Husband shot in leg while trying to flee
Noida: As outrage mounted over the alleged killing of 26-year-old woman for dowry in Greater Noida, police on Sunday arrested her mother-in-law while her husband was shot in leg as he attempted to flee custody.
The family of the victim, Nikki, who was allegedly set ablaze by her husband and in-laws, claimed that she had been tortured since her marriage in 2016 by them for a dowry demand of Rs 36 lakh, even after they had fulfilled their demand for Scorpio vehicle and a motorcycle.
Disturbing videos of the incident and testimonies of Nikki’s son and sister surfaced on social media on how the accused husband, Vipin Bhati and another woman assaulted the victim and dragged her by the hair. Another clip showed Nikki, severely burnt, walking down a staircase before collapsing. She had succumbed to burns while being taken to a hospital on Thursday night.
Vipin Bhati, who was arrested on Saturday, was being escorted by the police to recover evidence around 1.30 pm when he tried to flee, according to the Gautam Buddh Nagar police PRO.
“He was chased and apprehended after being shot in the leg,” the officer said.
The accused husband’s mother, identified as Daya (55) and wife of Satyaveer, has also been arrested. She had been absconding since the incident and has been named in the FIR filed by the victim’s family, the PRO said.
The FIR was lodged at Kasna police station in Greater Noida on Friday under various BNS sections.
The case was registered on August 22 under BNS sections 103(1) (murder), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 61 (2) (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or others), the police said.
Sudhir Kumar, ADCP, Greater Noida, said, “Vipin Bhati was being escorted to recover the used flammable content bottle from the site in Greater Noida, meanwhile he snatched the gun of the sub-inspector and tried to flee. He also opened fire on the police team and in self defence the police shot in his leg. He was sent for treatment to the hospital.”
The victim’s father Bhikhari Singh said his daughters Kanchan (29) and Nikki (26) were married to brothers Rohit Bhati and Vipin Bhati, respectively, in 2016. “Since then they have been torturing both the daughters and demanded dowry.”
“They demanded a Scorpio car. We gave them, and again they demanded a bullet motorcycle, which we gave them. Their demands were increasing day by day. And after that they began demanding Rs 36 lakh from us,” he added.
He claimed that many times a panchayat was organised to settle the dispute, but all the efforts were wasted.
“I want strict action against the family and an encounter should be done. This is Baba’s (Yogi Adityanath) government, their house should also be bulldozed. If not we will sit on hunger strike,” he demanded.
The mother of the victim has also demanded strict action against the entire family of Vipin, because they had killed her daughter for dowry.
An Instagram ID, having profile picture of the accused husband, showed a purported post of Vipin Bhati in which he said, “Mujhe toh bata deti, ak baar, kya hua tha, mujhe chhod kyun chali gayi tuu (you should have told me once, what had happened. Why did you leave me?)”
“Aisa kyun kiya, duniya hatyara bol rahi hai Nikki? (Why did you do this? The world is calling me a killer Nikki)” Vipin Bhati said.
Nikki’s elder sister, Kanchan recorded a video of the attack and accused Vipin Bhati and his family members of killing her sister for dowry.
