Murder of Ankita Bhandari

Ankita Bhandari (11 November 2003 – 18 September 2022) was an Indian receptionist from Pauri who was allegedly raped and subsequently murdered at the Vanantra Resort in Ganga-Bhogpur in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The case gained much publicity in national and state media due to its disastrous mismanagement and supposed involvement of a politically influential 'VIP' in sex coercion, but no identification has been made. The theory is supported by statements of her mother. Though the chats presented in the Chargesheet, did not mention any specific VIP Angle.

Three main accused Pulkit Arya (owner of the resort), Ankit Gupta (Assistant Resort Manager) and Saurabh Bhaskar (Resort Manager) confessed to the murder and are facing trial on charges of abduction and murder. BJP MLA Renu Bisht was also accused in court for attempting to cover up the crime by having ordered an unlawful demolition of the resort.

The primary accused, Pulkit Arya, is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP senior worker from Haridwar, he was a former chairperson of Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board, and is the younger brother of Ankit Arya, then the Vice President of Uttarakhand OBC Commission.

Background
Ankita Bhandari hailed from Dobh-Srikot, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. In 2021, Ankita enrolled in a certificate course at Dehradun’s Shri Ram Institute of Hotel Management. Her father, however, soon lost his job as a security guard, forcing Ankita to drop out of the one-year course. She joined her first job at the Vanatra Resort post-lockdown in Rishikesh as a receptionist on 28 August 2022 and was promised ₹10,000 as monthly salary. She was last seen by her father on the day of her joining.

Ankita lodged within the resort premises with permission from owner Pulkit Arya due to the resort's relatively remote location. Bhandari was shifted to a downstairs room on September 17, the day before her murder, with the accused informing her that other neighboring rooms will be given issued to guests, as per her chats.

An account of a hotel staffer, Abhinav, indicates that Ankita was sexually assaulted in the room on September 18, 2022. Abhinav claims he saw Pulkit physically covered Ankita’s mouth to prevent her from speaking over the phone to someone and she was crying for help. After this, Pulkit was allegedly in Ankita’s room for an hour behind closed doors.

Murder
On 18 September 2022, Ankita did not respond to her parents' calls and when the family tried to locate her in her room they were unable to find her. She also did not return any calls from her friend Pushap Deep, who became suspicious as Ankita had told him about harassment at the resort. She was being pressured to provide "extra service" to an anonymous VIP for ₹10,000.

According to the three convicted, Pulkit Arya had a heated conversation with Ankita about an unspecified topic. The three accused and Ankita Bhandari then all went to a different location to resolve things. However, on their way, they had an altercation with Ankita after which they pushed her into the Chilla canal. They then returned to the hotel and told a different story to their staff.

Bhandari's father, Birendra Singh attempted to register a missing person complaint. Singh visited three police stations in the next 12 hours – Pauri thana, Muni Ki Reti thana and Kotwali thana at Rishikesh – but his FIR was not lodged citing grounds of jurisdiction, ignoring the system of a zero FIR. He was told to go to the revenue police.

Meanwhile Pulkit Arya, the owner of the resort, had informed revenue police officer Vaibhav Pratap of Ankita’s disappearance September 19. Vaibhav Pratap however went on leave without initiating any action.

Ankita's dead body was recovered by the State Disaster Response Force of the Uttarakhand police on 24 September 2022 from the Chilla canal's barrage.

Investigation
Birendra Singh upset with the police force's actions reached out to several authorities in Dehradun, including the chairperson of the state’s women’s commission, Vidhan Sabha speaker and the DGP, and local news portals like Jago Uttarakhand. Only after these bodies had highlighted Bhandari's disappearance, that on the September 22 evening, the report was transferred to the regular police from the revenue police and an investigation began.

On September 23, the room in which Ankita lived at Vanantra was bulldozedand torched the day after by the sitting MLA of the area, Renu Bisht (who also runs a resort in the same area). On September 24, a fire broke out on the premises despite the resort being sealed by the police. Initially, it was cited as extra-constitutional albeit quick justice by the government, but later the DM denied government involvement in the matter.

Later the case was transferred to the Laxman Jhula police, who managed to arrest the three accused in the case- Pulkit Arya (the key accused), the hotel's manager, Ankit Gupta, and, Saurabh Bhaskar. During the police interrogation, the three confessed their crime.

Her preliminary autopsy was done by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Rishikesh and it stated that Ankita sustained certain injuries suggestive of blunt force trauma before her death. As per the report, the cause of her death was drowning.

Ankita's family was not satisfied with the postmortem report and said that they will not perform her last rites until the final autopsy report was released by the police in the public. They also accused the administration of destroying evidence by bulldozing the resort.

