U'Khand CM Dhami seeks setting up of fast-track court for speedy justice in Ankita Bhandari case

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has sought the establishment of a fast-track court for speedy justice in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.In a tweet quoting Dhami, the Chief Ministers Office CMO said on Monday that the government has requested the honourable court to set up a fast-track court for speedy justice in the case so that the guilty are punished as soon as possible.Bhandari worked at a resort at Ganga Bhogpur in Pauri district owned by Pulkit Arya.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has sought the establishment of a fast-track court for speedy justice in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.

In a tweet quoting Dhami, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Monday that the government has ''requested the honourable court to set up a fast-track court for speedy justice in the case so that the guilty are punished as soon as possible''.

Bhandari worked at a resort at Ganga Bhogpur in Pauri district owned by Pulkit Arya. She was allegedly killed by Arya and two of his accomplices -- resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta -- for refusing to provide ''special services'' to the guests. Her body was fished out from the Chilla canal near Rishikesh.

Dhami said the safety of ''daughters'' is a responsibility of the state government and stern action was taken over the past few days in connection with the incident.

''To ensure that daughter Ankita gets justice, the accused have been arrested and their illegal constructions demolished. We have also set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident from all angles and have the guilty punished in the strictest possible way,'' the chief minister said. Pulkit Arya, the main accused, is the son of former minister Vinod Arya, who was expelled from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his son's name cropped up in the case.

The SIT, headed by Deputy Inspector General P Renuka Devi, has been camping in Lakshman Jhoola to collect evidence from the crime scene, the CMO said in the tweet.

The SIT has found the list of guests staying at the resort on the day of the incident. It has also collected physical evidence and is examining electronic evidence such as CCTV footage and mobile call records.

Witnesses and the employees of the resort are also being interrogated. The SIT is also trying to get the police remand of the accused.

Meanwhile, Pauri District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said on Tuesday that no evidence related to the case was destroyed when the illegally-built portions of the Vanantara resort, owned by Pulkit Arya, were demolished following the incident.

Before the demolition began, every care was taken to preserve the evidence and only the portions of the resort that were built on encroached land, such as its boundary wall and gate, were brought down, the DM said.

Claims being made on the social media that certain evidence may have been destroyed during the demolition exercise are misleading, he added.

Opposition Congress has been alleging that the demolition of parts of the resort, which was carried out in a hurry, was a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence.

The DM also informed that a revenue police sub-inspector, Vaibhav Pratap Singh, was suspended for alleged dereliction of duty as he did not register an FIR despite being informed about Bhandari's disappearance on September 19 itself.

He did not even inform his superiors about such a serious matter and went on leave, the officer added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)