By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 19 Aug: Uttarakhand High Court today heard the bail petitions of the three accused in the widely discussed Ankita Bhandari murder case and rejected their plea to grant the bail. The accused are Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta. After two days of prolonged arguments, the division bench composed of Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Siddharth Shah dismissed all the three bail applications. The defence lawyers had presented several arguments in support of the accused, but the court rejected them not finding much merit in the arguments.
It may be recalled that earlier, on 30 May 2025, the then Additional District and Sessions Judge of Kotdwar, Reena Negi, had sentenced the three accused to life imprisonment for murder and destruction of evidence. Challenging this order, the convicts had filed appeals before the High Court and had sought release on bail. Following detailed hearings spread over two days, the High Court refused to grant them relief.
It may further be recalled that Ankita Bhandari, a resident of Pauri district, was employed as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort near Rishikesh, owned by Pulkit Arya. On 18 September 2022 she went missing under suspicious circumstances, and on 24 September her body was recovered from the Cheela barrage. Police investigations led to the arrest of Arya, Bhaskar and Gupta after evidence pointed to their involvement. They have remained in jail since then.
The prosecution argued that the evidence available at the time of the incident is sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused and secure their conviction. The High Court, after considering the submissions, upheld the trial court’s findings and rejected the bail pleas of all three.
