Delhi realtor Yuvraj Manchanda death: Court seeks status report, issues notice to police

The orders were passed on two applications filed by Manchanda’s sister, Dr Harsimran Manchanda, through senior advocate Amit Prasad.

A Delhi court on Sunday issued notice to the city police on a plea seeking monitoring of the investigation into the death of real estate sales professional Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, who went missing on September 6. Judicial magistrate first class Deepika Thakran of Saket courts directed the investigating officer to appear on Tuesday with a status report on the probe.

Delhi Police arrests former office colleague Anya Vats and her associate Sanyam Sachdeva from Uttarakhand in the alleged murder of 31-year-old Yuvraj Singh Manchanda. (ANI)

The court also directed the Gurugram Police Commissioner to preserve and produce records, electronic material and belongings linked to the recovery and cremation of Manchanda’s body.

Court backs investigation

The orders were passed on two applications filed by Manchanda’s sister, Dr Harsimran Manchanda, through senior advocate Amit Prasad. One application sought periodic monitoring of the investigation registered at Lajpat Nagar police station. The other sought preservation and production of records and digital material related to Manchanda’s death.

The court noted that the FIR was initially registered on Harsimran’s complaint after Yuvraj was reported missing. Gurugram Police subsequently recovered an unidentified body from the jurisdiction of Badshahpur police station, which was later identified as Yuvraj, it recorded.

Victim allegedly shot dead

According to the plea, Yuvraj left his sisters at Lajpat Nagar on September 6, saying he had to attend a meeting in Gurugram. He spoke to Harsimran at about 7.23pm and said he would return by 10pm. However, he did not come back. A message was later sent from his phone around 10.09pm saying he would stay with a friend in Gurugram.

The plea alleged that messages continued to be sent from Yuvraj’s phone to family members until September 8, creating a “misleading trail” about his whereabouts. The family lodged a complaint at Lajpat Nagar on September 11, following which an FIR was registered.

The plea said Delhi Police later apprehended Anya Vats and Sanyam Sachdeva from Uttarakhand on September 16. During interrogation, they allegedly disclosed that Yuvraj had been shot dead on September 6 and his body disposed of at Badshahpur in Gurugram.

A major concern raised by the family was that the body was allegedly cremated by Badshahpur police on September 14 as that of an unidentified person, even though the Lajpat Nagar FIR had been registered three days earlier.

The plea also alleged that details and photographs of the body were not uploaded on the ZIPNET portal between September 10, when the body was recovered, and September 14, when it was cremated. The material was uploaded on September 16.