Delhi realtor’s death: Court pulls up Gurugram Police over ‘cryptic’ response

The issue of the ZIPNET records is significant as Yuvraj’s details, including a photograph, were uploaded by the Delhi Police on the interstate police database on September 12, two days after Gurugram Police recovered an unidentified body – which later turned out to be Yuvraj’s – from a drain in Badshahpur. However, the body was cremated on September 14 without being identified.

It remained unclear whether Gurugram Police checked the ZIPNET entry or whether the local ‘Hue and Cry Notice’ it had issued after the body was recovered was circulated to neighbouring police forces.

The court order came on an application filed by Yuvraj’s sister, who raised concerns over the handling of his body by the Gurugram Police and alleged that vital forensic evidence and his personal belongings were mishandled or destroyed during the cremation.

The sister had sought production and preservation of various records, articles, and digital/electronic materials held by the Badshahpur police station. These included documents relating to the discovery, recovery and identification of the body; postmortem proceedings; biological and DNA samples; forensic reports; photographs, videos and associated metadata; and documentation concerning the cremation of the body on September 14.

She also sought details of articles recovered from the body and their chain of custody, ZIPNET entries and communication logs, as well as digital messages exchanged between police officers and the family.

Appearing for the sister, senior advocate Amit Prasad told the court that there were alleged irregularities in the handling of the body. “Instead of calling my clients to the police station during the identification process, they were sent photographs of someone else’s corpse, and when they denied it was the person, the photographs were deleted,” he said.

The primary accused in the death of Yuvraj, who was killed on September 6, are his former colleague Anya Vats and her partner Sanyam Sachdeva.

Police have alleged that Yuvraj met Anya and Sanyam in Gurugram, where he was shot inside their car. The two allegedly kept his body in the vehicle for two days before dumping it in a drain in Badshahpur on September 8. The body was recovered on September 10.

Police further alleged that after the murder, Anya and Sanyam travelled to Vrindavan, eventually reaching Kainchi Dham in Uttarakhand, from where the two were arrested.

Police have also said that three other cases are pending against Anya and Sanyam. A cheating case was registered at Parliament Street police station following a complaint by a Punjab National Bank employee. Another cheating case was registered in Greater Noida, while a third case was registered at Shahdara police station on a complaint by Sanyam’s first wife alleging domestic violence.