The father of the Uttarakhand resort receptionist who was murdered last year allegedly by the son of a now-suspended BJP leader has rued the tardy pace of progress of the case, with only 15 of the 97 witnesses deposing in court in the past nine months.
“It will take five years to complete the initial process of the trial if this is the rate of recording the statements of witnesses. She was killed on September 18, 2022, by Pulkit Arya, son of Vinod Arya, a senior BJP leader. Only 15 of the 97 witnesses have deposed so far. Vinod Arya’s suspension from the BJP was mere eyewash because I have come to know that the party and the government are still trying to help out his son,” the father of the receptionist told reporters in Pauri Garhwal, his home district, on Saturday.
“I can understand whythe Pushkar Singh Dhami government has turned down my demand to hand over thecase to the CBI,” the father added.
Pulkit, who had been looking after his father’s Vanatara Resort in Yamkeshwar, Saurabh Bhaskar, its manager, and Ankit Gupta, the assistant manager, had allegedly taken the 19-year-old receptionist to Rishikesh, assaulted her and thrown her into a canal after she refused to provide “extra service” to a VIP. Her body was fished out of the canal on July 23 last year.
A friend of the victim had shared with police WhatsApp messages the receptionist had sent him a few hours before her murder in which she had alleged that Pulkit was forcing her to oblige a VIP and that she would quit the job. Since then, several former staff of the resort had come out to allege that it had been turned into a prostitution den.
The case was last heard at the Kotdwar court in Pauri Garhwal on July 27 after Avanish Negi was deputed as the new public prosecutor.
The earlier public prosecutor, Jitendra Rawat, had withdrawn himself from the case 10 days earlier when the father of the deceased alleged that he was lackadaisical in his approach.
Ajay Kumar Pant, the counsel for the father, had said two days ago that there were five injury marks on the face and other parts of the victim that were not accidental.
