Champion opened fire at minister's residence: Kunjwal

Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal today confirmed it was Congress MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion who had opened fire during a party at the official residence of Minister Harak Singh Rawat here.
Champion, who represents Khanpur seat, began firing the moment he got down from his car, Kunjwal, who attended the party at Rawat's residence, said and noted that people's representatives should not behave like this.
"People's representatives should restrain themselves and desist from such behaviour. I think what happened at the residence of the minister that night was unfortunate," Kunjwal told reporters in his chamber at the Vidhan Sabha.

Kunjwal's statement becomes significant as police has registered a case against an unidentified person despite the name of Champion cropping up in connection with the incident which left two persons injured.
Vivekanand Khanduri, who is said to be close to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, received injuries in both his feet in the incident and is recuperating in hospital. Congress worker from Haridwar Ravindra Saini also received minor injury in the incident.
Roorkee MLA Pradip Batra had earlier said the fire was opened by Champion, adding that he fired for fun and not with the intention to injure anyone.

Champion, a sports enthusiast and fitness freak, is said to be quite fond of guns. He infamously brandished guns after a rally addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Roorkee in 2007. There are cases registered against him at police stations in Haridwar and nearby areas but no action was ever taken against him.

While opposition BJP has demanded a judicial inquiry into the firing incident, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has demanded ouster of Harak Singh Rawat from the cabinet over the issue.
"Firing at a cabinet minister's official residence in his presence is a serious matter. He should be dismissed from the cabinet on this ground," he said.