Rahul Gandhi sits on ground with Ankita Bhandari’s father:Priyanka hugs mother; family opposes Dushyant Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the parents of Ankita Bhandari at India Gate on Wednesday evening, where they were staging a sit-in protest. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also present. The family has appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to revoke Dushyant Kumar Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor or put it on hold until the CBI investigation is completed. Gautam was appointed Governor on October 12. Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at a hotel in Uttarakhand, was murdered in 2022 after allegedly refusing to provide services to a VIP. The VIP’s identity has never been publicly established, while her family has repeatedly raised questions about Gautam in connection with the case. Visuals of Rahul, Priyanka at Jantar Mantar ‘We hoped our daughter would get justice; now whom do we approach?’ Ankita’s mother, Soni Devi, told Dainik Bhaskar that the family’s concerns had increased following Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor. She said the person whose name had surfaced in connection with the alleged VIP controversy had now been appointed to a constitutional post, leaving the family uncertain about where to seek justice. The family travelled from Uttarakhand to Delhi to raise its concerns at India Gate. Soni Devi said they had not received a satisfactory response at the local level but had continued to receive support from the public. She expressed hope that people across the country would stand with the family in its fight for justice. Ankita’s father raises six questions over the investigation 1. Why has the alleged VIP’s identity not been established? Ankita’s family has repeatedly sought the identification of the alleged VIP since her murder on September 18, 2022. During the trial, references to requests for additional facilities for a VIP reportedly emerged from chats recovered from Ankita’s phone. The family had also named Ajay Kumar in connection with the allegations. 2. Why have the names mentioned in Urmila Sanawar’s video not been investigated? Ankita’s father, Virendra Singh Bhandari, said actress Urmila Sanawar later released a video naming Suresh Rathore and Ajay Kumar in connection with the alleged VIP controversy. The recordings triggered renewed protests across Uttarakhand. The family has demanded that the allegations and the individuals named in the recordings be investigated. 3. Why has the family not received an update on the CBI probe? The family met the Uttarakhand Chief Minister on January 7 and demanded that the CBI investigation be conducted under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. The CBI probe was announced on February 2, according to the family. Bhandari said that even after eight months, they had not been informed about its progress. 4. Why is the investigation revisiting old witness statements? Bhandari said he spoke to CBI officials on October 9 and was told that statements of witnesses whose accounts had already been recorded in the chargesheet would be recorded again. The family wants investigators to move beyond repeating existing statements and focus on establishing the identity of the alleged VIP. 5. Why have Urmila Sanawar and Suresh Rathore not been questioned? The family has demanded that Sanawar’s statement be recorded and that investigators examine the allegations made in the recordings. Bhandari said Rathore should also be questioned if required, with further legal action taken if he refuses to cooperate. 6. What happened to Pulkit Arya’s phone during the investigation? Bhandari alleged that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to recover Pulkit Arya’s phone from September 18-19, 2022, or gather relevant information from it. He claimed that Arya obtained a new phone on September 19 and that this was the device subsequently handed over to investigators. The family has called for this aspect of the investigation to be examined. How did Dushyant Gautam’s name emerge in the case? The alleged VIP controversy continued after the murder Ankita was murdered at the Vanantara Resort in Pauri district on September 18, 2022. Pulkit Arya, the resort operator, and two employees were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. During the investigation and trial, allegations emerged that a VIP had been promised additional facilities. However, the identity of the alleged VIP remained a subject of controversy. Names surfaced in viral audio and video recordings In December 2025, alleged audio and video recordings of a conversation between former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore and actress Urmila Sanawar circulated on social media. The recordings reportedly named Dushyant Kumar Gautam, then a former BJP in-charge of Uttarakhand, and Ajay Kumar, the BJP’s former state organisational general secretary, in connection with the alleged VIP controversy. Ankita’s father subsequently cited the recordings while demanding further investigation. Gautam denies allegations, files FIR Gautam rejected the allegations and described them as a conspiracy to tarnish his reputation. In January 2026, he filed an FIR against Rathore and Sanawar at Dehradun’s Dalanwala police station, alleging that misleading audio and video recordings had been prepared and circulated against him. The Delhi High Court subsequently granted interim relief in Gautam’s defamation case and directed the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and other social media handles to remove the objectionable content in question. The family continues to demand a fair and comprehensive investigation, particularly into the identity of the alleged VIP. The allegations against Gautam remain contested, and his appointment as Sikkim Governor has become a fresh point of concern for Ankita’s family.