Ankita Bhandari murder: Uttarakhand ex-minister’s son, 2 others get life term

Dehradun: An Uttarakhand court on Friday sentenced the three convicts to life imprisonment in the sensational Ankita Bhandari murder case in Pauri district in 2022.

Additional District and Session Judge, Kotdwar, Reena Negi held Pulkit Arya, resort owner and son of a former BJP leader, and his two associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, guilty of murdering Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort located in Yamkeshwar.

The court held the trio guilty under penal provisions dealing with murder (IPC Section 302), offence committed by an enforcing authority (Section 210b) and causing disappearance of evidence (Section 201).

According to the police, Ankita,19, was killed on September 18, 2022 and her body was dumped in Chilla canal in Rishikesh, from where it was retrieved about six days after she went missing.

According to the prosecution, Ankita and Pulkit Arya had a dispute over something, after which the man, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, allegedly pushed the woman into the canal.

Resort owner Pulkit is the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya who was a minister in the Uttarakhand government till 2021.

The case had made national headlines after the local people came out and protested over the murder as the law enforcement agencies were dragging their feet on the probe into the murder.

On Friday, the court resembled a fortress due to heightened security, with only lawyers and family members of the victim and convicts allowed to attend the proceedings. A ring of no-entry zone of 200 metre was also thrown around the court complex.

The BJP had sacked Vinod Arya from the party after the controversy and the Uttarakhand government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.

The Uttarakhand court completed its hearing in the case on Monday, examining 47 witnesses during the hearing that lasted two years and eight months.

On May 19, after hearing the closing arguments of both sides, the Judge had fixed May 30 as the date for pronouncing the verdict.

The prosecution had filed a 500-page chargesheet and the hearing in the case started on January 20, 2023.

IANS