Sahil Gehlot's father, accused in Nikki Yadav case, was earlier arrested in a murder case 25-years-ago

In a startling revelation in the chilling murder of 24-year-old Nikki Yadav by her alleged live-in partner Sahil Gehlot, Delhi police found out that the father of the accused Virendra Singh had been previously arrested in another murder case. According to TOI report, the trial had lasted for several years and he was eventually convicted by the court. However, he later appealed against the conviction and was acquitted by the High Court. The murder case against Singh was registered in June 1997 and pertained to a feud in the village.

Meanwhile, according to PTI, the five men who were arrested on Friday night in connection with the killing of the 23-year-old woman had planned to get rid of Nikki Yadav so that Sahil Gehlot could marry a second time to a woman of the family's choice.

Sahil's father Virendra Singh allegedly knew of the crime but got his son to marry someone else hours after killing Nikki. Sahil's two cousins, Ashish Kumar and Naveen and two friends, Lokesh Singh and Amar Singh helped him hide hatch the conspiracy and then hide the body in the fridge at the family's restaurant.

Sahil Gehlot's father is being held on charges of helping his son in the "conspiracy". Special CP Ravinder Yadav informed that the accused's father was aware of the murder from the beginning.

"Gehlot married Yadav at an Arya Samaj temple in 2020. The couple had not informed their respective families about their marriage. However, when Gehlot's parents started looking for a girl for his marriage and started pressuring him to take interest in marriage..., he finally revealed to his family that he was already married," a police officer privy to the probe told PTI. However, when Gehlot's family got to know about his marriage to Yadav, they expressed their displeasure over him marrying a girl of his choice without informing them.

"On multiple occasions, the accused persons persuaded him to leave Nikki Yadav and get her out of the way. They kept putting pressure on him and he also failed to convince his family members," the officer said.

After his second marriage date was fixed, the accused persons kept persuading Sahil Gehlot to get rid of Nikki Yadav so that he can marry the girl his family chose, police said."...the accused persons started discussing about ways to get rid of Nikki Yadav and the entire plan to take her on a trip was just a ploy. They somehow wanted to get rid of Nikki before D-day. Sahil Gehlot also thought that he will somehow convince Nikki to go for a trip with him outstation and whenever he gets an opportunity on the way, he would kill her during their trip," the officer added.

"The plan was to murder her before his wedding which Sahil Gehlot executed. After killing her, he informed the other accused persons including his father who helped him in planning and conspiring the murder. They stuffed the body inside the fridge thinking that it will stay fresh and there would not be any foul smell. No one would be able to suspect or detect anything unusual since everyone would be busy with a wedding for at least three days and later they would dispose of her body leisurely," he said.

Nikki Yadav's parents, however, told police that they were not aware of her relationship or her wedding with Sahil Gehlot. The deceased's sister told police that she only knew that both Nikki Yadav and Sahil Gehlot were very close friends and nothing more, according to the police.