Ankita Bhandari’s Parents Stage Dharna Near India Gate Against Appointment of Dushyant Gautam as Sikkim Governor; Mother Breaks Down
SUNIL NEGI
New Delhi / Dehradun: Four years after the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari shook Uttarakhand, the case has returned to the centre of politics after former BJP Uttarakhand in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam was appointed Governor of Sikkim.
In the latest development, Ankita’s parents Virendra Singh Bhandari and Soni Devi are sitting on dharna near India Gate in Delhi against the appointment.* Social activist Yogita Bhayana, who has been supporting the family in their demand for justice, is sitting with them.
According to eyewitnesses, Delhi Police personnel tried to remove them from the protest site. When they refused to leave, police told them they cannot sit with posters and banners at India Gate. The three then handed over their posters to the police but continued their silent sit-in at the same spot. Ankita’s mother Soni Devi was inconsolable and continuously crying, demanding justice for her daughter.
President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, October 12, appointed Dushyant Gautam as Governor of Sikkim in a major gubernatorial reshuffle. Gautam, former BJP National General Secretary, former Rajya Sabha MP and former SC Morcha President, assumed charge on October 13, replacing Om Prakash Mathur.
Gautam’s name has been repeatedly dragged into the Ankita Bhandari case as the alleged “VIP” guest at Vanantara Resort where Ankita worked as a receptionist. The allegation surfaced after purported audio clips of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore with activist Urmila Sanawar went viral earlier this year, in which Rathore allegedly named Gautam and another BJP functionary as VIPs. Gautam has categorically denied the charge, called it malicious propaganda and said he would retire from public life if proven guilty. He has also filed a defamation case.
Uttarakhand Police has maintained that there is no VIP involved, and the Delhi High Court had observed that posts linking Gautam to the case were “prima facie defamatory” and baseless, noting no evidence in FIR or charge sheet.
However, Ankita’s parents have insisted from the beginning that the VIP angle be probed. After months of protests, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami recommended a CBI probe on January 9, 2026. After an eight-month wait, two CBI officers from Delhi reached Ankita’s ancestral village in Pauri last Friday and questioned her parents for several hours, sources said.
Meanwhile in Uttarakhand, the Congress escalated its attack.
On Tuesday, Pradesh Congress Committee President and CWC Member Ganesh Godiyal observed a one-hour silent fast in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Gandhi Park, Dehradun.
“Appointing as Governor the VIP explicitly named by Ankita Bhandari’s parents in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is tantamount to deeply wounding the sentiments of the common people of Uttarakhand,” Godiyal said.
“The CBI investigation has not advanced even an inch, and the CBI has not filed any FIR against the named accused. Appointing such a person to the post of Governor is highly objectionable,” he added.
Godiyal alleged the appointment is a “direct attempt to save Gautam as no case can be registered against a Governor.”
Congress state in-charge Kumari Selja also posted on X, “The BJP government has appointed the very VIP – whose name is being cited by Ankita Bhandari’s parents as they plead for justice – to a constitutional post like that of a Governor.”
The BJP has rejected the charges as political opportunism. BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said Congress is doing politics over a constitutional post.
It may be recalled that Ankita Bhandari went missing on September 18, 2022 from Vanantara Resort in Ganga-Bhogpur, Pauri. Her body was recovered from Chilla Canal six days later. Resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya, manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta were arrested. In May 2025, a Kotdwar court sentenced all three to life imprisonment.
