The Congress on Monday organised a rally and a protest in Dehradun against the Uttarakhand government’s alleged attempt to shield the “VIP” in the 2022 receptionist murder case and the deteriorating law and order in the state.
“We took out a rally and gathered at the Parade Ground in the state capital. We had planned to march to Lok Bhavan to gherao it, but the police lathi-charged the protesters. We are on a dharna to demand the arrest of the VIP for whom the receptionist was killed,” Congress MLA Pritam Singh said.
“We also want to bring to people’s attention how a murder is taking place in Dehradun every week. The situation in the districts is equally deplorable, but the Pushkar Singh Dhami government is in deep slumber,” Singh added.
A 19-year-old receptionist of Vanantara Resort in Rishikesh, owned by now-suspended BJP leader Vinod Arya and run by his son Pulkit, was murdered and thrown into a canal on September 18, 2022, for allegedly refusing to offer “special service” to a VIP. Pulkit and two managers of the resort are serving life terms for the murder.
The case sprang back into the limelight last December after a TV actress alleged that the “mystery VIP” was BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam. Gautam has denied the allegation and filed a defamation suit against her.
Under attack from residents of the state, who held dharnas in almost every district, the Dhami government had handed the case to the CBI.
The protesters on Monday, led by Congress MP and party in charge of Uttarakhand Selja Kumari, also demanded urgent action to curb rising crimes in the
state capital.
Five persons, including a local businessman and a gangster from Jharkhand, have been killed in Dehradun in the last month but the police have so far not been able to nab the killers.
“Our protest is against complete anarchy in the state. People are living in fear but the government believes it can mislead them by dividing them along communal lines. We are struggling for a secure life in the hill state and the people are with us in this fight,” Youth Congress leader Surabhi Dwivedi said.
“The state government has let loose the Bajrang Dal, an unregistered organisation, to foment violence. The Bajrang Dal is anti-Hindu. Therefore, they are silent on the murder of the Hindu receptionist,” she alleged.
The dharna, which continued for around six hours, was also attended by former chief minister Harish Rawat and former state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat.
State Congress president Ganesh Godyal said: “Our effort is to ensure peace and harmony in the state and thwart the BJP government’s design to divide us along caste and religious lines.”
A police officer said traffic was diverted to facilitate the rally and the dharna. “Over 1,000 policemen were deployed to maintain law and order. According to our estimate, there were over one lakh protesters in the rally and dharna,” said the officer, who didn’t want to be identified.
