Deepak Kumar, driver of the bulldozer that was used to demolish a portion of the Uttarakhand resort following the murder of its 19-year-old woman receptionist in September last year, is said to have told a local court that he had done so on the direction of a BJP MLA.

“Deepak told the court of Reena Negi, additional district and sessions judge in Kotdwar, that the BJP MLA of Yamkeshwar had called him to bulldoze a portion of the resort in which the receptionist used to live,” Ajay Pant, counsel for the victim’s father, told reporters in Pauri Garhwal on Monday.

The 19-year-old receptionist of Vanantara Resort in Pauri Garhwal district was allegedly assaulted and thrown into a canal in Rishikesh on September 18 last year by Pulkit Arya, owner of the resort and son of now-suspended BJP leader Vinod Arya, and his two aides after she refused to offer sexual favours to a “VIP guest”. Her body was fished out of the canal on the morning of September 23. All the three accused are in jail. Uttarakhand High Court has denied their bail plea.

A section of the resort was demolished within an hour of the recovery of the girl’s body.

Pant quoted Deepak as saying that initially Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht called him up and asked him to demolish the gates of the resort. However, she called him up again an hour later and asked him to raze “the walls of two rooms and break their windows”.

“The driver has said that the MLA stood there on the spot and directed him to break the building,” Pant said.

A large number of locals had protested against Bisht when she went to meet the victim’s family members at AIIMS Rishikesh on September 23 last year. They had forced her to return from the gates of the institute.

Later, Bisht had said that she would cooperate with the special investigation team in any inquiry. However, the MLA didn’t meet the reporters on Monday when they went to her residence for her comment. The Telegraph called Bisht on two of her cellphone numbers; while one was switched off, the other was not answered.

The victim’s father told reporters: “Besides the MLA, the driver has also mentioned the name of a state government officer who was present at the resort on September 23, 2022, and directed him to raze the building. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami knows this from the beginning but since the driver has recorded his statement in the court, the chief minister should book them in the murder case.”

“The SIT should also make public the call details of the Aryas between August 28 and September 23, 2022, to know who was the VIP who wanted extra service in the resort,” he added.

Uttarakhand Congress president Karan Mahara said: “The MLA and the officer should be booked for destroying evidence (IPC Section 201) and their involvement in criminal conspiracy (Section 120B).”

Natesh Bansal, a BJP MP, said: “We don’t need to comment on whatever is happening in the court. Let us wait for the final verdict.”