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The much talked about Ankita Bhandari murder case was concluded on Friday as all three accused were sentenced to life imprisonment by the court after nearly three years of trial. The
19-year-old girl, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Yamkeshwar Block of district Pauri, was killed and thrown into the Ganga Canal in September 2022. The Additional District Judge
(ADJ) and Sessions Court Kotdwar, Pauri pronounced its verdict and sentenced life imprisonment to the three accused including resort owner Pulkit Arya and his employees Saurabh Bhaskar and
Ankit Gupta in the murder case. The court convicted the accused men guilty under sections 302, 201, and 354 of the IPC. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each and ordered to pay ₹4
lakh to Ankita’s family. Advertisement Hearing of the case was concluded on May 19 with final arguments of Special Public Prosecutor Avnish Negi in response to the defence lawyer’s last
effort to defend the accused men before the court. After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court finalised May 30 as the date for the pronouncement of the judgement. Advertisement The
case trial began in the Additional District Judge and Sessions Court Kotdwar on January 30, 2023, owing to a 500-page chargesheet filed by the prosecution following an SIT probe report
presented to the government. Ankita,19, was allegedly murdered by the illegally run Vanantra Resort owner and his two employees in September 2022 in Rishikesh. Her body was recovered from
Chilla Barrage Ganga Canal after nearly a week. According to allegations, the main accused Pulkit Arya, (son of the BJP leader from Haridwar Vinod Arya), and his co-accused tried to force
the victim girl for sexual favours to the VIP clients of the resort. However, the names of the VIPs were never revealed in the investigation. The chargesheet was filed by the prosecution
against three accused including resort owner Pulkit Arya and his employees Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta. The witness testimony by the court was started from March 28, 2023. Around 47
witnesses were examined by the prosecution during the hearing that lasted for about two years and eight months. The SIT had named 97 witnesses in its probe report but only 47 were produced
in the court. Notably, the death of the girl triggered a huge public outcry across the state, especially the way she was killed. People protested in several parts of the state demanding
capital punishment for the accused men. Advertisement