National

Charge Sheet In Ankita Bhandari Murder Case To Be Filed In 10 Days, Accused To Undergo Narco Test: Police

Also, the accused will be subjected to narco analysis to find out about the "VIP" whom Bhandari refused to give "extra service" and got killed, he said.

Ankita Bhandari
info_icon

The investigation into Ankita Bhandari murder case in Uttarakhand is almost complete and police will file the charge sheet in court in 10 days,  a senior official said on Sunday.

Also, the accused will be subjected to narco analysis to find out about the "VIP" whom Bhandari refused to give "extra service" and got killed, he said.

The accused in police remand and the staff of Vanantara Resort where Bhandari was working have told the police during interrogation that people staying in the resort's presidential suite are called VIPs.

"The narco analysis will clarify this," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order, and Crime) V Murugesan told reporters. An application seeking permission for the test will soon be filed in court, he said.

"The chargesheet will be filed in the case well before the due date (within 90 days from the date of the accused's arrest)," Murugesan said.

The accused are booked under sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, he said.

Bhandari, 19, who worked as a receptionist at Vanantara Resort in Ganga Bhogpur area of Pauri district near Rishikesh, was allegedly pushed into the Chilla canal by the resort's operator Pulkit Arya and his two employees Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, in September.

The police had claimed that she was murdered for allegedly refusing to provide "extra service" to a VIP.

All the three accused have been arrested and sent to jail. Following public outrage over the murder, the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police P Renuka Devi to probe the matter.

However, soon after the murder came to light, a portion of the resort was hurriedly bulldozed, and Bhandari's parents suspect that it was done to destroy evidence.

They want the CBI to take over the investigation.

Murugesan asked people not to pay attention to rumours and urged them to exercise restraint and have faith in the police.

He said the investigation has been carried out without any fear or favour and the Uttarakhand High Court has also perused papers related to the probe.

-With PTI Input