Radhika Yadav murder: Did father ‘pre-plan’ daughter’s killing, why was son sent away before attack

Did Deepak Yadav pre-plan the murder of his daughter, Radhika Yadav? Police investigations suggest the killing was not spontaneous, revealing that Deepak allegedly sent his son out on an errand before shooting his 25-year-old daughter—a state-level tennis player— at their Gurugram home.

The probe is now focusing on whether the crime was carefully orchestrated amid ongoing family disputes. Police also said the probe was looking at the mother, Manju Yadav, as part of the investigation.

According to a Hindustan Times report, quoting a Gurugram police official, Deepak, 49, admitted during questioning that the killing was not impulsive but allegedly premeditated.

“He admitted during questioning that he planned the murder,” Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of the Gurugram police said, as per the HT report.

According to police, Deepak asked his son to step out to buy groceries—a task he usually did himself—and used the moment alone with Radhika to shoot her four times while she was preparing breakfast.

While a neighbour from their native village of Wazirabad claimed that Deepak disapproved of Radhika’s relationship with someone from a different caste, police said no such motive had been confirmed.

So far, the primary motive identified is Deepak’s alleged frustration over social taunts from relatives and neighbours, who reportedly mocked him for living off his daughter’s income and running her tennis academy.

“He wanted her to shut down the academy due to this pressure,” the police official said, adding that the team are probing a string of heated disagreements between the two in the weeks leading up to the shooting.

Deepak, who police said was depressed for the last 15 days, also felt he was financially well off and had good rental income so there was no need for his daughter to run an academy.

The accused, who confessed to the crime, was produced in court on Friday and remanded to one-day police custody.

The 25-year-old received four bullets, three in the back and one in the shoulder, according to the postmortem report by a board of three doctors, said police.

Haryana Tribune