IEP Dehradun September 28
The revenue sub-inspector (Patwari) whose role in allegedly delaying action in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is being questioned was suspended with immediate effect. Pauri district magistrate Vijay Jogdande suspended the Patwari Vaibhav Pratap Singh of Udaipur Palla-II in Yamkeshwar Tehsil based on the inquiry report of the Yamkeshwar sub divisional magistrate on Tuesday. Prior to this the district magistrate had suspended Patwari Vivek Kumar for negligence on duty and not lodging the first information report of Virendra Bhandari, the father of Ankita Bhandari. Jogdande said that taking cognisance of the complaints from different mediums against Patwari Vaibhav Pratap Singh in connection with the Ankita Bhandari case in revenue village of Ganga Bhogpur in Yamkeshwar Tehsil, the Yamkeshwar SDM had been directed to submit his inquiry report on Singh. According to the inquiry report, Singh had received information about Ankita missing on September 19. However, he did not inform his superiors about the case and also failed to take any further action in the case. After suspending Singh , the district magistrate has deputed the Lansdowne SDM to conduct a detailed inquiry against him while attaching the suspended Patwari to Thalisain Tehsil. Jogdange has also reiterated that misinformation is being spread on some media outlets and social media regarding the demolition of the Vanantara resort where Ankita used to work under the resort owner and main accused Pulkit Arya. He said that portions of the resort which were illegally constructed were demolished after collection of necessary evidence and checking of documents.
