New Delhi. In Uttarakhand’s famous Ankita Bhandari murder case, the Additional District and Sessions Judge’s court of Kotdwar sentenced the three accused Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta to life imprisonment. The court has also imposed a fine of 50-50 thousand on the three convicts. Along with this, the government has also asked to give compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the victim’s family. Charges were framed against these three accused under Section 302 (murder), 354A (tampering), 201 evidence, erasing evidence, immoral body trade prevention Act. 19 -year -old Ankit Bhandari, who hails from Pauri district, was a receptionist at Vanantara resort located in Ganga Bhogpur in Rishikesh. Ankita was killed for refusing to provide special service to VIP customer.
File photo of Ankita’s killers Pulkit, Ankit and Saurabh
Ankita went missing on 18 September 2022. A week later, Ankita’s body was recovered by the police from the Chila Canal. In this case, the police arrested two employees and director of Vanantara Resort, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta. The SIT was formed by the Uttarakhand government to investigate the matter. The Special Investigation Team formed under the leadership of Deputy Inspector General P Renuka Devi discovered that these three had pushed Ankita into the Chila Canal.
The investigation team had told that these three wanted Ankita to give them special service to please their VIP customer in Resorge. But Ankita did not listen to him. Due to this, he was murdered. Ankita’s family was given financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh from the Uttarakhand government and her brother has also been given a government job. In this case, the SIT has filed a 500 -page charge sheet. The SIT had made 97 witnesses in the case, out of which 47 important witnesses were produced in court.
