Hours after the father of tennis player Radhika Yadav shot her dead in their Gurugram house on Thursday, the police said they have found the motive behind the murder.
Deepak Yadav, 49, pulled the trigger five times, three of which hit his 25-year-old daughter at the back while she was cooking food in the kitchen.
The former state-level tennis player had opened a tennis academy to coach children after a shoulder injury during a match some days ago left her in a less than optimum state of performance in the tennis court.
Her father, however, wanted her to shut down the tennis academy because people used to taunt him for living off his daughter’s earnings, the police said. In the first information report (FIR), it is mentioned that Deepak Yadav used to get furious after his daughter refused to shut down her venture.
The taunts increased in the last few days, after which he told Radhika Yadav to close her tennis academy, a diktat that she refused.
“When I used to go to Wazirabad village to get milk, people used to taunt me, saying that I live off my daughter’s earnings. This troubled me a lot. Some people even questioned my daughter’s character. I told my daughter to close her tennis academy, but she refused,” Deepak Yadav told the police.
“This situation kept bothering me as it hurt my dignity. I was very troubled and stressed. Because of this tension, I took out my licensed revolver, and when my daughter Radhika was cooking in the kitchen, I shot her three times from behind, hitting her waist. I have killed my daughter,” Deepak Yadav said during interrogation.
The police said Deepak Yadav’s wife Manju refused to give a written statement. She told them she had a fever and went into her room.
Kuldeep Yadav, the brother of Deepak Yadav and uncle of Radhika Yadav, filed the FIR and gave a statement to the police.
He said he heard a loud bang at 10.30 am on Thursday and rushed to the first floor, where his brother lives.
“… I saw my niece, Radhika Yadav, lying in the kitchen and a revolver lying in the drawing room,” Kuldeep Yadav said in the FIR. “After that, my son Piyush Yadav and I went upstairs. We both lifted Radhika and took her in our car to Asia Moringo Hospital, Sector 56, Gurugram, for treatment. After the examination, the doctor declared my niece dead.”
Kuldeep Yadav said he is shocked by the murder of his niece.
“She was a prominent tennis player who had won many trophies. I am shocked by her death and cannot understand why she was murdered. When I went to the first floor, only my brother Deepak, my sister-in-law Manju Yadav, and Radhika were present…” he said in the FIR.