The police on Thursday booked a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker in Uttarakhand after he made objectionable remarks against the family of 19-year-old woman, Ankita Bhandari, who was murdered last week, reported ANI.
Pulkit Arya, the son of former Bharitya Janata Party leader Vinod Arya, has confessed to killing the girl.
The RSS Vibhag Prachar Pramukh identified as Vipin Karnwal had claimed in a Facebook post, which has now been deleted, that the biggest culprit in Bhandari’s murder case is her father and brother who he said had put “raw milk in front of hungry cats”, reported The Indian Express.
“The FIR is registered against Karnwal on the complaint of one Vijay Pal,” Rishikesh Circle Officer Dinesh Chandra Dhoundiyal told The Indian Express. “Karnwal had made objectionable statements in connection to the Ankita murder case. We are investigating the matter and appropriate action will be taken based on that.”
Karnwal has been booked under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, reported ANI.
Bhandari worked as a receptionist at a resort owned by Pulkit Arya. She went missing on September 18 and a day later Arya, along with resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta, filed a missing person report.
However, they later confessed to killing Bhandari by pushing her into a canal after an altercation.
On Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party expelled Vinod Arya and his son Ankit Arya on the orders of state party chief Mahendra Bhatt.
Evidence recovered later, such as WhatsApp messages from Bhandari to a friend, seemed to show that the men were allegedly trying to force Bhandari into prostitution.
The case led to protests by angry residents who set fire to parts of the resort and hurled stones at the building. Following orders from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the civic authorities had bulldozed parts of the resort.
Also read:
Ankita Bhandari murder: Is the Uttarakhand administration guilty of destroying evidence?
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