The Uttarakhand court on Monday (May 19, 2025) completed its hearing on the Ankita Bhandari murder case and is scheduled to announce the verdict on May 30, 2025.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Reena Negi on (May 19, 2025) heard the final arguments between the defence and the prosecution.
Prosecution advocate Anuj Pundir said that after hearing the arguments of both sides, the Judge has fixed May 30 as the date for pronouncing the verdict.
The hearing of the case lasted for two years and eight months. During this time, 47 witnesses, including the investigation officer, were presented by the prosecution.
On September 18, 2022, Ankita Bhandari (19), who worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort located in Yamkeshwar of Pauri district, was murdered allegedly by the resort operator, Pulkit Arya, along with his two employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta.
According to the prosecution, Ankita and Pulkit had a dispute over something, after which Pulkit, along with Bhaskar and Gupta, allegedly pushed Ankita into the Cheela canal in Rishikesh.
After Ankita’s body was found in the canal, the police arrested the three and sent them to jail.
Pulkit is the son of Vinod Arya, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. As soon as the matter came to light, the party showed Arya the way out.
Locals took to the streets when the matter came to the fore, and to pacify them, the state government formed a special investigation team to investigate the matter.
Published – May 20, 2025 11:30 am IST
