An Opposition bandh to protest the murder of a young receptionist in Uttarakhand allegedly by a resort owner and now-suspended BJP leader’s son took on a life of its own with people spontaneously keeping their shops and other business establishments closed and vehicles staying off roads on Sunday.
The Congress and people in general alike asked the hill state’s BJP government who the “VIP guests” who frequented the resort, an alleged den of prostitution and drugs, were and tore into it over the police’s initial inaction after the 19-year-old receptionist was reported missing on September 18.
Uttarakhand has been witnessing widespread protests by common people over the past fortnight after the arrest of resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of now-suspended BJP leader Vinod Arya, on the charge of murdering the receptionist by throwing her off a bridge into a Rishikesh canal after she refused to “give massage to a VIP guest”.
As Uttarakhand witnessed a complete shutdown on Sunday, demands were raised for the Pushkar Singh Dhami government to ensure that the killers are punished as soon as possible.
The bandh had initially been called by the Congress, which alleged that the Dhami government was trying to hide the identity of the VIPs who used to visit Vanantara Resort in the Ganga Bhogpur area of Yamkeshwar, Pauri Garhwal district.
Several former employees of the resort have spoken about the facility being a den of prostitution and drugs for over a decade.
Karan Mahara, the state Congress chief, said: “We want the government to recommend a time-bound CBI probe into the case with a sitting high court judge monitoring the investigation so that the country knows the names of the VIPs who were clients of the prostitution racket. It has been established that the killers (allegedly Pulkit and his associates Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, who are in jail) murdered the 19-year-old daughter of Uttarakhand when she refused to be a part of their unholy trade.”
Sunanda Bhandari, a protester, said: “We don’t think the government wants to expose the VIPs and punish the killers. After protests erupted across the state on September 19, the police arrested the killers on September 22 and recovered her body from the Shakti Chilla Canal in Rishikesh on September 23.”
She pointed out that Kusum Kandwal, the Uttarakhand State Women’s Commission president, had already “given a clean chit” to the VIPs.
Kandwal had told reporters on Saturday: “We have constituted a committee to monitor the case so that the killers are punished soon. I am personally keeping a watch on the probe and can say that there is nothing as such to say that any VIP was involved in it.”
Two employees of the resort had told reporters on September 23 that Pulkit wanted the receptionist to give a massage to a VIP when he would check in on September 19 and she had refused.
A former employee, who had joined the resort as a room service boy on September 15, told reporters on Sunday: “I was in a room on the first floor of the resort on the morning of September 18 when I heard someone shouting at someone and crying loudly. I leaned from the balcony and saw receptionist madam. She was shouting at Pulkit and asking him to leave her alone."
“She was saying she would leave the job then and there. There were three tall youths standing there. Then all of a sudden Ankit came, put his hand on her mouth and dragged her inside a room. The three youths had come to the resort the same morning and told Pulkit to ask the receptionist to give extra services to someone who was supposed to be there the next day. They left in a big black car.”
Ashok Kumar, the director-general of police, had said they were trying to find out the names of the powerful guests who used to visit the resort.
“The special investigation team is working on every aspect and we will come out with something conclusive soon,” he had said.
Another former employee of the resort was quoted as telling the police on Saturday: “The sons of some politicians had organised a party at the resort on August 31 and the 19-year-old receptionist was monitoring the kitchen.
“She was there in the kitchen in the evening and doing something on her mobile phone when a guest entered and handed a bottle of liquor to a chef. Then he looked at the receptionist and smiled. She smiled back and got busy with her phone. Suddenly the guest hugged her. She came out, sat on a bench in the lawn and started crying. When Pulkit came to know about it, he and Ankit tried to pacify her. The guest said sorry to her.”
