Ankita Bhandari was a receptionist at Vanantra Resort in Ganga-Bhogpur in Pauri District,[1] Uttarakhand, who was allegedly murdered by Pulkit Arya,[2] the son of the BJP leader Vinod Arya and owner of the Vanantra Resort, on 18 September 2022. He was allegedly helped by Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta.

Background

Ankita Bhandari hailed from Dobh-Srikot,[3] Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. After completing intermediate, she did a 6 months diploma in Hotel Management from Dehradun.[4] After that, Ankita started working as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort, Rishikesh, Uttrakhand, on 28 August 2022. She also had a relationship with Pushap Deep Kumar of Jammu, whom she met online.

Murder

On 18 September, Ankita did not respond to her parents' calls and when the family tried to locate her in her room they were unable to find her. She also did not return calls of Pushap Deep,[5] who became suspicious as Ankita had told him about harassment at the resort. She was being pressured to provide "extra service" to a VIP for Rs. 10000.[4] Her father registered a missing complaint in the Revenue police area. However, for 2 days no action could be taken.

Later the case was transferred to the Laxman Jhula police, who managed to arrest the three accused in the case- Pulkit Arya (the key accused), the hotel's manager, Ankit Gupta, and Pulkit's friend, Saurabh Bhaskar.[6] During the police interrogation, the three confessed their crime and said that after Pulkit had a heated conversation with Ankita, they all went to a nearby location to resolve the things, however, on their way, they had an altercation with Ankita after which they pushed her into the Chilla canal. They then returned to the hotel and told a different story to their staff.

Ankita's dead body was recovered by the State Disaster Response Force of the Uttarakhand police on 24 September 2022.[6] The body was recovered from the Chilla canal's barrage. Her preliminary autopsy was done by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Rishikesh and it stated that Ankita sustained certain injuries suggestive of blunt force trauma before her death. As per the report, the cause of her death was drowning.[7]

Investigation and aftermath

The resort was bulldozed and torched the same night by unknown persons and sustained heavy damage. Initially, it was cited as quick justice by the government, but later the DM denied govt involvement in the matter.[8]

Ankita's family was not satisfied with the postmortem report and said that they will not perform her last rites until the final autopsy report was released by the police in the public. They also accused the administration of destroying evidence by bulldozing the resort.[9]

However, after several appeals from the local administration and the Chief Minister of Uttrakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami, Ankita's family agreed to perform her last rites. Calling the incident 'unfortunate' Dhami assured the family that the trial would be held in a fast-track court and the strictest punishment will be given to the accused.[10]

On 25 September 2022, Ankita's last rites were performed by her family members at the NIT Ghat of Srinagar. There was the presence of a large number of people at the funeral ground. Many leading politicians from the state including Tirath Singh Rawat, a sitting Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, and Rajendra Bhandari, Congress MLA from Badrinath mourned her death and extended a helping hand to her family.

An SIT was formed by the police to investigate the case. However, groups of locals on social media and the father of the victim moved High Court to ensure probe by CBI.[11] In December 2022, the police filed a 500 page chargesheet against the three accused.[12] In May, 2023 it was alleged by the parents and some social workers that Ankita was raped before her murder by Saurabh Bhaskar.[13]

In December 2023, while testifying in the court, JCB driver Deepak said that he had operated the JCB to bulldoze Vanantra Resort on the instructions of the then Sub-Collector and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, Renu Bisht, to destroy evidence.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Ankita Bhandari murder: Allegations of 'illegal activities' at Uttarakhand resort under SIT scanner". Hindustan Times. 2022-09-28. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  2. ↑ "Uttarakhand Police File Chargesheet Against Pulkit, Co-Accused In Ankita Bhandari Murder Case". IndiaTimes. 2022-12-17. Archived from the original on 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  3. ↑ "Ankita Bhandari murder case: Cremation today, father demands capital punishment for killers". TimesNow. 2022-09-25. Archived from the original on 2022-09-25. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  4. 1 2 "Ankita Bhandari News: 'I may be poor, but won't sell myself for Rs 10,000'; Ankita Bhandari told friend on WhatsApp". The Times of India. September 25, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  5. ↑ "Pushap Deep on Twitter: "Help help#urgent#kidnapping#missing A friend of mine ankita bhandhari age 19 was working in the vanantra resort chilla road ganga bhogpur talla rishikesh. The owner named- pulkit aryan earlier he was good. But after some days he started harassing her, firstly he drink.he haras" / Twitter". 2023-01-21. Archived from the original on 2023-01-21. Retrieved 2023-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 Kalyan Das (Sep 24, 2022). "Ankita Bhandari Murder in Rishikesh: BJP leader and former Uttarakhand minister's son arrested; body recovered | Dehradun News - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  7. ↑ "No evidence of rape in Ankita Bhandari's autopsy report: Sources". India Today. Archived from the original on 2022-10-11. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  8. ↑ Kalyan Das (Sep 27, 2022). "Ankita Bhandari murder: Who ordered Uttarakhand resort demolition? Probe on | Dehradun News - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2022-10-17. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  9. ↑ "Ankita case: Father refuses cremation till final post-mortem report comes". www.business-standard.com. 2022-09-25. Archived from the original on 2022-10-10. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  10. ↑ "Ankita Bhandari cremated, Uttarakhand CM Dhami assures murder trial in fast-track court". India Today. Archived from the original on 2022-10-22. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  11. ↑ Sharma, Sheenu (2022-11-04). "Ankita Bhandari murder case: Nainital High Court seeks all evidence related to 'crime scene'". www.indiatvnews.com. Archived from the original on 2022-11-14. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  12. ↑ Mishra, Ishita (2022-12-19). "Ankita Bhandari case | Uttarakhand Police file 500-page chargesheet". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
  13. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_xFDq6KlW8&t=94s
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