Nikki Yadav murder: Both accused & victim are Hindu; no communal angle to crime

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)

अजून एक #Love_Jihad चा बळी…!#हिंदूत्ववादी_सरकार ठोस कायदा कधी करणार…!?
अजून किती हिंदू मुलींच्या दिवसाढवळ्या हत्या बघायच्या & मुग गिळून गप्प बसायचे…!?#लवजिहाद ❤‍🔥@SudarshanNewsTV pic.twitter.com/rgNVapTLT7

— कौस्तुभदेशमुखअधिकृत (@kssdeshmukh1995) February 15, 2023

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

Accused killed his girl friend by strangulating her in car, concealed her dead body in refrigerator of his dhaba and married another girl on the same day@DelhiPolice @Ravindra_IPS pic.twitter.com/1XYlK1VUlg

— CRIME BRANCH DELHI (@CrimeBrDelhi) February 14, 2023

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.