The Uttarakhand High Court has ordered a stay on conducting the narco and polygraph tests on Pulkit Arya, the main accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The court has directed the State government to submit its reply in the court within three weeks. The decision was taken by the HC  single bench of vacation judge Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma.

It will be recalled that earlier the court of the chief judicial magistrate-I, Kotdwar, had granted approval for conducting narco and polygraph tests on the main accused Arya. However, he challenged this direction of the lower court in the High Court. He stated that the two other accused in the case have not agreed to the narco and polygraph tests. Arya alleged that the investigation officer is repeatedly pressurising him for narco and polygraph tests. He has stated that he is not willing to undergo the tests questioning how he will provide evidence to implicate himself. He said that he is within his constitutional rights and cannot be forced to undergo the said tests. It is pertinent to mention here that the family members of Bhandari are demanding that the accused undergo narco and polygraph tests.

The 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari worked as a receptionist at the Vanantara Resort of Pulkit Arya, the son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya in Yamkeshwar area of Pauri district. Her body was recovered from the Chilla canal in Rishikesh on September 24 last year almost six days after the resort owner first reported her missing. The case was initially transferred from the Revenue police to the regular police but the SIT was formed later to investigate the case.  Ankita was allegedly being pressurised to provide “special service” to some VIP guests at the resort which she had refused. Along with Pulkit Arya, the resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and Pulkit Gupta are also accused in the murder case. The accused had confessed to pushing her into the canal as per the police.