The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled Vinod Arya, the father of Pulkit Arya, who is the main accused in a receptionist’s murder in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district. Vinod Arya is a former minister and member of the national executive of the BJP OBC Morcha. Pulkit’s brother Ankit Arya has also been expelled from the party with immediate effect. He was earlier removed also from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission.
“Vinod Arya and his son Ankit Arya, the father and brother of main accused Pulkit Arya has been expelled from the party with immediate effect. The Uttarakhand government has also removed Ankit from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission,” the Uttarakhand unit of BJP said. The BJP government is facing widespread outrage over the murder.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami shared the termination orders on his official Twitter handle.
Pulkit Arya and two co-accused were arrested on Friday on charges of murder of Ankita Bhandari, who was a receptionist at the Vanatara Resort in Rishikesh. The resort is owned by Pulkit. According to police, Pulkit, the resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager, Ankit Gupta confessed to having pushed Ankita into a canal after an altercation where she drowned.
It is alleged that Pulkit was forcing the 19-year-old girl into prostitution but she refused. She was subsequently murdered. The body was recovered in the early hours of Saturday.
Meanwhile, the angry locals set the Vanatara resort on fire on Saturday. A part of the resort was earlier demolished on the order of chief minister Dhami. The protesting locals also vandalised the car of BJP MLA Renu Bisht in Rishikesh, who was later escorted away by the police.
The government has announced the setting up of an SIT, under DIG police P Renuka Devi, to conduct a speedy probe into the killing.
