New Delhi: A senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party and Uttarakhand’s former minister Vinod Arya’s son Pulkit Arya has been arrested along with two of his employees for allegedly killing a 19-year-old woman Ankita Bhandari.

Ankita was working as a receptionist in a resort owned by Pulkit Arya in the Pauri district near Rishikesh. The police told that Bhandari had been missing since Monday and her body was recovered from a canal on Saturday morning.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pulkit Arya, the owner of the Vanantra resort, manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta.

Owing to the involvement of senior BJP politician, the case soon grabbed the headlines resulting in the local administration acting swiftly in the matter. In addition, a sub-inspector has reportedly been sacked for mistreating with victim’s kin when they first arrived to report the missing of their daughter.

The accused have been sent to a 14-days of judicial custody while the police are probing the intentions behind the murder of Ankita Bhandari.

Who is Pulkit Arya? 

Pulkit is the son of Vinod Arya who presently holds the rank of a state minister without a post in the cabinet, and has earlier served as a minister as well as the chairman of Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board, a government body to promote pottery.

Vinod Arya also serves as the BJP OBC Morcha’s national executive and is also said to be the co-in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, Pulkit has also been involved in a row previously when he was found entering a restricted area in Uttarkashi along with Uttar Pradesh leader Amarmani Tripathi, who has been in jail over murder charges for 14 years.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami assured of ‘harshest action’ on the accused disregards to ‘whoever’s involved’. “This is a very sad incident, a very heinous crime. The police have done all the work regarding the arrest. The harshest action will be taken. Whoever the culprit is, will not be spared”, he said while talking to the media.