Receptionist murder: Uttarakhand court allows Pulkit Arya’s narco, polygraph tests

The Uttarakhand police moved court for narco and polygraph tests on December 9 to know about the VIP for whom the victim was being pressurised to provide ‘special services’ at the resort

A Kotdwar court in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district on Wednesday gave its consent for conducting narco and polygraph tests of Pulkit Arya, the main accused in the receptionist murder case, people familiar with the matter said.

The girl was murdered on September 18 and her body was recovered on September 24. (File Photo)

A 19-year-old woman, who was working as a receptionist at the Vanantara Resort in Rishikesh, was allegedly murdered by three people, including the resort’s owner Pulkit Arya and his two staff members, for refusing to provide “extra services” to a VIP guest, the police said. Arya, the resort’s manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta were arrested for the murder.

“The court approved the narco and polygraph tests of Pulkit Arya after he gave his consent. The two other accused in the case didn’t give their consent,” said additional director general (ADG), law and order, V Murugesan.

Amit Sajwan, lawyer for all three accused, said, “The Kotdwar court approved the narco and polygraph tests of main accused Pulkit Arya in the receptionist murder case after police on January 10 agreed to conduct these tests as per his conditions. The other two accused didn’t give their consent for the two tests.”

The police approached judicial magistrate first class Bhawna Pandey for narco and polygraph tests on December 9 “to know about the VIP for whom the victim was being pressurised to provide special services at the resort.’’

Leaked WhatsApp chats of the victim woman with her friend had suggested that she was being forced to provide “extra services” to a VIP who was willing to pay ₹10,000.

The special investigation team (SIT) had initially denied any such fact coming to light during the course of the investigation. However, since the key accused in the case is the son of a former leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the opposition Congress questioned the “fairness in the investigation”, asking “why police were not revealing the name of the VIP for whom the victim was being pressurised for sexual favours”.

The victim’s body was found on September 24, six days after she went missing from her home. The girl was murdered on September 18 by the three arrested men after she refused their demands, police said. All three accused are in jail.