Ankita Bhandari murder: Past cases of politicians’ children accused of serious crime

BJP leader Vinod Arya 's son has been arrested for the murder of Uttarakhand girl Ankita Bhandari. Here is a look at past cases of politicians’ children accused of serious crime.

BJP leader Vinod Arya 's son, Pulkit Arya, has been arrested as a prime accused for the murder of 19-year-old girl Ankita Bhandari who worked as a receptionist at his resort in the Laxman Jhula area of Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh.

The girl was reported missing on September 18, 2022. Days later, the BJP expelled Vinod Arya and Pulkit’s brother, Ankit Arya, from the party. Vinod Arya, a party leader from Haridwar, also served as the chairperson of the Uttarakhand Mati Board with a state minister's rank. Ankit has also been relieved by the state government from the post of Deputy Chairperson of Uttarakhand’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) Commission.

This is only one of the many recent cases in which children of politicians have been accused of serious crimes, from murder to rape and assault. Below are some of the instances.

Ashish Misra, son of Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Misra Teni, was accused of mowing down four farmers with his SUV in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri during an agitation in 2021. Eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.

Four farmers were mowed down by the SUV, in which accused Ashish Misra was allegedly seated. Misra was arrested in 2021, with the UP Police claiming the murders were “pre-planned". Misra approached the top court soon after the Allahabad High Court, on July 26, declined to release him on bail.

In September 2022, an FIR was registered against BJP MLA from Fatehabad assembly constituency Chotey Lal Verma and his son Laxmi Kant Verma in Agra after a woman, in her thirties, accused the lawmaker’s son of rape, assault and harassment, said the police.

In the FIR, the woman, a mother of two, claimed to be the legally wedded wife of Laxmi Kant Verma and accused him of threatening her and marrying another woman. The case was registered under Sections 376 (rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 494 (bigamy) and 328 (armed robbery) of the IPC, said Bhupendra Baliyan, in-charge of the Tajganj police station. BJP MLA Chotey Lal Verma said he had nothing to do with the case as he had never met the woman and was not in contact with his son.