Dehradun, Oct 26 A fresh FIR was filed against television actress Urmila Sanawar in connection with the Ankita Bhandari murder case here on Monday, a day after she was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur.
Sanawar is scheduled to appear in court after she gave consent to undergo a narco-analysis test on Friday as part of the CBI inquiry into the murder case.
The Uttarakhand Congress alleged that Sanawar was nabbed to save the people involved in Ankita’s murder.
Sanawar was arrested by Haridwar police from her house on Sunday after the daughter of former Uttarakhand BJP MLA Suresh Rathore filed a complaint over her social media posts.
The new FIR was filed Sunday night at the complaint of a Dehradun resident flagging “objectionable and defamatory allegations” against Sikkim Governor Dushyant Kumar Gautam and BJP national general secretary BL Santosh in connection with the Ankita Bhandari murder case.
Complainant Sagar, a resident of Moti Bazar in Dehradun, claimed Sanawar made “highly indecent, inappropriate, false, and malicious statements” in a video that circulated on social media platforms and news channels.
“This video was recorded outside the CBI Court in Dehradun. In it, Urmila Sanawar has levelled, without any judicial order or evidence, highly objectionable and defamatory personal allegations against the current Governor of Sikkim, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, as well as BL Santhosh, Aarti Gaur, and others,” he said.
The complainant also alleged a “deliberate and malicious attempt” to violate the dignity and honour of a woman.
The FIR, filed on the complaint, read: “The video was intentionally circulated across digital platforms to incite confusion, outrage, and animosity within society, disrupting public peace, and causing irreparable damage to the social standing of the individuals mentioned. This act appears to be a well-orchestrated conspiracy designed to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of society.”
The FIR was registered at Kotwali Nagar Police Station in Dehradun under sections 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 352 (intentional insult), 353 (false/misleading statements), and 356 (criminal defamation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist at Vanantra Resort in Pauri, was murdered by resort owner Pulkit Arya and two of his employees in 2022.
Her body was found in the Chilla canal four days after she went missing.
Arya, the resort owner and the son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, and two of his accomplices were convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The murder triggered widespread protests in Uttarakhand.
The case also hogged the political spotlight over allegations that an unidentified “VIP” was linked to the crime.
Ankita’s parents and the Congress also protested in Delhi against Gautam’s appointment as the Sikkim governor.
Gautam was BJP’s Uttarakhand in-charge at the time of Ankita’s murder.
Sanawar also has claimed that a “VIP” sought favours from teenager Ankita, leading to her murder.
On October 24, Deepika Rathore, daughter of ex-BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, filed a police complaint against Sanawar, claiming that she made obscene and defamatory remarks on social media, outraging the family’s reputation.
She said Sanawar made WhatsApp calls demanding the transfer of a property to her name, demanded Rs 5 crore, and threatened to kill her.
Based on the complaint, Sanawar was booked under sections 4 and 10 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
Uttarakhand Congress decried the police action, alleging that Sanawar was arrested even after she consented before the CBI court to undergo a narco-analysis test in the murder case.
“Jailing those who speak the truth while giving a free hand to the main suspects proves that every possible tactic is being employed to shield influential people within the government,” Uttarakhand Congress spokesperson Pratima Singh said in a statement.
She asked, despite serious allegations and public outcry, why the CBI did not bother to question Gautam or BJP’s Yamkeshwar MLA, Renu Bisht, in connection with the case.
“Is this move a calculated attempt to provide Gautam with a constitutional shield against legal proceedings?” Pratima Singh asked.
“This arrest (of Sanawar) has been made in great haste, precisely to suppress the truth about the Ankita Bhandari murder case that was set to emerge through a narco-analysis test,” she added.
The Congress has demanded an immediate, impartial narco-analysis test for Sanawar to expose the “true culprits” behind the Ankita murder case, including the “VIP” hiding behind the scenes.
(PTI News)
