Receptionist killed for refusing ‘special services’, outrage escalates in Uttarakhand: Top updates on Ankita murder case

The death of 19-year old Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist in an Uttarakhand resort, has sparked outrage across the country.

The police had Saturday arrested Pulkit Arya, resort owner and son of former state minister Vinod Arya, and said he had allegedly confessed to pushing Ankita into the canal after an altercation. Two others including the resort owner have also been arrested.

Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Yamkeshwar block of Pauri district in Uttarakhand, was reported missing a few days ago. Her body was recovered on Saturday. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder case.

Here are the top updates on the big story:

Outrage escalates

Outrage over the killing of Ankita escalated as details emerged of her trauma in the days preceding her death. Violent protests erupted in areas surrounding the resort with locals breaking glass panes and some trying to torch a pickle factory in its premises. However, the fire did not spread much as the weather was cloudy.

BJP’s Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht’s car was also attacked near the Cheela canal close to Rishikesh from where the young woman’s body was recovered, six days after her parents found her missing from her room. However, the crowds, seething with anger, succeeded only in breaking the rear windscreen of her car and Bisht was escorted to safety by police personnel.

Post-mortem report

The post-mortem report revealed on Saturday that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning. Furthermore, the report added that there were findings of injuries on the body before death, suggestive of blunt force trauma.

The post-mortem of her body was done at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh on Saturday. Her body was handed over to her family for cremation.

Killed for refusing ‘special services’

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. This had been gleaned from her chat with a friend, he said.

Earlier in the day, Bhandari’s Facebook friend reportedly alleged that she was killed because she refused to have sex with guests as demanded by the owner of the resort.

The same night that she called this friend, her phone went unreachable after 8:30 pm. When the friend could not connect with her after repeated attempts, he called Pulkit Arya, who said she had gone to her room to sleep.

When the phone remained out of reach the other day, the friend rang up Ankit, the manager of the resort, who said she was in the gym. He then spoke to the resort’s chef, who told him he had not seen the woman that day.

India Today quoted chef Manveer Singh Chauhan saying that Ankita had called him the night she was killed. “Ankita called me crying and asked me to bring her bag. She asked me to put her bag on the road. However, when one of the staff went with the bag, he couldn’t find Ankita,” he said.

BJP expels father-son duo

The BJP has expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya and his son Pulkit amid the outrage over Ankita’s murder.

Vinod Arya, a party leader from Haridwar, formerly served as a chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Board with a state minister’s rank, while Ankit Arya served as vice president of the state OBC commission by the government. Both were expelled from the party on Saturday.