Latest news with #PulkitArya
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Rishikesh murder: No VIP link, prime accusedsought favours which victim resisted, says SIT
Dehradun: Following the life imprisonment verdict for all three accused in the sensational Rishikesh resort receptionist murder case, questions have resurfaced over the alleged involvement of a 'VIP'— a claim that sparked widespread outrage and political debate when the case first broke in 2022. However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case, reiterated that it found no evidence of any VIP link. P Renuka Devi, the then DIG (law & order) in Uttarakhand police, who led the SIT and is now posted as DIG, CBI, said: "Our investigation did not reveal any VIP connection. There was no evidence suggesting a high-profile visitor was expected at the resort or that the victim was being pushed to entertain one. However, the probe uncovered several instances indicating that the prime accused, Pulkit Arya — son of a former BJP leader and resort owner — who is now convicted, was seeking 'favours' from the 19-year-old receptionist, which she consistently refused. Based on this, we later added the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act to the charges." Citing more findings of the SIT probe, she said the other staffers, including some witnesses, also denied the 'VIP' involvement. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo "It was found that there were two VIP suites in the resort which were not booked during the time of the crime. Staff members of the resort confirmed the same when questioned," she added. In Dec 2022, during the assembly session, govt had informed the House that "No VIP was to visit or visited the resort." The information was shared by then state minister of parliamentary affairs, Premchand Aggarwal, in reply to a question by opposition's Chakrata MLA and former Congress state president Pritam Singh.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Ankita Bhandari murder case: Uttarakhand ex-minister's son, 2 others get lifer
Dehradun: An Uttarakhand court on Friday sentenced the three convicts to life imprisonment in the sensational Ankita Bhandari murder case in Pauri district in 2022. Additional District and Session Judge, Kotdwar, Reena Negi held Pulkit Arya, resort owner and son of a former BJP leader, and his two associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, guilty of murdering Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort located in Yamkeshwar. The court held the trio guilty under penal provisions dealing with murder (IPC Section 302), offence committed by an enforcing authority (Section 210b) and causing disappearance of evidence (Section 201). According to the police, Ankita,19, was killed on September 18, 2022 and her body was dumped in Chilla canal in Rishikesh, from where it was retrieved about six days after she went missing. According to the prosecution, Ankita and Pulkit Arya had a dispute over something, after which the man, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, allegedly pushed the woman into the canal. Resort owner Pulkit is the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya who was a minister in the Uttarakhand government till 2021. The case had made national headlines after the local people came out and protested over the murder as the law enforcement agencies were dragging their feet on the probe into the murder. On Friday, the court resembled a fortress due to heightened security, with only lawyers and family members of the victim and convicts allowed to attend the proceedings. A ring of no-entry zone of 200 metre was also thrown around the court complex. The BJP had sacked Vinod Arya from the party after the controversy and the Uttarakhand government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter. The Uttarakhand court completed its hearing in the case on Monday, examining 47 witnesses during the hearing that lasted two years and eight months. On May 19, after hearing the closing arguments of both sides, the Judge had fixed May 30 as the date for pronouncing the verdict. 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.
