Guwahati police have issued fresh summons to CNN News18 anchor Akanksha Swarup, and Shrasti Raghuvanshi, sister of late Raja Raghuvanshi killed in Meghalaya, over their highly objectionable comments on Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. They were originally issued notices on June 13, directing them to appear at the Crime Branch police station on June 23 and 24. However, none of them arrived for questioning.
A case was filed against Swarup and Raghuvanshi over their comments on TV claiming that human sacrifice takes place at Kamakhya temple. The controversial remarks were made by anchor Akanksha Swarup while talking to Raja Raghuvanshi’s sister Shrasti Raghuvanshi on air on 11 June, claiming that Raja Raghuvanshi ’s murder allegedly by his wife can be a case of human sacrifice at Kamakhya temple, adding that such sacrifice takes place at the Shakti Peeth.
🚨 Absolutely shocking & deeply offensive!
— Oxomiya Jiyori 🇮🇳 (@SouleFacts) June 12, 2025
Anchor @akankshaswarups, while sitting in the studio of @CNNnews18, has casually and falsely claimed that human sacrifices are part of rituals at the revered Maa Kamakhya Temple in Assam.
⚠️ This is not just a blatant lie but a… pic.twitter.com/JWW5rDNVfr
She had said, “It has been said that it can be a case of human sacrifice. We have talked to Raja Raghuvanshi’s brother, who said that this can be called a human sacrifice because he was stabbed from behind and he was also had a garland on him. And because they had visited Kamakhya, where human sacrifice takes places or sacrifices are made.”
The anchor had asked Shrasti, “So do these things raise a suspicion that this can be a tantric murder?” In reply, Shrasti said that while she can’t say anything on this, she knows that human sacrifice takes place at Kamakhya. CNN News18 later apologized for its anchor’s false comments, and removed the offensive comments from its video.
A case was then registered against Akanksha Swarup and Shrasti Raghuvanshi under Sections 196(2) (promoting enmity between different groups), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 302 (“ttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNS), and notices were issued to them under section 35(3) of BNSS on June 13 to appear in Guwahati on 23 and 24 June. However, as they have ignored the same, fresh summons have been issued.
“The IO has sent 35 (3) BNSS notice to the accused named in the FIR including the anchor of the news channel and Shrishti Raghuvanshi of Indore on 13-06-2025 to appear before the Investigation Officer at Crime Branch PS on 23 and 24 June, but they did not appear before IO till date,” Joint Police Commissioner Ankur Jain stated.
He said, “The statements are against the revered temple of Hindu deity Maa Kamakhya of Assam, thereby hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community and disturbing public peace and communal harmony in the society. Hence, the case registered.”
Shrasti’s brother Vipin Raghuvanshi said that they have already apologised over the false statement, and alleged that police have issued the summons again due to her recent social media popularity.
#WATCH | Indore, Madhya Pradesh: On Assam police summoning Raja Raghuvanshi's sister, Srashti Raghuvanshi, his brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, says, "They asked to apologise, so we apologised. The police asked Srashti to provide them with all the evidence she had and apologise… The… pic.twitter.com/KKBwrjT3NX
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2025
“Due to the reel on Instagram, Shrasti’s followers are increasing, which has led the police to suspect that she is diverting the investigation in another direction,” Vipin told while talking to ANI.
