New Delhi: The young woman, strangled by her boyfriend with a phone charging data cable after an argument over his marriage to another woman - slated for the same day - and her body stuffed into his dhaba's fridge, was seen, in two CCTV cameras' footage, entering her residence on February 9, just hours before she was killed.
In the ghastly incident, similar to that of the Shraddha Walkar murder, Nikki Yadav, a resident of Haryana's Jhajjar and presently residing at a rented accommodation in west Delhi was strangled by accused Sahil Gehlot, a resident of Mitraon village hours before his wedding to another woman fixed by his parents.
The murder was committed near the Kashmiri Gate area and Gehlot, a B. Pharma graduate, then drove with the dead body all the way to his dhaba - a distance of around 36 km - where he stuffed her body in a refrigerator and went on with his wedding.
Meanwhile, Nikki's body was handed over to his family on Wednesday afternoon after an autopsy. Sources said that the report opined that she was strangled to death.
According to police, on February 10, an input was received that a person named Sahil Gehlot had killed his girlfriend and married another girl on the day of murder.
"A police team was formed and on checking, no case or complaint about any missing girl was found reported. The team reached Mitraon village in search of the accused Gehlot, but his mobile phone was found switched off and he was not present in his house. Intensive search was made in the village and nearby area," Special Commissioner of Police, Crime, Ravindra Singh Yadav said.
However, Gehlot was nabbed by police from Kair village crossing.
"On interrogation, initially, the accused tried to mislead the police. But on sustained interrogation, he disclosed that he had killed his girlfriend, Nikki Yadav, in the intervening night of February 9 and 10 Feb and kept her dead body in a refrigerator at his dhaba in a vacant plot situated on the outskirts of village Mitraon," Yadav said.
Gehlot further disclosed that in 2018, he met the woman at a coaching centre in Uttam Nagar area of west Delhi where he had joined to prepare for SSC exams.
"At that time, Nikki was also preparing for a medical entrance examination in Akash Institute at Uttam Nagar. Both used to travel to their respective institutes daily in the same bus, and they became friends, and later on fell in love," said the Special CP.
"The duo started meeting before and after the coaching classes. In February 2018 the accused took admission in D. Pharma in Galgotia College at Greater Noida and she also took admission in the same college in BA (English Hons.). Thereafter, both of them started living together at Greater Noida in a rented house. They became very close to each other and also travelled to several places such as Manali, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Dehradun etc," said the official.
CCTV footage of Nikki Yadav at her house in uttam nagar. Before she was killed # pic.twitter.com/kmMzNv9W1u— AMIT KUMAR GOUR (@gouramit) February 15, 2023
CCTV footage of Nikki Yadav at her house in uttam nagar. Before she was killed # pic.twitter.com/kmMzNv9W1u
However, during Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, they returned to their homes and after the end of the lockdown, they again started living together in a rented house in Dwarka area.
"The accused did not inform his family members about this relationship. His family was putting pressure on him to get married with some other girl and finally in December 2022, engagement and marriage of the accused with another girl were fixed for February 9 and 10," the Special CP said.
Gehlot did not inform Nikki about his engagement or marriage plans. "Somehow she came to know about this and confronted the accused and arguments started between the two. The accused strangulated the deceased with the help of a data cable of his mobile phone kept in his car. Thereafter, he went to the dhaba owned by him and put her dead body in a refrigerator," he said, adding that Gehlot then went back to his home and solemnised his marriage with another woman.
The last rites of a young woman, strangled by her merciless boyfriend after an argument over his marriage to another woman and her body stuffed into his dhaba's fridge before he went on to his wedding, were conducted on Wednesday at her native village in Haryana's Jhajjar district.
A small cortege took 23-year-old Nikki Yadav's mortal remains from her residence in Kheri Khumar cillage to the cremation ground at around 6 p.m. The last rites were performed by her father Sunil Yadav and younger brother Shubham.
After the rites, the grieving father demanded capital punishment for the accused and said that the family was not aware of her relationship.
Her grandfather Ram Kishan said that she had come home along with her younger sister Nidhi, who also lived with Nikki at the rented accommodation in Delhi's Bindapur area, on December 23 and stayed for 4-5 days.
Sunil Yadav came to know about her daughter's death on Tuesday after he got a call from Delhi Police.
"Last time we spoke to her was on February 9," he said.
"After, I hadn't been able to reach my daughter since Saturday (February 11) and I came to know through her friend that she was last seen with Sahil. I called him and for three days he stalled me and finally said that she had gone on vacation to Dehradun and Mussoorie," he said.
"He told me that he could not go as he is getting married and is busy in it," said Sunil adding that when he called Gehlot's parents, they said that he was not at home and later on they said they were not aware about Nikki and where she is.
Taking suo-moto cognisance of media reports on the murder of a 24-year-old woman, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday issued a notice to the police.
The DCW in the notice said:
"The commission has sought the copy of FIR and the details of accused arrested in the matter. Whether any other accomplice was also identified? If yes, please provide details of the same."
"As per media reports, the accused killed the girl in a car near ISBT, Kashmere Gate by strangulating her. Thereafter, the accused drove the car with her body to Najafgarh and hid the body in a refrigerator at a dhaba," read the DCW notice issued to the Deputy Police Commissioner of the Delhi Police's Crime Branch.
Highlighting the matter as "very serious", the DCW has sought the details of action taken report and the details of any missing complaint received by Delhi Police from the family of the deceased girl along with details of action taken thereon, by February 17.
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