Tennis player Radhika Yadav’s father planned her murder: Gurugram cops' shocking revelation

Deepak Yadav, 51, allegedly shot his daughter Radhika Yadav, a state-level tennis player, four times in the back while she was cooking breakfast

The murder of a 25-year-old woman tennis player in Gurugram was allegedly planned by her father and not a spur-of-the-moment killing, police said on Friday, adding that they are probing a string of heated disagreements between the two in the weeks leading up to the shooting.

Deepak Yadav, father of Radhika Yadav, produced in district court, in Gurugram, on Friday. (HT Photo)

Deepak Yadav, 51, allegedly shot his daughter Radhika Yadav, a state-level tennis player, four times in the back while she was cooking breakfast in the kitchen of their three-storey home in Block-G of Sushant Lok-2 around 10.30am on Thursday, police said.

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

“He typically bought milk himself in the mornings, but on Thursday, he asked his son to go instead. Once alone with Radhika, he pumped four bullets into her while she was cooking breakfast,” he added.

But in their native village of Wazirabad, once made famous by controversial influencer Elvish Yadav, an old neighbour also alleged Deepak was unhappy with Radhika’s choice of a partner. “Radhika wanted to marry someone outside her caste but her father wanted the marriage in the same caste. He was old school and conservative.” the 47-year-old neighbour said, requesting anonymity.

Police also said the probe was looking at the mother, Manju Yadav. “He hasn’t given a clear reason yet, nor confirmed if his wife was aware of the plan—but it appears she may have had some knowledge,” Kumar said.

Manju Yadav has refused to give a statement to the police, saying even though she was present in the flat during the murder, she was down with fever and hadn’t seen anything.

On Friday, Deepak was produced before a city court, which gave one-day police remand for interrogation. Police said they will quiz him on several points to corroborate with his confession.

Radhika was a state-level athlete who had reached a career-high ITF doubles ranking of 113 in November 2024, and was ranked fifth in Haryana in women’s doubles. She opened a popular tennis academy in March this year and was also popular on social media.

A graduate of Scottish High International School, she cleared her Class 12 exams in commerce in 2018 and had taken to tennis early in her school years. She had recently suffered a shoulder injury and was undergoing physiotherapy, but that hadn’t deterred her from running her academy.

But police said Deepak repeatedly objected to her daughter running the academy after he was repeatedly taunted by villagers and peers in their native Wazirabad, a part of which now falls under Sector 57 in Gurugram. Many people allegedly mocked him for living off his daughter’s income from her tennis academy, according to an investigator privy to the case details.

As a builder, Deepak felt that he was financially well off and also earned from rental income, so there was no need for his daughter to run an academy, the investigator added.

“When I used to go to Wazirabad village, people used to taunt me, saying that I live off my daughter’s earnings. This troubled me a lot. I told my daughter to close her tennis academy, but she refused,” Deepak allegedly said during questioning, police said.

As news of the gruesome crime spread, relatives and friends of the family expressed shock. “We are unable to understand why Deepak did such an act or why he got hurt after being taunted by villagers,” said one of Radhika’s uncles, requesting anonymity.

Other relatives said the Yadav family was thriving in the real estate business with interests in the construction and sale of builders’ floor, leasing out properties on rent, and land deals. “Very recently, Deepak’s son has also launched himself in the real estate business and was doing well. There was never a moment when the family needed to discuss any kind of pressure or disappointment,” said a second relative, requesting anonymity.

A third family member, Raju Yadav, said that Deepak had sacrificed a lot for Radhika. “He frequently travelled with Radhika. Sometime to Lucknow, Vadodara, Bengaluru or any other place where she had matches,” he said.

According to the police, Deepak said he was battling depression for the past 15 days due to social criticism about his daughter’s career and earnings. In his confession, he said he could no longer bear the humiliation which had hurt his “pride”, as mentioned in the first information report accessed by HT.

“We met him in the lockup. He has realised what sin he has committed but it’s too late now. He told us that he did ‘paap’ (crime) by killing his daughter and broke down,” said a fourth relative, requesting anonymity.