Srinagar (Uttarakhand), September 25
People’s anger over the murder of Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district and was reportedly being forced to provide “special services” to guests, continued with the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway (NH) 58 being blocked in protest, even as her last rites were finally conducted on Sunday evening.
Her body was brought to the NIT Ghat here and consigned to flames amid the presence of a large number of people.
A large crowd, comprising students, political activists and common people, had earlier gathered in large numbers at the mortuary of the base hospital where her body was kept. Then, they held a sit-in protest on the Badrinath National Highway in front of the mortuary, demanding the hanging of Ankita’s killers, stranding vehicles on both sides of the highway.
Earlier in the day, the family of Ankita, in whose killing Pulkit Arya, the son of now expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya is allegedly involved, refused to perform the last rites, saying they will wait till the final post-mortem report comes.
The provisional post-mortem report had confirmed assault before death and the cause of death as drowning.
Ankita’s father Virendra Bhandari has refused to perform the last rites of his daughter.
“The government has tampered with the evidence by running a bulldozer on resort at midnight. Ankita’s last rites will be performed only when the final post-mortem report is received. I am not satisfied with the post-mortem report that has come at the moment. The culprits should be given capital punishment using fast track court in this case,” he said.
