Ankita Bhandari Murder: Uttarakhand HC Rejects Bail Plea of Main Suspect

The Uttarakhand High Court dismissed the bail plea of Pulkit Arya, the primary suspect in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.

The court emphasized the gravity of the offense, citing testimonies from the lower court that established the presence of all accused individuals at the scene during the incident. Justice Ravindra Maithani presided over this matter in a single bench.

During the court proceedings the deceased’s family alleged that the accused had vandalized the resort to eliminate evidence.

They claimed that the resort’s CCTV cameras were deliberately turned off, and the DVR was tampered with.

Ankita Bhandari, a resident of Pauri district and an employee at Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh, was allegedly murdered by Pulkit Arya, the resort owner, along with his associates Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit.

The incident, where Ankita Bhandari was allegedly pushed into the barrage, occurred on September 18, 2022.

Ankita Bhandari body was discovered in the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24.

She had been missing for at least six days before authorities found her.

On December 4, the Uttarakhand Police reported that the investigation into Ankita Bhandari’s murder case was nearly complete.

The remaining step involves conducting narco tests on the accused, and permission for this has been sought from the Kotdwar court to carry out narco and polygraph tests on all three individuals.

Earlier this year, the Uttarakhand government, under Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, decided to rename Government Nursing College Dobh (Shrikot) as Ankita Bhandari Government Nursing College.