The Gods must be weeping in Devbhoomi.

More damning revelations have surfaced about the resort at the centre of the receptionist murder in Uttarakhand, the fresh disclosures suggesting that proximity to the BJP government was used to run the suspected vice den unhindered.

A former front desk manager at the resort owned by a now-suspended BJP leader’s son said “needy” girls used to be brought from outside to “please VIP customers”.

The former employee said she dared not speak up while in the job as Vinod Arya, the father of resort owner Pulkit, “was very powerful in the government and he and his sons Ankit Arya and Pulkit didn’t fear anybody”. Vinod, suspended from the BJP in the face of statewide protests, was chairman of the Mati Kala Board in Uttarakhand, which promotes earthenware, with the status of a minister.

The father of the victim told reporters on Wednesday: “Some people have tried to convert Devbhoomi into hell. Such incidents were rare in this state in the past.”

Home to some of the most revered pilgrimage sites — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri and Haridwar — Uttarakhand is known as Devbhoomi, or the abode of Gods.

Pulkit’s Vanantara Resort was located in the Ganga Bhogpur area of Yamkeshwar in Pauri Garhwal district in the state.

Requesting anonymity, the former front desk manager told reporters on Wednesday: “The Aryas used to bring girls from outside to please VIP customers. As desk manager, my job was to ensure that the names of the guests were written in a register. But Pulkit had told me that I didn’t need to enter the names of those who would visit the resort for sexual pleasure only. The Aryas also used to supply drugs to guests.”

The former employee alleged that Pulkit, now in custody on murder and kidnapping charges, often pressured her into bringing to the resort “needy girls who would agree to please customers”.

“I left the job a few months ago because Pulkit and his friend Ankit Gupta (the resort assistant manager who too has been arrested) used to misbehave with me and were openly involved in running a racket of prostitution and drug peddling,” the woman in her late 20s said.

“The Aryas would openly manhandle employees if they raised their voice against the wrongs being committed at the resort or threatened to quit. They used to lock up such employees in a room that they called a ‘jail’. I stopped going to the resort one day without informing them,” she added.

A senior police officer told news agency PTI on the condition of anonymity that the investigators were trying to find out the identity of the “VIP guest” mentioned by the receptionist in a chat with a friend hours before her murder on September 18.

The friend has alleged that Pulkit had tried to force the 19-year-old receptionist to “give massage” to a “VIP guest” the next day and she had refused. The officer said the friend had been called from Jammu for questioning to identify the VIP guest.

A former room service manager at the resort, who said he quit six months ago, echoed the erstwhile front desk manager. The room service manager told reporters: “The Aryas used to bring girls to the resort for prostitution. The Aryas were also involved in drug peddling. I worked there for a month and left six months ago.

“Pulkit, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta called me up separately and asked me to rejoin the job. When I went back, they accused me of stealing a speaker. I was terrified and I called patwari Vaibhav Pratap Singh for help, but he threatened me with consequences if I didn’t remain silent. I ran away from there and returned to my home in Meerut.”

Singh, the patwari or revenue department sub-inspector, was suspended on Tuesday after it emerged that he went on four days’ leave after the receptionist was reported missing. In Pauri, revenue officials have certain policing powers.

Ashok Kumar, the director-general of police, had said after the arrest of Pulkit, Saurabh and Ankit on September 22 that they had admitted to throwing the receptionist off a bridge into the Shakti Chilla Canal in Rishikesh on the night of September 18.

Congress veteran Yashpal Arya, the leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly, told a news conference on Wednesday: “The government must reveal the names of the VIPs whose pleasure trips to the resort claimed the life of a daughter of Devbhoomi. We also need to know which VIP was scheduled to be there on September 19, who was it that the owner of the resort was forcing the receptionist to provide extra services to?”

“We know that the government will hide this fact and therefore we demand a CBI probe under the supervision of a sitting judge of the high court,” the Congress leader added.

Vinod Arya has said he and his son are innocent. “An inquiry will prove our innocence,” he said.

P. Renuka Devi, heading the special investigation team probing the case, said: “We have come to know about some former employees of the resort who have some information to share with us. We will record their statements soon.”