Dehradun: The body of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, a staffer at an Uttarakhand resort who went missing a few days ago, was found on Saturday in a canal. The discovery prompted the BJP to suspend the father and brother of the prime accused in the murder case.
The prime accused is BJP leader Vinod Arya's son Pulkit, who was arrested with two others on Friday.
The party has suspended Vinod Arya, a member of the national executive of BJP OBC Morcha, as well as his other son Ankit, a minister of state.
Ankita, a resident of Dobh in Srikot, used to work at the resort owned by Pulkit Arya in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal. She went missing on September 18.
Following the recovery of the body from the Chilla canal, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered an SIT probe led by DIG P. Renuka Devi to probe the murder.
Taking to Twitter, Dhami said:
"Today morning, Ankita's body was recovered. Heart-broken with this heart-wrenching incident."
On directions of the Chief Minister, the resort has been razed to the ground.
Strict action will be taken against the officers who were involved in the illegal construction of the resort, Dhami said.
"It is our resolve that the those guilty of this heinous crime will not be spared," he added.
Ankita's family had lodged a missing complaint on September 21 with the revenue police and on the District Magistrate's direction, the matter was transferred to regular police the next day.
Taking cognisance of the incident, Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, had directed the Superintendent of Police, Pauri for a speedy investigation into the incident.
Besides Pulkit Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta have been arrested. They confessed to the crime when questioned sternly, cops said.
When the men were arrested yesterday, protesting locals surrounded the police vehicle and assaulted them before the cops managed to take them away.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress said police was slow "because of the accused's links with the RSS-BJP".
"It's horrific. When the girl went missing on September 18, why did the police register the FIR on September 21?" said state Congress spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni.
"Till when will this brazen misuse of power by BJP and RSS leaders continue?" he asked.
Following the arrest of the accused, they told the police that after murdering Ankita, they threw her body in the canal.
Under the guidance of DGP Uttarakhand, the SDRF commenced a search operation. Deep divers were also deployed to look for the body at the bottom of the canal
The search operation resumed this morning during which the body was found.
The body has been handed over to the district police.
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