On 17.09.2022, accused Ankit Gupta asking the deceased for extra service for a VIP guest and the accused pressurizing the deceased for this has been proved as the cause of the incident. On the night of 10.09.2022, accused Pulkit Arya misbehaved with the deceased and tried to kiss her. A chat (in this regard) made by the deceased to Pushpdeep and Ayush Kumar has also been proved, as per judgment.
Bhopal: It was 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari’s persistent resistance to offers from Pulkit Arya and his lieutenants to give ‘extra service’ to VIPs in Arya’s resort that led to her murder but the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to look into this high-profile murder case failed to identify those influential persons as suggests the 159-page judgment delivered on Friday to convict Arya and his accomplices.
Pulkit Arya, son of an influential BJP leader of Uttarakhand and owner of Vanantra Resort in Yamkeshwar, which Ankita had joined as a receptionist hardly 20 days before her murder, Surabh Bhaskar, manager of the resort and Ankit alias Pulkit Gupta, assistant manager were found guilty for murder of Ankita and were sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment under section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) (Punishment for murder) by the court of additional district judge (ADJ), Kotdwar, Pauri Garhwal Reena Negi.
MISSING SINCE SEPT 18, 2022, DEAD BODY RECOVERED SIX DAYS LATER
Ankita who was given a room in the resort to stay was found missing on the night of September 18 after she was taken for an outing by the accused in the name of placating her. Pulkit filed a missing person report with the local patwari the next day who later handed over the case to the local police.
The dead body of the girl was recovered from a canal after the accused arrested by police confessed to have committed the crime during the interrogation and they identified the spot where they had thrown the girl in the canal.
NATIONWIDE OUTRAGE
The incident sparked a nationwide outrage with people from across the country demanding justice to Ankita Bhandari which drove the state government to order a probe into the incident by a special investigation team (SIT).
All the three convicts have also been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of five years each under section 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to conceal the crime) of IPC and section 5(1)(d) of The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (Causes or induces a 4 [person] to carry on prostitution).
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Besides, Pulkit Arya was found guilty of sexual harassment of the girl for which he was sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment.
As per the court’s judgment all the punishments will run concurrently.
WHO WERE THE VIPS?
The judgement has mention of VIPs at several places that appeared in the witnesses’ account but there is no mention if the SIT even made any effort to track down those influential persons to serve whom Pulkit Arya and his lieutenants were exerting pressure on Ankita which offended the girl as much as she even gave a dressing down to one of the convicts Ankit alias Pulkit Gupta.
CIRCUMSTIAL EVIDENCE AND LAST SEEN THEORY
Relying on corroborative circumstantial evidence and last seen theory the court in its judgment said, “….the postmortem report….injuries on the body of the deceased, the opinion given by the doctors denying the possibility of an accidental slip, accused Pulkit Arya trying to kiss the deceased with the intention of sexually harassing her while staying in Vanatra Resort, the conduct of the deceased and the accused before the incident, which was said to have been seen by the witnesses examined by the prosecution.”
The judgment says, “The deceased called the Vanatra Resort staff crying on the evening of the incident and the deceased was preparing to take her bag from the resort. In such a situation, the accused took the deceased along with them to Rishikesh for a trip. But the accused returned to the resort and the deceased was reported missing from the resort the next day.”
FALSE MISSING REPORT
“Accused Pulkit Arya lodged a false missing report. The last location of the deceased’s mobile presented by the prosecution is shown to be Pashulok Tower whereas the tower location of the accused’s mobile shows the next location to be Gangabhogpur, which is within Vanatra Resort”, as per the judgment.
The court further said in its judgment, “Accused Ankit Gupta called Manveer Singh Chauhan while returning from Rishikesh to keep the food ready and said that the deceased was not with him and that the deceased was at Vanatra Resort itself. On returning, accused Ankit Gupta took food to the deceased’s room. After the incident, accused Pulkit Arya and the deceased’s phone disappeared and the forensic team did not find any fingerprints from the deceased’s room.”
“EXTRA SERVICE”
“On 17.09.2022, accused Ankit Gupta asking the deceased for extra service for a VIP guest and the accused pressurizing the deceased for this has been proved as the cause of the incident. On the night of 10.09.2022, accused Pulkit Arya misbehaved with the deceased and tried to kiss her. A chat (in this regard) made by the deceased to Pushpdeep and Ayush Kumar has also been proved”, reads the judgement.
“According to the statements of witness Aman Rai he was forced by accused Saurabh Bhaskar to give a false statement to the patwari regarding the deceased returning to the resort with the accused on 18.09.2022. The prosecution also proved the statements of the witnesses through the recording of the chats and conversations of the deceased as in the phones of the witnesses”, reads the judgement.
CCTV AND DVR WERE DAMAGED
“The CCTV and DVR installed in the resort were damaged by the accused to hide the evidence related to the murder of the deceased. Finger prints were removed. Accused Pulkit Arya made his mobile phone disappear after the incident and the police also could not find the phone of the deceased and accused Pulkit Arya filed a false missing report of the deceased to mislead the investigator”, states the judgement.
