Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday turned down the order of the district court to conduct a narco test and polygraph test on Pulkit Arya, the main accused of the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The next hearing of the case will be taken up after three weeks. The case was heard by HC's single bench of Vacation Judge Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma.
Additional Director General V Murugesan stated on Saturday that the accused Pulkit Arya would be presented for a polygraph test in Delhi on February 1 in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. Pulkit then on Monday, filed a petition challenging the lower court's order and claimed that he had not given his content for the tests. Whereas, the other two accused in this case have not given consent to conduct the tests.
Also read: Ankita Bhandari case: Court approves narco, polygraph tests of Pulkit Arya, accomplices
In the case, consent was taken from Pulkit Arya on behalf of the Judicial Magistrate through video conferencing, after which the verdict was pronounced. The case pertains to 19-year-old Ankita, whose body was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24. She was reported missing for at least six days before the police found her body. She worked as a receptionist at a resort run by Pulkit Arya, the son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya. Pulkit Arya was arrested for allegedly pushing her into the canal following an altercation. Two more people--Ankit Gupta and Saurabh Bhaskar-- have been arrested in the case.
On December 4, the Uttarakhand police said that the investigation into the Ankita Bhandari murder case is almost complete. The only procedure that remains is the narco tests of the accused, for which they had sought permission from the Kotdwar court to conduct narco and polygraph tests of all three accused. Earlier, the three accused, including expelled BJP leader's son Pulkit Arya, refused to undergo narco and polygraph tests, citing that the SIT did not explain why it wanted to conduct narco and polygraph tests after filing the charge sheet.
