A CURIOUS TURN IN ANKITA BHANDARI CASE ! THE LAWYER OF CULPRITS BACKS OUT CITING PERSONAL REASONS

The most shocking Ankita Bhandari brutal murder case which is under judicial process in district sessions Court at Simchaudh Kotdwar, Pauri Garhwal with lot of hearings already taken place is not seeing any ray of hope till date. However, on Monday the culprits involved in the crime i. e. alleged brutal murder of the innocent 19 year old Ankita in Vanantara resort, Yamkeshwar in the month of September last year viz Pulkit Arya and two others got a huge jolt when their counsel – advocate Amit Sajwan citing personal reasons left them in lurch refusing to fight their case further. There had already been lot of alleged public pressure in the case and on the advocate fighting on behalf of the culprits with tremendous media hype and the parents of the deceased in the past complaining of their advocate from government side allegedly favouring the culprits to weaken their case. Moreover, the political parties including the opposition Congress has also held a Nyay Yatra in Pauri Garhwal district and staged dharna to mobilise public opinion in favour of the bereaved family seeking justice for their slain daughter. The culprits now expelled were in BJP earlier with the father and brother of the main culprit Pulkit Arya holding state ministerial ranks in the saffron party. Meanwhile, apart from the advocate Amit Sajwan leaving the case earlier fighting on behalf of the culprits the Kotdwar sessions Court has also rejected the appeal of the Prosecution side requesting for adding criminal conspiracy and common intention legal aspect/ angle in the case in order to strengthen it. The counsel of the prosecution side however assured that the government side is fighting the case very strongly and that the culprits will definitely get the stringent punishment. This case is being proactively pursued by a renowned social activist and journalist Ashutosh Negi who has also filed a PIL in Supreme Court of India demanding CBI enquiry and revelation of the name of a VVIP in the case. It may be recalled that on September 18, 2022 last year a 19 year innocent girl of Pauri Garhwal’s Shrikot village was brutally murdered and her body thrown in the Canal at Chila barrage at Rishikesh leading to tremendous outrage in entire Uttarakhand demanding stringent punishment rather death to the culprits. There are alleged reports of the girl having been molested and physically hurt brutally before being pushed in the canal leading to her death, the body traced after few days under suspicious circumstances. The case was allegedly tried to be hushed up and the area MLA with the help of a JCB demolished the resort without the court’s knowledge and directives to temper with the evidence etc. Moreover, the revenue police, Patwari who went on leave with an ulterior motive lodged the FIR after delay and tried to hobnob with the culprits raising several several questions on revenue police with the district magistrate of the area finally transferring it to regular police after lot of public pressure and media hype. The three culprits were arrested in this case viz Pulkit Arya, Sarah Bhaskar and manager of Vanantara resort Ankit Gupta who were sent on police remand, interrogated strongly by the STF who finally agreed to their crime of murdering the innocent girl . All the three culprits are in jail and the case under judicial hearing.