Woman accused in death of gangster shot dead in Gurugram hotel
Divya Pahuja, a resident of Baldev Nagar in Gurugram’s Sector-7, was on bail after spending nearly 7 years in custody in connection with Sandeep Gadoli’s death
A 27-year-old woman who was an accused in the alleged fake encounter of dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli was shot dead at a hotel room near the Gurugram bus stand, police officers aware of the matter said on Wednesday, adding that they have arrested three people in connection with her murder.
Woman accused in death of gangster shot dead in Gurugram hotel
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Divya Pahuja, a resident of Baldev Nagar in Gurugram’s Sector-7, was out on bail after spending nearly seven years in custody in connection with Gadoli’s death. Police said she was allegedly blackmailing Abhijeet Singh, 56, a hotel owner in the city, who purportedly killed her on Tuesday night at one of his properties.
Assistant commissioner of police Mukesh Kumar said they have arrested three suspects for Pahuja’s murder — Singh, and his employees Hemraj, 28, who goes by a single name, and Om Prakash, 23. “The suspects fled the hotel in a BMW car with the body to dispose of it. They were later arrested from the hotel,” he said.
The police are yet to find the body.
Giving details of the case, police said Gadoli, a dreaded gangster who was charged with a string of murders and had kept the police on their toes for over two decades, was shot dead at a hotel in Mumbai on February 6, 2016. However, the Mumbai Police alleged that jailed gangster Virendra Kumar alias Binder Gujjar conspired with Haryana Police personnel to eliminate Gadoli, who was lured into a trap with the help of Pahuja, Gadoli’s then girlfriend.
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Subsequently, Pahuja, her mother Sonia, and five police personnel were booked in connection with Gadoli’s death. According to the prosecution, Pahuja accompanied Gadoli to Mumbai and kept sharing their live location on her social media accounts to ensure that police followed them. “She was aware that Gadoli will be killed in the Mumbai hotel room,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
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Subsequently, Pahuja, her mother Sonia, and five police personnel were booked in connection with Gadoli’s death. According to the prosecution, Pahuja accompanied Gadoli to Mumbai and kept sharing their live location on her social media accounts to ensure that police followed them. “She was aware that Gadoli will be killed in the Mumbai hotel room,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
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The trial in the case began in 2020, but in June 2023, the Bombay high court granted Pahuja bail after the bench was informed that she was custody for six years and 11 months, and the trial was not likely to conclude anytime soon.
Quoting the statement of Singh, the hotelier, police said that Pahuja was in possession of some of his (Singh’s) personal photographs, and she began blackmailing him soon after her release.
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“Singh revealed that on Tuesday night, he met her at a room in his hotel and tried deleting the photographs from her phone, but could not unlock the phone as it was password protected. This led to a heated argument, and Singh shot her dead,” said ACP Kumar.
Pahuja’s death came to light after her family was not able to contact her, following which her sister Naina approached the police suspecting foul play, and said that her sister was last present at Singh’s hotel.
“A police team reached the hotel late on Tuesday night and found blood stains on the stairs. The team scanned the hotel’s CCTV footage, and found footage of two men dragging a body wrapped in a bed sheet towards the main entrance of the hotel, and then loading it into a blue BMW car,” said ACP Kumar, following which the three suspects were arrested.
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“Crime branch teams are working to recover the body,” he added.
Leena Dhankhar is Senior Editor and Bureau Chief, Gurugram, at Hindustan Times, where she has spent over 17 years chronicling the transformation of one of India's fastest-growing urban regions. From starting her career as a crime reporter to leading the Gurugram bureau, her journalism has been defined by investigative reporting, in-depth storytelling and an unwavering focus on public interest.
Over nearly two decades, she has reported extensively across crime, politics, civic governance, elections, real estate, environment, courts, sports, education and entertainment, covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh and Palwal. Her reporting has exposed several major scams and systemic failures, including insurance frauds, waste management irregularities, illegal arms manufacturing units in Nuh, illegal mining in the Aravallis, organised crime networks and governance lapses affecting millions of residents.
Known for her investigative work and exclusive stories, Leena has reported on high-impact national issues, including the Nicaragua charter flight carrying Indian migrants that was turned back amid allegations of human trafficking, exposing the growing network of illegal immigration rackets. Her work has also focused on gang wars, prison administration, juvenile crime, women and child protection systems, the functioning of the Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee, and environmental challenges such as pollution, waterlogging and deteriorating civic infrastructure.
Beyond hard news, Leena has extensively documented Haryana's rich heritage, forests and wildlife, bringing attention to the state's historical landmarks, biodiversity, conservation efforts and ecological challenges through immersive reportage and feature writing.
Her journalism has consistently gone beyond breaking news. She has documented Gurugram's rapid urbanisation through long-form narratives and enterprise reporting on issues ranging from pothole-ridden roads, flooding and waste management to the changing social fabric of India's Millennium City. She also writes widely read feature columns, including The Outsider, Changemaker, and Concern for Gurugram, profiling people, places and ideas shaping the city's identity.
Leena is the author of Gurugram School Murder, published by Juggernaut Books, a deeply reported account of one of India's most high-profile school murder investigations. She is currently working on her second book, an investigative work exploring some of India's most significant scams and fraud investigations.
Beyond print journalism, she has expanded her storytelling through public speaking and digital media. She is a TEDx speaker and has produced podcasts exploring Gurugram's transformation, civic challenges and untold stories. Her work reflects a commitment to narrative journalism that combines rigorous reporting with compelling storytelling.
A law graduate with an MBA in Human Resources, Leena brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her reporting, particularly on governance, public policy and legal affairs. She has travelled extensively across India to pursue investigative assignments, often reporting from remote locations and conflict-prone areas in search of stories that matter.
Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations. He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis. He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps. Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas. In the past, he worked for media houses like The Times of India, where he extensively reported on important government matters and daily proceedings at the Patna High Court. He has also worked in the electronic media and had done ground coverage on the Kedarnath deluge that wrecked Uttarakhand in 2013.
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