3 arrested for murder of former model in Gurugram

At least three people have been arrested on charges of murdering a 27-year-old model in Haryana’s Gurugram on Tuesday (January 2) night.

Police on Wednesday (January 3) said Divya Pahuja, a former model from Punjab, was shot dead in a hotel room in Gurugram, months after being granted bail after spending seven years in jail in connection with a Gurugram gangster's fake encounter case in Mumbai.

Police said Divya was killed by Abhijeet Singh, the owner of the hotel. According to police sources, five people took Divya to the hotel room on Tuesday night and shot her in the head allegedly because she used to extort money from the hotel-owner by blackmailing him with his "obscene pictures". Her family has denied the claim.

The three arrested are Singh (56), a native of Model Town in Hisar, and his two employees – Hemraj (28), a resident of Nepal, and Omprakash (23), a resident of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.

Gurugram Police said they arrested three of them while they were taking the body to dump somewhere.

‘Body wrapped in white sheet, dragged through hotel lobby’

A CCTV footage shows the accused purportedly dragging the body wrapped in a white sheet through the lobby of Hotel City Point.

Police said Divya was shot dead allegedly by the hotel owner because she extorted money from him after blackmailing him with his "obscene pictures".

But her sister Naina Pahuja claimed in a police complaint that slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli's sister Sudesh Kataria and brother Brahm Prakash Kataria gave money to Singh to kill the former model.

Gadoli, a dreaded gangster from Gurugram, was killed in a shootout in Mumbai on February 6, 2016. Later, the Mumbai police said Gadoli had been lured into a trap with the help of his "girlfriend" Divya and killed in a fake encounter.

Following Naina’s complaint in the instant case, an FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder), 201 (hiding evidence), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the India Penal Code at sector 14 police station and police are questioning the arrested accused.

Divya used to blackmail me: Prime accused

Singh told police during initial interrogation that Hotel City Point belongs to him but he has given it on lease.

He alleged Divya Pahuja used to blackmail him using his "obscene pictures" and extort money. He said she wanted a huge sum this time.

Police spokesperson Subhash Boken said, "Accused Abhijeet said that on January 2 he had come to Hotel City Point with Divya Pahuja and he wanted to delete his obscene photos from her phone but Divya Pahuja did not tell the password of her phone.”

"Due to which Abhijeet shot dead Divya Pahuja and along with Hemraj and Om Prakash, who worked as cleaning and reception workers in the hotel. They kept the dead body in accused Abhijeet's BMW car. After this, accused Abhijeet called his two other associates and gave them his car to dispose of the dead body. Our teams are conducting raids to nab the accused and recover the body," he said.

Conflicting story

But, according to the complaint filed by Naina, a resident of Baldev Nagar, her sister last went to meet Singh on January 1 and they spoke to her on January 2 around 11:50 am.

After that her family tried but failed to reach her phone. Naina said that concerned about her wellbeing, they went to Singh's house in South Ext, New Delhi, where his friend "Balraj" (who has been identified in police's version Hemraj) was present and he was in possession of Divya’s phone.

"I took Divya's phone from Balraj and reached Abhijeet in his hotel in Gurugram where my sister was last present. When I requested him to show the CCTV footage, he kept on denying and arguing with me. In the end I called the police and they started an investigation. I found my sister's blazer in Abhijeet's hotel and when I was coming back from his hotel he handed me over my sister debit card and pan card saying she left them with him," Naina told police.

Her suspicions deepened when she found blood stains on the floor of a hotel room and also found her sister's ring, shoes and other articles in the store room of the hotel.

Singh's housekeepers Hemraj and Prakash helped him dispose of the body, police said, adding Abhijeet also offered people ₹10 lakh to get rid of the body.

Anup, his partner, also helped him dump the body, they said.

Divya main witness in Sandeep Gadoli murder case: Sister

Naina alleged in her complaint, "Divya was the main witness in Sandeep Gadoli murder case and we have full surety that Sandeep Gadoli's sister Sudesh Kataria and his brother Brahm Prakash gave money to Abhijeet for the murder of Divya.”

"It is clearly visible that after killing Divya, Abhijeet wrapped her body in a white sheet and after dragging her body away, kept it in his blue BMW car and sent it to be dumped somewhere. A woman, who had boy's haircut and was wearing a black and white sweater, is also involved in the murder of my sister," she said.

Virendra Kumar alias Binder Gujjar ran a rival gang and allegedly conspired with Haryana Police officials to eliminate Gadoli.

Gujjar was in prison at the time of the encounter, but he hatched the conspiracy with the help of his brother Manoj and roped in Pahuja as a honey trap.

An FIR was registered against five police personnel, Pahuja, her mother and others.

The Bombay High Court had granted bail to Pahuja in June last year, about seven years after she was arrested.

(With inputs from agencies)