Cops: Nikki strangled in Nigambodh parking lot

An investigator aware of the matter said that Gehlot’s white sedan was seen driving into the Nigambodh Ghat parking lot around 9am on February 10, stopping briefly, before it circled the premises twice and left

Sahil Gehlot allegedly murdered his girlfriend Nikki Yadav in the parking lot of Nigambodh Ghat while the two were inside his car, police officers said on Thursday, adding that the victim being strangled may have gone unnoticed since the vehicle’s windows were tinted.

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Officials took Gehlot along to retrace his steps between February 9 and 11, the days in which he first got engaged to another woman, then had an argument with Yadav, murdered her, returned home to wed his fiancée, and ultimately stashed his dead girlfriend’s body in a refrigerator.

An investigator aware of the matter said that Gehlot’s white sedan was seen driving into the Nigambodh Ghat parking lot around 9am on February 10, stopping briefly, before it circled the premises twice and left.

A crematorium staffer confirmed the sequence of events, citing surveillance camera recordings.

“The car entered the parking lot on the left of the main gate at 8.57am. It stayed there for a few minutes. Thereafter, it took two rounds of the premises and finally left a few minutes after 9.30am,” said Vishal Mishra, in-charge of Nigambodh Ghat.

“Two security guards – Chetan and Nitin – were on duty at that time. But as there was a rush of visitors and all the windows of [Gehlot’s] car were tinted black, they could not see anything suspicious in the car,” Mishra said, adding that on many occasions, women stay behind in a vehicle during cremation – another reason why the two would not have seemed suspicious.

Gehlot told the police during questioning on Wednesday that after strangulating Yadav, he drove to his family-owned dhaba in Najafgarh – a drive of over 40km – with the corpse buckled into the front passenger seat.

The crime branch team visited the crematorium twice between February 14 and 16 and seized the digital video recorded (DVR) of the parking lot’s CCTV cameras – the footage is likely to be a crucial part of the evidence for prosecution.

According to Mishra, the premises of Nigambodh Ghat are covered by 44 CCTV cameras. However, the spot where 24-year-old Gehlot parked his car and allegedly strangled 22-year-old Yadav was not covered by any of the cameras. “We are cooperating with the investigating team in their probe. Apart from the DVR, investigators also took details of the security guards and other staffers who were present at the crematorium on that morning,” added Mishra.

On Thursday, one of the security guards of the crematorium told media persons that he had seen the car parked at the premises and a woman was present with the driver. “I saw the white car but did not see the murder happening inside because its windows were black,” the guard told a news channel.

A resident of Mitraon village in Najafgarh, Gehlot was arrested on February 14 for allegedly murdering his girlfriend of five years and stuffing her body in a refrigerator at his “Khao Piyo” dhaba.

His interrogation revealed that after murdering Yadav, he got married to another woman roughly 12 hours later, and returned to the dhaba around 3am the following morning to shift her corpse into the refrigerator from the trunk of the car, where it remained for nearly 15 hours, investigators said, quoting his disclosure statement.

That the car’s windows were tinted may also have made it easy for Gehlot to drive with Yadav’s body without being caught. Significant questions now arise on how no police personnel, including traffic police, in at least four districts flagged down a vehicle with tinted windows that are banned by law.

Between nearly 12 hours from the midnight of February 9 and noon of February 10, the car with tinted glasses started its drive from Mitraon village, reached Uttam Nagar where Gehlot picked up Yadav before they travelled to Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. From Nizamuddin, they drove to Anand Vihar interstate bus terminal (ISBT) and then to Kashmere Gate ISBT before reaching the Nigambodh Ghat parking lot where Yadav was allegedly murdered inside the vehicle.

Finally, the car with the body covered the distance of over 40km via Outer Ring Road, Rohini, Paschim Vihar and Najafgarh to finally reach Mitraon village, the police said.

“Despite having tinted glasses, the car wasn’t stopped at any police pickets or by any traffic violation tracking teams of the traffic police. Any vehicle with tinted glasses or black films beyond the permissible limit is fined ₹500 if caught moving in Delhi,” said a police officer, who asked not to be named.

On being asked why the car was not caught, a senior traffic police officer, on the condition of anonymity, said: “The car with tinted glasses and the woman’s body inside travelled during the morning peak hours, when our traffic personnel usually focus on regulating the flow of vehicle and clearing traffic jams rather than checking traffic violations and prosecuting violators. The traffic violation checking is usually done during the non-peak hours. But that doesn’t mean our personnel should ignore such violations. We will inquire into the matter.”