Uttarakhand Police recovers body of 19-year-old, prime accused, son of BJP leader and two others, arrested.

On the morning of September 24, the Uttarakhand Police along with the help of the SDRF team recovered the body of the missing girl Ankita Bhandari and the body was sent for post-mortem to AIIMS, Rishikesh. 19-year-old, Ankita hailed from the Pauri Gharwal region and was working as a receptionist at the Vantara resort in Rishikesh. She reportedly went missing 5-6 days back from the resort which is owned by Pulkit Arya son of BJP leader Vinod Arya.

According to reports, the police have found text messages which said that the prime accused Pulkit had been forcing Ankita to get into prostitution with hotel guests. Apparently, Ankita left the resort with the three accused, Pulkit, Ankit and Bhaskar to Rishikesh, following which they had a dispute and later Ankita was pushed into the Chilla canal.

Pauri Garhwal SSP Yashwant Singh told The Indian Express, "There is a phone chat of the girl suggesting that the accused were bothering her. The accused said the girl left the resort around 8 pm with them to visit Rishikesh... later there was a heated exchange between Pulkit and Ankita near the canal. During the altercation, Ankita threw Pulkit's phone into the canal. He then pushed her into the canal."

As soon as Ankita’s father, Virendra Bhandari registered a missing report, the Police said they immediately took action and worked out the case within 24 hrs and arrested the three accused including Pulkit on Friday for allegedly murdering Ankita Bhandari.

However, the father of the victim said that he had trouble registering the missing/police complaint as the Police took the side of the alleged accused.

Virendra Bhandari told The Times of India, "I went to the resort to check the CCTV footage, but the camera was broken. The local police were taking the side of the accused. I even saw the accused chatting with them."

Locals, on the other hand, set fire at the resort and have come out on the streets to protest, even assaulted the accused while they were being taken to the court by surrounding the van the accused were carried at. Yesterday, CM PS Dhami ordered the demolition of the resort.

While speaking to ANI, Uttarakhand CM said a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed under DIG P Renuka Devi to further investigate the case and ensure strict action against the accused.

"Ankita's body recovered. We've constituted an SIT under DIG P Renuka Devi to ensure the strictest punishment for the accused, it'll investigate the matter. No accused will be spared, whosoever they may be," said Uttarakhand CM PS Dhami.

The CM further said that the resort owned by Pulkit had been sealed and that action against all other illegal resorts will continue

BJP expelled the father, Vinod Arya, and brother, Ankita Arya of the prime accused Pulkit Arya from the party with immediate effect. The Uttarakhand government also has relieved Vinod Arya who working as the Deputy Chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission.