Ankita Bhandari murder case: Pulkit Arya, two others sentenced to life imprisonment

New Delhi: A special court in Kotdwar on Friday sentenced BJP leader Pulkit Arya, son of former Uttarakhand minister Vinod Arya, to life imprisonment in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.

Along with Pulkit, his two employees—Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta—were also convicted and handed life terms. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the three convicts.

The verdict comes nearly two years and eight months after the crime, which had sparked widespread outrage across the country.

Ankita Bhandari, 19, worked as a receptionist at a resort owned by Pulkit Arya in Rishikesh. She went missing on September 18, 2022. Her body was recovered six days later from the Chilla canal on September 24.

According to the prosecution, Ankita was allegedly pressured to offer “special services” to VIP guests at the resort and was killed when she resisted. The case had drawn sharp criticism of the political and administrative system in Uttarakhand, with calls for swift justice.

Ahead of the verdict, Ankita’s father Virendra Singh Bhandari had appealed for the death penalty for the accused. “The criminals who killed my innocent daughter should be hanged,” he said.

The court, however, awarded life imprisonment to all three convicts.