The parents of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, who was murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, were released on Wednesday morning hours after being detained during a protest near India Gate in central Delhi.
They had been demonstrating overnight, seeking justice for their daughter and demanding that BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam not assume any position of power until the Central Bureau of Investigation completes its probe into the case. Gautam has been appointed Governor of Sikkim. He has strongly denied the allegations and initiated defamation proceedings against the parents.
Ankita worked as a receptionist at the Vantara resort in Rishikesh. She was killed on September 18, 2022, and her body was recovered from a canal four days later. The resort’s owner, Pulkit Arya son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya and two others have been convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The case later saw allegations of an unidentified VIP’s involvement. In December 2025, the parents named Gautam in connection with those claims. Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera, accompanied the family during the protest. The party has argued that the gubernatorial appointment appears intended to shield him, noting that a sitting governor cannot face criminal proceedings while in office.
Gautam, a former national general secretary of the BJP who also served as the party’s in-charge for Uttarakhand, has rejected the accusations.
Ankita’s mother told reporters that the family would remain steadfast until the appointment is revoked and warned that they would begin a hunger strike at home if prevented from protesting. Her father called on the government to cancel the posting within 24 hours, saying failure to do so would lead people across the country to take to the streets.