The autopsy of 19-year-old Uttarakhand receptionist Ankita Bhandari has revealed that the victim died of asphyxia due to drowning. The report said her body bore injuries, suggestive of blunt force trauma.
Bhandari's autopsy was carried out at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, reported NDTV.
Bhandari was a receptionist at a resort owned by BJP leader Vinod Arya's son, Pulkit Arya, in Rishikesh when she was murdered. Pulkit, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar, and assistant manager Ankit Gupta had been arrested for her murder after they confessed to killing her and throwing her body into the canal.
Meanwhile, a special investigation team, conducting a probe into Bhandari's murder, has revealed that her WhatsApp chats are being examined.
Bhandari had told her friends via WhatsApp that the resort owners were forcing her to provide 'extra service' to the clients, SIT chief DIG P R Devi told ANI News.
An employee of the resort too has reportedly told the investigating authorities that Bhandari called him crying on September 17, asking him to take her bags out of the resort. He said he saw the victim around 3 pm with three other men. However, while the three men returned to the resort, Bhandari was not among them.
The employee added that the accused Pulkit's brother Ankit arrived at the resort on September 18 and talked about preparing dinner for four people and said he would have dinner in Bhandari's room. The staffer said he believes this was to mislead the staff and hide the fact that Bhandari had not returned to the resort.
Meanwhile, the parents of the victim are demanding that the postmortem report be made public. "We won't conduct her last rites until her post-mortem report is given. We saw in her provisional report that she was beaten up & was thrown in a river. But we're awaiting the final report," Ajay Singh Bhandari, brother of Ankita Bhandari told ANI.
Meanwhile, violent protests erupted in areas surrounding the resort. The irate crowd broke breaking glass panes and tried to torch a pickle factory on its premises. However, the fire did not spread much as the weather was cloudy.
