Wife slain, husband remarries same day
A DELHI man allegedly killed his wife after an argument over his impending marriage to another woman, stuffed her body in a refrigerator at his dhaba (roadside shack), and went on with his wedding the same day – February 10.
Sahil Gehlot, 24, was arrested after the body of Nikki Yadav, 23, a resident of Haryana’s Jhajjar, was found on Valentine’s Day on the outskirts of Mitraon village in Delhi.
Sources said the killing was committed near the Kashmiri Gate area, and Gehlot then drove with the dead body to his dhaba about 36km away.
Police sources said that during his interrogation, Gehlot allegedly revealed that he had earlier planned to push Yadav out of a moving car to pretend her death was an accident.
When this plan could not work, Gehlot then allegedly strangled her with a charging/data cable that was in the car at the Nigambodh Ghat parking lot (located on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi), and then later stuffed her body inside the fridge in his dhaba.
Police said they received information that Gehlot had killed Yadav and married another girl the same day.
“A police team checked but no case or complaint about a missing girl was found reported.
“The team reached Mitraon village in search of the accused Gehlot, but his cellphone was switched off and he was not at his house. An intensive search was led in the village and nearby area,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (crime branch).
Gehlot was nabbed by police at the Kair village crossing.
“On interrogation, the accused initially tried to mislead the police. But on sustained interrogation, he disclosed he had killed Nikki Yadav in the intervening night of February 9 and 10 and kept her body in a refrigerator at his dhaba in a vacant plot situated on the outskirts of village Mitraon,” said Singh Yadav.
Gehlot said that in 2018 he met Yadav at a coaching centre in Uttam Nagar area of west Delhi. He had joined the centre to prepare for secondary school exams.
“At that time, Nikki was also preparing for a medical entrance exam at the Akash Institute at Uttam Nagar. Both used to travel to their respective institutes daily on the same bus, and they became friends, and later fell in love.
“The duo started meeting before and after the coaching classes. In February 2018, the accused took admission to D Pharma in Galgotia College at Greater Noida and she also took admission to the same college for a BA (English Hons).
“Thereafter, both of them started living together in 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.”
However, during the 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 the Dwarka area.
“The accused did not inform his family members about this relationship. His family was putting pressure on him to get married to some other girl and finally in December 2022, the engagement and marriage of the accused with another girl were fixed for February 9 and 10.”
Gehlot did not inform Yadav about his engagement or marriage plans.
“Somehow she came to know about this and confronted the accused and arguments started between the two,” said a senior police source.
Yadav tried to dissuade him from marrying as they had already solemnised their marriage in 2020.
“She was pleading with him not to go ahead with the marriage fixed by his family. The accused strangled the deceased with a data cable of his cellphone kept in his car. Thereafter, he went to the dhaba and put her dead body in a refrigerator.”
However, Gehlot, along with his father, two cousins and two friends hatched a conspiracy and planned to remove the deceased. All of them went ahead with the marriage ceremony and Gehlot solemnised his marriage to the other woman.
Police also arrested Gehlot’s father, Virender Singh, his two cousins Ashish and Naveen (a constable in Delhi Police), and two friends, Amar and Lokesh, for hatching a conspiracy to get rid of Yadav and going ahead with the wedding.
They were booked for criminal conspiracy; disappearance of evidence of offence; knowing or having reason to believe that an offence has been committed; and harbouring or concealing an offender under the Indian Penal Code.
The investigators also found that Virender Singh was reportedly involved in a murder case lodged 25 years ago.
Sources claimed that during scanning of the criminal record and interrogation, it was found that following a land dispute in 1997, Singh was arrested for allegedly beating up a man who succumbed to his injuries.
“Virender was convicted by the Sessions Court in 2001 but later, he appealed in the Delhi High Court and was acquitted,” said a source.
Vipin Arya, the president of Arya Samaj Mandir committee in Greater Noida, said Gehlot and Yadav got married in October 2020.
“On October 1, 2020, they came to get married. The marriage took place after they produced all the documents. They said that their family had given consent for marriage but due to some problem, they could not come. Only one to two persons came with them.”
However, Yadav’s dad said he was unaware of the marriage. |