'Gadoli's Siblings Gave Money to Murder Her': Divya Pahuja's Kin Claim in FIR

Divya Pahuja, an accused in the Sandeep Gadoli encounter case, was shot dead at a hotel in Gurugram on 2 January.

Three people, including Abhijeet Singh (56), the owner of Hotel City Point where Pahuja was murdered, were arrested in the case.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

While the Gurugram Police's preliminary probe suggested that 27-year-old Divya Pahuja was shot dead for allegedly blackmailing and extorting money from main accused Abhijeet Singh, her family claimed that the murder was connected to the 2016 'fake encounter' case of gangster Sandeep Gadoli.

The former model, who was accused in the Gadoli case, was shot dead at Hotel City Point in Gurugram on Tuesday, 2 January.

Three people, including Singh (56), the owner of Hotel City Point, where Divya was allegedly murdered, were arrested in the case.

In the First Information Report (FIR), accessed by The Quint, Divya's sister Naina Pahuja claimed, “Divya was the main witness in the 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 Singh for the murder of Divya."

Pahuja, a former model from Gurugram, reportedly worked as a compere at club events in the city before meeting notorious gangster Sandeep Gadoli. At 19, Pahuja became Gadoli's girlfriend, sources claimed.

In February 2016, Gadoli was killed in an alleged fake encounter by officials of the Gurugram Police's Crime Branch. Pahuja was arrested on 14 July 2016, along with her mother Sonia, in connection with the case. She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in June 2023.

DCP (Crime) Vijay Pratap Singh, however, told media persons on Thursday, 4 January, "We will check if they (Gadoli's associates) have any links to the murder. We’re not ruling out any angle and will analyse every aspect."

'... Found Bloodstains On The Floor of Hotel Room...': FIR

According to the complaint, Naina, a resident of Baldev Nagar in Gurugram, and her family last met Divya on 1 January, before she had an alleged meeting with Singh. They last spoke to her on 2 January, around 11:50 am.

When they tried to contact her, they could not reach her on the phone, the FIR said.

Concerned about her well-being, Naina claimed that she went to Singh’s house in South Extension in New Delhi, where his friend Balraj was present. He had Divya's phone with him, she stated in the FIR.

“I collected Divya’s phone from Balraj and reached Singh in his hotel in Gurugram, where my sister was last present. When I requested that he 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. When I was coming back from his hotel, he handed me over my sister's debit card and PAN card, saying she left them with him."

Naina Pahuja in the FIR

Naina further said in the complaint that she found bloodstains on the floor of a hotel room and her sister’s ring, shoes, and other articles in a store room.

In the FIR, she also mentioned a woman, “who had boy’s cut hair and was wearing a black and white sweater," as allegedly being involved in the murder.

“It is clearly visible that after killing Divya, Singh wrapped her body in a white sheet and, after dragging her body away, kept it in his blue BMW car."

DCP (Crime) Pratap said that a woman accompanied Singh on the day of the murder, but they are yet to identify her and her involvement in the murder.

"As per the preliminary probe, Abhijeet Singh said that Divya blackmailed him with his obscene pictures and extorted money from him. But we are also exploring the angles mentioned in the complaint, including connections with gangsters and the role of Sandeep Gadoli's siblings. Further investigation is underway, and more facts will come out soon," another police official told The Quint.

Police Could Not Find Body, Returned After Naina's Call

As per police sources, CCTV footage from the hotel showed Divya, Singh, and another man entering the premises at 4.18 am 2 January. The murder allegedly took place around 5 pm, officials said.

The police reportedly received a tip-off about the murder from Anoop, who had given the hotel on lease to Singh, but they could not find the body on their first visit to the hotel on 2 January.

However, CCTV footage from the hotel showed that at 10:44 pm, after they left, two men carried the body to a blue BMW.

Around the same time, the police received a call from Naina and returned to the hotel, a police source told The Quint, on the condition of anonymity.

“We came to know Divya was in room number 111 after her body was moved. Suspicious that the woman was not found, we rechecked the hotel; this time, Divya’s room, too,” DCP (Crime) Pratap told the media.

Based on Naina's complaint on 3 January, the Gurugram Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the police, Abhijeet Singh told them that he was introduced to Divya through gangster Binder Gujjar — also a suspect in the 2016 Sandeep Gadoli’s murder. Singh told the police that he had known Gujjar for the last 15 years.