Divya Pahuja, a former model who was granted bail in connection with a gangster's fake encounter case months ago, was shot dead in a hotel room in Haryana's Gurugram on Tuesday night. Gurugram Police arrested a few of the accused were arrested while they were taking the body to dump somewhere.
According to police, five people took 27-year-old Divya Pahuja to a room in Hotel City Point in Gurugram on Tuesday night and shot her in the head allegedly because she used to extort money from the hotel owner by blackmailing him with his "obscene pictures", a claim denied by the former model's family.
According to the police, the three accused arrested so far include hotel owner Abhijeet Singh (56), a native of Model Town in Hisar, and his two employees -- Hemraj (28), a resident of Nepal, and Omprakash (23), a resident of West Bengal's Jalpaiguri.
CCTV FOOTAGE
A purported CCTV footage going viral on social media shows two men dragging a body wrapped in sheet through the lobby of Hotel City Point before putting it in a BMW car to dump it somewhere. Gurgaon Police found the BMW car on Thursday evening at a bus stand in Punjab's Patiala, however, the former model's body has not been recovered yet.
Divya Pahuja's Connection With Gangster Gadoli
Divya Pahuja had secured bail a few months ago after seven years in jail in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Gurugram's most-wanted gangster, Sandeep Gadoli.
Gadoli was killed in a shootout in Mumbai on February 6, 2016. Later, the Mumbai police said Gadoli had been lured into a trap with the help of his "girlfriend" Divya Pahuja and killed in a fake encounter.
The encounter was conducted by Haryana police and prompted a probe, resulting in the arrest of several police officials along with Divya for allegedly revealing Gadoli's whereabouts.
Virendra Kumar alias Binder Gujjar ran a rival gang and allegedly conspired with Haryana Police officials to eliminate Gadoli. Gujjar was in prison at the time of the encounter, but he allegedly hatched the plot with the help of his brother Manoj and roped in Divya Pahuja as a honey trap.
An FIR was registered against five police personnel, Pahuja, her mother and others. The Bombay High Court had granted bail to Pahuja in June last year, about seven years after she was arrested.
Divya Pahuja's Murder
While police said Pahuja was shot dead allegedly by the hotel owner, Abhijeet, because she extorted money from him after blackmailing him with his "obscene pictures", her sister Naina has claimed in her complaint that slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli's sister Sudesh Kataria and brother Brahm Prakash Kataria gave money to Singh to kill the former model.
Following Naina Pahuja's complaint in the instant case, an FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder), 201 (hiding evidence), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the India Penal Code at sector 14 police station and police are questioning the arrested accused.
Naina alleged in her complaint, "Divya was the main witness in Sandeep Gadoli murder case and we have full surety that Sandeep Gadoli's Sister Sudesh Kataria and his brother Brahm Prakash gave money to Abhijeet for the Murder of Divya."
Abhijeet Singh told police during the initial interrogation that Hotel City Point belonged to him but he had given it on lease. He alleged Divya Pahuja used to blackmail him using his "obscene pictures" and extort money, adding that she wanted a huge sum this time.
"Accused Abhijeet said that on January 2 he had come to Hotel City Point with Divya Pahuja and he wanted to delete his obscene photos from her phone but Divya Pahuja did not tell the password of her phone," news agency PTI quoted police spokesperson Subhash Boken as saying.
"Due to which, Abhijeet shot dead Divya Pahuja along with Hemraj and Om Prakash, who worked as cleaning and reception workers in the hotel. They kept the dead body in accused Abhijeet's BMW car," Boken said.
The officer added that after this, accused Abhijeet called his two other associates and gave them his car to dispose of the dead body. Teams are on the lookout to nab the remaining accused and recover the body, he said.
Allegations By Divya Pahuja's Sister
According to the complaint filed by Naina Pahuja, a resident of Baldev Nagar, her sister Divya last went to meet Abhijeet Singh on January 1 and they spoke to her on January 2 around 11:50 am.
After that, her family tried but failed to reach her phone, Naina said, adding that they went to Abhijeet Singh's house in Delhi's South Extension out of concern where his friend "Balraj" (who has been identified in police's version Hemraj) was present and he was in possession of Divya Pahuja's phone.
"I took Divya's phone from Balraj and reached Abhijeet in his hotel in Gurugram where my sister was last present. When I requested him to show the CCTV footage, he kept on denying and arguing with me. In the end I called the police and they started an investigation. I found my sister's blazer in Abhijeet's hotel and when I was coming back from his hotel he handed me over my sister debit card and pan card saying she left them with him," Naina Phuja said.
Naina's suspicions grew stronger when she found blood stains on the floor of a hotel room and also found her sister's ring, shoes and other articles in the store room of the hotel.
Abhijeet Singh's housekeepers Hemraj and Prakash helped him dispose of the body, police said, adding Abhijeet also offered people Rs 10 lakh to dump the body.
Anup, his partner, also helped him dump the body, police said.
"It is clearly visible that after killing Divya, Abhijeet wrapped her body in a white sheet and after dragging her body away, kept it in his blue BMW car and sent it to be dumped somewhere. A woman, who had boy's cut hair and was wearing a black and white sweater, is also involved in the murder of my sister," Naina said.
