Gurgaon’s Wazirabad village once made headlines for 17 billion land deal — now, for a state-level tennis player’s murder

In 2010, Wazirabad made news when 350 acres of its prime land was acquired from the panchayat and sold for Rs 17 billion to developer DLF Limited. Today, with a population of around 10,000 — predominantly Yadavs — the village, as a tehsil, records annual property registrations worth up to Rs 25,000 crore.

On Thursday, Wazirabad found itself in the spotlight again.

Deepak Yadav, a former resident, was arrested for murder — he had allegedly shot his daughter, Radhika, a state-level tennis player.

Scenes at late Radhika Yadav’s village Wazirabad. (Express photo)

Five days after the crime, a sense of disbelief hangs in the air.

“How could a man kill his own daughter?” residents ask.

“Times have changed now… women also work.”

The Gurgaon Police had claimed that Deepak, when questioned after his arrest, told them that he had been upset for a while as he was being taunted by locals for living off his daughter’s income. Following this, Deepak had allegedly told Radhika to stop working. But she didn’t.

On July 10, when she was cooking, Deepak picked up a revolver and killed her at their home in Sushant Lok 2 in Sector 57 — barely 1.5 km from the village.

Radhika had competed in various national and international tennis tournaments, achieving a career-best ranking of 75 in Girls Under-18, 53 in Women’s Doubles, and 35 in Women’s Singles as per All India Tennis Association (AITA) records. According to sources, she also trained children at various academies, including one situated a few metres away from her home and another in Sector 61.

Wazirabad village (Express photo)

‘We are modern now’

The roads in Wazirabad are uneven, lined by rows of faded pink, white, and yellow houses. Above them, a web of tangled wires stretches across the sky. Crowded shops — hardware stores, salons, furniture dealers — dot the village’s boundaries.

It was in late 2018 that Deepak shifted his family from here to a bigger home in Sushant Lok 2. “They got Rs 35-40 crore as compensation for their land. Every month, they receive Rs 15-20 lakh as rent… they were very well off financially,” claims a resident.

A 59-year-old man, who lives near Mata Chowk, says Deepak was a good man. “I had known him for years before he shifted from here. I don’t know how he could do that to his daughter.”

Villagers, meanwhile, insist that Wazirabad has moved with the times.

“These days women work, they wear skirts… It’s very normal. You can’t control anyone today,” says Rakesh, a resident.

“Fifty years ago, women wouldn’t even step out,” he adds. “See for yourself, girls are roaming around the way they want… We have become modern. There are five times more tenants here than locals.”

Outside his house, women wearing colourful sarees have gathered to purchase kitchen utilities. The older ones still cover their heads with veils. The younger lot wears jeans and T-shirts.

“Things are not the same as they were before,” Rakesh continues. “A woman from here became a captain. Another is a doctor who practices in America. Three sisters who play state-level Judo and Karate also teach kids martial arts.”

Puffing on a hookah, a man sitting next to Rakesh, who refused to be named, joins the conversation.

“If you speak to 50 people, they’ll tell you 50 different things,” he says. “The truth is that only the father (Deepak) can tell you why he did this. No one else can truly know what compelled him.”

At the Sushant Lok residence, since the crime, around 100 people — family and friends — have been gathering outside, from 9 am to 4.35 pm, sitting on a red and yellow carpet with a tent over their heads. They refuse to let the media speak to the family. By 5, they move inside the house.\

Nearby, a shopkeeper selling groceries at MKM Market says, “He (Deepak) seemed like a decent man. He would buy his groceries from here. He stopped coming and then I heard about it (the murder) on the news. I found out that he’s in jail now.”

Deepak has been sent to judicial custody for two weeks.