Uttarakhand Women Congress chief and other office bearers, on Thursday, shaved off their heads in protest against the Pushkar Singh Dhami Government for its alleged inability to solve the high-profile Ankita Bhandari murder case of 2022.

State Women Congress president Jyoti Rautela, along with a couple of her colleagues, tonsured her head in solidarity with the murder victim. They alleged that the BJP government in the state failed to ensure capital punishment for the killers of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari.

Advertisement

Rautella, along with senior Congress leaders, led a protest march with skinheads from the state Congress office to the CM’s residence in the afternoon but were stopped midway by the police where they resorted to sit-in for a couple of hours in support of their demand.

Ankita Bhandari was allegedly killed and thrown in a Ganga canal by three men in September 2022. Her body was found in nearby Chila Barrage a week later.

Ankita was killed by the three men, including the prime accused, Pulkit Arya, who is the son of BJP leader Vinod Arya, Ankit Gupta, and Saurav Bhaskar.

Arya was the owner of the Rishikesh-based Vanantara Resort where she worked as a receptionist. The other accused were the employees at the resort. Though all accused were arrested by the police, the Opposition alleged they were treated to all the luxuries in jail as they are well connected with the ruling party.

Rautela said, “Dhami government is insensitive towards the plight of the women in Uttarakhand. It has not been able to provide justice to the poor victim who was mercilessly killed and thrown in the Ganga canal. The investigation into the case has been botched up. As women, we feel ashamed of not being able to give justice to the victim.”

She pointed out that the Uttarakhand government has not come clean in the case even a year after the incident. Several questions being raised on the ongoing probe by the state police remained unanswered. The big question, she said was who was the ‘VIP’ for whom the accused wanted ‘extra favour’ from Ankita at the resort.