Uttarakhand: Cong links journalist Ashutosh Negi's arrest with his efforts to bring justice to Ankita Bhandari

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police has arrested a Pauri-based journalist, prompting the Congress to link the action with his efforts to bring justice to slain receptionist Ankita Bhandari.

Ashutosh Negi was arrested in Pauri on Tuesday on charges of using casteist remarks and issuing death threat to a man who belongs to the Scheduled Caste, police officials in Pauri said.

The FIR against Negi includes sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they said.

Negi's arrest sparked a protest at Srinagar in Pauri district where family members of Ankita Bhandari have been sitting on a dharna for the last 10 days demanding justice for her. They burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday shouting anti-government slogans. On Tuesday, the sessions court remanded Negi to judicial custody till March 15, said government counsel Pradeep Kumar Bhatt. Negi raised his voice for justice to Ankita Bhandari, a receptionist at Vanantra resort in Rishikesh whose employer Pulkit Arya had allegedly killed her when she refused to "have sex" with guests at the resort.

The Vanantra resort is owned by a former BJP leader who was expelled from the party after his son's name cropped up as the main accused in the case. Uttarakhand Congress chief Karan Mahara said the state government is trying to "suppress the voice of the common man" through police action against a journalist.

"In Ankita Bhandari murder case, the state government has been trying to shield the culprits who have connections with the BJP," Mahara said. However, state BJP media in-charge Manveer Chauhan said the arrest of Negi is a purely legal matter which has nothing to do with his involvement in the campaign for justice to Ankita Bhandari. Chauhan accused the Congress of politicising the issue. Refuting Mahara's charge that the BJP government was protecting the accused, he said how can it be when all the accused are in jail and their trial is underway.