The Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday arrested Ashutosh Negi, a journalist and the editor of the weekly Hindi newspaper Jago Uttarakhand, on a complaint by a resident of the state’s Pauri Garhwal district, The Indian Express reported.
The police cited Negi’s allegedly “provocative statements” on the Ankita Bhandari murder case as a reason for his arrest.
Uttarakhand Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar told reporters on Wednesday that Negi was arrested for allegedly trying to foment public distrust in the police’s investigation of the murder, according to ANI.
“The intentions of so-called social activists like Ashutosh Negi are suspected,” Kumar said. “Their agenda does not align with seeking justice for our daughter but rather aims to sow anarchy and discord in society. We are also investigating Negi’s activities, which appear to be part of a conspiracy, and strict action will be taken if we find any evidence.”
Negi has been charged with sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Ankita Bhandari, 19, was a receptionist at a resort in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh that was owned by Pulkit Arya, the son of former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Arya. Bhandari went missing on September 18, 2022.
A day later, Pulkit Arya, along with the resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta, filed a missing person report. They later confessed to killing Bhandari by pushing her into a canal after an altercation. Messages sent by Bhandari to a friend on messaging platform WhatsApp, which were uncovered later, suggested that the men had allegedly tried to force Bhandari into prostitution.
Bhandari’s body was recovered from the Chilla Canal in Rishikesh six days after she went missing. A preliminary forensic examination of visceral samples ruled out that she had been sexually assaulted. On September 24, 2022, the BJP expelled Vinod Arya and his son Ankit Arya on the orders of the party’s state chief Mahendra Bhatt.
Negi’s arrest has been criticised by the Congress, the state’s Opposition party. The Congress described the action against Negi as an attempt by the state’s BJP government to “suppress the voice of the common man”.
“With the power of government and police, the BJP is working to cover up the crimes of its party leaders,” The Indian Express quoted Congress’ state chief Karan Mahara as saying. “The involvement of BJP leader’s son in the murder of Uttarakhand’s daughter Ankita Bhandari is well known. But instead of getting them punished, those raising the voice of the victim are getting punished.”
Despite the comments by police officials in the matter, the BJP’s spokesperson in the state, Manveer Singh Chauhan, claimed that Negi’s arrest was unrelated to the murder of Bhandari, according to the newspaper.
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