19-year-old receptionist Ankita Bhandari was killed as she refused to have sex with guests: FB friend

Dehradun: A Facebook friend of the 19-year-old receptionist, whose body was retrieved from a canal on Saturday, has reportedly said that his friend was killed because she refused to have sex with guests as demanded by the owner of the resort where she worked.

A receptionist at a resort owned by a BJP leader’s son, was allegedly killed by the owner and his two other employees.

Before her body was found, she was reported missing by her parents after they could not find her in her room Monday morning.

Reportedly, a friend of hers has now said that she had called him the night she was killed to tell him she was in “trouble.” According to reports, the victim had told her friend that the owner and the managers of the resort where she worked were mounting pressure on her to have sex with guests visiting the resort.

After 8.30 pm, her phone went unreachable. When after repeated attempts he could not connect to her, the girl’s friend called Pulkit Arya, the resort owner, who said she had gone to her room to sleep.

The next day when he reportedly called Arya’s again, his phone too was found switched off. The friend then rang up Ankit, the resort’s manager, who said she was in gym.

He then spoke to the resort’s Chef who told him he had not seen the girl that day.

Resort’s owner Pulkit Arya, its manager and assistant manager were arrested on Friday and sent to a 14-day judicial custody.

Pulkit Arya, the key accused in the case, is a son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar.

The politician was formerly a chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board.

An angry mob attacked the police car when the accused were being taken to a court in Kotdwar on Friday.

The mob smashed the windowpanes of the car and roughed up the three men. Some women, part of the mob, demanded that the accused must be “hanged.” Locals in Bhogpur, where the resort is located, too hurled stones at it and broke its window glasses in protest.

In a late night action on Friday, the authorities started demolishing the resort saying it was built “illegally.” The girl’s body was recovered Saturday morning from the Cheela canal into which she had been pushed by her alleged killers.

A post mortem of her body is currently underway at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh.

Meanwhile, a pickle factory near the resort owned by Arya caught fire on Saturday, raising doubts whether it was an attempt by the murder accused to destory evidence.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered an SIT probe into the killing of the girl and assured that the guilty will be brought to book.

The Congress staged protests in the district headquarters on Saturday decrying the poor safety of women in the state.

PCC president Karan Mahra said the girl had gone missing on September 18 and the FIR was lodged four days later. “It shows the state government is not serious in its actions. Women are not safe in Uttarakhand,” Mahra said.

"The action being taken by the state government is just an eyewash. The resort has been demolished only partially.

"It may also be an attempt to destroy evidence,” Pradesh Congress leader Garima Dhasauni said. PTI ALM VN VN