A day after Uttarakhand police arrested Pulkit Arya, son of a former BJP minister, and two employees of a resort he owns, on charges of the murder of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-receptionist, authorities started the process of demolition of Vanatara Resort in Rishikesh, which is owned by Pulkit Arya.
Abhinav Kumar, Special Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister informed that the process of the demolition of the resort was being carried out on the orders of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
#WATCH | Uttarakhand: Demolition underway on orders of CM PS Dhami, at the Vanatara Resort in Rishikesh owned by Pulkit Arya who allegedly murdered Ankita Bhandari: Abhinav Kumar, Special Principal Secretary to the CM
— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2022
(Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/8iklpWw0y6
Following the murder of Ankita Bhandari, Uttarakhand Chief Minister directed district magistrates to take necessary action against all the illegally running resorts in the state.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister directed an examination into all state resorts. He stated that information about the working conditions of employees at hotels, resorts, and guest homes throughout the state should be obtained and that complaints in this respect should be treated seriously.
मुख्यमंत्री श्री @pushkardhami ने उत्तराखण्ड के समस्त Resort की जाँच करने के निर्देश ज़िलाधिकारियों को दिए हैं। मुख्यमंत्री श्री धामी ने कहा कि जो Resort अवैध बने हैं या अवैधानिक रूप से संचालित हैं उनके विरुद्ध तत्काल आवश्यक कार्रवाई सुनिश्चित की जाए।
— CM Office Uttarakhand (@ukcmo) September 23, 2022
Yesterday (September 23), following the arrest of the three persons in the case of Ankita Bhandari, CM Dhami assured that the strictest punishment will be given for such crimes. “Today, the Director General of Police in the Secretariat has been instructed to take strict action regarding the Rishikesh incident. Whoever has committed this heinous crime will be punished severely. Police are doing their job. Justice will be ensured to the victim,” he said.
आज सचिवालय में पुलिस महानिदेशक को ऋषिकेश घटना को लेकर सख़्त कार्रवाई करने के निर्देश दिए हैं। जिस किसी ने ये जघन्य अपराध किया है उसे हर हाल में कड़ी से कड़ी सजा दिलाई जाएगी। पुलिस अपना कार्य कर रही है। पीड़िता को न्याय दिलाना सुनिश्चित किया जाएगा। pic.twitter.com/jPj4rPZioe
— Pushkar Singh Dhami (@pushkardhami) September 23, 2022
ANI quoted CM Dhami as saying, “It’s unfortunate. Police is working, they have done their work for making the arrests. Strictest punishment would be given for such heinous crimes, whoever be the criminal.”
It’s unfortunate. Police is working, they have done their work for making the arrests. Strictest punishment would be given for such heinous crimes, whoever be the criminal: Uttarakhand CM PS Dhami on a 19-yr-old girl in Rishikesh who went missing under suspicious circumstances pic.twitter.com/YerRQGkQie
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 23, 2022
Ankita Bhandari murder
On Friday, September 23, the Uttarakhand Police arrested three persons in the case of Ankita Bhandari who had gone missing five days ago from a resort in Pauri district. The three arrested persons have been identified as Pulkit Arya who is the son of former state minister Vinod Arya, resort manager Ankit, and another person named Saurabh.
According to the reports, Ankita worked as a receptionist in the Yamkeshwar Vidhan Sabha’s Ganga Bhojpur resort named Vanantra resort which is owned by Pulkit Arya. She was reported missing five days ago. However, the police launched an investigation after the girl’s family reported a missing case and feared murder. The culprits have informed police that Ankita was murdered after an argument with her as she was refusing the demand of the resort owner for sexual favour for himself and his guests in the resort.
The police interrogated the three accused who confirmed that Ankita Bhandari had been murdered. According to ASP Shekhar Suyal, the three accused murdered the girl and threw her in the Rishikesh Chila barrage.
So far, the police have not recovered the dead body of the girl and are investigating the case.
