The parents of Ankita Bhandari, the 19-year-old receptionist murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, were released early Thursday after being detained by Delhi Police during a protest near India Gate against the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim governor.
The couple were detained around 4 am during a sit-in demanding that Gautam’s appointment be put on hold until the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case is completed. They were released from Tilak Marg Police Station around 5 am, sources said.
Several Congress leaders, including party media and publicity department head Pawan Khera, social media department head Supriya Shrinate, Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib, and MPs Jothimani and Imran Pratapgarhi, were also detained and later released. Some Congress leaders staged a protest inside the police station following the detentions.
Khera criticised the police action, alleging that authorities were targeting those demanding justice for Ankita and questioning Gautam’s appointment.
“This is brutality. You can see democracy coming to an end at India Gate. It is ending at 4 am,” Khera said.
He also questioned why Ankita’s parents were being detained while Gautam, whose name has been raised in connection with allegations surrounding the case, was appointed to a constitutional post.
“The one who has been accused will become the governor, and Ankita's parents will go to jail?” Khera said, alleging that the police action undermined democratic freedoms.
On Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met Ankita’s parents during their sit-in protest at India Gate. The family has demanded an investigation into the alleged involvement of an unidentified VIP in the crime and has called for Gautam’s appointment to be put on hold.
Gautam’s name has repeatedly been raised by Ankita’s family and activists in connection with the alleged VIP angle. Ankita’s father has alleged that a VIP played a key role in his daughter’s murder and claimed that Gautam was responsible. The allegations against Gautam remain unproven, and he has denied them and initiated defamation proceedings.
The Congress has alleged that Gautam’s appointment could shield him from criminal proceedings, arguing that a governor cannot be subjected to such proceedings while holding office.
Gautam, a former national general secretary of the BJP, previously served as the party’s in-charge for Uttarakhand. He was appointed governor of Sikkim on Monday.
Ankita worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh. She was murdered on September 18, 2022, and her body was recovered from the Chilla canal six days later.
Resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, and two resort employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta, were convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment on May 30, 2025, by a court in Kotdwar. They were found guilty of murder, destruction of evidence and other offences.
The case has remained politically contentious because of allegations that an unidentified VIP was linked to the crime. Ankita’s family and activists have continued to demand that the alleged VIP angle be investigated.
(With agency inputs from ANI and PTI)