The police on Friday filed a chargesheet against six persons, including Sahil Gahlot, who is accused of murdering his partner Nikki Yadav and stuffing her body in a refrigerator at his family-owned eatery.
Filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Paras Dalal, the 576-page report names Sahil as the prime accused, while identifying his father Virender Singh Gahlot, friends Lokesh Yadav and Amar Gahlot, and cousins Ashish Gahlot and Naveen Kumar as co-accused.
After being tipped off about the murder, Delhi Police Crime Branch on February 14 questioned Sahil and arrested him after he confessed to the crime. The others were arrested on February 18.
As per the chargesheet, on the intervening night of February 9 and 10, when Nikki confronted Sahil over his marriage to another woman a few hours later, he strangulated her in Ashish’s car near Kashmere Gate’s Nigambodh Ghat.
Sahil then called the co-accused, met them near Paschim Vihar and went to south-west Delhi’s Mitraon village where they hid her body in a fridge.
The police have invoked IPC Sections 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence), 202 (intentionally omitting information regarding an offence), 212 (harbouring offender), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention). The court posted the matter for further hearing on May 25.
An officer said statements of over 70 witnesses have been recorded, including family members, doctors and police officers. The key witnesses include Nikki’s sister and her friend, a security guard at Nigambodh Ghat, a priest at an Arya Samaj temple and a person at the enquiry desk at Anand Vihar bus terminal.
‘Married in 2020’
According to the police, Sahil had married Nikki in 2020 at an Arya Samaj temple in Noida. The chargesheet has been based on evidence such as Nikki’s body recovered from the fridge; a diary in which she wrote about Sahil; as well as CCTV footage collected from areas including Uttam Nagar, Nigambodh Ghat, Anand Vihar bus terminal and Paschim Vihar which verify the sequence of events.
Published - May 13, 2023 01:45 am IST
