Uttarakhand High Court asks SIT to file status report in Ankita murder case

The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Ankita Bhandari murder case to file a status report along with the case diary.

A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Ashutosh Negi, a resident of Pauri Garhwal.

The court has fixed November 3 for the next hearing of the matter.

The petition has requested to hand over the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Bhandari (19) was allegedly killed by the owner of a resort where she worked as a receptionist.

It has been alleged that after the murder, important evidence related to the crime was destroyed on the instructions of Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht by running a bulldozer at Vanantra Resort.

Bhandari was allegedly killed by the resort owner owner Pulkit Arya, manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta when she resisted their attempts to force her to offer "extra services" to a VIP guest.

The murder had triggered a massive public outrage.

Arya, now in jail along with the other two accused, is the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, who was expelled from the party soon after the murder came to light.

The body of Bhandari was recovered from the Chilla canal in Uttarakhand's Rishikesh on September 24.