Haridwar SP (Rural) Shekhar Suyal said the investigation found no “VIP” involvement, identifying the person named in chats as Ankita’s friend, not a high-profile individual.
The Uttarakhand government said it is open to any probe if credible evidence is produced, as opposition leaders renew calls for a CBI investigation.
Amid renewed demands for a CBI probe into the Ankita Bhandari murder case, Haridwar SP (Rural) Shekhar Suyal has maintained that no “VIP” was found to be involved during the investigation.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Suyal said the individual whose name surfaced in chats and during questioning was Ankita’s friend, Dharmendra Kumar alias Pradhan, a resident of Noida, and not a VIP.
“During the investigation, police questioning revealed that he had come to the area for some work two days before Ankita's murder and had stopped at the Vanantra Resort for a short time to have a meal,” he said.
Suyal added that this account was corroborated by the resort’s records and statements from its staff.
The issue resurfaced after Urmila Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, released videos and audio recordings of her alleged conversations with Rathore, alleging that the ‘VIP’ in the Bhandari murder case was a person named ‘Gattu’.
In another video, she identified Gattu as a senior BJP leader in Uttarakhand.
Rathore, who has since been expelled from the BJP, denied the allegations, claiming his voice was generated using AI and that the audio clips were being circulated to damage his political reputation.
The Uttarakhand government said on Friday that it was open to any investigation into the murder case “if credible evidence is presented”.
Opposition leaders have renewed their demand for a CBI probe into both the fresh allegations and the murder case, in which three people were sentenced to life imprisonment following a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe.
Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Pauri district, was allegedly murdered on September 18, 2022. The state government had constituted an SIT to investigate the case.
A court later sentenced Pulkit Arya, the resort owner and son of a BJP leader, along with two others, to life imprisonment in the case.
