Man kills live-in partner, dumps body in fridge at Delhi dhaba, gets married same day

NEW DELHI: A 24-year old man allegedly strangled his live-in partner with a mobile phone cable and dumped her body in a refrigerator at a dhaba on the outskirts of Mitraon village in west Delhi, before getting married to another woman later that day.
The victim, Nikki Yadav, 24, was living with the accused, Sahil Gehlot, at a rented house near Dwarka since the lockdown ended. Sahil allegedly kept his wedding plans a secret, but Nikki learnt about it and an argument ensued.

There was no prior missing report or any other complaint filed by the family of Nikki Yadav, who had been living-in with her partner and was killed by him, with her body dumped in a dhaba refrigerator in west Delhi, police said.
Police said one of their officers who stayed in the village received information that the woman could not be contacted by her family. A tip off was then received that a man had killed his girlfriend and got married the same day.

Ravindra Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch said the accused, Sahil Gehlot, was arrested on Tuesday morning by a team from Kair village crossing in Delhi. "He had strangled her with the data cable of his mobile phone in his white Verna car in the night of February 9-10. He then drove with the body to his dhaba located on a plot on the outskirts of village Mitraon and dumped it in the refrigerator there. After the murder he wed another woman on February 10," said Yadav.
Nikki's mobile phone was found in Sahil's possession, police said.

The incident has a disturbing similarity to the Shraddha Walkar murder, also in the national capital, from May last year. Shraddha was killed by her live-in partner by strangulation, who then dismembered Shraddha's body into 35 pieces and stored them in a refrigerator before disposing of the body parts in a forest.
Police said Nikki got to know that Sahil's engagement had been fixed for February 9 and his wedding was on the following day. She kept pressuring him to call off the wedding. Around 11pm on February 9, Sahil reached Bindapur and the couple then left home in his car. Investigating officials stated the two reached Kashmere Gate area in north Delhi a little after midnight.

"He had taken her out on the pretext that they would head out to a hill station in Himachal Pradesh and that the news of his wedding wasn't true. Nikki wasn't convinced and kept wanting to know the truth. They had a heated argument and Sahil then strangled her using his mobile data cable. He then drove the car even as Nikki lay motionless wearing the seat belt on the co-driver seat and headed straight to his dhaba in Mitraon village," said an official privy to the investigation.
On reaching the dhaba, Sahil stuffed her body in blue-coloured single-door fridge and closed it using cable wires. "Since it was his wedding, the dhaba remained closed for the next couple of days," added the official.

Gehlot, a resident of Mitraon village told the police that after schooling, he prepared for SSC exams at a coaching centre in Uttam Nagar in January 2018. Nikki, a resident of Jhajjar, was preparing for her medical entrance and was enrolled at another institute in Uttam Nagar. The two would travel in the same bus and their friendship blossomed from there. Soon the two fell in love.
In February 2018, Sahil took admission at a college in Greater Noida and Nikki followed suit, enrolling in the BA (English Honors) course. Thereafter, the two started living together at Greater Noida in a rented house. They travelled together to several places such as Manali, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Dehradun. As Covid struck, they returned to their respective houses and started living together in a rented house in Dwarka area after the lockdown.
Sahil did not inform his family members about his relationship. Later his family pressured him to get married and fixed his wedding.
Police said they recovered the body of the woman from the fridge and the data cable from his car. "A case of murder and destruction of evidence has been registered at Baba Haridas Nagar police station. The version disclosed by the accused is being verified during investigation," added Yadav.
Watch Woman’s body found in refrigerator at Dhaba in Delhi