NewzVille Desk
Raising the ‘Ankita Bhandari Murder Case’ the Congress party has demanded the resignation of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, accusing the BJP government of protecting high-ranking party officials.
The party stated that this is not just a murder, but a heinous example of political patronage and a culture of silence.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress office, All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba and Congress Communication Department Secretary Vaibhav Walia said that Chief Minister Dhami was forced to announce a CBI investigation into the matter due to widespread public pressure.
They demanded that the investigation be completed within six months in a fast-track mode under the supervision of a sitting judge.
19-year-old Ankita Bhandari started working at a resort owned by BJP leader Vinod Arya in Yamkeshwar, Pauri Garhwal, on August 28, 2022.
On September 18, 2022, she was pressured to provide immoral services to VIP guests, which she bravely refused. That same day, she was suspected murdered and her body was thrown into the Chilla canal.
Accusing the BJP government of protecting the culprits, Alka Lamba said that for five days after the murder, neither an FIR was registered nor any serious investigation was conducted.
On September 23, local BJP MLA Renu Bisht, on the instructions of Chief Minister Dhami, demolished the resort with a bulldozer without any judicial order, destroying crucial evidence, even though Ankita’s body was recovered on September 24. Following this, public outrage intensified, and three accused were arrested under duress.
She said that even after three years, it has not been clarified who the VIP was for whom Ankita was being pressured. He questioned why, if a VIP’s name had surfaced in the SIT investigation, it had not been made public, and if no such name had emerged, why the government had not issued a clear denial.
Lamba stated that Ankita Bhandari’s father has repeatedly mentioned the names of Ajay Kumar and Dushyant Kumar.
He asked whether the SIT had questioned them. Why is Chief Minister Dhami trying to protect them? He said that the leader whose name Ankita’s father mentioned is still the BJP’s in-charge for Uttarakhand.
He is moving freely in the state and has the power to influence everything. Lamba demanded that all these culprits be kept away from Uttarakhand to ensure a fair investigation.
On this occasion, Congress leader Vaibhav Walia questioned the law and order situation in the state, citing several incidents in recent months, including paper leak cases in Uttarakhand and the murder of Tripura student Angela Chakma.
