The September 2022 murder is back in the news after the appointment as Sikkim Governor of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam, whom Sanawar has identified as the “VIP” being talked about in the recordings released by her. Earlier, giving into Opposition pressure in an election year, the BJP government agreed to a CBI probe, though three people have been convicted for Bhandari’s murder, including the owner of a resort where she had joined as a receptionist days earlier.

The allegations against Sanawar, who has acted in a few films, include extortion, death threats, circulation of “objectionable” photographs, remarks hurting religious sentiments, and defamation over the circulation of the recordings. The first of these FIRs was filed soon after she put out the recordings in December 2025.

She was arrested on Sunday on a complaint by Deepika Rathore, the daughter of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore. Sanawar has claimed that Rathore was the man she was discussing the “VIP” in the recordings with.…