New Delhi, Jan 7 (NationPress) The Delhi High Court provided interim relief to BJP General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam in a defamation action, mandating the Indian National Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and various other defendants to eliminate social media posts and videos associating him with the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.

A single-judge Bench presided over by Justice Mini Pushkarna barred the defendants from posting, sharing, or re-posting any material that names or targets Gautam as the supposed "VIP" in the Ankita Bhandari case. They were ordered to remove the defamatory content from social media sites, including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X within 24 hours.

The Delhi High Court stated that should the individual defendants and political parties neglect to adhere to the instructions within the specified timeframe, social media intermediaries like X, Meta Platforms, and Google LLC would be compelled to remove the content in accordance with the Information Technology Rules.

The defendants named in the suit include Urmila Sanawar, Suresh Rathore, the Indian National Congress, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, Ganesh Godiyal, the Aam Aadmi Party, Alok Sharma, Mohit Chauhan, and the X account PMNehru, alongside the social media intermediaries.

The case is scheduled for further hearing on May 4.

This interim relief came following Gautam's suit requesting the removal of the supposedly defamatory material and seeking damages of Rs 2 crore.

Gautam argued that his reputation was significantly harmed by posts and videos on social media that depicted him as the "VIP" allegedly tied to the murder of Ankita Bhandari.

Upon reviewing the case, the Delhi High Court indicated that a prima facie case was established in favor of the plaintiff, asserting that the balance of convenience lies with him and that irreparable harm would occur if the defendants were not restrained from distributing the content.

Gautam’s representation, senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, emphasized that the allegedly defamatory material had been in circulation for several days, severely tarnishing the plaintiff's reputation.

Bhatia urged the Delhi High Court to mandate the prompt removal of all such material, including proxy and identical content.

In his suit, Gautam asserted that the contested posts and videos were fabricated and disseminated from December 24, 2025, onwards to establish a false narrative linking him to a criminal case in which he is neither named as a suspect nor charged by any investigative body or court.

The suit claimed that the alleged defamatory posts on social media portrayed Gautam as a "sexual predator" and insinuated that he was the individual for whose advantage Ankita Bhandari was allegedly exploited, contrary to the investigative and judicial records.

The controversy stems from the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, a receptionist at a resort near Rishikesh, who vanished in September 2022 and was subsequently discovered deceased.

In May 2025, a trial court convicted Pulkit Arya, the son of a former BJP leader, and two others, sentencing them to life imprisonment.

Dushyant Kumar Gautam has insisted that there is no mention of him in the investigation or any judicial findings in the case.

The renewed outrage was triggered by allegations made by television actress Urmila Sanawar on December 24, 2025, when she accused a senior BJP leader of being the previously unnamed 'VIP' connected to the case. She later identified Gautam as the individual referred to as 'Gattu'.