New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS) The Delhi High Court will on Wednesday hear the defamation case filed by BJP General Secretary Dushyant Gautam against Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and several other individuals over posts linking him to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.

Dushyant Gautam’s lawyer, Gaurav Bhatia, had requested an early hearing from the Delhi High Court.

Gautam has demanded the removal of the defamatory content against him and sought Rs 2 crore in damages.

The murder of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist whose death in 2022 had triggered widespread outrage across Uttarakhand, has once again returned to the centre of political and public discourse as protests rocked the state.

The renewed outrage followed allegations made by television actor Urmila Sanawar on December 24, 2025, when she accused a senior BJP leader of being the previously unidentified ‘VIP’ linked to the case. She later named BJP National General Secretary and Uttarakhand in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the person referred to as ‘Gattu’.

The controversy has since escalated rapidly, drawing in the ruling BJP, the Congress, the state police and civil society groups, and triggering protests, counter-allegations and renewed scrutiny of how the investigation was conducted.

The original case relates to the rape and murder of Ankita Bhandari at the Vanantara resort near Rishikesh.

During the initial investigation, one of Ankita’s friends told the police that she was under pressure to “entertain” and “give special services” to a VIP guest. While this claim received wide attention at the time, the alleged “VIP” angle was not included in the charge sheet.

In May 2025, a court in Kotdwar convicted resort owner Pulkit Arya and two of his employees, sentencing them to life imprisonment.

Pulkit Arya is the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, who was expelled from the party following the murder.

The BJP has categorically dismissed the new allegations. Dushyant Kumar Gautam has called the accusations defamatory and politically driven, indicating that he has contacted the Chief Minister’s office to request a formal investigation.

In a video statement, Gautam stated that he would step away from public life if the allegations were substantiated and threatened legal action for defamation against anyone naming him without proof.

He insists that his long-standing political career is under attack through what he has labelled a smear campaign.

–IANS

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