BJP leader's son arrested for allegedly killing receptionist of his resort in Uttarakhand; Body found in canal

A BJP leader's son and two employees of a resort he owns in Pauri, Uttarakhand were arrested on Friday for allegedly killing its receptionist, who had been missing for the last few days, police said.

A revenue police sub-inspector was suspended for allegedly misbehaving with the victim's parents at the time of filing a complaint in the matter, officials said.

The three accused -- Pulkit Arya, who owns the resort in Yamkeshwar block here, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta -- were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court, police said.

Pulkit Arya is the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar. Vinod Arya was formerly the chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board with a state minister's rank.

Vinod Arya does not hold any post in the Uttarakhand BJP at present, state party unit media incharge Manveer Chauhan said.

The woman's parents lodged a missing complaint at a revenue police outpost after they did not find her in her room on Monday morning, police said.

Pulkit Arya, Bhaskar and Gupta were arrested after they confessed to have killed the woman. They threw her body into the Cheela canal, Pauri Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shekhar Chandra Suyal told PTI.

Initially, they tried to mislead police but they confessed to the crime when they were interrogated sternly, he said.

A team has been sent to fish out the woman's body from the canal, the ASP said, adding that the case was cracked within 24 hours of being transferred from the revenue police.

A Kotdwar court sent the three accused to 14-day judicial custody, police said.

Revenue police Sub-Inspector Vivek Kumar at Ganga Bhogpur Talla was suspended for not registering a report immediately in the matter, making the victim's parents wait for two hours and misbehaving with them, the officials said.

State police chief Ashok Kumar sought to explain: "The area where this resort, Vanantra, is located doesn't fall under regular police. We have a system of patwari (land revenue official) registering FIRs in such areas. He did register a 'missing person' FIR, filed by the resort owner himself." The resort is about 10 km from main town Rishikesh. 

Police early Saturday recovered the body of a female receptionist, allegedly killed by a BJP leader's son, from Cheela canal where the accused had dumped her.

The development in the case was shared by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in a tweet, who said he was pained by the incident.