NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, joined a high-profile sit-in protest staged by the parents of late receptionist Ankita Bhandari at India Gate in New Delhi.

The grieving parents have been holding demonstrations to protest the controversial appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the Governor of Sikkim. They have formally urged President Droupadi Murmu to put the appointment on hold pending the completion of a thorough CBI investigation into the alleged "VIP angle" linked to the high-profile murder case.

Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a 19-year-old receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, was brutally murdered in September 2022. Investigators found she was killed after refusing to provide "special services" to a visiting VIP guest. In August 2025, following a nearly three-year judicial trial, a local sessions court sentenced the three prime accused—including resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of a former BJP leader—to life imprisonment. However, the victim's family maintains that the larger conspiracy and the identity of the VIP involved have been shielded.

In a scathing post shared on social media, Gandhi stated,