Ankita Bhandari's father Virendra Bhandari, raising questions on the appointment of Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the Governor of Sikkim, told BBC News Hindi, "If the government does not take action on their demands within 24 hours, the family will protest again."
He has demanded that Gautam's appointment should be canceled until the CBI investigation into the Ankita Bhandari murder case is completed and Urmila Sanawar's statement is recorded.
He said that the people of entire Uttarakhand can take to the streets on this issue.
Virendra Bhandari told that while sitting on the Delhi dharna, the police had forcibly removed him from there. He said that the family is not going to back down on their demands.
Ankita Bhandari's parents are going to hold a press conference in Delhi on Thursday, October 15, in which they will put forward their demands and future strategy regarding this matter.
Virendra Bhandari said that the CBI, which is investigating the Ankita Bhandari murder case, should first record the statement of Dushyant Kumar Gautam.
He demanded that his location and call details on 18th and 19th should also be investigated so that it can be known where he was on these dates.
While talking to BBC News Hindi, Virendra Bhandari said that he has no objection if Gautam is found innocent in the investigation. But if their involvement comes to light, action should be taken against them.
He said that until the questions related to the investigation are resolved, Gautam's appointment to the post of Governor should be kept cancelled.
Virendra Bhandari also expressed apprehension that after getting the constitutional post of Governor, it may be very difficult to take legal action against Dushyant Kumar Gautam. He alleges that he is being given this post to protect him from legal action.
Ankita's father mentioned in detail the incident related to former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Rathore and his former wife Urmila Sanawar.
He said that one day Urmila Sanawar had gone to the resort where Ankita Bhandari worked. According to him, during this time a conversation took place between Urmila Sanawar and Suresh Rathore, in which the name of Dushyant Kumar Gautam came up as the alleged VIP.
According to Virendra Bhandari, Urmila Sanawar had made a video related to this conversation. Later there was a dispute between the two, after which Urmila made the video public.
While talking to BBC News Hindi, Virendra Bhandari claimed that Urmila Sanawar had given her statement in this case to the SIT and had also handed over her phone to the investigating agency.
Virendra Bhandari demands that Urmila Sanawar's statement and video should be investigated and CBI should record her statement. He says that until the claims made in this case are not investigated, the appointment of Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the post of Governor should be cancelled.
However, Urmila Sanawar's claims and Dushyant Kumar Gautam's alleged role can be independently confirmed only by the findings of the investigation.
Virendra Bhandari also mentioned about his meeting with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. He told that Rahul Gandhi had assured full support to the family in the fight to get justice for Ankita.
According to him, Priyanka Gandhi had also said that she is with the family in this fight and will support Ankita till she gets justice.
Virendra Bhandari said that only parents or brothers can understand how deep the pain of losing a daughter is.
He told that after hearing the news of Dushyant Kumar Gautam being made the Governor, his entire family was very distressed and could not sleep the whole night.
He appealed to the government to seriously consider the demands of the family and to get justice for Ankita Bhandari, all the questions related to the case should be investigated impartially.
Virendra Bhandari says that the family's fight will continue until their demands are not acted upon and he does not see concrete steps being taken towards justice in Ankita's case.
Earlier on October 15, Congress leaders said that after the overnight protest, Delhi Police had detained many people including Ankita Bhandari's parents at India Gate.
According to news agency PTI, after being kept in custody for some time, he was released at five in the morning.
Congress has described the detention of Ankita's parents as a 'brutal action taken against helpless parents'.
Ankita's parents were protesting near India Gate. Their demand was that the appointment of Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Governor of Sikkim should be put on hold until the ongoing CBI investigation into the daughter's murder is completed.
Ankita Bhandari, who worked in a resort in Uttarakhand, was murdered in September 2022. Bhandari worked as a receptionist at Vananthara Tourist Resort located in Ganga-Bhogpur area of Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand.
After his name surfaced in this case, the then National General Secretary of BJP and Uttarakhand in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam had lodged an FIR rejecting the allegations against him.
