Pulkit Arya, the son of Bharat Janata Party politician Vinod Arya, is the main suspect in the murder of the 19-year-old young woman, whose body was discovered in the Chilla canal in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
The victim went missing on Sunday, September 18, and her body was discovered on Saturday, September 24, more than 24 hours after the crime and five days after it occurred.
Police found the body of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari on Saturday near a bridge over the River Ganges in Rishikesh city. Local police said that preliminary investigations showed the body was thrown in a canal after Bhandari was killed.
She had worked as a receptionist at a resort owned by Pulkit Arya, the son of Vinod Arya who had served as a minister in the in Uttarakhand state government for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party.
As a result of demonstrations, the culprits were taken into custody, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami immediately ordered the unlawful resort to be demolished.
What are the details of Pulkit Arya? And how did he and his fellow defendant attempt to hide the truth?
Who is Pulkit Arya?
On September 23, police detained Pulkit Arya and two of his resort employees, Saurabh Bhaskar (35) and Ankit Gupta (19).
Owner of the Vanantra Resort is the prime suspect, Arya. His father served as the national executive of the BJP Other Backward Classes (OBC) Morcha and as the previous chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board.
Following the discovery of the murder, the Uttarakhand government removed Ankit Arya, Pulkit’s brother, from his position as the state’s deputy chairman of the OBC Commission.
What did the Police say?
After being caught, the suspect told the police that Pulkit Arya and the woman had a verbal argument during questioning. The girl is upset, let’s take her to Rishikesh, Pulkit then said to the other two accused.
The quarrel became more heated once the accused and the victim arrived at the Chilla canal. After she accused him of encouraging her to establish “special contacts” with the resort’s visitors, Pulkit accused the woman of telling her coworkers about their conversations.
The victim then hurled the prime accused’s phone into a canal and threatened to inform everyone of what was going in the resort. The authorities reportedly said the three males assaulted the woman and pushed her into the canal while they were inebriated.
