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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday welcomed the conviction of the three accused in the high-profile Ankita Bhandari murder case, stating that the verdict sends a strong message that "crime never pays off." He reaffirmed the government's commitment to ensuring that no criminal is spared, regardless of status or influence.
"Today's verdict sends a message that crime never pays off... No matter who a criminal is in Uttarakhand, the law will not spare him/her," Dhami said here. Talking about the investigation into the murder case, the Chief Minister said that from day one, the state government resolved to bring justice to the victim and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a female IPS officer. "The day we got information about this case, we resolved to bring justice to her (the victim)... The state government immediately directed the investigative agencies to arrest the accused, and so they were arrested. An SIT headed by a female IPS officer was formed, and an investigation was conducted in detail. The case was in court, and due to the investigation, the accused could not get bail. In about 3 years, they got life imprisonment," he added. On Friday, an Additional District and Sessions Judge Court in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand found Pulkit Arya and his associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The court pronounced the verdict after a thorough trial, which upheld the charges against the trio, who were found guilty of the brutal murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari. Bhandari, a resident of Pauri district, was employed at the Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh. It was alleged that the resort owner, Pulkit Arya, along with Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, murdered her by pushing her into a nearby barrage. Earlier, while speaking to ANI, the victim's mother, Soni Devi, broke down in grief and urged the people of Uttarakhand to continue supporting the family and demanding capital punishment for the convicts. "May the criminals be sentenced to death...I appeal to the public of Uttarakhand to keep on supporting us and come to the Kotdwar court to boost our morale," she said. The body of Ankita Bhandari was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24. She was reported missing for at least six days before the officials found her body. An SIT headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police P Renuka Devi was initially probing the case. The first hearing of the case started on January 30, 2023, in the ADJ Court in Kotdwar. Following the SIT's investigation, a 500-page chargesheet was submitted to the court. Charges were then formally framed against the three accused. In the hearing that lasted for about two years and eight months, 47 witnesses, including the investigator, were examined in the court on behalf of the prosecution. However, the SIT had made 97 witnesses in this case, out of which only 47 important witnesses were produced in the court. (ANI)
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