By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 17 Dec: The SIT today submitted the chargesheet in the Ankita Bhandari murder case to the prosecution office. This information was shared in a media interaction by ADG Law & Order, V Murugesan today. He informed that the SIT has detailed 100 witnesses in the 500-page chargesheet prepared in the case, against the three accused, including the main accused Pulkit Arya. He added that more than 30 documentary evidences have also been included in the chargesheet prepared by the SIT.
He further informed that the charge sheet has been filed under IPC sections 302, 201, 120B, 354A and the Immoral Traffic Act. All scientific and electronic evidence has been included in this. The chargesheet has now been submitted to the prosecution office. It would be filed in the court on Monday.
A special advocate will be appointed to prosecute the murder case. For this, the Police Headquarters has written a letter to the Justice Department so that, the case of the prosecution could be presented in the court in a strong manner and a harsh punishment ensured to the accused in the high profile case that has generated lot of public anguish across the state. In the prosecution of the case, the side of the prosecution can be presented strongly. It is believed that with this work can be done faster in getting the accused punished.
It may be recalled that it had become necessary to file the chargesheet at the earliest now, as three months time since the arrest of the accused in the case will be completed on 22 December, failing which the accused can secure bail. Now that the chargesheet has been prepared and will be filed in the court on Monday, the trial in the case can begin soon. The Police are still awaiting the court’s permission to conduct a Narco test on the accused who had sought ten days time in this respect. The SIT is however hoping to soon conduct a narco test on the accused also to get the VVIP name who was supposed to visit the resort and for whom Ankita was allegedly being pressurised to offer “special services”.
In earlier interactions with the media, ADG Law and Order V Murugesan had indicated that in case of need, supplementary chargesheets could be filed at a later stage too as and when the need arose.
It may be recalled that Pauri resident Ankita Bhandari, who was working with Vanantara Resort owned by the chief accused Pulkit Arya had suddenly disappeared on 18 September. However, the Revenue Police did not take any interest in registering the case but following public uproar, the case was transferred to regular police and it was found that she had been murdered. The police revealed on September 22 that Ankita had been murdered by pushing her into the canal. In this case, the owner of the resort Pulkit Arya and his two associates were arrested by the police on 22 September itself. Later her dead body was recovered from Chilla Lake.
However, there are some missing links and for this reason, some questions have been raised on the investigation carried out by the SIT. The SIT has not been able to recover Ankita‘s mobile. Nor has Pulkit’s main mobile phone come into the hands of the police. In this case, a central forensic investigation has been conducted of one mobile of Pulkit and the mobiles of the other two accused. All these reports have been included in the chargesheet.
