CBI Officials Meet Uttarakhand Murder Victim's Parents, Assure Fair Probe

New Delhi: Parents of Ankita Bhandari, the 19-year-old resort receptionist whose body was found near Rishikesh in 2022, met senior officials of the CBI, which is probing the alleged role of a "VIP" in the murder case, officials said.The victim's father, Virendra Singh Bhandari, and mother, Soni Devi, met with senior officials at the CBI Headquarters in Delhi and shared information regarding various aspects of the case, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.Special Directors Manoj Shashidhar and Sampat Meena assured them of a fair and impartial investigation, with all aspects of the case being thoroughly examined, it said.The CBI has also registered a case against unknown persons to probe the alleged role of a "VIP" in the murder of Bhandari, officials said.According to sources close to the victim's family, Ankita's parents also made a written request to the CBI director for a narco test of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore and Urmila Sanawar, whose audio purportedly referring to a VIP's role had gone viral.Narco test has no direct evidentiary value in courts.BJP leader Anil Baluni, who is an MP from Uttarakhand's Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency, was present with the victim's family when they met the CBI officials.Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had recommended a CBI inquiry into the case at the demand of Ankita's parents after an actress, who claimed to be the wife of a legislator, circulated audio and video clips purportedly indicating the involvement of a 'VIP' in the murder.Ankita's parents had demanded a CBI inquiry into the case under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. Her father has claimed that his daughter was murdered because of a 'VIP', whose identity is still unknown.Calls for a CBI probe into the 2022 killing have intensified ever since Urmila Sanawar, an actress who claimed to be the wife of a legislator, alleged the involvement of a 'VIP' in the murder.She released videos and audio recordings on social media, which she claimed captured conversations with the MLA and pointed to the role of a "powerful" figure in the murder case.Ankita, who worked as a receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Uttarakhand's Pauri, was murdered by resort owner Pulkit Arya and two of his employees, all of whom have been sentenced to life imprisonment."Materials are circulating on social media, including audio and video and others, alleging that certain unknown individuals, referred to as 'VIP', were involved in a crime related to the Ankita Bhandari murder case," the CBI FIR said."Although the perpetrators involved in the murder have been convicted, it is being alleged on social media and other platforms that certain evidence in the case was concealed or destroyed," the CBI FIR, seen by PTI added.According to the established procedure, the CBI, on the request of a state government, re-registers a state police FIR as its own case, which becomes the starting point of the investigation.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)