An Uttarakhand court on Friday convicted three persons accused in the murder case of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari in 2022, and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge Court in Kotdwar found the three accused, Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar, and Ankit Gupta, guilty of the charges against them in the case.
About The Case
The case pertains to Ankita Bhandari, whose dead body was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24, 2022 after she went missing for at least six days.
Ankita worked as a receptionist at a resort run by Pulkit Arya, the son of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinod Arya. Pulkit was arrested for allegedly pushing her into the canal following an altercation.
Besides Pulkit, two more people, Ankit Gupta and Saurabh Bhaskar, were arrested as well in the case. All three were charged with murder, destruction of evidence, and immoral trafficking, Assistant District Government Advocate Jitendra Rawat said.
About The Investigation
Back in December 4, the Uttarakhand Police said that the investigation into the case was nearly complete, with just the narco tests of the accused remaining.
Citing that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) did not explain why it wanted to conduct narco and polygraph tests, the three accused had reportedly refused to cooperate with police.
The District and Sessions Court had earlier rejected the bail plea of the accused considering the gravity of the allegations, Rawat said.
Around 100 witnesses have been included in the 500-page charge sheet filed by the police in the court based on the deliberations by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
