Ankita Bhandari was a 19-year-old girl belonging to a poor family. She was a brilliant student. Today, she should have completed her graduation. But what she decided was to make sure her younger brother could complete his basic education and to support her family by working as a receptionist in a hotel in 2022.

The hotel was owned by Pulkit Arya, the son of BJP party member and MLA Vinod Arya. She joined in August 2022. Everything went fine for a month, but on 18 September 2022, she was asked for favours by her employer and BJP member Arya for a VIP. She declined, was taken aback by it, and objected strongly. In one of her WhatsApp messages, she said, “I am poor; that doesn’t mean I will sell my body for 10,000 Rs.” —the only reason she stayed was because she was expecting her monthly salary.

On the same day she went missing, her parents tried to contact her but they were not able to make it, so they contacted the restaurant staff. Her employer, Pulkit Arya, filed a complaint to the Patwari (revenue official), as he had the power to file cases regarding “missing persons” in his area—a deliberate attempt to delay the investigation by the Patwari. Her father had to come daily to the Patwari’s office for updates, only to be disappointed by the lax investigation, as they still treated it as a “missing person case”. He spoke about his frustrations to the media and people there.

Her body was found on 24 September after 6 days, and in the meantime, the employees did their best to tamper with evidence: phone logs of staff were changed, cameras removed from the hotel, and local BJP legislators even tried to destroy the hotel itself. Using a JCB, they destroyed certain parts of it.

Ankita’s parents started alleging foul play and harassment and also told that she was distressed. The police finally took over on 20 September. Locals asserted pressure on the police, and between 20–22 September, the investigation revealed that Ankita was last seen with the owners when she went missing. It also became very suspicious how her phone suddenly switched off and how the camera records were missing. She also left without clothing, and the answers from the suspects differed, hence they were arrested on 23 September.

When Ankita’s body was found in a canal near the hotel, it caused lots of outrage on the very same day. People from nearby villages, cities, and towns like Kotdwar blocked roads and started protesting. On the way, women from neighbouring villages blocked the road and beat down the suspects themselves in the police car.

The lawyers and advocates of Kotdwar, where the whole trial happened, along with the local bar association, decided not to represent the accused. The whole of Uttarakhand was outraged over the incident, and people made it a hot topic. The accused were convicted in May 2025, and a death sentence was demanded by the people. However, it was underwhelming that they were not given one, even though this was considered a “rarest of rare” case.

But now the question arises: who is the VIP? Were the suspects merely a smaller part of the whole game? Was the space created to protect someone bigger? An ex-wife of a BJP legislator leaked one of her call recordings regarding the case, in which she could be heard telling about the VIPs involved and how the party tried to protect them, including the Minister to make a government in UK—the BJP ministers of Uttarakhand Ajay Kumar and Dushyant were mentioned in it.

And in just one week, the whole state again spiraled in protest. Protests are being held everywhere, even after multiple years since this case. The people of the state are doing their best to get justice done.

After weeks of protests, the state government finally decided to transfer the case to the CBI.

But it has been months since, we finally got to know an update on the person who has been accused as VIP, Dushyant Kumar. Dushyant Kumar was appointed as the Governor of Sikkim, undermining the investigative procedure over him, because since him being the Governor of a state provides him some privileges to run away from the custody and other things.

The Uttar Pradesh election is coming soon and it could be a tight-knit competition. The government is trying its best to not to let any other influential person go who is influential in that region.

What I want is your support regarding it! Please spread this everywhere and let justice be done for the girl whose wings were cut down before she could learn to fly, for the family who lost their dearest, and for the people who have been fighting for justice.