Greater Noida dowry murder: Probe deepens against in-laws after two of family arrested

New Delhi | August 25, 2025 05:20 AM IST

Prima facie, the ADCP said, it appears that the family burnt the woman using thinner (Archive)

“I have not done anything. I do not want to say anything more,” said Vipin Bhati (35) in a public statement on Sunday as he was admitted to a private hospital after he was shot in the leg allegedly while escaping police custody. Bhati has been accused of burning his wife alive for dowry along with his other family members. A day after his arrest, his mother, Daya (55), was also arrested on Sunday. Other family members are likely to be arrested soon for their role in the killing, officers have suggested.

The incident came to light on Thursday after the police were informed of the death of Nikki Payla (26), a resident of Sirsa through a memo of a private hospital. “We received a memo from the Fortis Hospital at Kasna Police station that a woman was admitted to the hospital after she suffered severe burn injuries and was later referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi,” said Sudhir Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida,. She died on the way to Safdarjung Hospital.

Prima facie, the ADCP said, it appears that the family burnt the woman using thinner. “We are investigating from all angles and have also taken all the viral videos into consideration,” he said.

On Sunday, a team of officers were escorting Vipin for the recovery of the container in which the inflammable material, allegedly used in the incident, was kept, when he made the escape bid. Kumar said the accused snatched a pistol from one sub-inspector and tried running away. He allegedly fired at the team of officers with the intention to kill an officer, according to Kumar. “Then in retaliatory action taken by the police team in self-defence, the accused got injured in the leg when he was shot at. He was sent to a private hospital for treatment,” said the ADCP.

Dharmendra Shukla, Station House Officer, Kasna, told The Indian Express that on Thursday a police team was rushed to Fortis after the initial information was received. “Her body was sent for post-mortem and was cremated on Friday. We received a complaint from her sister against her in-laws and husband and filed an FIR,” he said.

“We had arrested the husband and had deployed our teams to nab the other family members. The mother-in-law, 55, Daya, was arrested on Sunday by the police from the stretch between a private hospital and a university with the help of manual intelligence,” he added.

In her complaint to the police, Nikki’s elder sister, Kanchan, who is married to Vipin’s brother, Rohit, said that around 5:30pm on Thursday, her mother-in-law handed over the inflammable substance to Vipin who poured it over my sister. “When I protested, they assaulted me. My father-in-law and husband were also present there,” Kanchan told the police.

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“I along with the help of some neighbours rushed her to Fortis in Greater Noida, from where she was referred to Safdarjung but she died on the way,” said the sister.

Meanwhile, some videos of the incident also surfaced on social media. In one of the videos, Nikki can be seen rolling down the stairs after she was burnt alive. In the second video, she was seen being hit and hair pulled by her mother in law and husband.

Bhati’s brother Rohit, mother Daya, father Satveer have been booked under sections 103(1) (murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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