‘Mahapanchayat’ seeking justice for Ankita Bhandari to be held in Dehradun on Feb 8

‘Mahapanchayat’ seeking justice for Ankita Bhandari to be held in Dehradun on Feb 8

Dehradun, Jan 15

A ‘Mahapanchayat; will be held  by the ‘Ankita Nyaya  Yatra Sanyukt Sangharash Samiti’, a conglomerate of various organisations to seek justice for Ankita Bhandari on February 8, 2026 in Dehradun. A meeting of the ‘Ankita Nyaya  Yatra Sanyukt Sangharash Samiti’, held at Shaheed Samarak in the District Court complex demanding the revelation of the VIPs involved in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and punishment for those involved in protecting them. People from across the country and state will gather for the proposed ‘Mahapanchayat’ on February 8.

Kamla Pant, convenor of the forum said that the struggle will continue until the demands are met. She further said that when Ankita Bhandari’s parents demanded a CBI investigation under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court judge, keeping the VIPs in mind, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami only agreed to a CBI investigation, which shows that efforts are still being made to protect the VIPs.

Mohit Dimri said that when Ankita Bhandari’s parents submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding a CBI investigation under the supervision of a sitting judge, that should have been the basis for the CBI investigation. However, the Uttarakhand Police announced that CBI inquiry would be based on the FIR filed by  Anil Prakash Joshi, who had suddenly appeared. He said that this clearly shows that the government’s intentions are not right and that it is still conspiring to protect the VIPs otherwise, there would have been no need to do this.

Nirmala Bisht said that it is very surprising that Urmila Sanawar, whom the police, intelligence department, and even the Chief Minister could not find, suddenly appeared with Darshan Bharti several days later. The police should also investigate Darshan Bharti’s phone to find out how long he was in contact with Urmila Sanawar and how he found her and who helped him in findinng her.

The meeting demanded that the Ankita Bhandari murder case should be investigated by the CBI under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court judge, taking into account the involvement of VIPs, the memorandum submitted by Ankita Bhandari’s parents to the Chief Minister should be considered as the FIR and form the basis of the CBI investigation. The Sangharash Samiti also demanded into the role of Darshan Bharti, who claimed to have found Urmila Sanawar after her disappearance in connection with the Ankita Bhandari murder case and quashing of FIR filed by Anil Prakash Joshi in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and his role should also be investigated by the CBI.

An investigation should be conducted into who ordered the demolition of the Vanantara Resort in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and the  person responsible should be considered guilty of destroying evidence and legal action should be taken against them, and they should be punished accordingly, it was demanded in the meeting.

Speakers at the meeting included P.C. Thapliyal, Sujata Paul, Samdarshi Badthwal, Padma Gupta, Sanjeev Ghildiyal, Kamlesh Khantwal, Vimla Koli, Ashutosh Kothari, Sonia Anand, Raju Singh, Smriti Negi, Manish, Manju Balodi, Tushar, Krishna Saklani, Hemlata Negi, and others, who shared their views.