The person behind Ankita Bhandari homicide case and newest allegations: Who’re Urmila Sanawal, Suresh Rathore?

On Monday, Gautam, the BJP nationwide secretary and former SC Morcha president, filed a grievance within the Delhi Excessive Courtroom accusing Sanawal, former Jwalapur MLA Rathore and opposition events of defaming him. The courtroom on Wednesday directed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Occasion to delete social media posts linking Gautam to the homicide case inside 24 hours. For the reason that video was posted, a number of FIRs have been registered in Haridwar and Dehradun, the most recent being the grievance towards Gautam at Dharanwala police station in Dehradun.

Sanawar: Appeared in viral video

Sanawar, an actress from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh who has appeared in a number of TV collection, first met Rathore in 2022 when he was an acharya of Haridwar’s Ravidas Vishwa Peeth and energetic in Dalit politics. Sanawar mentioned in movies and interviews that by then she had separated from her then-husband. She claims to have turn into Rathore’s disciple, posting movies with him and calling him her ‘guru’. In response to Sanawal, the 2 additionally mentioned producing a tv collection collectively.

Ankita Bhandari (left), police cease members of varied organizations throughout a protest march in the direction of the Uttarakhand CM’s residence and demand a CBI probe into the homicide case. (PTI)

In an interview, Sanawar claimed that Rathore met her for lunch in Dehradun, the place she was drugged and raped. She claimed that he later threatened to launch an offensive video, which left her with no alternative however to marry him in Nepal in 2023. Nonetheless, Rasool denies this and accuses him of blackmailing her. As Sanawal continues to publish movies accusing Rathore of extortion, the Bharatiya Janata Occasion chief mentioned she is simply an actress in his movie.

Sanawal constantly maintained that they have been married and had been courting for 3 years. In June 2025, the 2 held a press convention wherein Mr. Rasool confirmed for the primary time that he was married. He was later expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Occasion for six years for allegedly violating the Uniform Civil Code, which prohibits polygamy. Nonetheless, he later denied it and mentioned the photograph was from a film he was producing. In November, simply earlier than the brand new allegations surfaced, the previous BJP chief posted a photograph of himself along with his first spouse Ravindra Kaur on Fb and mentioned she was the one particular person he would marry. He accused Sanawal of harassing him for 2 years by way of his feedback. Later, Sanawal posted a video accusing Rasool of sexual harassment. A couple of days later, she uploaded the primary video to shake up politics in Uttarakhand.

Since then, she has been charged underneath the provisions of the IT Act in 4 FIRs. In at the least six earlier circumstances, she has been accused of sending “obscene materials”, inciting non secular sentiments, and extortion. For instance, within the Might 2025 FIR, she was accused of posting disagreeable feedback about Lord Valmiki and hurting the emotions of the Valmiki neighborhood. Two months in the past, Rasool’s daughter had filed a grievance towards Sanawal and one other man, accusing her of circulating disturbing photographs of her on-line and making an attempt to extort cash from her.

BJP MLA to Ravidas Peeth acharya

Rathore was accused of rape a yr earlier than the 2022 meeting elections, when he misplaced his seat as a sitting MLA. Because the police didn’t file an FIR on the idea of the complainant’s grievance, she approached the district courtroom which directed the police to register a case. Rathore claimed that the lady had earlier been arrested in an extortion case and was making an attempt to defame her title. The lady then appealed to the Excessive Courtroom looking for police safety. He had requested the Excessive Courtroom to quash the case, claiming he had ulterior motives, however police later closed the case on account of lack of proof.

Individuals took out a candlelight march in Dehradun to demand justice for Ankita Bhandari, whose physique was present in a canal in Rishikesh on September 24, 2022.

Though his tenure as a celebration member lasted for nearly 40 years, the 63-year-old former native occasion chief unsuccessfully stood as a candidate from Bhagwanpur constituency within the 2012 meeting elections. In 2017, he contested elections from the SC-protected Jwalapur as an acharya of Ravidas Peeth, mobilizing the neighborhood that supported his election as MLA. Rathore can also be a businessman, proudly owning a petroleum station and holds a grasp’s diploma in political science from a college in Tamil Nadu, in keeping with the affidavit. He’s additionally the Nationwide President of Sri Guru Ravidas Akhara.

Amid the allegations towards Mr. Gautam, Mr. Rathore is accused of orchestrating an try and alienate him from the Ravidasia neighborhood and malign the BJP management in an effort to consolidate his management. An FIR registered at Haridwar’s Bahadurabad police station on December 24 alleged that Mr. Gautam was the sufferer of a “conspiracy” to defame him and mentioned that “false and baseless” allegations by Mr. Rathore and Mr. Sanawal had “unfold anger towards them all through the Ravidas neighborhood and created an environment of hostility and insecurity.”

One other FIR registered on the metropolis’s Jhabrela police station on December 26 accused the 2 of making and distributing a false video and inflicting severe injury to Gautam’s status within the Ravidasia neighborhood.

The previous MLA filed an interim aid software within the Uttarakhand Excessive Courtroom on Tuesday looking for safety from arrest. The courtroom ordered that no coercive motion must be taken towards Rathore.