Delhi Police on Saturday arrested five persons for allegedly conspiring to protect Sahil Gahlot, 24, the prime accused in the murder of his 23-year-old partner Nikki Yadav. A metropolitan court has remanded the accused in three-day police custody.
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In a twist in the case, the police said Nikki and Gahlot had tied the knot in 2020 and their marriage certificate has been recovered. Gahlot allegedly strangled Nikki to death as the accused’s family was not happy with the alliance and had fixed his marriage with another woman, the police said.
“All five co-accused, including the accused’s father, Virender Singh; two cousins, Ashish and Naveen; and two friends, Amar and Lokesh, were interrogated and arrested after verifying their role in the killing,” Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said.
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They have been booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence), 202 (intentionally omitting information regarding an offence), and 212 (harbouring an offender) of the Indian Penal Code.
Co-accused Naveen is a police constable posted in Dwarka district. Gahlot had been sent to five-day police custody on Tuesday. He and the five co-accused will be produced in court on Monday.
Gahlot was arrested on February 14 and he admitted to strangling Nikki on the intervening night of February 9 and 10 near Kashmere Gate’s Nigam Bodh Ghat. The police said the accused committed the crime in Ashish’s car and then called the co-accused for help. They met Gahlot near Paschim Vihar and headed to his dhaba (eatery) in south-west Delhi’s Mitraon village.
The accused stuffed Nikki’s body in a refrigerator and left Ashish’s car at the dhaba. They then reached Gahlot’s house in his car. The prime accused told his father about the crime, but he was asked to go ahead with the marriage on February 10, a senior police officer said.
However, Nikki’s relatives said they weren’t aware of her marriage with Gahlot. “Nikki was an ambitious woman who wanted to complete her PhD. She had been preparing for her exams and did not want to marry so early,” said Jagdish Yadav, 62, the victim’s uncle.