There is tremendous anger among the people of the mountain over the murder of Ankita Bhandari, who was missing from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand for five days. The post-mortem of Ankita Bhandari’s body was conducted at AIIMS Rishikesh on Saturday. Ankita’s post-mortem was conducted by a panel of three doctors. Ankita’s body will reach Srinagar from Rishikesh late in the evening. Ankita will be cremated on the banks of Alaknanda. SDM Ajay Veer Singh said that arrangements have been made for cremation at the ghat. At the same time, disclosing that Ankita, who was missing for five days, was murdered in the Chila canal, the police registered a case of murder and arrested the resort operator Pulkit Arya and his two managers, the son of the former minister of state, the operator of the resort.
Besides, locals protested against BJP MLA Renu Bisht and vandalised her car as they agitated over Ankita’s murder case.The MLA was escorted away by Police. Meanwhile, the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand Government has expelled Vinod Arya and Ankit Arya – the father and brother of main accused Pulkit Arya – from the party with immediate effect.
On Saturday, the body of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, who had gone missing a few days ago, was recovered in the early hours from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh. The body was fished out from the barrage by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).Yesterday, the Uttarakhand police arrested three people including Pulkit Arya the son of Vinod Arya, a former BJP minister in the state, on charges of murder of Ankita, who was employed as a receptionist at a resort in Rishikesh. Police said that the three arrested accused, including the manager of the Vanatara Resort owned by Pulkit Arya, confessed to having pushed Ankita into a canal on 18 September after an altercation and she had drowned.
“During probe, it was found that she had left from the resort with three people, and didn’t return. So, there were three suspects-Pulkit, Ankit and Bhaskar. We arrested them and produced before court y’day. They were sent to remand and jailed,” SSP Pauri Garhwal, Yaswant Singh told ANI news agency. VK Jogdande, Pauri Garhwal DM ensured that actions will be taken against irregular resorts.
“All such irregular resorts will be identified & action will be taken against illegal ones. CM gave us directions for the same,” the DM said. Bhandari was killed by Arya and two other staffers of the resort for refusing to indulge in prostitution with resort guests. The Uttarakhand government has also suspended the local patwari and revenue police inspector, who allegedly didn’t register a case on the girl’s disappearance for three days.
