Overview
- Dehradun police registered an FIR against former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore and Urmila Sanawar after a complaint by Aarti Gaur over allegedly defamatory statements in a video circulating online.
- The case was lodged at Nehru Colony police station under provisions of the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, according to police.
- Statewide demonstrations were reported in Dehradun, Haldwani, Ramnagar, Mussoorie and Rudraprayag, where protesters demanded a CBI probe and, in some instances, capital punishment for those responsible.
- Congress leaders renewed calls for a federal CBI inquiry after the video of a woman claiming to be Rathore’s wife referred to a 'VIP', while the Uttarakhand BJP called the material unverified and possibly AI-generated and accused the opposition of politicizing the case.
- Courts have already sentenced the convicted perpetrators in the 2022 murder to life imprisonment, and former chief minister Harish Rawat filed a separate police complaint alleging an AI-generated video targeted him ahead of a planned protest at the BJP state headquarters.