Dehradun: Following widespread outrage over the murder of 19-year-old girl in Uttarakhand, the BJP expelled its leaders Vinod Arya and Ankit Arya, the father and brother of main accused Pulkit Arya, for their alleged involvement in the case.
The body of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, a staffer at an Uttarakhand resort who went missing a few days ago, was found on Saturday in a canal. The discovery prompted the BJP to suspend the father and brother of the prime accused in the murder case.
The prime accused is BJP leader Vinod Arya’s son Pulkit, who was arrested with two others on Friday.
The outrage over the murder of the 19-year-old receptionist in Rishikesh intensified on Saturday as protesting locals vandalized the car of BJP MLA Renu Bisht. The MLA was later escorted away by the police, according to news agency ANI. The body of the teenage girl, who had gone missing a few days ago, was recovered in the early hours of Saturday from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh.
There are allegations that the teenager was being forced into prostitution, but the police have not confirmed it.
The Uttrakhand Police on Friday arrested three persons, including Pulkit Arya the son of Vinod Arya, a former BJP minister in the state, on charges of murder of Ankita, who was employed as a receptionist at a resort in the Uttarakhand city.
Angry locals set on fire the resort owned by the accused. Notably, a portion of the resort was earlier demolished on the order of Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The resort is about 10 km from the main town, Rishikesh. The CM expressed pain over the death of the woman and announced the setting up of an SIT, led by DIG police P Renuka Devi, to conduct a speedy probe into the killing. He promised “the harshest action” no matter who is involved.
Besides Pulkit Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar (35) and assistant manager Ankit Gupta have been arrested. Pauri Garhwal senior superintendent of police (SSP) Yashwant Singh said Arya had approached the police with a missing complaint to mislead the investigation.
“During the course of the investigation, police learnt the accused and the woman had gone to Rishikesh on Sunday. While on their way back, Pulkit and the woman entered into an argument following which the accused threw her into a canal in Chilla,” the SSP said.
The Congress on Saturday alleged that the police were slow because of involvement of RSS-BJP people in the case. State Congress spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni was quoted by NDTV as saying “It’s horrific. When the girl went missing on September 18, why did the police register the FIR on September 21?”. Dasauni said “Till when will this brazen misuse of power by BJP and RSS leaders continue?”
-INDIA NEWS STREAM