Harish Rawat defends Harak Singh Rawat over Jenny allegations; raises questions over Ankita murder investigation
Harish Rawat defends Harak Singh Rawat over Jenny allegations; raises questions over Ankita murder investigation
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Nov 8
Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today came to the defence of his party colleague Harak Singh Rawat over the allegations levelled by Jenny (Indira Deuri), questioning why she had remained silent for the past 23 years and had chosen to resurface only at election time.
“Moreover, the BJP leaders’ apparent pleasure over the development is beyond comprehension, particularly when the person she has accused was a minister in the BJP government from 2017 till 2022,” Rawat said while interacting with the media in Pithoragarh.
Asked about the murder of Ankita Bhandari, the Congress veteran said it was not an ordinary murder, asserting that she had sacrificed her life to protect the honour of Uttarakhand and its people.
“Had she accepted the offer being made to her to provide ‘special services’ to a ‘VIP’, she might have been alive today. But the honour of the state would have been sold out,” Rawat said.
Becoming emotional, Rawat referred to the message Ankita had reportedly sent to her friend, in which she mentioned that a VIP was expected to visit the resort and that its owners were pressuring her to provide him with ‘special services’.
“I also want to ask the government whether the CBI, in its investigation report, ruled out the possibility of any VIP having visited the resort on the day in question,” Rawat said. He further questioned why the government had not made the CBI report public before appointing the person concerned as a Governor. Rawat had reached Pithoragarh from Bageshwar and was on his way to Haldwani when he interacted with the media.
