Missing Body In Divya Pahuja Case: Police Checked Wrong Room On Same Hotel Floor

The Haryana police team, responding to a complaint, initially checked the wrong room on the same floor where 27-year-old Divya Pahuja's lifeless body lay in the city hotel premises.

Pahuja, a former accused involved in the murder of her ex-boyfriend and Gurugram's notorious gangster Sandeep Gadoli, was allegedly part of a conspiracy leading to Gadoli's alleged fake police encounter in Mumbai in 2016.

Tragically, Pahuja was shot dead at a Gurugram city hotel on Tuesday night by the establishment's owner, Abhijeet Singh. Subsequently, Singh, along with two other hotel staff members, Omprakash and Hemraj, was arrested on Wednesday. The trio was remanded to five days in police custody on Thursday.

Reportedly, Pahuja had been extorting money from Singh by allegedly using explicit videos and photos. According to a Times of India report, Singh, believed to be the main culprit, was inebriated when the crime occurred.

Anoop Gupta, who leased the Hotel City Point from Singh, alerted the police about the discovery of a woman's body in the hotel around 9 pm on Tuesday.

Upon their initial arrival, the police team apparently checked room 114, reserved in Singh's name on the hotel's first floor. Not finding anything suspicious, they departed. However, the body was in room 111, also on the same floor, as later revealed by a police source.

After the police left, around 10:42 pm, the hotel lights were switched off. Allegedly, Singh, aided by a friend and the two staff members, moved the body, wrapped in a white sheet, to a BMW car, as per CCTV footage timestamps.

At 11 pm, Pahuja's parents reported her disappearance to the police. Upon revisiting the hotel and reviewing CCTV footage, the police observed the body being moved from the first floor and placed in the BMW.

Vijay Pratap Singh, DCP (crime), revealed that the BMW belonged to Singh's friend, Ajay Mehta. The abandoned car was discovered at a bus stand in Punjab's Patiala, but the body remains unrecovered.

The DCP mentioned the potential involvement of an unidentified person named Balraj in assisting Singh in handling the body. Investigations also suggest further arrests may occur based on interrogation outcomes.

However, the police haven't dismissed the possibility of additional individuals being linked to the murder.

A PTI report revealed Mumbai Police's assertion that Virender Kumar alias Binder Gujjar, Gadoli's rival, purportedly conspired with Haryana Police officials to eliminate Gadoli. Although Binder Gujjar was in custody at the time of Gadoli's encounter, he allegedly orchestrated the plan with his brother Manoj, engaging Pahuja to entice the Gurugram gangster.

According to the plan, Pahuja, Gadoli's then-girlfriend, lured him into the setup, resulting in his alleged fake encounter on February 7, 2016.

After spending seven years in jail, Pahuja was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in June 2023.