Sikkim Governor is prime suspect in Ankita Bhandari murder?

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Checked 15 Oct 2026 · Updated 17 Oct 2026

Re-checked 15 Oct 2026: first published as False, now No proof yet.

Pulkit Arya and two others were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for Ankita Bhandari's murder. However, Ankita's father accused Gautam of being responsible as an unidentified VIP, the Uttarakhand Congress alleged his name cropped up, and Urmila Sanawar claimed Gautam and Aarti Gaur were involved. Gautam denied this, stating he was never named as an accused or charge-sheeted. In his defamation case, the Delhi High Court ordered political parties to remove posts linking him to the murder, while Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recommended a CBI probe in February 2026.

Main source: New Indian Express

Nobody reliable has confirmed this.

The post we checked

The murder of 19-year-old receptionist Ankita Bhandari at the Vanantra Resort in 2022 led to a major judicial milestone on May 30, 2025, when the Kotdwar…

⚖️ Where the case stands

✅ Established

Convicted: "The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Reena Negi in Kotdwar found the three accused — Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar, and Ankit Gupta — guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 354 (assault or criminal force against a…" New Indian Express, 2025-05-30

🗣️ Alleged

Ankita's father: "Her father alleged that an unidentified VIP had played a key role in his daughter’s murder and claimed that Gautam was responsible." New Indian Express, 2026-10-14
"The Uttarakhand Congress on Tuesday protested against the appointment of Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the new governor of Sikkim, alleging his name had cropped up in the Ankita Bhandari murder case." ThePrint, 2026-10-13
Urmila Sanawar: "Urmila alleged that BJP national general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam and former Yamkeshwar district panchayat member Aarti Gaur were involved in the case." Newslaundry, 2026-01-08
Their response: "he has never been named as an accused, charge-sheeted, or implicated by any investigating agency in the case." All India Radio, 2026-01-07

❓ Still open

No court has ruled on the allegations above in any source we found.

What we checked

✓

Kotdwar District Court convicted Pulkit Arya, Saurabh Bhaskar, and Ankit Gupta to life imprisonment for the 2022 murder of Ankita Bhandari.New Indian Express

✓

President Droupadi Murmu appointed BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as the Governor of Sikkim on October 13, 2026.Times of India

The prime suspect in the Ankita Bhandari murder case is the Governor of Sikkim.No reliable source found for this yet.

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