Noida 'dowry' death: How did Nikki die? New videos muddy murder charge; police to quiz again sister Kanchan

NOIDA: Investigators probing Nikki Bhati's death have decided to re-examine her sister Kanchan — whose account forms the basis of murder charges against Nikki's husband and in-laws — to establish the chain of events on Aug 21 evening that led to her death.Five days into the probe, police have no clear answers amid a maze of conflicting claims and social media videos. Seen initially as a case of husband Vipin attacking Nikki, police said the emergence of new videos makes other scenarios plausible and questioning Kanchan was critical to it. The new videos are CCTV footage from the street that purportedly show Vipin standing outside the house at the time of the incident — that TOI reported about on Tuesday — and another video, believed to have been shot by Kanchan herself, in which a woman's voice is heard asking Nikki, "What have you done (yeh kya kar liya)?"

Police said that they are verifying if the voice was Kanchan's.

Nikki's sister, who lives in the same house and is married to Vipin's elder brother Rohit, had alleged that Vipin had set Nikki on fire after years of harassment and abuse over dowry demands.According to the medico legal form submitted to police by Fortis Hospital, where Nikki was taken initially, she suffered a "burn at home due to a cooking cylinder blast". Police said they will record the statement of the doctor who attended to Nikki.

Asked by TOI about the memo, a hospital spokesperson said that Nikki's case history and the part about the cylinder blast was written based on information provided by the patient and her family. Vipin's cousin, Devender, who claims to have taken Nikki to hospital after she suffered burn injuries, had earlier told TOI Nikki had told them the burns were from a cylinder blast."We are going to re-examine Kanchan and record her statement on the video," an officer involved in the probe said on Tuesday.

While Kanchan's statement was recorded earlier, she has not yet been questioned about this video.Police also said they were verifying 10-12 statements recorded from both families and working to fix the jigsaw of events on Aug 21 evening. Apart from Vipin, Nikki's parents-in-law Daya and Satveer and her brother-in-law Rohit have been arrested so far. Another video has emerged showing Vipin's father performing Nikki's last rites.

Sources confirmed that Vipin's father and other family members were present at the cremation, which took place early in the morning the day after her death. Only after the cremation did Nikki's family lodge a formal complaint and get a murder FIR registered.Adding to the fog, another clip shows Nikki's mother-in-law Daya separating her from Vipin during a fight and even slapping her son after he raises his hand on Nikki.

Police said they needed to ascertain when this video was shot.

Kanchan responds

Reacting to CCTV footage, Kanchan on Tuesday posted on Instagram screenshots of Vipin's chats with other women and said, "It's such a shame that just one CCTV footage has turned the entire matter around. Now, people are shouting that the man should be supported, that he's innocent, and that the woman did this herself to frame him. But if the situation was reversed — if the man had done it and died — would the world still say the same thing? Would they still say ‘support the girl, it's not her fault?'""Those who say she did this herself to trap him should first try burning their own hand to prove their point," she added.In other posts, she attached clips from news channels where villagers from Sirsa questioned the videos where Vipin is seen beating Nikki. "Some say the video is one year old, some say it is two years old. Whatever it is, it clearly shows how he was beating her, isn't that enough proof?" she asked.Nikki's cousin, meanwhile, demanded that police retrieve footage from CCTV cameras installed inside the house instead of relying on the clip showing Vipin outside the grocery store on the day of her death."Since my sisters ran a beauty parlour in the house, they had installed cameras inside the house. The police should investigate footage from them. Vipin's family has conveniently circulated CCTV footage from a shop that is diagonally opposite their house. It does not show what happened inside the house that day," said Sunny Payla, adding the cylinder blast claims were "lies"."We will cross-verify all the statements made by the family members from both sides. The sequence of events is being established. We are going to do a thorough investigation," an officer said.