"I wasn't unwell at all. They tricked me into coming here," she said.
The mother of the 19-year-old receptionist, whose murder sparked massive protests in Uttarakhand, has claimed her daughter was hastily cremated, and she never got to see her body. She has accused the administration of tricking her into going to a hospital on the pretext of taking her to her daughter.
News reports had earlier said the mother was admitted to a hospital as she was unwell. However, a video has now surfaced where she has claimed she was fine and was ferried to a hospital on false pretext.
"The took my husband along forcibly, but didn't take me. They brought me here from the forest where I live, saying I will see my daughter," the visibly upset mother could be heard complaining in the video shot in the hospital.
She said she kept asking where they were taking her, and they reassured her, saying they were taking her to her daughter.
"Doctors then put me in a wheelchair. I asked why was it needed but they took me to a hospital. They then forcibly put me on intravenous sugar solution and started recording a video," she said.
Narrating her ordeal, she said four-five people had come to her and said they would take her to the cremation site. "I said I am her mother, I won't do anything until I see her. I said I won't budge until you show me my daughter. I wasn't unwell at all. They tricked me into coming here. I was sitting at the civic body's office. This is just for show, they have betrayed us," she said.
The teen receptionist was cremated last evening amid massive protests against the police for alleged slow action. The family had also raised questions on the government action in the case.
The family and protestors had initially refused to cremate the body, questioning the demolition of the resort where she worked. They said it was an attempt to destroy evidence in the case, in which the son of a senior BJP leader -- now expelled -- is the prime accused.
A provisional postmortem report stated the teen died due to drowning and that her body bore signs of injury caused by blunt force.
The teen was murdered allegedly by the hotel's owner, a BJP leader's son, and two others after she resisted their alleged attempts to push her into prostitution. Initially she was reported missing, and her body was recovered from a canal on Saturday.
Pulkit Arya, son of now expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta have been arrested.
Vinod Arya, former chairman of a state board with the rank of a minister, and his brother Ankit Arya, also a BJP functionary, have been expelled by the party.
The Chief Minister has assured of "harshest action". "This is a very heinous crime. Whoever the culprit is, will not be spared," Pushkar Singh Dhami has said.