Ankita murder case: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait meets victim's family, casts doubt on investigation

Tikait alleged that the government was "conspiring to weaken this case from day one".

Srinagar: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader, Rakesh Tikait met slain Ankita Bhandari's family members at Pauri Garhwal on Wednesday. The leader also assured all possible help to the family. Nineteen-year-old Ankita went missing for at least six days before the Uttarakhand administration traced her body to the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24. Pulkit Arya, son of now suspended BJP leader Vinod Arya, was arrested in the case for allegedly pushing her into the canal following an altercation.

"The government has broken the resort to destroying the evidence of the murder. On October 10, Kisan Manch will hold a demonstration in the office of District Magistrate Pauri and demand action against the officials who have tried to destroy the evidence in the resort," said Tikait.

"Ankita's murder is an attack on women who come out of their homes to feed their families. Ankita also went out of the house to do a job for her family, but the killers took away the happiness of Ankita's family. Such people should be given capital punishment," he said.

Tikait alleged that the government was "conspiring to weaken this case from day one". "Due to this, bulldozers have been run on the resort," he said. Rakesh Tikait expressed doubts that Ankita's post-mortem report "may be wrong". "If the government's intention was to do the right post-mortem, then a private doctor should have been included in the panel along with a female doctor," he said.