“Bahut insecurity feel hoti hai ish resort m… Maine bola bhai tu kya sochta hai ki m gareeb hu tb y 10k m bhik jau… Extra service…”
These are some of the WhatsApp messages sent by Ankita Bhandari to her male friend who is based in Jammu, before her death. The messages were one of the leads which helped Uttarakhand police nab the main culprits.
The body of a 19-year-old woman, who was a receptionist working at Vanantra Resort owned by Pulkit Arya, the son of former BJP minister Vinod Arya, was recovered from a canal by authorities in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand on Saturday morning. She was allegedly killed after she refused to indulge in prostitution with resort guests.
According to police, Ankita had chatted with her male friend Deep Pushp, who works in Jammu. She wanted to tell him how she was stressed out while working in the resort which she had joined only a month back. The screenshots of the chat messages clearly suggest that she was under duress and was being forced to do something, which she did not want to, said police sources. The resort is located between Dehradun and Rishikesh highway that falls in the Pauri Garhwal district.
Police have arrested three persons – Pulkit Arya and two managers of the resort, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit aka Pulkit Gupta — in connection with the murder of Ankita.
The accused have revealed that they had pushed Ankita into the canal at Pashulok Barraj located on the Dehradun-Rishikesh highway, on the night of September 18. The trio came back to the resort and concocted a story of her having gone missing.
The former BJP leader’s son himself contacted the local police and informed them that Ankita had gone missing the next day. Police said Pulkit Arya and Ankita had multiple verbal spats over an issue before she was murdered, which has also been proved following the arrest and interrogation of the accused.
On September 19, when the police started the investigations, they found loopholes in the version which was given by the resort’s managers and its owner. In the meantime, Deep Pushp also approached the local police and showed his chats with Ankita.
Police said on September 18, Ankita was disturbed and she was crying after having a heated exchange of words with Pulkit Arya. He decided to take her to Rishikesh. He also took Bhaskar and Gupta along with him.
The four went to Rishikesh on a bike and Scooty. While returning, the trio consumed alcohol near Pahukok Barrage. Police said while sitting near the barrage, Pulkit Arya and Ankita again had an argument over the same issue. In the meantime, Ankita snatched Pulkit Arya’s mobile phone and threw it into the barrage. On this, the trio got angry and pushed her into the water.
The trio came back to the resort and told the other staff that Ankita had directly gone to her room in the resort.
During interrogation, they told the police that they had thought that they would never be caught by the police as they concocted the story of her having gone missing. But with the help of technical evidence, statements of other witnesses, staff, mobile locations and chat messages, the police managed to nab the accused.
Ankita’s father worked as a security guard but at present, he is jobless. Her mother works in Anganwadi and her brother stays in Delhi.
On Friday, all three accused were assaulted by the relatives of Ankita and other villagers, while police were taking them to produce in the local court of Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal.
On Saturday, at the AIIMs hospital in Rishikesh, the vehicle of BJP MLA Renu Bisht was also vandalized by the angry relatives of Ankita. Bisht had come to meet the aggrieved family.