BJP national general secretary and party in-charge for Uttarakhand Dushyant Gautam has lodged an FIR against television actress Urmila Sanawar and former MLA Suresh Rathore for linking him to the 2022 murder of a teenage receptionist at a Rishikesh resort run by the son of a now-suspended BJP leader.

Gautam’s action — several days after Sanawar claimed he was the “VIP guest” to whom the receptionist had been asked to provide “special services” by the resort management, and hours after which she was killed — was seen as the result of social and political organisations mounting pressure on the hill state’s BJP government to recommend a CBI probe.

In his complaint submitted to Ajay Singh, the senior superintendent of police of Dehradun, Gautam has named the Congress, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party, claiming that Sanawar and Rathore had conspired with them to tarnish his and his party’s image.

Two weeks ago, Sanawar had said in a video message uploaded on social media that one “Gattu” was the “mystery VIP” for whom undue favours had been solicited from the receptionist at Vanantara Resort. In another video a few days later, Sanawar claimed Rathore was her estranged husband and that he had identified “Gattu” as Gautam.

Rathore, a former BJP MLA, has denied that he was Sanawar’s husband and that he had ever said Gautam was the VIP visitor at the resort on September 18, 2002, the day the receptionist was murdered and thrown into a canal.

The now-demolished resort was owned by now-suspended BJP leader and former Uttarakhand Pottery Board chairman Vinod Arya and run by his son Pulkit. Pulkit and two resort employees are serving life terms for the murder.

Associates of BJP leaders have lodged cases against Sanawar and Rathore, and the police have served notices at their doors over the past week, but both are suspected to be absconding.

Sanawar had in a social media post claimed that the police were looking for her to put her in jail and “destroy the evidence of the involvement of Gautam and some other BJP leaders in the murder”.

Angry over the delay in action against Gautam, some BJP workers have also joined the anti-government protests over the past week, demanding his arrest and a CBI probe.

Madhu Nautiyal, who identified herself as the BJP divisional president of Haridwar, attended one such protest in Dehradun on Sunday. She broke down and told reporters: “I hate such a dirty BJP, which killed our daughter and made us cry. They (the government) suppressed this issue for three years. These leaders have opened resorts in our hills where they want liquor and our daughters.”

“There are no jobs in Uttarakhand and educated youths are washing plates in hotels. And these people (those who killed the receptionist) are giving jobs to our daughters to demand special services from them,” she added.

Ashutosh Sharma, the BJP president of Haridwar district, has denied that Nautiyal was ever an office-bearer of the party. “She is not even an active member of the BJP. It is a conspiracy of the Congress,” he said.

Social organisations and Opposition parties have been protesting separately against the BJP and Gautam. Carrying posters which read “BJP Se Yari, Uttarakhand Se Gaddari (Friendship with the BJP means betraying Uttarakhand)”, a large number of people protested at several places, including Almora and Haridwar, on Tuesday.