Vinod Arya, the father of Pulkit Arya, the main accused in the murder Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand, was expelled from the state BJP on Saturday after his son’s arrest last week. The Pushkar Singh Dhami-led BJP government also removed his elder son, Ankit Arya from his post as the Uttarakhand OBC Commission vice president.
The murder of the 19-year-old, who worked as a receptionist in a resort owned by Pulkit Arya, sparked outrage and widespread protests in the northern state, with locals attempting to thrash the accused while he was being taken into custody and also setting fire to the partially-demolished resort.
Vinod Arya, meanwhile, had denied the allegations against his son, defending him as a ‘seedha sadha balak’ (a simple boy). “Seedha sadha balak hai (he is a simple boy). He is only concerned about his work. I want justice for both my son Pulkit and Ankita Bhandari,” Arya had been quoted as saying by NDTV.
Arya enjoyed the rank of a minister of state in the previous Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP government but was never considered to be a mass leader or had any notable support base. He, however, used his influence to gain proximity to senior BJP leaders, a report by Indian Express said.
Arya was inducted into the state BJP mainly for his business interests in swadeshi Ayurveda, for which he was well-known, the reports claimed. Later, he was appointed as the chairman of the Uttarakhand Mati Board with a state minister’s rank.
“He was never a mass leader or brought votes to the party. Vinod Arya is well known in the area for running the Swadeshi Ayurveda firm and that is why many in the party believed that it would be good to have someone with the swadeshi tag. Once in the party, he started staking claims for different posts. In meetings, he used to say that he is a senior leader and should be given suitable recognition. With that, he was given the rank of a minister of state,” a state BJP leader told Indian Express.
The former minister, who hails from Haridwar, used his political influence to further expand his Ayurveda business and other interests. The Pulkit Arya-owned Vanantra Resort in Laxman Jhula area, where Bhandari worked, is cited as an example in this regard. Arya’s elder son Ankit, who also joined the BJP, was later made the state OBC Commission vice president.
Arya has also been charged with threatening journalists for reporting against him. The Uttarakhand Police on Monday confirmed receiving a complaint from a local journalist, Ashutosh Negi, regarding a threat call he received. The police said that they have registered a case on its basis and have started investigation.
Pahad TV journalist Naval Khali, who was doing a live interview with Negi, also received similar threat calls. After missing several calls while he was conducting the interview, he answered and in the call recording, the person on the other side could be heard telling him that “he should speak less and take care of himself,” as per the report. The police is probing this too.
Many in the state political circles believe that Vinod was just a “symbolic face” in the party and was thus “dispensable”. This was apparent in the BJP’s swift action against him and Ankit, the report suggests.
Vinod and Ankit Arya was expelled from the BJP with immediate effect on Saturday, less than a day after Pulkit Arya was charged with the murder. Uttarakhand CM Dhami also ordered an SIT probe into the case and the resort owned by Arya was partially demolished by the government overnight.
Arya, meanwhile, claimed that he and Ankit had resigned from the party themselves. “Pulkit Arya is my son, but he was living separately for a long time. We are responsible people. We decided that as long as the investigation is going on, and to ensure there is no misuse of my position, I submitted my registration from all BJP posts. We will cooperate in all kinds of investigations. We want the truth to come out so that both Ankita and Pulkit can get justice,” he said.
Pulkit Arya was arrested along with two employees of his resort on Friday for allegedly killing Ankita Bhandari. A day after his arrest, the teen’s body was found in the Cheela canal close to Rishikesh, six days after her parents found her missing from her room. Pulkit Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta were sent to 14 days judicial custody.
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