Dehradun- The court of the Additional District and Session Judge of Kotdwar, Uttarakhand on Friday convicted three people for murder in the sensational Ankita Bhandari case. The case had made national headlines after the local people came out and protested over the murder of the 19-year-old woman who worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort located in Yamkeshwar of Pauri district. The young woman was allegedly murdered by the resort operator Pulkit Arya, along with his two employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta on September 18, 2022.

The case had taken a sensational turn as Pulkit Arya is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader and the local people had taken to the streets to protest over it. The BJP had shown Vinod Arya the door after the controversy erupted and the Uttarakhand government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter. The Uttarakhand court completed its hearing in the Ankita Bhandari murder case on Monday and announced the much-awaited verdict today. Additional District and Sessions Judge Reena Negi on May 19 this year heard the final arguments between the defence and the prosecution in the case which had rocked Uttarakhand due to its political overtones.

After hearing the closing arguments of both sides, the Judge had fixed May 30 as the date for pronouncing the verdict. The hearing of the case lasted for two years and eight months. During this time, 47 witnesses, including the Investigation Officer, were presented by the prosecution advocate Anuj Pundir. According to the prosecution, Ankita Bhandari and Pulkit Arya had a dispute over something, after which the man, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, allegedly pushed the woman into the Cheela canal in Rishikesh. After Ankita Bhandari’s lifeless body was fished out of the Cheela canal, the three men were arrested by the police and sent to prison. Fearing leniency for the accused and his accomplices due to his political connections, the residents of Pauri district came out in large numbers to protest, and the Uttarakhand government formed a SIT to probe the matter and take the case to its logical conclusion. (IANS)