The police detained the parents of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, who was murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, around 4 am on Thursday morning while they were protesting near India Gate.The action came hours after Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met them at India Gate, where they were protesting against the appointment of Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim Governor. Gautam is alleged to be the “VIP” linked to the case. Ankita’s parents were later released around 5 am, said sources.Several Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera and Supritya Shrinate, and Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib, were also detained.Meanwhile, the Congress accused the BJP government of silencing Ankita’s family by detaining her parents. Rahul, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP Shashi Tharoor condemned the detention, questioning why grieving parents seeking justice had been picked up in the dead of night while the proposed appointment of the BJP leader remained under scrutiny.“At 4 am, while the world was asleep, Ankita Bhandari’s parents were taken into custody,” Rahul said in a post on X.He said Ankita’s parents had been sitting peacefully at India Gate, asking only that Gautam’s appointment be deferred until the CBI probe was complete.“The appointment cannot wait for the investigation to conclude, but the parents asking questions are picked up in the dead of night,” he said, accusing the government of suppressing the voices of victims and silencing those demanding accountability. He added that the Congress would stand with Ankita’s family until justice was delivered.Rahul has also written to President Droupadi Murmu, requesting her to ask the government to reconsider Gautam’s appointment, and ensure that he does not take office until the CBI completes its investigation.“I know that governors are appointed on the advice of the Council of Ministers, led by the Prime Minister … PM Narendra Modi has proven his utter disregard for women’s safety by advising Gautam’s appointment. However, by long convention, the President has the right to warn the government, and Article 74(1) gives you the power to ask for advice to be reconsidered. That is why I write to you, as a last resort,” Rahul said.Kharge described the detention as the “height of cowardice and insensitivity” on the part of the Modi government, alleging that the parents pleading for justice had been detained while a BJP “VIP” was being appointed Governor.“Such treatment of parents who have lost their daughter is extremely shameful and condemnable,” Kharge said, asserting that the Congress would continue its struggle to secure justice for Ankita.Tharoor also questioned the government’s response to peaceful protests, asking whether it had abandoned accountability to the extent of relying on detention to silence those demanding answers.Drawing a parallel with the judicial custody of young protesters following the Jantar Mantar demonstration, he said citizens waving the Tricolour during peaceful protests and Ankita’s grieving parents were being subjected to detention for exercising their democratic rights.“A protester is not an offender. A grieving parent is not a threat,” Tharoor said, questioning what threat peaceful demonstrators posed to public order. He said the constitutional right to protest could not depend on whether the questions raised were convenient to those in power.“The power to detain is not the power to silence. The demand for justice does not end at the gates of a police station,” he said.The Congress has demanded that Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor be put on hold until the CBI investigation into Ankita’s death is completed, maintaining that the family’s demand for justice must not be brushed aside.Issue 24-hr ultimatum, threaten nationwide stirAnkita Bhandari’s parents  on Thursday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Centre to revoke BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor until the ongoing CBI investigation into the case was completed, warning of nationwide protests if their demand was not met.Ankita’s father, Virendra Singh Bhandari, said the family would approach the President seeking directions to the government to revoke Gautam’s appointment. He also demanded that the call detail records (CDRs) of the accused, Pulkit Arya, for September 18 and 19, 2022, be obtained as part of the investigation.“The phone recovered by the SIT was a new phone. Therefore, examining the call detail records is extremely important in this case,” Virendra Singh Bhandari said.He warned that if the appointment was not revoked within 24 hours, protests would be organised across the country. While some protesters would assemble in Delhi, others would hold sit-ins and demonstrations in their respective districts, depending on local circumstances and convenience, he said.Ankita’s mother, Soni Devi, reiterated the family’s demand for justice and called for Gautam’s appointment to be put on hold pending a CBI investigation.“I demand justice for my daughter. Furthermore, the man who has been appointed as Governor—I want that appointment to be halted, and I call for a CBI investigation into the matter,” she said.Appealing to the public to continue supporting the family, she said, “This is not just my daughter’s fight—it is a fight for everyone’s daughters.”Earlier on Thursday, the couple was released around 5 am, hours after being detained during a protest near India Gate on Wednesday, sources said. The detention was carried out in view of Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) being imposed in the New Delhi district, a source said.Several Congress leaders, including party media and publicity department head Pawan Khera, social media department head Supriya Shrinate and Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib, were also detained during the protest and later released.The family had been protesting against Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim Governor, announced on Monday, demanding that it be put on hold until the CBI investigation into Ankita’s murder is completed.Gautam’s name has repeatedly surfaced in allegations raised by Ankita’s family and activists concerning an unidentified VIP allegedly linked to the crime. Gautam has denied the accusations and initiated defamation proceedings against those making them.Ankita, 19, worked as a receptionist at Vanantra Resort in Rishikesh, where she was murdered on September 18, 2022. Her body was recovered from the Chilla canal four days later.Resort owner Pulkit Arya, son of former BJP leader Vinod Arya, and his two accomplices were convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment.