Ankita Bhandari (11 November 2003 – 18 September 2022) was an Indian receptionist from Pauri who was allegedly raped and subsequently murdered at the Vanantra Resort in Ganga-Bhogpur in Rishikesh ,[1] Uttarakhand.
The case gained much publicity in national and state media due to its disastrous mismanagement and supposed involvement of a politically influential 'VIP' in sex coercion, but no identification has been made.
[4][5] BJP MLA Renu Bisht was also accused in court for attempting to cover up the crime by having ordered an unlawful demolition of the resort.
[8] Ankita's dead body was recovered by the State Disaster Response Force of the Uttarakhand police on 24 September 2022[10] from the Chilla canal's barrage.
Birendra Singh upset with the police force's actions reached out to several authorities in Dehradun, including the chairperson of the state's women's commission, Vidhan Sabha speaker and the DGP, and local news portals like Jago Uttarakhand.
[citation needed] Her preliminary autopsy was done by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Rishikesh and it stated that Ankita sustained certain injuries suggestive of blunt force trauma before her death.
Many leading politicians from the state including Tirath Singh Rawat, a sitting Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, and Rajendra Bhandari, Congress MLA from Badrinath expressed grief.
[citation needed] However, groups of locals on social media and the father of the victim moved High Court to ensure probe by CBI.
[21] Deepak claims the personal assistant of Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht called him soon after and asked him to reach the resort with the JCB where he broke the walls and windows of two rooms.
[1] Despite witness testimonials of BJP leader Renu Bisht's involvement in the destruction of evidence in the Vanantra Resort, she maintains her position within the party as MLA from Yamkeshwar Assembly.
Vaibhav Pratap Singh, the patwari, was later suspended for failing to file an FIR (first information report) in response to Bhandari's complaint that his daughter was missing.
In the writ petition they had raised doubts about the SIT investigation being biased, pointing to the failure to recover the CCTV footage and phone of the accused Pulkit, and asked for protection for Negi and the key witnesses in the case, because of threats received.
Negi gained a subdued reputation within the state for consistently attempting to secure justice for Bhandari's case, having proved himself a vocal critic of the so far unsuccessful investigative forces.
On 5 March 2024, Uttarakhand Police arrested Ashutosh Negi, based on a complaint lodged by a Pauri Garhwal resident under Sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar from Kotdwar in a statement to the press: “The intentions of so-called social activists like Ashutosh Negi are suspected.