New Delhi: An FIR for defamation was registered in Dehradun Monday against the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and two others for allegedly linking BJP general secretary and Uttarakhand in-charge Dushyant Gautam to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.
Uttarakhand Police also booked Suresh Rathore, the former BJP MLA from Haridwar’s Jwalapur, and his estranged partner, Saharanpur-based actor Urmila Sanawar, in the case.
The FIR was registered following a complaint by Gautam at Dehradun’s Dalanwala police station. It invokes BNS sections 356(3) (defamation), 61 (2)(criminal conspiracy), 353 (2) (spreading false information/rumors with intent to create enmity, hatred, or ill-will between groups based on religion, race) and 336(4) (forgery), along with sections 66(D) and 66(E) of the IT Act for offences involving impersonation and violation of privacy.
This is the third criminal case filed by state police following Sanawar’s release of audio clips that purportedly featured a conversation between her and Rathore.
Sanawar claimed Rathore told her that the “VIP” at the Vanantra resort near Rishikesh, where Ankita Bhandari worked before she was killed, was Gautam.
Bhandari (19), a receptionist at the resort, was reported missing in September 2022. Her body was recovered from a canal days later.
The resort’s owner Pulkit Arya, son of an expelled BJP leader, is serving a life term for her murder. During the trial, Ankita’s friends and colleagues testified she told them that she was being pressured to provide “extra services” to VIPs, and had refused.
Following the release of audio clips by Sanawar, police filed FIRs based on complaints from Arti Guar, former zila panchayat member from Yamkeshwar, where the resort is located, and Dharmendra Kumar, an office-bearer with Shiromani Guru Ravidas Vishva Mahapeeth.
Citing allegations raised by Sanawar, Uttarakhand Congress president Ganesh Godiyal held a press conference in Delhi last month, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. Fresh allegations and calls for a CBI probe also triggered protests across Uttarakhand, with demonstrators urging CM Pushkar Singh Dhami to reopen the case and hand over the investigation to the CBI.
Gautam subsequently rubbished the allegations and wrote to the Uttarakhand Home Secretary, seeking action against portals and social media accounts propagating claims linking him to the case.
In his fresh complaint, Gautam has accused Rathore and Sanawar of conspiring, fabricating audio and video recordings, and spreading misleading information on social media to tarnish his and his party’s image, and disrupt peace and incite riots and disturbances.
“Sir, I respectfully submit that Suresh Rathore, former MLA of Jwalapur Assembly Constituency, and actress Urmila Sanawar are circulating videos on their social media handles. Upon watching and listening to these videos myself, and also through information received from others, I learned that the audio and video recordings are related to the Ankita Bhandari murder case,” Gautam alleged in the complaint.
“In these audio and video recordings, the aforementioned individuals, in collusion with the Congress Party, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, and other individuals, have hatched a criminal conspiracy with a pre-planned scheme, creating false and misleading videos to defame me, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and other senior officials by naming them,” he further alleged.
Gautam said he has submitted details, including accounts and clips being circulated against him on social media. “Objectionable language has also been used in the aforementioned audio and video recordings,” he submitted.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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