According to the complaint lodged at Dalanwala police station in Dehradun, Dushyant Gautam had alleged that former MLA from Jwalapur, Haridwar, Suresh Rathore and actress Urmila Sanawar along with other unknown people had hatched a planned criminal conspiracy against him.
Dushyant Gautam was appointed the Governor of Sikkim by the Central Government on 12 October.
On Ankita's parents being detained, Congress leader Supriya Srinet said, "What kind of action is this? A brutal action taken against helpless parents who had been demanding justice for four years. Instead of giving them justice, they are making the main accused the Governor and then being cruel to the parents... coming like cowards and picking up the girls from here before 6:00 in the morning. What is the style of Delhi Police?"
Ankita Bhandari's mother said that she will continue to protest until Dushyant Gautam's appointment is cancelled.
He said, "We will keep sitting like this. Even if we stay in our house. If we are not allowed to sit, then we will sit in hunger strike in our house. We, the government will have to cancel the appointment of Dushyant. If it is not canceled, then people will take to the streets all over India. The government will be responsible for this."
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met Ankita Bhandari's parents on Wednesday.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has condemned the incident of detention of Ankita Bhandari's parents.
He alleged that the government suppresses the voices of victims and removes those who question them.
Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter, "4 in the morning. While the world slept, Ankita Bhandari's parents were taken into custody. Their crime? They were sitting silently at India Gate - with heavy shoulders, without any fuss and only demanding that Dushyant Gautam not be made the Governor of Sikkim till the CBI investigation is completed."
"Yesterday, Priyanka and I met these parents. Even before the investigation yielded results, the appointments were made in a hurry and the parents who asked questions were picked up in the dark of night. This is the identity of this government: silence the voices of the victims, remove those who question."
Rahul Gandhi wrote, "The fight for justice will not be suppressed, nor will it stop. Congress stands with Ankita Bhandari's family, and will continue to stand - until they get justice."
Earlier, Ankita Bhandari's father Virendra Bhandari, in a special conversation with BBC News Hindi, had expressed deep sorrow and disappointment over the decision of appointment of Dushyant Gautam.
He had told that after hearing the news of this decision, his entire family could not sleep the whole night and remained extremely distressed.
In a conversation with BBC News Hindi associate journalist Asif Ali, Ankita's father had put forward five major demands -
1. The entire investigation of CBI in Ankita case should be conducted under the direct supervision of a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court.
2. Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht should be interrogated and the call details of her phone during the incident, on 22nd to 23rd September, should be checked. Also, it should be found out who had ordered the demolition of Vananthara Resort.
3. Formal statements of Urmila Sanawar and her husband should be recorded in the case and narco test of Suresh Rathore should be conducted.
4. Between September 18 and September 24, 2022, the location and complete call details of the phones of Ajay Kumar and Dushyant Kumar Gautam should be investigated.
5. The call details of accused Pulkit Arya's phone on 18th and 19th September should be carefully examined so that it can be known with whom he was in contact.
The main accused Pulkit Arya, Ankit Gupta and Saurabh Bhaskar were convicted in the Ankita Bhandari murder case in May 2025 and are now serving life imprisonment in jail.
However, Shekhar Suyal, a senior police officer associated with the investigation of this case, has once again claimed that 'any VIP' had no role in this case.
After the Ankita murder case, the state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate. At that time Suyal was posted as Additional Superintendent of Police in Pauri and was also a member of the SIT.
"Every person who booked or stayed at the resort between September 18 and 22, 2022, was investigated from every aspect, but no concrete information was found that any person was actually a 'VIP'," Suyal said in a media interaction in January 2026.
Amidst the ongoing agitation regarding the Ankita Bhandari murder case, on January 5, BJP's National General Secretary and Uttarakhand state in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam had lodged an FIR denying the allegations against him.
He has also accused the Congress party in his FIR.
There have been movements in Uttarakhand to punish the culprits in the Ankita Bhandari murder case.
In January this year, when there was a movement in the state regarding this case, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami also said that not only the lower court, but also the Honorable High Court and the Supreme Court have expressed satisfaction over the investigation of the SIT constituted by the state government, which shows the impartiality and strength of the investigation.
