By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Several political and social organizations in Uttarakhand on Sunday came together to hold a Mahapanchayat in Dehradun to reiterate their long-standing demand for a CBI inquiry in the Ankita Bhandari murder case under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge only and vowed to continue the fight till the justice is delivered.
The Mahapanchayat, which was attended by Ankita’s father Virendra Singh and mother Soni Devi, also warned that if the CBI inquiry is not held as per the demand in the next 15 days, the Ankita Bhandari movement will be intensified.
Some resolutions passed at the Mahapanchayat stated that the letter submitted by Ankita’s parents to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami be considered the official complaint for the CBI inquiry. The resolution also demanded that the FIR filed by environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi in this regard be quashed, and that the Chief Minister Dhami should step down from his post until the investigations are completed.
The leaders also asked the CBI to investigate the role of BJP leaders Dushyant Kumar Gautam and Ajay Kumar in the murder case.
Ankita’s father, Virendra Singh, alleged that he had demanded a CBI inquiry under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge in his letter to the Chief Minister, but the Chief Minister did not act on it. Regarding Joshi, who filed the FIR to reveal the alleged ‘VIP’ involved in the murder, Singh said that he doesn’t even know him and that Joshi did not contact him before or after filing the FIR.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who came to support the Mahapanchayat, said that he has no hesitation in walking alongside and even behind the social organizations in this fight for justice, because public sentiments are greater than politics. “At this time, the public sentiment of Uttarakhand is that whoever committed this crime against our daughter, no matter how powerful he is or how many powerful forces in the world are trying to protect him, he should be punished according to the law,” Rawat said. “Ankita sacrificed her life for the self-respect of Uttarakhand, but now the people of the state must continue the fight for justice for her,” he said.
Kamla Pant, head of the Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, said that this struggle will continue until the alleged ‘VIP’ involved in the Ankita murder case is exposed.
Indresh Maikhuri of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) demanded that the ‘VIP’ be unmasked as soon as possible so that Ankita can get justice. “We will continue our fight till Ankita Bhandari gets justice,” he said.
40 organizations participated in the Mahapanchayat, including social organizations and constituents of the INDIA alliance.
A large number of people who participated in the Mahapanchayat carried placards and posters with slogans like ‘Give justice to Ankita’, ‘Who is the VIP?’, and ‘Stop protecting Ankita’s murderers’.
In 2022, 19-year-old Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at the Vanantara Resort in Pauri district, was murdered by the resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of an expelled BJP leader, along with his two employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta. The three have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the sessions court.
However, the case recently gained renewed attention after Urmila Sanawar, the alleged actress wife of former state MLA Suresh Rathore, released videos of herself and audio recordings of her alleged conversations with Rathore on social media. In these videos, Sanawar alleged that the alleged ‘VIP’ in the Ankita murder case was BJP leader ‘Gattu’.
Following these revelations, a major movement erupted in the state, after which the Chief Minister recommended a CBI inquiry into the matter on January 9.