The Uttarakhand Police on Saturday recovered the dead body of Ankita Bhandari who had gone missing five days ago from a resort in Pauri district. Ankita worked as a receptionist at Vanantra resort and was murdered by its owner named Pulkit Arya (son of ex-BJP minister), resort manager Ankit, and another person named Saurabh.
According to the reports, the Police yesterday arrested the three who confirmed that Ankita had been murdered. The culprits informed police that she was murdered for refusing the demands of the resort owner for sexual favour for himself and his guests in the resort. The culprits had murdered the girl and thrown her in the Rishikesh Chilla barrage.
The Police and the SDRF teams yesterday conducted a search operation and reduced the water in the Rishikesh Chilla barrage to recover the dead body. The Police confirmed on September 24 that the remains of Ankita had been recovered and that her family members had been called to identify the body.
“The deceased’s brother and father were here and they identified the body. The body found at the barrage is of Ankita Bhandari. A search operation was going on from 7 am, we took out the body of a woman, her relatives came here & identified it to be the body of Ankita Bhandari. A dead body has been taken to AIIMS in Rishikesh”, Shekhar Suyal, Additional Superintendent of Police was quoted.
Meanwhile, the enraged locals demanded strict punishment for all the arrested accused. According to a tweet shared by AajTak journalist Shubhankar Mishra, after the police arrest, the locals stopped the police vehicle and thrashed the arrested culprits for executing the brutal crime. One of the arrested individuals named Pulkit Arya who is the owner of the resort is also the son of former state minister Vinod Arya.
Father Arya had yesterday claimed that his son was innocent and that he knew nothing about the incident. However, the police arrested the three and registered a case under several sections including murder. While investigating the murder case, the Police also happened to check the documents of the resort and found that the resort was being run illegally.
Reportedly, the resort on September 23 was demolished by the state authorities on the orders of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Following Ankita’s murder, Uttarakhand Chief Minister also directed district magistrates to take necessary action against all the illegally running resorts in the state.
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. The Uttarakhand Police have recovered the dead body of the deceased girl and have sent it to AIIMS Rishikesh for further investigation. According to the reports, CM Dhami has announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team, which would be led by Deputy Inspector General of Police P Renuka Devi, to look into the case.