Union Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday described the killing of 25-year-old tennis player Radhika Yadav as a “domestic matter” and stressed that it was too early to comment before the investigation concludes.
“It is not right to say anything till the time investigation is completed,” Khattar told reporters when asked about the murder. “It is a domestic matter, so I don’t think I should be saying anything,” he added.
Khattar went on to express concern over what he called a decline in moral values in present-day society. “It is a matter of concern that the ideas of people towards society have not developed,” he said in Karnal.
“Back when there were bigger families, people had more morals and values. The elders impacted the younger generations in a positive way,” the BJP leader added.
The minister’s comments come even as the investigation into the high-profile murder continues.
On Saturday, a Gurugram court sent Deepak Yadav-Radhika’s father and the sole accused-to 14-day judicial custody. The 51-year-old was arrested on Friday and was initially remanded to police custody for one day for questioning.
Radhika Yadav murder case
Radhika Yadav was allegedly shot four times in the back by her father, Deepak Yadav, while she was preparing breakfast in the kitchen of their three-storey residence in Gurugram’s Sushant Lok-2, according to police.
The shooting took place around 10:30 AM on Thursday, and the 25-year-old state-level tennis player and coach died on the spot.
“He admitted during questioning that he planned the murder,” said Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer (PRO) of Gurugram police. Elaborating on the sequence of events, Kumar added, “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.”
While earlier reports suggested that Deepak objected to his daughter running a tennis academy, police have now clarified that she did not own one. Instead, she rented tennis courts to conduct training sessions for her students-something that reportedly became a point of contention between her and the accused.
“Deepak had asked her several times to stop the training sessions, but she refused. That was the main tussle between the father and daughter,” an investigating officer told news agency PTI.
Inspector Vinod Kumar from Sector 56 police station added that the accused had repeatedly expressed disapproval of his daughter earning money through tennis coaching.