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From love on a bus to fight over a woman — story of live-in partners that ended in Nikki’s murder

Sahil Gehlot allegedly strangled his girlfriend Nikki Yadav with data cable after they fought about his upcoming wedding to another woman, & then stuffed her body in fridge.

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New Delhi: The family of 23-year-old Nikki Yadav, who was allegedly killed by her 24-year-old boyfriend Sahil Gehlot, had no idea where she was until her father got a call from Delhi Police’s crime branch Tuesday. That’s when they found out that she met a violent end. 

On the intervening night of 9 and 10 February, after a heated argument, Gehlot allegedly strangled Yadav to death using a data cable and stuffed her body inside a refrigerator in his family’s dhaba in Mitraon village, located in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh, police sources told ThePrint Wednesday. On 10 February, he got married to another woman.

A native of Jhajjar in Haryana, Yadav was pursuing her post-graduation in English from Greater Noida’s Galgotia College and lived with her younger sister in Delhi’s Bindapur. Gehlot lived with his family in Mitraon village.

A local resident informed the police on 10 February about Yadav’s disappearance and that Gehlot got married to another woman, said police sources. The police then formed a team under deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Satish Kumar to investigate the case.

According to the police sources, the crime branch team went to Gehlot’s house in Mitraon village but found no one there. After an intensive search, Gehlot was arrested from the nearby Kair village crossing. According to the police, he confessed to the crime after his arrest.

Special commissioner of police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) has been filed against the accused. On Wednesday, a Delhi court remanded the accused to five days police custody.

Meanwhile, Wednesday morning, Yadav’s body, which was kept at the mortuary of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, was handed over to her family. Her father, Sunil Yadav told ThePrint, “I want him (Sahil Gehlot) to be hanged to death. Nothing short of it.” 


Also Read: Jealousy, love & murder: Before Shraddha, there was killing of Neeraj Grover & gory tandoor case


‘They met on a bus in 2018’  

According to police sources, Gehlot has said that he met Yadav in a bus while they were on their way to Dwarka in January 2018. At that time, he was preparing for the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams while she was studying for a medical entrance exam. 

The special CP (crime) said both the accused and the victim “used to travel to their respective institutes daily in the same bus, and they became friends and later fell in love.” 

In February 2018, while Gehlot took admission in a D. Pharma course, Yadav enrolled for a B.A. (English Honours) in Galgotia College, according to the police. Both of them started living together at Greater Noida in a rented apartment and over time, started travelling together to places like Manali, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Dehradun, the police added.    

During the Covid lockdown both went back to their respective homes.

While Yadav, who had a younger sister and a brother, went on to pursue her post-graduation, Gehlot, a single child, was unemployed after completing his pharma degree in 2020.  

According to police sources, while Yadav had informed some family members about her relationship with Gehlot, the accused hadn’t informed anybody back at home about her. 

“Last year in December, his family asked him to get married. We suspect that at that time (Sahil) Gehlot must have informed them about (Nikki) Yadav but they didn’t agree to the relationship, however, we are still verifying these things,” a police source said. 

What happened that night?

Sources in the Delhi Police told ThePrint that Gehlot was under pressure from his family to get married to another woman. 

According to the police, he hadn’t told Yadav about his engagement on 9 February or the wedding that was about to take place on 10 February. However, she came to know about it since she was “in touch with his cousins”, a police source said.

“Nikki had booked her tickets to Goa on 8 February. On 9 February, she came to know that he is engaged. She then called him to her house for a confrontation,” the source said. Gehlot was also expected to go for the Goa trip, but had not bought his ticket, the source added.

Sahil picked Nikki up around 1:30 am (on the intervening night of 9 and 10 February) in his cousin’s car and they went to Nizamuddin, according to police sources. 

“We are verifying his claims. Initial investigation has revealed that Sahil had gone to meet Nikki in her house in Bindapur after his engagement (on 9 February). The duo then went on a drive. Nikki confronted him. Towards the end of night, his family kept calling him for the wedding preparations, while they kept arguing. Prima facie it appears, he killed her in a fit of rage,” DCP (Crime) Satish Kumar said. 

Gehlot, sources said, had told the police that Yadav had asked him to go to Goa with her, but since he had not bought his ticket, they decided to head to Himachal Pradesh instead.

“They went to Anand Vihar (bus terminus) to get tickets but that didn’t work out. They, then, went to Kashmere Gate (Inter-State Bus Terminus), where he killed her,” the source said, adding that this happened at around 4 am. According to the police, Nikki had carried a bag with her for a trip.

After the murder, Gehlot allegedly drove back to the family dhaba in Mitraon village and stuffed the body in the fridge. “He (Sahil), obviously, had plans to dispose of the body. We are trying to ascertain what his plans were. For that day, he kept the body in the fridge,” the DCP said.

The Print visited the makeshift dhaba owned by the Gehlot family, which has been shut for the past two years. The police has sealed entry to the plot demarcated by tin sheets that has a room-like structure, and tables, chairs, and broken drums lying all around.

The makeshift dhaba where Sahil allegedly hid Nikki's body in a refrigator. | Shyam Nandan Upadhyay| ThePrint
The makeshift dhaba where Sahil allegedly hid Nikki’s body in a refrigerator. | Shyam Nandan Upadhyay| ThePrint

Meanwhile, police said that various teams are now scanning CCTV footage of Bindapur to Kashmere gate-ISBT route to verify where exactly Sahil killed Nikki. 

Asked if this was a pre-planned murder, the DCP said initial investigation had revealed that Gehlot “panicked and killed her”.

‘He kept misleading me’

Nikki Yadav’s father told ThePrint that he had been trying to reach his daughter for a while. “When I couldn’t reach her number, I contacted her friend who informed us that she was last seen with Sahil Gehlot. When I called him, he kept misleading me. He kept saying that she had gone to Dehradun and Mussoorie for a trip. Next, when I reached out to his family, they said they didn’t know anything about Nikki and that he (Sahil) was busy with the wedding.”

ThePrint reached Sahil’s residence — a two-storey house with an orange gate — in Mitraon, where three police officials have been deployed. The officials declined to comment. The tenants, Manwinder Singh and Balwinder Singh, said that the owners were not at home.

Sahil's house in Mitraon village, Najafgarh. | Shyam Nandan Upadhyay| ThePrint
Sahil’s house in Mitraon village, Najafgarh. | Shyam Nandan Upadhyay| ThePrint

The tenants, who work as drivers in the nearby depot, said that they have been staying at Gehlot’s residence for the past four years. They said Sahil lived here with his family. 

When asked whether the newlyweds were brought back to the house, Manwinder said, “We don’t know but we were aware that he (Sahil) was supposed to be married on the 10th.”

“He (Sahil) was not that kind of guy, he did not have any problems with anyone in the neighbourhood as well, he greeted everyone with respect and he was really scared of his father. We were shocked when we got to know about the news,” he added.

“We don’t know where they went,” said Manwinder.

Meanwhile, the DCP said that the police are now recording statements from both sides.

(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)


Also Read: Reporting on Shraddha Walker murder: The case that shook India in 2022


 

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