A BJP leader's son who owns a resort in Yamkeshwar block of Uttarakhand's Pauri district was arrested on Friday for allegedly for killing a 19-year-old woman who worked as a receptionist there, PTI reported. Two employees of the resort were also arrested, police said.
Pulkit Arya, the son of Vinod Arya, a BJP leader from Haridwar, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta were arrested after they confessed to having killed the 19-year-old woman and thrown her body into the Cheela Canal, PTI quoted Pauri Additional Superintendent of Police Shekhar Chandra Suyal as saying.
Vinod Arya, former chairman of Uttarakhand Mati Kala Board, has been granted a state minister's rank by the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led BJP regime but holds no post in the government.
Initially, Pulkit Arya tried to mislead the police and filed a missing person report on Monday. The woman's family from Pauri-Garhwal also reported her missing. It later turned out that Pulkit killed the woman with help from two staff members.
A team has been sent to search for the girl's body in the canal.
A missing complaint was lodged at a revenue police outpost after the woman was not found in her room by her parents on Monday morning.
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar told India Today, "The woman was missing for five days. The area falls under the revenue police jurisdiction. A missing complaint was filed with the revenue police. The case was transferred to Laxman Jhula Police on Thursday and within 24 hours all three accused were arrested."
According to authorities, a Kotdwar court sentenced the accused to 14-day judicial custody. Earlier in the day, locals gheraoed the police vehicle that was carrying the accused and thrashed them, ANI reported.