BJP leader's son arrested for killing receptionist of his resort in Uttarakhand

Sep 24, 2022

Pauri (Uttarakhand): A BJP leader's son and two employees of a resort he owns here were arrested on Friday for allegedly killing its receptionist, who had been missing for the last few days, police said.

A revenue police sub-inspector was suspended for allegedly misbehaving with the victim's parents at the time of filing a complaint in the matter, officials said.

The three accused -- Pulkit Arya, who owns the resort in Yamkeshwar block here, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta -- were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court, police said.

Pulkit Arya is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar. Vinod Arya was formerly the chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board with a state minister's rank.

Vinod Arya does not hold any post in the Uttarakhand BJP at present, state party unit media incharge Manveer Chauhan said.

The woman's parents lodged a missing complaint at a revenue police outpost after they did not find her in her room on Monday morning, police said.

Pulkit Arya, Bhaskar and Gupta were arrested after they confessed to have killed the woman. They threw her body into the Cheela canal, Pauri Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shekhar Chandra Suyal told PTI.

Initially, they tried to mislead police but they confessed to the crime when they were interrogated sternly, he said.

A team has been sent to fish out the woman's body from the canal, the ASP said, adding that the case was cracked within 24 hours of being transferred from the revenue police.

A Kotdwar court sent the three accused to 14-day judicial custody, police said.

Revenue police Sub-Inspector Vivek Kumar at Ganga Bhogpur Talla was suspended for not registering a report immediately in the matter, making the victim's parents wait for two hours and misbehaving with them, the officials said.