Overview

• Pulkit Arya, son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya, and employees Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta were convicted under IPC Sections 302, 201, 120B, 354 and provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
• A Special Investigation Team filed a 500-page chargesheet and presented evidence from 47 witnesses over two years and eight months of hearings before the Kotdwar court delivered its verdict.
• Investigators concluded that Ankita Bhandari was killed on September 18, 2022, after she resisted orders to provide ‘special services’ to resort guests, with her body found in the Chilla canal six days later.
• The court ordered all three convicts to serve life imprisonment, fined each ₹50,000 and directed ₹4 lakh in compensation for Ankita’s family, offering partial closure to the public outcry over women’s safety.
• Following the verdict, Uttarakhand Congress demanded immediate disclosure of the alleged ‘VIP’ linked to the crime and called for a judicial inquiry as Ankita’s parents press appeals for stiffer punishment.