In a major development in the Nikki Yadav murder case, a week after arresting the main accused, Sahil Gehlot, Nikki’s live-in partner, police have now arrested Sahil’s father, Virender, two cousins, Ashish and Naveen, and two close friends, Lokesh and Amar, in connection with the murder. Naveen, the son of Sahil’s maternal aunt, is a constable in the Delhi Police. Police sources have also revealed that Nikki and Sahil were actually married since 2020.
While Sahil (24) and Nikki (23), who was the niece of a Kargil War veteran, had been together for more than four years, his family had scheduled his wedding to a different woman on February 10. Nikki called Sahil after learning about the nuptials, and they went for a drive. Following a dispute over the matter, Sahil is accused of strangling her to death in the early hours of February 10. He then allegedly wandered for several hours before taking her body to his village, Mitraon in Delhi, where he stored it inside a refrigerator at his family-owned dhaba.
Sahil, a pharma graduate, and Nikki got married in October 2020 at the Arya Samaj temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, upsetting his family. They were opposed to the marriage and wanted to get rid of Nikki.
Nikki was unaware that Sahil’s family had planned to marry him to another woman. The authorities obtained Sahil and Nikki’s marriage certificate while the perpetrator was in remand.
On Friday night, Sahil’s father, cousins, and friends were also arrested. Senior police officers claimed, that despite knowing about the crime, Sahil’s father arranged for his son to wed another woman hours after killing Nikki.
Earlier, an investigating officer said, “While we were interrogating Sahil, we found out that he had told his father about the incident. Before getting married, we suspect he came clean to his father about the murder. His father however asked him to go ahead with the marriage, which he did.”
The body was hidden in the refrigerator with assistance from Sahil’s cousins and friends.
Ravindra Yadav, special commissioner of police for crime, commented, “During interrogation, we found that Nikki and Sahil got married in 2020. She was his wife. They got married in a temple. We have the certificate as well. When she found out about the other wedding, she pleaded with him not to go ahead. We suspect the accused then hatched the conspiracy to remove/eliminate the deceased. After the murder, he informed his associates on the same day. They went ahead with the marriage functions. We have now arrested all five accused after interrogating them and verifying their role.”
Police have confirmed that Sahil’s second wife, who left for her hometown a day after the marriage, was oblivious to the occurrence and is not currently being questioned.
