Delhi murder case: “Families agree to their marriage”, Nikki, Sahil told temple committee

New Delhi: Nikki Yadav and her live-in partner Sahil Gahlot, who strangulated her to death, had told the Greater Noida’s Arya Samaj temple administration that both their families had given consent for their marriage, said the president of Arya Samaj Mandir committee, Greater Noida.

Earlier today, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch after interrogating Sahil at length revealed that the accused and the deceased girl were married and not just mere live-in partners.

Officials of the Crime Branch after interrogating Sahil, accused of strangulating her Nikki (25) with a phone’s data cable and stuffing her body in a fridge of his family-owned dhaba in Delhi’s Mitraon village, at length revealed that the duo had solemnised their marriage in an Arya Samaj Temple three years ago.

Vipin Arya, the president of Arya Samaj Mandir committee, Greater Noida said that Nikki and Sahil got married in October 2020.

“On October 1, 2020, they (Nikki and Sahil) 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 1-2 persons came with them,” Vipin Arya told ANI.

Arya further said Delhi Police took all the documents for the investigation of the case.

Reacting to Delhi Police’s claim that Nikki, who was strangulated to death with a phone’s data cable, got married to accused Sahil Gahlot in an Arya Samaj Temple three years ago, Sunil Yadav, father of the deceased girl on Saturday said that he was “unaware” of it.

“None in the family knows anything about this (marriage),” he said.

Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch Ravindra Yadav, said, “There was talk of a live-in partner, but now it has come to the fore that both of them got married in the Arya Samaj temple. After that, he planned to marry another girl. We recovered Nikki’s body from the fridge of Sahil’s dhaba. We then started questioning Sahil. During police interrogation, Sahil disclosed that Nikki had been asking him not to marry another girl because both had already solemnised their marriage in 2020 and were actually husband and wife and not live-in partners.”

Sahil told police that Nikki was repeatedly objecting to his impending marriage, fixed by his family on February 10.

“Fed up with her repeated objections, Sahil planned to kill Nikki and executed the murder along with his accomplices- family members and acquaintances, on February 10 on the day of his second marriage. So far involvement of five more people has come to the fore. All accused planned the whole conspiracy and disposed of the body in the refrigerator of their dhaba. The accused’s father was aware of the murder from starting. After the murder, they all attended Sahil’s marriage ceremony. Sahil’s father, two cousins and two friends have been arrested,” Special CP Ravinder Yadav said.

Delhi Police earlier told ANI that the Crime Branch had arrested five persons, including Sahil’s father in connection with the case on charges of helping his son in the “conspiracy”.

Sahil’s father, Ashish, Naveen, Amar, and Lokesh were arrested by Crime Branch.

Later it was revealed that among the arrested persons, Naveen– a cousin of the prime accused– is a Delhi Police Constable, who accompanied Sahil in hatching the conspiracy.

The five persons have been booked under sections 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy), 201 (Causing Disappearance of Evidence of Offence), 202 (knowing or having reason to believe that an offence has been committed), and 212 (harbouring or concealing offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On Wednesday, the last rites of Nikki Yadav were performed in her native Haryana village of Jhajjar.

Nikki was strangled to death allegedly by Sahil after she came to know of his impending marriage with another woman, police said.

After his arrest on Tuesday, the accused Sahil Gehlot was presented before a Delhi court and sent to five-day police remand.

According to Delhi Police, the accused was getting engaged on February 9. The accused met Nikki at her flat and left early in the morning, they went to many places in Delhi, during which there was an argument about his marriage. During this, he got angry and strangulated the victim with a mobile cable.

After that, Sahil kept Nikki’s body in the refrigerator in his family dhaba in Mitraon village and went to his marriage, Delhi Police said.