BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam welcomed the Delhi High Court’s decision granting him interim relief in a defamation suit. The court directed the Congress, AAP, and others to remove social media posts linking him to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case. Opposition parties, according to Gautam, are using the case to defame the BJP due to a lack of substantive issues against the party.
The murder of Ankita Bhandari, a receptionist whose death in 2022 sparked outrage in Uttarakhand, has resurfaced in political and public discussions. Television actor Urmila Sanawar alleged on December 24, 2025, that a senior BJP leader, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, was the unnamed “VIP” connected to the case. Gautam, denying the allegations, expressed confidence in the justice system and criticized the repeated politicization of the issue by Congress and AAP.
Gautam emphasized that he was not in Uttarakhand when the crime occurred and denounced the fresh accusations as defamatory and politically driven. He has sought a formal probe into the matter and filed a defamation case against those involved. The BJP leader believes the allegations are part of a broader scheme to tarnish the party’s image, attributing them to political motives.
Sanawar’s release of an audio clip implicating former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore further escalated the controversy. The original Ankita Bhandari murder case, involving the conviction of Pulkit Arya and two others in 2025, has now entangled Gautam in what he perceives as a politically motivated smear campaign against him.
