'Sorry Ankita': Open letter by lawyer Colin Gonsalves reopens old wounds

Much to the chagrin of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Ankita Bhandari murder case continues to make headlines across the nation, once again grabbing the spotlight this week thanks to an open letter by senior Supreme Court advocate Colin Gonsalves.

The 19-year old receptionist went missing from Vanantra resort in the Ganga-Bhogpur area of Rishikesh on 18 September 2022. Her body, bearing several injury marks, was recovered five days later from the Chilla barrage on the Ganga river near Rishikesh.

The resort where she worked was owned by BJP bigwig Vinod Arya — who held the post of a minister without portfolio in the Dhami government and was also a senior RSS functionary — and his son Pulkit Arya.

The needle of suspicion for Ankita's alleged murder has pointed in the direction of powerful state RSS mahamandaleshwar (general-secretary) Ajay Kumar, who was alleged to be the mysterious VIP who had demanded 'extra service' from the young receptionist, for which the Arya family was willing to pay Ankita an additional Rs 10,000.

While some reports also claimed she was sexually assaulted before being killed, the police forensics report ruled out the possibility.

Local journalist Ashutosh Negi had, on behalf of Ankita’s mother Soni Devi and father Virendra Singh Bhandari, placed a petition before the Supreme Court demanding a CBI enquiry into her death.

This was turned down by the Court, despite being presented with overwhelming evidence on how the local police had failed to submit crucial CCTV evidence before the highest court and had also failed to seize call records of the resort staff which could have provided incriminating evidence.

What's more, bulldozers were brought in by the Arya family to destroy the room in which Ankita had stayed while working in the resort, which should have also been a clear pointer to how important evidence was possibly destroyed.

What could have led the Supreme Court to turn down this demand which had been placed before them by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves?

A close relative of the Bhandari family points out that the state counsel presented a video to the Court showing Ankita sitting pillion on a motorcycle just hours before her death. "In this particular video, she was not seen crying or asking for help, giving the impression that she was going voluntarily," the relative said, whereas it is public knowledge that she had called her boyfriend a few minutes before the video was shot saying, "I can’t talk now; I am surrounded."

Gonsalves' recent heart-wrenching open letter details the facts of Ankita's death and condemns the judiciary’s silence, the police’s submission to political masters, and the continued persecution of those demanding justice, such as Negi.