New Delhi: An FIR for defamation was registered in Dehradun Monday towards the Congress, Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP), Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and two others for allegedly linking BJP normal secretary and Uttarakhand in-charge Dushyant Gautam to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari homicide case.

Uttarakhand Police additionally booked Suresh Rathore, the previous BJP MLA from Haridwar’s Jwalapur, and his estranged associate, Saharanpur-based actor Urmila Sanawar, within the case.

That is the third legal case filed by state police following Sanawar’s launch of audio clips that purportedly featured a dialog between her and Rathore.

Sanawar claimed Rathore instructed her that the “VIP” on the Vanantra resort close to Rishikesh, the place Ankita Bhandari labored earlier than she was killed, was Gautam.

Bhandari (19), a receptionist on the resort, was reported lacking in September 2022. Her physique was recovered from a canal days later.

The resort’s proprietor Pulkit Arya, son of an expelled BJP chief, is serving a life time period for her homicide. Throughout the trial, Ankita’s mates and colleagues testified she instructed them that she was being pressured to offer “additional companies” to VIPs, and had refused.

Following the discharge of audio clips by Sanawar, police filed FIRs primarily based on complaints from Arti Guar, former zila panchayat member from Yamkeshwar, the place the resort is situated, 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 convention in Delhi final month, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe below the supervision of a Supreme Courtroom choose. Contemporary allegations and requires a CBI probe additionally triggered protests throughout 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 Dwelling Secretary, looking for motion towards portals and social media accounts propagating claims linking him to the case.

In his contemporary criticism, Gautam has accused Rathore and Sanawar of conspiring, fabricating audio and video recordings, and spreading deceptive info on social media to tarnish his and his occasion’s picture, and disrupt peace and incite riots and disturbances.

“Sir, I respectfully submit that Suresh Rathore, former MLA of Jwalapur Meeting Constituency, and actress Urmila Sanawar are circulating movies on their social media handles. Upon watching and listening to those movies myself, and in addition by means of info acquired from others, I discovered that the audio and video recordings are associated to the Ankita Bhandari homicide case,” Gautam alleged within the criticism.

“In these audio and video recordings, the aforementioned people, in collusion with the Congress Celebration, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Aam Aadmi Celebration, and different people, have hatched a legal conspiracy with a pre-planned scheme, creating false and deceptive movies to defame me, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, and different senior officers by naming them,” he additional alleged.

Gautam stated he has submitted particulars, together with accounts and clips being circulated towards him on social media. “Objectionable language has additionally been used within the aforementioned audio and video recordings,” he submitted.

(Edited by Prerna Madan)

Additionally Learn: Ankita Bhandari homicide: Strain mounts from inside BJP as Uttarakhand ex-minister calls for CBI probe