Delhi fridge murder: Injuries suggest Nikki put up a fight; ‘panicked’ Sahil drove for hours

Police sources also said that Sahil had managed to keep Nikki in the dark about his wedding being fixed – the two had planned a trip to Goa, and it was Nikki who had booked her ticket. When she discovered that Sahil, who she had been dating since 2018, was getting married to someone else, she confronted him.

On the night of February 9, Sahil allegedly went to Nikki’s house in Dwarka to pick her up, promising they would resolve the issue during a trip to Himachal. They first drove to Nizamuddin and then headed towards Anand Vihar, but couldn’t find a bus, said police, adding that their plan then changed and they went to Kashmere Gate to catch a bus.

Around this time, police said, Sahil started receiving calls from his family, particularly his father, who scolded him about not being home when the wedding function was round the corner. “He thought he had no choice and changed his mind about going to Himachal,” said an officer.

The couple, police said, fought for 1-2 hours and Sahil allegedly picked up a charging cable in the “heat of the moment” and strangled Nikki.

The FIR, filed on the basis of a complaint by a Crime Branch officer, states: “On February 13, around 10 pm, I (the officer) received information that a man named Sahil Gehlot killed his girlfriend Nikki Yadav and hid her body in Mitraon village… The informer was questioned…he led to Sahil’s house but he wasn’t present there. His phone was also switched off. Searches were conducted and he was found today (February 14) around 9 am at Kair village. Initially, when he was questioned, he didn’t cooperate at all. Later, during interrogation, he revealed he killed Nikki Yadav and stuffed her body in a fridge at his dhaba in the village.”

Crime teams reached the dhaba and found a blue fridge in a tin room, with Nikki’s body inside.“The deceased had injuries on the neck showing strangulation. There were marks on her legs and waist… hair strands were recovered from the fridge wall and floor… The team also recovered a trolley bag filled with clothes and a handbag,” stated the FIR.

CCTV footage recovered by the Delhi Police from Dwarka shows Nikki hours before she was killed, said police. In one of the footage, Nikki is seen entering her house on February 9, around 1 pm. Sources said the two had gone out together, and the footage is of her returning home the next day. The other video shows her waiting for someone outside her apartment building around 9.25 pm. She is seen opening the gate and going out for a minute, but coming back to the building.

“This was the last time she was seen in the area,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court sent Sahil, a recent pharma graduate, to five-day police custody for interrogation.