DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat was detained on Friday after Congress leaders and workers raised slogans outside Lok Bhavan over the 2022 murder of Ankita Bhandari and the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim governor.
Harak Singh Rawat, chairman of the Congress Management Committee, and Pritam Singh, head of the party’s Election Campaign Committee, were among those present. Police intervened after party workers gathered outside the Lok Bhavan.
Harish Rawat said the delegation had not planned a protest and had gone to submit a memorandum concerning Gautam’s appointment. “Our only intention was to submit a memorandum,” he told reporters. “Dushyant Kumar is under scrutiny, and people in Uttarakhand suspect he may be the VIP referred to in the case. Until the CBI identifies another person, he will remain guilty in the eyes of the people of Uttarakhand.”
The family of Ankita has opposed Gautam’s appointment, citing alleged links to the case. It has called for the appointment to be put on hold until a central investigation is completed.
The allegations against Gautam have not been established in court. The Dehradun gathering followed a sit-in at Delhi’s India Gate, where Ankita’s parents and several Opposition leaders were detained by Delhi Police in the early hours of Thursday while seeking justice for her.
Her parents were released later in the morning. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi criticised their detention in a post on X.
He said Ankita’s parents had been peacefully asking that Gautam’s appointment be deferred until the CBI investigation was complete. “At 4 am, while the world was asleep, Ankita Bhandari’s parents were taken into custody,” Gandhi wrote.
He said they had been “sitting quietly at India Gate” and seeking a delay until the investigation was completed. Gandhi said he and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met the family the previous day. “Even before the results of that investigation came in, the appointment was rushed, and the parents asking questions were picked up in the dead of night,” he wrote. He added that the Congress would continue to stand with the family.