Following the arrest of Pulkit Arya, the prime accused within the homicide of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, final week, the Uttarakhand BJP expelled his father Vinod Arya and elder brother Ankit Arya from the get together. The Pushkar Singh Dhami-led BJP authorities additionally eliminated Ankit from his submit because the Uttarakhand OBC Fee vice chairman.
Ankita had joined Pulkit’s resort in Uttarakhand’s Laxman Jhula space as a receptionist late final month. Days after she went lacking, the police recovered Ankita’s physique from a canal on September 24, a day after they arrested Pulkit and two others charging that he had confessed to pushing her into the canal after an altercation.
Vinod Arya, who loved the rank of a minister of state within the earlier Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP authorities, was by no means thought of to be a mass chief or had any notable assist base, however used his affect to achieve proximity to senior BJP leaders.
Many within the state BJP imagine that Vinod, who hails from Haridwar, was inducted into the get together fold primarily for his enterprise pursuits in swadeshi ayurveda. Later, the BJP dispensation appointed Vinod because the chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Board with a state minister’s rank.
“He (Vinod) was by no means a mass chief or introduced votes to the get together. Vinod Arya is well-known within the space for operating the Swadeshi Ayurveda agency and that’s the reason many within the get together believed that it could be good to have somebody with the swadeshi tag. As soon as within the get together, he began staking claims for various posts. In conferences, he used to say that he’s a senior chief and ought to be given appropriate recognition. With that, he was given the rank of a minister of state,” mentioned a state BJP chief.
Vinod later used his political affect to additional broaden his ayurveda enterprise. The Pulkit-owned Vanantra Resort in Laxman Jhula space is cited for example on this regard. Vinod’s elder son Ankit additionally joined the BJP and was later made the state OBC Fee vice chairman.
It’s believed in state political circles that since Vinod was only a “symbolic face” within the saffron get together, he was “dispensable”. This was obvious within the BJP’s swift motion in opposition to him and Ankit, even because the Ankita Bhandari homicide case set off huge public outrage.
Quickly after Ankita’s physique was recovered, the BJP cracked down on each Vinod and Ankit.
CM Dhami ordered the structure of a Particular Investigation Workforce (SIT) to probe the case, at the same time as senior cops declared that the accused have been booked below the Gangster Act.
The district administration additionally demolished a piece of the Vanantra resort, which sparked an argument amid allegations that it was a bid to “destroy” essential proof from the resort. These allegations have been nevertheless denied by the police, with DGP Ashok Kumar and DIG P Renuka Devi, the SIT chief, saying that the resort was sealed after an in depth videography final Thursday itself. “We have now all of the proof secured within the case,” senior police officers mentioned.
Because the BJP introduced final Saturday that it has fired Vinod and Ankit on state get together chief Mahendra Bhatt’s route, Vinod claimed that he and Ankit had already submitted their resignation from all get together posts.
“Pulkit Arya is my son, however he was residing individually for a very long time. We’re accountable individuals. We determined that so long as the investigation is occurring, and to make sure there is no such thing as a misuse of my place, I submited my registration from all BJP posts. We’ll cooperate in every kind of investigations. We would like the reality to come back out in order that each Ankita and Pulkit can get justice,” Vinod mentioned. Requested if he had any concept Pulkit was concerned in such actions, he claimed his son’s title was by no means linked to any prison exercise.
Nonetheless, the DGP confirmed that Pulkit had a case pending in opposition to him, registered at Haridwar Kotwali, for allegedly dishonest within the Uttarakhand Ayurveda Pre-Medical Check (UAPMT) in 2016 by getting another person seem on the examination in his place.
There are additionally allegations in opposition to Vinod and his supporters of threatening journalists for reporting in opposition to him. The Uttarakhand Police on Monday confirmed receiving a grievance from a neighborhood journalist, Ashutosh Negi, including they’ve registered a case on its foundation. “A personal information portal journalist Ashutosh Negi has lodged a grievance with the Raipur police station relating to a menace name obtained by him on his cellphone. We have now quickly registered a case within the matter and have began the investigation,” mentioned the police in an announcement.
Pahad TV journalist Naval Khali additionally mentioned he obtained comparable threats. He charged that he was doing a stay interview with Negi when he obtained a number of calls which he missed. Following the interview, Khali obtained one other name. In his name recording, the particular person on the opposite facet could possibly be heard purportedly asking him if the stay present was over after which suggesting that “he
ought to communicate much less and deal with himself”. The police can be probing this case.
In the meantime, CM Dhami on Wednesday introduced a monetary help of Rs 25 lakh for Ankita Bhandari’s household. He has additionally advocated for attempting the case in a fast-track courtroom.