Dehradun: As the investigation in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is still underway, a person here has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the revenue police system -- or Patwari system as it is largely known -- which he alleged was responsible for Ankita's death. During the hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, the bench headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit asked the petitioner to mention the relevant documents on September 27 during the next hearing on the case.
As mentioned in the said petition, the Uttarakhand government had filed a petition challenging the Patwari system in the High Court in 2019, but it was never listed. This petition further mentions that Ankita's father had gone to the police to register a complaint after his daughter went missing, but he was recommended to see a Patwari. Ankita's family oscillated between the police and Patwari to get a complaint filed, but it never got registered.
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Ankita was working as a receptionist at the Vanantara resort owned by the accused Pulkit Arya. She went missing on the intervening night of 18 and 19 September. Police, after investigating the matter, found out that Ankita was killed and thrown into the Shakti Canal near Chila Power House. The police and SDRF teams were able to recover her dead body on September 24 after a long search operation. Police have arrested three accused in the matter so far -- the resort owner Pulkit Arya, manager Saurabh Bhaskar, and assistant manager Ankit Gupta.
