uttarakhand alleging kidnapping of people by UP ministers and SP leaders.
D S Rawat, SHO of Lakshaman Jhoola police station, said 18 members of Bijnore Zila panchayat had been staying in a hotel in Rishikesh since January 16. The complainant alleged that they, along with 10 others, were kidnapped in the wee hours of January 18 by the accused who came in red- beaconed vehicles and were accompanied by UP policemen. “I visited Bijnore yesterday to collect information for investigating the case. I am trying to check the veracity of the information given to us in the FIR,” the SHO said.
SP (Pauri Garhwal) Bimla Gunjayal said she has constituted a special police team, headed by inspector D S Rawat, to collect evidence in support of the information given to the police by the complainant. “Our first task is to check the veracity of the information mentioned in the FIR,” she said.
Reports said that Bijnore Zila panchayat members had recently removed chairperson Nasrin Saifi. “She was elected during the previous BSP government. After the formation of the SP government, a no-trust motion was moved against her and she lost’’, a source said.
Nasrin is pitted against Vijay Viri. “Initially, SP supported Viri, but later started backing Nasrin, while Vijay has the backing of opposition parties,” the source said.