Appeals from the local administration and the Chief Minister of Uttrakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami were made in which he called the incident 'unfortunate'. Dhami assured the family that the trial would be held in a fast-track court and the strictest punishment will be given to the accused. Singh however alleges that he was put under undue pressure from the administration and Ankita’s mother was forcibly hospitalised to prevent consultation. The body was cremated, without letting Ankita’s mother see her for the last time.

On 25 September 2022, Ankita's last rites were performed by her family members at the NIT Ghat of Srinagar. There was the presence of a large number of people at the funeral ground. Many leading politicians from the state including Tirath Singh Rawat, a sitting Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, and Rajendra Bhandari, Congress MLA from Badrinath expressed grief.

However, groups of locals on social media and the father of the victim moved High Court to ensure probe by CBI. In December 2022, the police filed a 500 page chargesheet against the three accused. In May 2023 it was alleged by the parents and some social workers that Ankita was raped before her murder by Saurabh Bhaskar.

An SIT was formed by the police to investigate the case. Under arrest by the STI, the three accused — Pulkit Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar, and assistant manager Ankit Gupta — were booked under the IPC for murder, kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person and causing disappearance of evidence of offense or giving false information to screen offender.

In March 2023, The main accused Pulkit Arya — son of a former BJP Minister in the State government led by Trivendra Singh Rawat — was booked for murder, molestation and immoral trafficking along with molestation, while Bhaskar and Gupta were charged for murder and hiding the evidences.

Demolition of Vanantra Resort
In December 2023, While testifying in the court, JCB driver Deepak said that he had operated the JCB to bulldoze Vanantra Resort on the instructions of the then Sub-Collector and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, Renu Bisht, to destroy evidence.

Deepak claims he was called twice on September 23, 2022, to raze parts of the Vanantra Resort. The first time the demolition was carried out under the then sub-divisional magistrate & Renu Bisht. He claimed that on the instructions of the SDM and in the presence of other officials, he razed the gate and the boundary wall of the resort, and then left for Haridwar.

Deepak claims the personal assistant of Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht called him soonafter and asked him to reach the resort with the JCB where he broke the walls and windows of two rooms. He claimed that the MLA had made him stay in an adjacent room in the resort that night

Related Individuals
On September 24, the Bhartiya Janta Party facing public outrage expelled Vinod Arya, and his son Ankit Arya, Vice President of Uttarakhand OBC Commission, after Pulkit Arya confessed to killing Bhandari.

Despite witness testimonials of BJP leader Renu Bisht's involvement in the destruction of evidence in the Vanantra Resort, she maintains her position within the party as MLA from Yamkeshwar Assembly.

Vaibhav Pratap Singh, the patwari, was later suspended for failing to file an FIR (first information report) in response to Bhandari’s complaint that his daughter was missing. Later he was arrested by the SIT formed by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami

Arrest of Journalist Ashutosh Negi
A writ petition filed in the Uttarakhand high court by journalist Ashutosh Negi, an independent journalist and Jago Uttarakhand editor, from Ankita’s village along with Ankita’s parents in October, had pleaded for a CBI investigation. In the writ petition they had raised doubts about the SIT investigation being biased, pointing to the failure to recover the CCTV footage and phone of the accused Pulkit, and asked for protection for Negi and the key witnesses in the case, because of threats received. However, the court in its order of December 21 dismissed this plea.

From this point forth Negi was involved in the active coverage of the case and its aftermath. Negi gained a subdued reputation within the state for consistently attempting to secure justice for Bhandari's case, having proved himself a vocal critic of the so far unsuccessful investigative forces.

On 5 March 2024, Uttarakhand Police arrested Ashutosh Negi, based on a complaint lodged by a Pauri Garhwal resident under Sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar from Kotdwar in a statement to the press: “The intentions of so-called social activists like Ashutosh Negi are suspected. Their agenda does not align with seeking justice for our daughter but rather aims to sow anarchy and discord in society. We are also investigating Negi’s activities, which appear to be part of a conspiracy, and strict action will be taken if we find any evidence".

Social Impact
Bhandari's murder sparked a general unrest among the people of Uttarakhand. The state's historically low violent crime rate and general perception of being a safe state for women provided a stark contrast to Ankita Bhandari's violent murder

In 2018, the Trivendra Singh Rawat lead BJP government relaxed restrictions on people from outside Uttarakhand from buying agricultural land in the State for industrial purposes. The policy was lauded for luring investments into the State, but many link the move to an increase in crime, sparking resentment on the ground.

Bhandari's murder strengthened anti-outsider sentiment and gained support for various land law protests within the state.