Dragged by hair, set on fire: How Noida dowry murder unfolded

The horrific death of 28-year-old Nikki Bhati, who was assaulted and then set on fire at her in-laws’ house in Greater Noida, has sparked outrage across the country.

Several videos from the incident have surfaced on social media. One shows her husband dragging her by the hair and assaulting her, while another captures her burning on the staircase.

Her husband, Vipin Bhati, has been arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody. On Sunday, his mother, Dayawati, who has also been named in the case, was taken into custody by the Gautam Buddh Nagar police.

In this explainer, we break down all the developments in the case.

Let’s take a look:

What happened?

Nikki and her sister Kanchan married two brothers, Vipin and Rohit, respectively, on December 10, 2016.

Kanchan, the elder sister, said both of them were harassed by their in-laws and husbands over a Rs 35 lakh dowry, even though earlier demands for costly gifts, including a Scorpio car, a Bullet bike and gold, had already been fulfilled.

The family said the husbands kept asking for more. Nine years after the wedding, Nikki and Kanchan were still being tortured for Rs 35 lakh.

Speaking to NDTV, Kanchan said, “We were being tortured, our in-laws would tell us they did not get this or that during the wedding. They asked us to get Rs 36 lakh from our home. I was also assaulted between 1.30 am and 4 am on Thursday. They told me, ‘We have got dowry for one, what about the other? You are better off dead. We will marry again.”

Nikki died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Thursday, where she had been admitted with severe burn injuries earlier that evening.

Shocking clips shared by Kanchan showed the mother and son attacking Nikki. Another video showed her in flames as she tried to move down a staircase.

The assault took place in front of her young son. “They poured something on my mother, slapped her, and then set her on fire with a lighter,” her son said.

Based on Kanchan’s complaint, police registered a case at Kasna police station against Nikki’s husband, brother-in-law Rohit Bhati, mother-in-law Daya, and father-in-law Satveer. Vipin and his mother have been arrested.

On Monday, Greater Noida Police confirmed a third arrest when Vipin’s brother was taken into custody. He, too, was accused of making dowry demands along with his parents. The accused’s father is still on the run.

Years of torture and abuse

Kanchan told NDTV that Vipin and Rohit would often stay out late and ignore their wives’ calls.

“If we asked them where they were, they would create a scene. They would spend time with other women, and when we confronted them, they would hit us. Our nights were spent crying. Nothing is left now, my sister is gone. She was about two-three years younger than me, but people thought we were twins,” she told the media outlet.

Kanchan added that her father had given a top-model Scorpio SUV, a Bullet (Royal Enfield) bike, cash, gold and other gifts.

“Besides this, gifts would be sent from our home on Karwa Chauth. Our parents did all they could, but the in-laws were not happy. They kept criticising. They would say the clothes gifted by my parents cost Rs 2,” she said.

Both sisters were active on Instagram and YouTube, where they ran a beauty parlour channel together called “Makeover by Kannchan”, which has 54,500 followers on Instagram.

Police said Vipin was against Nikki reopening a parlour and posting reels online. On August 21, the two had a heated argument over her decision to restart the parlour.

Around 3:30 pm on the day of her death, Nikki told Vipin about her plan to reopen it. By 5:30 pm, her family was told she had been burnt alive. “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,” Kasna station house officer Dharmendra Shukla was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Nikki’s father, Bhikari Singh Payla, has demanded the death penalty for Vipin.

He said Nikki did not want to burden him with her problems and tried hard to keep the marriage going. She even started working on her own, but her husband began taking away the money she earned.

Her father also said that he had fulfilled every demand from Nikki’s in-laws, yet they killed her.

“First, they demanded a Scorpio in dowry, which was given. Later, they asked for a Bullet motorcycle, and that too was provided. Yet, they kept torturing my daughter. He (her husband) should be hanged,” he said.

Vipin has ‘no remorse’

Vipin has denied killing Nikki, saying that “she died on her own". Even as videos showing him assaulting his wife spread online, he said that he felt “no remorse“.

“I have no remorse. I haven’t killed her. She died on her own. Husband and wife often have fights; it is very common," he told news agency ANI.

On Sunday, when police took Vipin to recover the flammable substance he allegedly used to set Nikki on fire, he attempted to escape and was shot in the leg.

“The suspect, Bhati, snatched a police pistol in an attempt to escape. In retaliatory fire, he suffered a bullet injury to his legs and was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment,” Greater Noida additional deputy commissioner of police Sudhir Kumar said.

The case

While the victim’s father-in-law remains on the run, her mother-in-law, Dayawati, and her brother-in-law, Rohit Bhati, have been arrested.

Rohit was held on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy, based on a complaint filed by the victim’s elder sister on August 22.

A case has been filed at Kasna police station under Section 103 (murder), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the victim’s husband, Vipin Bhati, her father-in-law, Satyaveer Bhati, mother-in-law, Daya Bhati, and brother-in-law, Rohit Bhati.

With inputs from agencies