Ankita Bhandari Murder Case: Court orders Rs 4 lakh fine as compensation to victim's parents

Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand) [India], May 30 (ANI): After the Additional District Judge (ADJ) court in Kotdwar pronounced life imprisonment to all three accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, Advocate Avnish Negi, lawyer representing the victim, on Friday said that the prosecution presented 47 witnesses in the case and the court has ordered accused to pay Rs 4 lakh fine to victim's parents as compensation.
"On the appeal of the prosecution, a fine of Rs 4 lakhs was ordered to be paid to the victim's parents as compensation. The full judgment is yet to come... We had presented forty-seven witnesses," Negi, who represented Ankita and was appointed by the government, told ANI.
He informed that the court has granted life imprisonment to all three accused under sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"All three accused have been sentenced to life imprisonment. They have been convicted under Section 302 and sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000...All three have been punished and charged under the relevant section of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act of 1956, which provides jail time of five years and life imprisonment under sections 302 and 201," Negi added.
In a significant verdict, the ADJ court in Kotdwar has sentenced all three accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case--resort owner Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar, and Ankit Gupta--to life imprisonment.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge Court Kotdwar in Uttarakhand convicted the trio under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 302 (murder), Section 201 (destruction of evidence), Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 354A (sexual harassment), and provisions of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.
The court pronounced the verdict after a thorough trial, confirming the charges against the trio. Earlier, the accused were found guilty of the brutal murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, a receptionist at a resort in Rishikesh, whose case had sparked widespread outrage across the state.
While speaking to ANI, the victim's mother, Soni Devi, broke down in grief, urging the people of Uttarakhand to continue supporting the family and demanding capital punishment for those accused in the case that shook the state in 2022.
Ankita Bhandari, a resident of the Pauri district, used to work at Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh. It is alleged that the resort owner, Pulkit Arya and his associates, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit, had murdered Ankita by pushing her into the barrage.
The body of Ankita Bhandari was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24. She was reported missing for at least six days before the officials found her body. An SIT headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police P Renuka Devi was initially probing the case.
The first hearing of the case started on January 30, 2023, in the ADJ Court in Kotdwar. After the SIT investigation, a 500-page chargesheet was filed in the court by the prosecution regarding this murder. After the charges were framed against the three accused of this sensational murder, Vanantra Resort owner Pulkit Arya, his employee Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, the testimony of the prosecution started from March 28, 2023.
In the hearing that lasted for about two years and eight months, 47 witnesses, including the investigator, were examined in the court on behalf of the prosecution. However, the SIT had made 97 witnesses in this case, of which only 47 important witnesses were produced in the court. (ANI)