By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun/Pauri, 27 Sep: Patwari Vaibhav Pratap, who had gone on sudden leave after failing to register the complaint regarding disappearance of Ankita Bhandari, has been suspended. He has been suspended on the charge of being negligent in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The orders suspending Vaibhav Pratap were issued today by Pauri District Magistrate (DM) Vijay Kumar Jogdande after receiving the report of Yamkeshwar SDM in this regard. Apart from suspending Vaibhav, the investigation into the role of Patwari (Revenue Sub Inspector) Vaibhav Pratap has also been handed over to SDM, Lansdowne.
The family of Ankita Bhandari and local people had been demanding action against Vaibhav Pratap as they had alleged he was close to the murder accused and had refused to register the complaint filed by Ankita’s father. In fact, when Ankita’s father had approached the Patwari, he was seen in his office with the three murder accused including Pulkit Arya. The very next day instead of registering the case, he simply handed over the charge to Vivek Kumar and proceeded on leave without informing Kumar about the complaint. This happened on 20 September according to the family of Ankita Bhandari. Vivek Kumar did register a case when the father approached the new Patwari but apparently did not proceed with the investigation. Vivek Kumar had already been suspended earlier. Vivek Kumar’s original posting was in Kandakhal. However, soon after registering the case, Vivek Kumar and the local revenue police had sent a recommendation to DM Pauri urging him to hand over the investigation of the case to the regular police on 21 September. On 22 September, the case was handed over to Laxman Jhula Police and it was then the investigation could make progress and the accused arrested.
