A BJP leader's son and two employees of a resort he owns in Pauri, Uttarakhand were arrested on Friday for allegedly killing its receptionist, who had been missing for the last few days, police said.A revenue police sub-inspector was suspended for allegedly misbehaving with the victim's parents at the time of filing a complaint in the matter, officials said.
The three accused -- Pulkit Arya, who owns the resort in Yamkeshwar block here, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta -- were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court, police said.
Initially, they tried to mislead police but they confessed to the crime when they were interrogated sternly, he said.A team has been sent to fish out the woman's body from the canal, the ASP said, adding that the case was cracked within 24 hours of being transferred from the revenue police.A Kotdwar court sent the three accused to 14-day judicial custody, police said.
Revenue police Sub-Inspector Vivek Kumar at Ganga Bhogpur Talla was suspended for not registering a report immediately in the matter, making the victim's parents wait for two hours and misbehaving with them, the officials said.
State police chief Ashok Kumar sought to explain: "The area where this resort, Vanantra, is located doesn't fall under regular police. We have a system of patwari (land revenue official) registering FIRs in such areas. He did register a 'missing person' FIR, filed by the resort owner himself." The resort is about 10 km from main town Rishikesh.
Police early Saturday recovered the body of a female receptionist, allegedly killed by a BJP leader's son, from Cheela canal where the accused had dumped her.The development in the case was shared by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in a tweet, who said he was pained by the incident.
Noora Fatehi