The Uttar Pradesh Police has made the third arrest in the Greater Noida dowry murder case, nabbing deceased Nikki Bhati's brother-in-law on Monday morning.
Nikki's mother-in-law was arrested on Sunday, while her husband, Vipin Bhati, accused of murdering her over dowry demands, was nabbed on Saturday. Sisters Nikki and Kanchan were married into the same household in Greater Noida's Sirsa in December 2016.
Vipin Bhati was arrested after getting injured in a police encounter and was sent to a 14-day judicial custody.
Nikki Bhati, 28, was set on fire at home on August 21 due to an altercation over her posting reels on Instagram and wanting to reopen a beauty parlour she used to run, police said on Sunday, after interrogating the accused, her husband Vipin Bhati.
{{/usCountry}}Nikki Bhati, 28, was set on fire at home on August 21 due to an altercation over her posting reels on Instagram and wanting to reopen a beauty parlour she used to run, police said on Sunday, after interrogating the accused, her husband Vipin Bhati.
{{/usCountry}}Vipin Bhati also said that he had “no remorse” for the incident, which led to her death, an earlier HT report quoted the police.
The family of the victim, Nikki, claimed that she had been tortured since her marriage in 2016 by them for a dowry demand of ₹36 lakh, even after they had fulfilled their demand for Scorpio vehicle and a motorcycle.
Disturbing videos of the August 21 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.
In one of the videos, a man was seen pouring a liquid (thinner used in parlour) on Nikki while she sat on the floor. In another, Vipin was seen assaulting her brutally. A third video showed Nikki, severely burnt, walking down a staircase before collapsing.
She had succumbed to burns while being taken to a hospital Thursday night.
Police said that on August 21, Nikki was demanding to reopen her beauty parlour, which triggered a fight between her and Vipin.
Kasna station house officer Dharmendra Shukla said that investigation revealed that around 3.30 pm on August 21, Nikki told Vipin that she and her sister would reopen the parlour.
When he refused, Nikki said that no one could stop them from reopening, which Bhati opposed,” .
“Vipin told her that in their family, posting reels on Instagram and running a parlour were not allowed. The issue turned ugly, and he started assaulting her,” Shukla said.