Nearly three years after the brutal murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, justice was delivered on Friday as a court in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district sentenced three men to life imprisonment for her killing. Judge Reena Negi convicted Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar, and Ankit Gupta held the three men guilty of murder. They are yet to be sentenced, with the prosecution pushing for maximum punishment.

The crime that shocked Uttarakhand

Ankita Bhandari, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, was employed as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort in Yamkeshwar, Rishikesh. On September 18, 2022, she was murdered by resort owner Pulkit Arya and his two employees, Bhaskar and Gupta. The three men reportedly pushed her into the Chilla canal in Rishikesh following a dispute.

Her disappearance went unreported for nearly a week until her body was recovered from the canal on September 24, 2022. By then, public anger had already begun to swell across the state, with protests erupting in several towns and the Vanantra Resort being set on fire by locals.

Allegations of abuse and exploitation

During the investigation led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under Deputy Inspector General of Police P Renuka Devi, troubling details emerged about the resort’s internal workings.

Former employees alleged that Pulkit Arya and Ankit Gupta frequently brought women to the resort and subjected female staff to verbal and physical abuse. These claims intensified the public outcry, especially given that Arya is the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, who was later expelled from the party following the incident.

The trial

Court proceedings began on January 30, 2023, at the Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ) Court in Kotdwar. The SIT filed a 500-page chargesheet based on its investigation. On March 28, 2023, the prosecution commenced its presentation of evidence and witnesses.

Over the span of two years and eight months, the court examined 47 witnesses out of the 97 listed by the SIT. The evidence presented established that Pulkit Arya and Ankita Bhandari had a confrontation prior to the incident, which ultimately led to her being forcibly pushed into the barrage.

The court convicted all three accused under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, along with relevant sections of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. They were sentenced to life imprisonment.

In an emotional statement to ANI, Ankita’s mother, Soni Devi, expressed a desire for the death penalty for the accused and urged the people of Uttarakhand to continue standing with the family. “I appeal to the public of Uttarakhand to keep on supporting us and come to the Kotdwar court to boost our morale,” she said.