Ankita murder case: Opposition parties protest, demand CBI probe as police rules out 'VIP' angle

Dehradun, Jan 4 (PTI) Opposition parties in Uttarakhand staged a protest and demanded a CBI probe into the Ankita Bhandari murder case on Sunday, a day after police said that no "VIP" was found involved in the case.

Workers from the Congress, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), Mahila Manch, Left parties, and social organisations gathered at Parade Ground here and marched towards the Chief Minister's residence, repeating their demand that the case be handed over to the CBI to reveal the name of the "VIP" involved in the murder case.

During the protest, opposition party workers held placards with slogans like "Give justice to Ankita", "No more delays, surround the Chief Minister," and "Who is the real culprit, who is silent in Delhi," and raised anti-government slogans.

They said the protest would continue until their demands were met.

Indresh Maikhuri, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), who appealed to people to join the protest march, said that the statement by Haridwar SP (Rural) Shekhar Suyal, who is involved in the investigation of the murder case, that there was no 'VIP' involvement in the case, cannot be accepted.

Maikhuri said that in its judgment delivered in May last year, the Additional District and Sessions Court of Kotdwar had sentenced Pulkit Arya, the owner of Vanantra Resort in Pauri district, and his two employees, Ankit Gupta and Saurabh Bhaskar, to life imprisonment for the murder.

It was stated that the motive for the crime was the refusal to provide 'special services' to a 'VIP'.

He said, "Now, if police officer Suyal is denying the involvement of a VIP, it means that you are eliminating the very motive of the crime. You are not apprehending those whose names are coming up in this case, but instead, you are paving the way for the release of those who have already been sentenced." Maikhuri said that their demand is that the case be investigated by the CBI under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge so that the VIP can be identified.

Ankita Bhandari (19), who worked as a receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Yamkeshwar, Pauri district, was murdered on September 18, 2022. Following the revelation of the case, local people's anger spilled onto the streets, prompting the state government to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the matter.

Suyal, who was serving as the Additional Superintendent of Police in Pauri at the time of the murder and was a member of the SIT, said on Saturday that there was no 'VIP' involved in the case.

Currently, Suyal is Superintendent of Police (Rural) Haridwar.

Suyal told the media here that the 'VIP' mentioned in the chat between Ankita and her friend Pushpdeep was Dharmendra Kumar alias Pradhan, a resident of Noida, who had stopped at the resort for a short time on September 16 to have a meal.

He said that after the mention of the 'VIP' came to light, Pushpdeep's statements were recorded three or four times, and then a magisterial statement under Section 164 was also recorded, in which he stated that when he went to the resort on the 16th, a person was present there with two or three other people. He also described his appearance.

Suyal said that the resort staff also corroborated Pushpdeep's statement.

He said, "While investigating, the police reached that person and found out that he had spoken to someone about looking for land in the area, who took him to the Vanantra Resort for a meal, and he stayed there for only two and a half to three hours." The police officer said that Pushpdeep also confirmed that this was the same person he had seen on September 16.

He said that according to the SIT's investigation, this was the end of the 'VIP terminology', but even then, the team investigated every possibility expressed on social media or other platforms, and every person who booked or visited the resort between September 18 and 22 was investigated from every angle.

However, he said, "We did not have any significant information that there was a person named VIP." Suyal said that during the investigation, a judgment of the Uttarakhand High Court also clearly mentioned that no attempt was made to protect any influential person in the SIT investigation and that the investigation was proceeding in the right direction.

Actress Urmila Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former Uttarakhand MLA Suresh Rathore, recently released videos of herself and audio recordings of her alleged conversations with Rathore on social media, alleging that the 'VIP' in the Ankita murder case is a BJP leader named 'Gattu'.

In another video, Sanawar also revealed Gattu's name, which caused a stir in the state's politics. PTI DPT OZ NB NB