Uttarakhand Congress chief Karan Mahara says Ashutosh Negi was arrested to allegedly cover Ankita Bhandari case. Attacked the govt, police !
There has been resounding response by various socio political activists in Uttarakhand from various nook and corner criticizing the ruling party for arresting journalist and social activist Ashutosh Negi in alleged false case with a clear cut vindictive angle especially when the general elections are round the corner. Several videos deploring the state government and police authorities are going viral in social media with not a single leader of the saffron party issuing any statement verbal or in writing deploring the action. Ashutosh Negi had been proactively associated with the traumatised family raising the issue from day one when innocent 19 years old Ankita Bhandari mysteriously disappeared on 18 September, 2022 from Vanantara resort and her dead body with injuries found from the Chila lake by the local police. He was Ashutosh Negi only who had accompanied the anguished father of Ankita Bhandari and pressurised the revenue officer ( Patwari) to lodge an FIR in the case after great efforts as the Patwari was hand in glove with the culprits and was trying to hush up the case. The matter caught the momentum after journalist Ashutosh Negi raised the issue and mobilized one and all to deliver justice to her traumatised parents. He had filed an SLP in Supreme Court through senior advocate supreme court Colin Gonsalves demanding CBI probe into this matter and exposing the VIP. He had also organised a sit in protest in Shrinagar , Garhwal demanding stringent action against the culprits, initiation of stringent action against the alleged VIP named by the mother of the deceased girl by tracing his phone details and had also wrote to the DM, Pauri to initiate immediate probe and action against the said VIP who was named by Ankita’s mother who is associated with RSS / BJP.
Meanwhile, Ashutosh Negi was arrested a day ago on the charges under SC ST Act which is allegedly a fake case as being said by the protesting social activists and the anguished parents of Ankita Bhandari.
Today the president of Uttarakhand Congress Karan Mahara has released his video on social media platform X writing that the police has so far failed to reveal the name of the VIP in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, on the contrary, the police has covered up the case to complicate the investigation and save BJP leaders arresting journalist Ashutosh Negi, who raised the voice for justice for Ankita. The statement of a top police officer on the arrest is surprising, his statement seems as if a BJP spokesperson is speaking. Our fight will continue until Uttarakhand’s daughter Ankita Bhandari gets justice said Karan Mahara on X tagging #JusticeForAnkitaBhandari. What is objectionable to note that journalist and social activist Ashutosh Negi was made to sit on the floor and pose with police officers in Pauri for photograph as if he is a hardened criminal say some journalists on the condition not to be named in the report .
The senior journalist and former president of Press Club of India, Umakant Lakhera has while expressing his serious concern over the arrest of journalist and activist Ashutosh Negi wrote on social media platform X : The heinous murder of Ankita Bhandari was committed in Uttarakhand by the son of the Uttarakhand leader of BJP-RSS to pressurize him to fulfill the lust of a VIP of the Sangh. Dhami government sent not the criminal VIP but the activist Ashutosh Negi, who exposed the massacre, to jail in a false case under SC, ST Act.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Police Uttarakhand Abhinav Kumar responding to the media questions on the arrest of Ashutosh Negi said “… Whoever is vaguely blaming the government on the arrest of Ashutosh Negi, they are either being carried away by their emotions or they have an agenda of their own. During the investigation of the Ankita Bhandari murder case, Uttarakhand Police was under no pressure whatsoever. We got the full support of the government and the Chief Minister… State Police has carried out an unbiased and bold investigation…”
Meanwhile, The Regional Party of Uttarakhand led by its leader Shiv Prasad Semwal in Dehradun held a protest march against the arrest of senior journalist cum social activist Ashutosh Negi demanding his immediate release. Yesterday evening too there was a strong protest by the parents of Ankita Bhandari and activists in Srinagar, Garhwal holding play cards demanding immediate release of Mr. Negi and accusing the police for allegedly registering a false case against him, just because he had been relentlessly helping the anguished parents to seek justice through democratic protests etc.
After Ashutosh Negi’s arbitrary arrest the messages criticizing this action are appearing in good numbers . One of the remark of Dharam Rawat on social media platform enclosing the comments of Dharmendra Rawat in Hindi are as below :
