Greater Noida: Police have found new evidence in the alleged dowry murder case of 26-year-old Nikki, prompting investigators to revisit the timeline of the August 21 incident, a senior official said on Wednesday.
An inflammable substance recovered from Nikki’s room has been sent for forensic examination. Police are also scrutinising several video clips that surfaced recently, the official said.
The development appears to differ from earlier allegations that Nikki was set on fire by her husband Vipin Bhati and his family with an inflammable liquid. Police will now re-examine the statement of Nikki’s sister, Kanchan, who had recorded parts of the incident on her phone and lodged the FIR.
Kanchan, who is married to Vipin’s brother Rohit, had claimed that she tried to intervene during the assault. Vipin, Rohit, Nikki’s father-in-law Satvir and mother-in-law Daya were arrested last Thursday for their alleged role in the murder.
“After initial interrogation, new videos have surfaced, one of which shows the mother-in-law separating Nikki and Vipin during a quarrel. Another, purportedly recorded by Kanchan, has a voice saying, ‘Yeh kya kar liya (What have you done),’” the official said. He added that Kanchan’s statement will be re-examined and that around a dozen testimonies from both families have been recorded so far.
Investigators are also analysing CCTV footage showing Vipin outside his house minutes before the incident. Police are probing a separate assault case registered against him last October in Greater Noida’s Jarcha area.
Nikki was found in a severely decomposed condition in her Sirsa village home on August 21 and died on the way to a Delhi hospital. A memo from a private hospital where she was first admitted stated that she had suffered “serious injuries due to a gas cylinder explosion” and was brought in critical condition by Vipin’s cousin Davinder.
However, Kanchan alleged in her FIR that Nikki was deliberately beaten and set on fire by Vipin, his parents Daya and Satvir, and his brother Rohit.
