Pulkit Arya’s father, Vinod Arya, a senior member of the ruling BJP... was expelled from the party following the incident.
Uttarakhand Court Convicts Three in 2022 Murder Case of 19-Year-Old Resort Receptionist Ankita Bhandari
Uttarakhand Court Convicts Resort Owner in 2022 Murder Case: A court in Uttarakhand on Friday convicted three accused in the 2022 murder case of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist at a resort in Pauri district, NDTV reported.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Reena Negi in Kotdwar sentenced Pulkit Arya, the owner of the Vanantra Resort near Rishikesh, along with two of his employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, to life imprisonment for the murder of Ankita.
Ankita was killed on September 18, 2022.
According to the NDTV report, the final arguments between the defence and prosecution were heard by Judge Negi on May 19, 2025. All three accused were convicted of murder.
The prosecution argued that Ankita was targeted because she resisted Arya’s alleged attempts to coerce her into prostitution. This claim was supported by chats, audio recordings, and witness testimonies, according to the report.
Ankita’s body was recovered from the Cheela canal near Rishikesh on September 24, 2022, six days after she was last seen.
Ankita Bhandari was a resident of Dobh-Srikot village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district. She had joined Vanantra Resort in Yamkeshwar as a receptionist in August 2022. The crime was committed less than a month after she began her job.
Pulkit Arya’s father, Vinod Arya, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand, was expelled from the party following the incident.
According to police, on the night of September 18, 2022, an altercation occurred between Ankita and her employer Pulkit Arya, who along with his two employees pushed her into the fast flowing Cheela canal.
(For more news apart from Uttarakhand Court Convicts Three in 2022 Murder Case of 19-Year-Old Resort Receptionist Ankita Bhandari, stay tune to Rozana Spokesman)
