Three men, including Pulkit Arya, the son of expelled Bhartiya Janata Party leader Vinod Arya, were given life sentences by a sessions court in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, on Friday, May 29, 2025, for the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, who had been a receptionist at the accused’s hotel.
The accused and two of his accomplices killed her by throwing her into a canal after she refused to provide “extra services” to a “VIP guest” at the Pauri Garhwal hotel, according to the police and prosecution. Under Trivendra Singh Rawat’s previous BJP government, Mr. Vinod Arya served as Minister of State.
Shortly after graduating from high school, Ankita began working to help her father, security guard Virendra Bhandari. Her monthly salary for the position was ₹10,000. The following day, hotel workers notified her father that she had gone missing on the evening of September 18, 2022.
When the revenue police first took up the case, Mr. Bhandari claimed he had to run from pillar to post in order to get a formal complaint filed. Six days later, her body was discovered in a canal. The Uttarakhand government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the murder after it caused demonstrations and indignation throughout the state. The 500-page chargesheet in the case was filed by the SIT following a months-long probe.
In the order pronounced on May 30, the Additional District and Sessions Judge held Arya and his two aides, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, guilty of murder, suppression of evidence, molestation and outraging the modesty of a woman, and immoral trafficking. The court awarded the trio life imprisonment and a collective fine of ₹4 lakh, which will be given to the parents of the deceased.
Special public prosecutor Avneesh Negi told the news agency that 47 of the 97 witnesses named in the police chargesheet were questioned in court throughout the trial, which started in December 2022 and lasted more than two years.
The court’s decision to not execute the accused, viewing the case as one of the “rarest of the rarest,” infuriated Ankita’s father. “My daughter decided to leave home just to support me. This is what happens to girls who leave homes to chase their dreams. This is a rare case which shook the conscience of the people and should have been considered as such,” said Mr. Bhandari. Additionally, he claimed that the State government had not kept its pledge to name a nursing school after Ankita and give her brother a government post.
