Uttarakhand CM Dhami orders SIT probe in 19-year-old woman’s murder; BJP expels father, brother of accused from party

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami had also ordered to demolish the resort owned by the main accused Pulkit Arya, son of Vinod Arya, who was the Minister of State under the previous BJP government headed by Trivendra Singh Rawat.

The body of Ankita Bhandari, who was allegedly murdered by the son of Uttarakhand’s senior BJP leader and his aides, was recovered from Chilla canal on September 24. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami assured speedy justice to the victim’s family and removed the father of the accused from the party and his elder brother from the post of nominated vice-chairman of the State’s OBC Commission.

“The body of Uttarakhand’s daughter Ankita was recovered this morning. My heart is deeply pained by this heart-breaking incident. In order to get the harshest punishment to the culprits, a SIT has been formed under the leadership of Deputy Inspector General of Police P. Renuka Devi,” said CM Dhami.

Mr. Dhami had also ordered to demolish the resort owned by the main accused Pulkit Arya, son of Vinod Arya, who was the Minister of State under the previous BJP government headed by Trivendra Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand.

“Pulkit’s elder brother, Ankit Arya, a nominated vice-chairman of the OBC Commission was also removed from his post and the party along with the father”, said Mr. Dhami.

Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, informed that a missing case of Ankita Bhandari, 19, who hailed from Pauri Garhwal district, was lodged with the Revenue Police on September 19.  

“We have transferred the case from the Revenue Police on September 22 to State police and started investigation. On Thursday, the police arrested two people, Pulkit Arya, the owner of Vanantara Resort, where Ankita used to work,” he said adding that Arya was forcing Ankita to do some ‘immoral activities’ in the resort to please the clients.

Arya was arrested along with his resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta. “They confessed to have killed Ankita and thrown her body into Cheela canal as she refused to get indulged into prostitution,” police said.