Outrage over the killing of the 19-year-old escalated as details emerged of her trauma in the days preceding her death. The body of Ankita Bhandari who worked in an Uttarakhand resort had been recovered from a canal early this morning, six days after she went missing.

The girl worked as a receptionist in the Vanantara resort in Pauri district’s Yamkeshwar block owned by Haridwar BJP leader Vinod Arya’s son Pulkit Arya, who is the main accused. The ruling BJP was quick to expel its leader and his son from the party.

Violent protests erupted in areas surrounding the resort with locals breaking glass panes and some trying to torch a pickle factory in its premises. However, the fire did not spread much as the weather was cloudy.

On 23 September 2022, police arrested Pulkit Arya with resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta and sent them to 14 days judicial custody.

Earlier in the day, Bhandari’s Facebook friend reportedly alleged that she was killed because she refused to have sex with guests as demanded by the owner of the resort.

Bhandari had called a friend the night before she was reported missing to say she was in trouble, according to local reports.

As the ripples of anger spread, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami promised that no one would be spared and that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General P Renuka Devi had been constituted to probe all aspects.

On his official Twitter account, Dhami posted a series of tweets giving updates on the actions taken by the government on the case.

“My heart is deeply pained by this heart breaking incident,” wrote Dhami in Hindi.

“It is our resolve that the culprits of this heinous crime will not be spared,” he stated in another tweet.

Demolition of the resort owned by the main accused is underway. Some of its rooms have also been sealed so that evidence is not destroyed. We have also issued an order to identify all resorts built illegally on government or forest land and demolish them, he added.

The Congress staged protests in district headquarters across the state on Saturday to voice its anger over the vulnerability of women in the state.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahra said the young woman had gone missing on 18 September 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.

Countering the allegations of delay in action against the culprits, DGP Kumar said the matter was transferred to regular police from revenue police on Thursday and the accused were sent behind bars within 24 hours.

The autopsy is being done at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, police said.