‘One day you love her, next you kill her’: Why did tennis player Radhika Yadav’s father shoot her dead at Gurgaon home?

However, her father, Deepak Yadav (54) — according to the police and residents of her Gurgaon neighbourhood — allegedly could not stand her success as he was being “taunted” for relying on his daughter’s income.

At 10.30 am on Thursday, at their residence in Gurgaon’s Sushant Lok-II, he allegedly took his licensed revolver and fired five shots — three of them hit Radhika, killing her.

His wife, who had a fever, was resting in another room at the time.

According to the police, they were informed by a private hospital at 11.30 am that a young woman had died of bullet injuries. When a police team got there, they found the woman’s uncle, Kuldeep — but not her parents.

Police then rushed to the crime scene. There, sources said, they found the woman’s father; he said he had shot “an international-level tennis player, his daughter”.

Police said they seized his gun, detained him for questioning, and formally arrested him later in the evening.

An FIR on the charge of murder was registered at the Sector 56 police station, and the post-mortem report is awaited, said police.

Station House Officer Inspector Vinod Kumar said, “He (Deepak) had been upset for a while as he was being taunted by locals over his daughter’s income. He was troubled by their remarks — they would keep saying the house is running on her money, and he is too dependent on that. He had asked her (Radhika) several times earlier to stop working at the academy, but she refused. He could not take it anymore.”

The father earned an income from the rent he got from a couple of small properties he owned, police said.

Born on March 23, 2000, Radhika had competed in various national and international 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.

She was active on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit, where she was ranked 113.

Back at Radhika’s home later in the evening, several girls she had coached visited to pay their condolences. Her mother and uncle Kuldeep (Deepak’s younger brother) sat quietly in chairs on the porch.

An elderly male visitor said, “One day you say you love and care for your daughter, and then the next day, you do something like this.”

Police said Radhika’s elder brother, Dheeraj, who works as a property dealer, lived elsewhere in the city.

Pawan Yadav, the Residents’ Welfare Association president of Sushant Lok Extension, who claimed he was close to the family, alleged, “Some locals were small-minded and could not stand Radhika’s success… They commented on a reel she had made about her game and coaching. Her parents objected, and she had to delete her account.”

A city resident who availed her morning coaching services said she was shocked at the news. “She had told us her parents were conservative. She was sweet and vivacious and a great player. She was like a head coach, the only woman among the others, and she would instruct them mostly on how to go about the drills. She would tell us how to work on our game, too,” she added.