Ankita Bhandari’s case so far
The resort Bhandari worked in was owned by Pulkit Arya, the son of former Uttarakhand BJP minister Vinod Arya and the main accused in the teenager’s murder case.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General P Renuka Devi had been constituted to probe all aspects.
“Action is being taken against those involved in it. The father and brother of the main accused Pulkit Arya have been expelled from the BJP,” Dhami had said. “Demolition of the resort owned by the main accused is underway. Some of its rooms have also been sealed so that evidence is not destroyed. We have also issued an order to identify all resorts built illegally on government or forest land and demolish them,” he added.
Bhandari had been under pressure from Pulkit Arya — who was arrested on Friday with resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta and sent to 14 days judicial custody — to provide “special services” to guests, Director General of Police Ashok Kumar said earlier.
A provisional postmortem report of Bhandari has confirmed the cause of death was drowning and said there were antemortem injuries (injuries before death) on her body, suggestive of blunt force trauma. Although the family had said they were not satisfied with the provisional report and demanded a case in a fast-track court, later in the day, the family agreed to the cremation.
