Overview
- The Delhi High Court will hear BJP leader Dushyant Gautam’s defamation petition on Wednesday, with the suit seeking about Rs 2 crore and takedown orders over posts linking him to the Ankita Bhandari case.
- Gautam’s plea names the Congress, AAP, actress Urmila Sanawar, ex-MLA Suresh Rathore, several X accounts, and platforms Meta, Google, and X as respondents.
- Dehradun Police registered an FIR on Gautam’s complaint against the Congress, AAP, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Rathore and Sanawar under BNS defamation and IT Act provisions, alleging a conspiracy and fabricated audio/video.
- Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said an SIT has been constituted to authenticate the viral audio through FSL tests and pledged readiness for any probe after consulting Ankita Bhandari’s parents.
- Dhami stated police verified that Gautam was not in Uttarakhand from September 10 to 20, 2022, as protests continue across the state and the Uttarakhand High Court granted interim protection to Rathore.