Tanisha Rana
Published on: October 23, 2022 at 20:55 IST
On Thursday, the Uttarakhand High Court asked the State Government for a status report on the investigation into the murder of Ankita Bhandari, as well as the case diary.
The state must file the information requested by the Court by the next hearing date, which is November 3.
In essence, Ashutosh Negi, the Chief Editor of the Jago Uttarakhand Weekly Newspaper, petitioned the bench of Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra to request a CBI investigation into the case.
According to the argument, BJP MLA Renu Bisht directed the resort where Ankita Bhandari worked to be demolished in order to ensure that case-related evidence was destroyed.
Unbeknownst to the general public, 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari was allegedly murdered by resort owner Pulkit Arya, the son of a former BJP official, and two of his friends because she refused to provide “extra services” to a VIP client.
In fact, Ankita had not been seen since September 18–19, at which point her search got under way.
The three suspects were subsequently detained on September 23 and allegedly confessed to the murder when questioned by police. Her body was found in the Chilla canal in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, on September 24 as a result of their pointing.
Arya and the other two accused were taken into custody and are currently being held.
Immediately following the tragedy, the resort was demolished in front of Renu Bisht, the BJP’s Yamkeshwar MLA.
Vinod Arya, the father of the accused Pulkit Arya, was expelled from the BJP not long after the murder was made public.
Case Title: Ashutosh Negi vs. State of Uttarakhand and Others [WPCRL No. 1974 of 2022]