An Uttarakhand court on Friday convicted all three accused in the 2022 high-profile murder case of Ankita Bhandari, who was an employee of a Rishikesh-based resort.
The additional district and Sessions judge court in Kotdwar found the accused, Pulkit Arya, and his associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 354A (sexual harassment), along with provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, news agency ANI reported.
The accused, who were found guilty of the brutal murder of 19-year-old Ankita, are yet to be sentenced, with the prosecution pushing for maximum punishment.
Ankita Bhandari’s mother demands capital punishment
Meanwhile, Ankita’s mother Soni Devi spoke to news agency ANI and urged the people of the state to continue supporting her family, demanding capital punishment for the accused.
“May the criminals be sentenced to death…I appeal to the public of Uttarakhand to keep on supporting us and come to the Kotdwar court to boost our morale,” Devi said.
The 2022 murder case of Ankita Bhandari, a Pauri resident who used to work as a receptionist at Rishikesh’s Vanantra Resort, shook the entire state of Uttarakhand.
The murder had also sparked massive outrage, with protests taking place across various parts of the state. Angered locals even set fire to the resort.
It was alleged that Pulkit Arya, owner of the resort, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, pushed Ankita into a barrage and murdered her.
Ankita was reported missing for at least six days before police recovered her body from Rishikesh’s Chilla canal on September 24, 2022.
The case was initially being probed by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by deputy inspector general of police P Renuka Devi.
During the investigation, former employees of the Vanantra resort had said that Arya, son of a former BJP minister, and Gupta used to bring women to the resort and abuse the staff, including women staffers.
“They used to abuse and beat the staff for minor mistakes,” said the woman and claimed that in the past, the accused duo had assaulted her too.
Court proceedings in the case began on January 30, 2023 when the ADJ Court in Kotdwar first heard the matter.
Prosecution filed a 500-page chargesheet in the court following the SIT investigation into the murder.
After charges were framed against Arya, Bhaskar, and Gupta, the court began hearing the prosecution’s testimony on March 28, 2023.
The hearing lasted for around two years and eight months, and 47 witnesses, including the investigator, were examined in court by the prosecution. Though the SIT had listed 97 witnesses in the case, only 47 important ones were produced before the court.