India Gazette
2 days ago
- India Gazette
"Verdict sends a message that crime never pays off": Uttarakhand CM lauds conviction in Ankita Bhandari murder case
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 31 (ANI): 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)
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Rishikesh resort murder: How position of moon helped cops clinch key evidence in case
Dehradun: The main convict's claim in the Rishikesh resort murder case was debunked by none other than the moon. Soon after Pulkit Arya was convicted in the resort murder case along with two of his associates on Friday, P Renuka Devi, who headed the special investigation team (SIT) which probed the case, told TOI that inconsistencies in Arya's statements on what happened on the night of the murder were caught with the help of a meteorological observatory. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Arya, the resort's owner and son of expelled BJP leader and former minister Vinod Arya, had claimed the 19-year-old receptionist died after accidentally falling into a barrage. He further alleged that the incident took place around 9pm and that he and his associates could see and even tried to save the victim as she was falling. "To verify this claim, we contacted the meteorological observatory in Kolkata, which confirmed the moon rose only around 11pm in that area. Thus, Arya's claim that there was natural light to see someone was false because it was pitch park at 9pm. Visibility was only possible using a mobile phone torch in the jungle near the barrage. The CCTV footage from the barrage also proved to be a key piece of evidence," Devi, who is currently serving as DIG with the CBI in Jaipur, said. She added that "in a first, doctors from AIIMS Rishikesh who conducted the autopsy also visited the crime scene." "They helped determine the height from which the victim fell into the barrage and assessed the nature of her injuries. This played a critical role in building the case." The SIT, formed on Sept 24, 2022, began its investigation into the death of the woman, who had gone missing six days earlier (Sept 18) and whose body was later found in the Chilla Barrage near Rishikesh. Soon after, the team secured the remand of Arya and his associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now All three were found guilty of the receptionist's murder and were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Kotdwar on Friday. Among the three, Arya was charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 354A (sexual harassment). The remaining two, Bhaskar and Gupta, were charged under IPC sections 302 and 201.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
'She wanted to escape': How 100 witnesses, exhaustive evidence exposed VIP cover-up, led to justice in Rishikesh resort murder case
NEW DELHI: The verdict arrived like a long-awaited storm in Kotdwar's courtroom, quiet but crushing. More than two years and eight months after a 19-year-old receptionist was murdered in cold blood, the gavel finally fell. Resort owner Pulkit Arya, along with Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, was sentenced to life imprisonment. For those who had followed the case, one that had stunned Uttarakhand and the nation, it was a grim vindication. The verdict, delivered by the additional district and sessions judge, came after a painstaking trial involving 47 witnesses, their testimonies stretching over nearly three years. The charges were as damning as the headlines that once blazed across national media. The trio stood convicted under multiple sections of murder, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy, and sexual harassment. The court also found them guilty under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, lending judicial weight to early suspicions that the Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh, where the victim worked, was a front for something far darker. One witness didn't mince words, calling the resort 'a den of vice.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Brass Idols - Handmade Brass Statues for Home & Gifting Luxeartisanship Buy Now Undo The girl had only been 19, employed at a property owned by Pulkit Arya, son of a now-expelled BJP leader. In the weeks before her death, she had reached out to those she trusted. A former colleague and a close friend both later revealed she had confided in them - terrified, desperate, and deeply uneasy. She told them she was being pushed to provide 'special services' to an incoming VIP guest. 'She wanted to escape from there,' said an officer from the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which later took over the probe. But she never got the chance. On September 18, 2022, she was killed for refusing those demands. Her body surfaced six days later, dumped in the Chilla canal. The crime, horrifying in its brutality and made more incendiary by the accused's political connections, lit a fuse of public outrage. Protests broke out across the state. A high-level investigation was ordered. At the centre of it all was the SIT, led by DIG P Renuka Devi. Their investigation produced a 500-page chargesheet. The evidence was exhaustive: about 100 witness statements and 30 pieces of documentary proof. Yet, it was two voices that ultimately helped crack the case wide open - the victim's confidantes. Her friend and the ex-employee both confirmed what she had feared: the resort was not what it seemed, and she was desperate to leave. Initially, much of what was known came from WhatsApp chats with her friend, some of which were later leaked online. But investigators discovered she had also spoken to the former employee, warning them about the illegal activities at the resort and her fear of being forced to serve a powerful, unnamed VIP. Senior officers later confirmed that narco-tests were requested for the accused in hopes of identifying this shadowy figure. His name, even today, remains unknown. When the day of the verdict arrived, Pauri Garhwal's courtroom was transformed. Security was tight. Officers from nearby districts were brought in. The area around the courthouse was designated a 'zero zone' - a perimeter of 100 metres where only government staff and approved attendees were allowed entry. Outside, emotions overflowed. Soni Devi, the victim's mother, broke down as she addressed the media. 'May the criminals be sentenced to death,' she told ANI. Her words rang heavy with grief and fury, echoing the pain that first gripped Uttarakhand back in 2022 and the demand for justice that never wavered.
