The preliminary autopsy report had also stated asphyxiation due to drowning as the reason for death, but had also highlighted injuries on her body.
The final post-mortem report of Ankita Bhandari, the 19-year-old receptionist who was allegedly by a BJP leader’s son in Uttarakhand, has ruled death due to drowning and 4-5 antemortem injury (injuries before death) marks on her body.
The preliminary autopsy report had also stated asphyxiation due to drowning as the reason for death, but had also highlighted injuries on her body which were inflicted before she died.
This comes a day after the receptionist’s body was cremated by her relatives amid massive protests across the state. The family had initially refused to perform her last rites until they received the final post-mortem report. A message from the chief minister that the SIT was doing its job and the perpetrators of the murder would get the punishment they deserve helped convince the woman's relatives to finally cremate her.
Violent protests had erupted in areas surrounding the resort with local people breaking glass panes and some trying to torch a pickle factory on its premises as news of the murder spread. Earlier, the administration had begun demolishing the structure, prompting critics to say that this might have destroyed some evidence.
Bhandari's body was found in the Cheela canal close to Rishikesh on Saturday, six days after her parents found her missing from her room. She was killed allegedly by her employer, Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Dr Vinod Arya, and his two associates. All the three accused were arrested by the police last Friday.
Bhandari worked at Arya’s Vanantara resort as a receptionist. Her WhatsApp chats with a friend revealed that Arya was forcing her to provide ‘special services’ to the guests at the resort, to which she had refused leading to an altercation between the two. ""
The WhatsApp chats seem to confirm that the teenager was being forced into prostitution by the accused men. “They are trying to turn me into a prostitute,” read one one of her messages to a friend, whom she was describing her experience of working as a receptionist at the resort owned by BJP leader’s son.
In one of her WhatsApp message, Ankita also wrote: “I may be poor, but I won’t sell myself for Rs 10,000”.
Screenshots of the chat, which have been going viral since Saturday, also reveal that Ankita had given Pulkit Arya an earful after he allegedly tried to kiss her. She also told her friend that a drunk guest had once forcefully hugged her but one of the three accused, Ankit Gupta, an assistant to Pulkit, asked her to keep mum about it “to avoid an escalation” on the issue.
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 "Ankita Bhandari Murder Case")
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