Uttarakhand receptionist murder: Kin leave after autopsy at AIIMS Rishikesh as stir intensifies

A post-mortem of a 19-year-old girl, who was allegedly murdered in Uttarakhand triggering a massive outrage across the hill state, was conducted on Saturday at AIIMS Rishikesh, following which her family members left with the teenager’s body.

When the post-mortem was underway, a large number of people had gathered outside AIIMS with police standing guard outside the hospital.

The body of the teenager who went missing about a week ago was found from Chilla canal in Rishikesh early on Saturday.

Three men have been arrested in the case, including Pulkit Arya, the son of a BJP leader and owner of the resort where the victim used to work as a receptionist. Police said the men have confessed to have killed the woman and thrown her body into the canal. Pulkit is the son of former Uttarakhand minister Vinod Arya. The other two arrested are Pulkit’s two employees – Saurabh Bhaskar (35), and Ankit Gupta (19).

According to reports, the accused themselves had filed a missing complaint with the revenue police on September 20 to mislead the investigation. The case was then transferred to regular police on September 22.

Amid intensifying anger over the killing, the BJP expelled Vinod Arya, who was a former chairman of Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board with the rank of state minister. Pulkit’s brother Ankit Arya was also relieved by the state government from the post of deputy chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission.

Earlier in the day, locals vandalised the resort owned by Pulkit before setting it ablaze. A part of the venue was earlier demolished on the instructions of Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who also announced the setting up of an SIT led by DIG P Renuka Devi for a speedy investigation into the teenager’s killing.

Angry locals also damaged the vehicle of Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht in Rishikesh allegedly over her response to the teen’s murder. In a video shared by news agency ANI, the legislator could be seen escorted by police as the crowd around her chant “Renu Bisht murdabad, murdabad”.

People smashed the rear windscreen of the MLA’s car when she was passing by the Chilla canal.