Nearly three months after 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari was found dead near Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, police on Friday said no forensic evidence was recovered from the resort where she worked as a receptionist.
The Vanantara resort in Pauri Garhwal is owned by Pulkit Arya, who is the son of now-expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinod Arya. Pulkit and two employees of the resort have been arrested so far.
V Murugesan, additional director general of police (ADGP), law and order, said no fingerprints or biological evidence were found in the resort, which was partially demolished by authorities after the incident.
“Our forensic team did not find any forensic evidence, fingerprints, biological samples, from the resort. We submitted the video and photo evidence to the high court,” he said.
HT reached out to Bhandari’s lawyer and her family for a response but did not get one immediately.
Bhandari’s body was found on September 24, six days after she went missing from her home. Police said the woman was murdered on September 18 by the three arrested men after she refused to provide “extra services” to VIP men at the resort. All three accused are currently in jail.
The murder had sparked massive outrage and protests were reported from various parts of the state. Angry locals even set fire to the resort. Later, authorities demolished parts of the resort, saying the structures were illegally constructed.
{{/usCountry}}The murder had sparked massive outrage and protests were reported from various parts of the state. Angry locals even set fire to the resort. Later, authorities demolished parts of the resort, saying the structures were illegally constructed.
{{/usCountry}}The state police, on several occasions, claimed they had already collected necessary evidence from the resort before a bulldozer partially razed it, including the room that was allotted to Bhandari.
The bulldozer action had triggered allegations from the woman’s family, local residents and opposition parties that the resort was partially demolished to destroy evidence and save the key accused.
A petition was also filed in the high court, accusing BJP legislator Renu Bisht of destroying evidence in the case. Bisht, BJP MLA from Yamkeshwar, was present outside the resort at the time of the demolition.
The petitioner, Ashutosh Negi, a resident of Pauri Garhwal, also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the matter.
A special investigation team (SIT) probing the case also said no forensic evidence was found at the resort, Navnish Negi, the petitioner’s lawyer, said. The SIT made the statement in its status report to the high court.
“Their (police) status report clearly mentions that they didn’t recover any forensic evidence, including fingerprints, from the demolition site. It also stated they failed to recover mobile phones of key accused Pulkit Arya and the woman,” Navnish Negi said.
“According to eyewitnesses, the room allotted to the woman was demolished, that’s where she was beaten up, they should have found evidence of struggle. Before the murder, a criminal event also occurred there. The room was actually the scene of the crime,” he added.
The court fixed November 18 as the next date of hearing.