The murder of a young woman named Nikki Yadav allegedly by her live-in partner Sahil in West Delhi recently made headlines. According to reports, the accused strangled his girlfriend with a charging cable and placed the body inside the fridge of a dhaba in West Delhi. Following this, a number of social media users started tweeting about the incident with a ‘Love Jihad’ angle.

A user named Mahipal Singh Rawat tweeted screenshots of news articles related to the incident and wrote that some girls understood Rose Day, Propose Day, Valentine’s Day but did not understand ‘Love Jihad’. (Archived link)

Another user, Rakesh Saini, tweeted about the incident as a case of ‘Love Jihad’. (Archived link)

User Kanti Verma also amplified news of the murder with a ‘Love Jihad’ claim. (Archived link)

User Kaustabh Deshmukh also termed it as an incident of ‘love jihad’. (Archived link)

Several other users also posted about the incident with communal claims

Fact Check

Alt News performed a keyword search and found several media reports (Jansatta, ABP News) covering the incident. As per the reports, the full name of the accused is Sahil Gehlot and there was no communal angle to the crime. The victim, Nikki Yadav, and the accused, Sahil Gehlot, both belong to the same community. 

We also came across a tweet posted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. In their press release, Delhi Police identified the accused as Sahil Gehlot, son of Virendra Singh. In other words, he is a Hindu and there is no communal angle to the incident.

Team of WR-I led by Insp Satish, ACP Raj Kumar & DCP @CopSatish499 detects a sensational murder

NDTV included CCTV footage taken before the murder in its coverage of the incident.

To sum it up, a number of social media users falsely promoted the murder of a young woman at the hands of her live-in partner in Delhi with a communal angle. In reality, both the deceased and the accused are Hindus. No communal angle has come to the fore in the case.

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About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).