The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested a man for killing his girlfriend and stuffing her body in a refrigerator in outer Delhi’s Mitraon village near Najafgarh, officers said. They said the man had committed the crime because the woman, who had been living with him for the last five years, was pressuring him to marry her, but his family had found him another match.
Police said the crime came to light on Tuesday morning, when they received a tip-off that something was amiss with Sahil Gehlot (24), the owner of a roadside eatery, and that his girlfriend Nikki Yadav (22) had been missing since his wedding last week.
When officers called Gehlot for questioning, he cracked and confessed that he had strangled Yadav to death in the early hours of February 10 -- hours before his wedding -- and had stuffed her body in a refrigerator at his eatery. The eatery had been shut because of his wedding functions, and Gehlot planned to dispose off the body later, police said.
Special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav said in January 2018, Gehlot joined a coaching institute in Uttam Nagar to prepare for the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exams. Around the same time, Yadav, who was from Jhajjar district in Haryana, was preparing for medical entrance exams in another institute in Uttam Nagar. As they both travelled in the same bus, they became friends.
In February 2018, both took admission at a private university in Greater Noida but in different courses. They started living together in a rented flat but during the Covid-19 lockdown, they returned to their respective homes, police said.
After lockdown restrictions were lifted, the couple moved to a flat in Dwarka Sector-23, before moving to a rented flat in Uttam Nagar, police said.
Citing Gehlot’s disclosures, a crime branch officer, on condition of anonymity, said that Gehlot had not told his family about his relationship with Yadav. After pressure from his family, he got engaged to woman of his family’s choice on February 9, and was to be married the next day.
“On February 9, Yadav learnt about Gehlot’s engagement ceremony. She confronted him, but after an altercation, they decided to elope. They tried to book their tickets to Goa but when they couldn’t book the air tickets, they decided to leave for Himachal Pradesh in a bus,” the officer said, citing his disclosures.
Police said the couple reached the Kashmere Gate ISBT in the early hours of February 10 in Gehlot’s cousin’s car, a Hyundai Verna, but then Gehlot developed cold feet. “Gehlot changed his mind when he started getting calls from his family members, asking him to return as quickly as possible, since the pre-wedding rituals were pending and getting delayed because of his absence,” said another police officer aware of the case.
“When Yadav found that Gehlot was adamant on returning to his family, an altercation ensued and Gehlot strangled her using his cellphone’s data cable. He then put on the seat belt around her body and drove around 50km to his dhaba,” said the second officer.
Police said that after stuffing her body in the fridge at his eatery, Gehlot returned home and later left for Jhajjar in Haryana with his wedding procession. His wedding with the other woman was solemnised the same night, they said. He planned to dispose of the body after the wedding ceremony was over and his guests had returned, they said.
