GREATER NOIDA – The terrible dowry murder of 28-year-old Nikki Bhati has taken a scary turn with the testimony of her seven-year-old son, who says he saw his mother being set on fire. The police inquiry is based on what the youngster said, and four family members have already been arrested.
Bhikari Singh Payla, Nikki’s father, says that the youngster can’t stop thinking about his mother burning. The boy told the authorities that he observed “something being poured” on his mother before she was set on fire with a lighter. “Every night he tears because he misses his mommy. “He keeps saying, ‘They burned my mother.’ We try to make him feel better,” Payla told the press.
Police have arrested four people in the case: Nikki’s husband, Vipin Bhati; his brother, Rohit Bhati; and their parents, Daya and Satyavir Bhati. Police caught Vipin after he allegedly tried to escape from detention and was shot in the leg. Daya, his mother, was detained the next day, and his father and brother were arrested on Monday.
The police arrested the people after Nikki’s older sister, Kanchan, who is married to Vipin’s brother, made a complaint. She says she saw the horrible conduct after her in-laws kept asking for a ₹36 lakh dowry. She says that her in-laws also hit her for dowry.
The victim’s family said that Vipin and Rohit were out of work and relied on their father’s money. Nikki and Kanchan opened a salon and boutique business to become financially independent. This upset their in-laws, who are said to have stolen their money. The deadly fight started on August 21 when Vipin hit Nikki and, with the help of his mother, lit her on fire.
The episode has made a lot of people angry, and the National Commission for Women (NCW) has called for a quick and thorough investigation. Vipin has openly rejected the charges and said that his wife killed herself, but the prosecution has strong proof in the form of their son’s eyewitness statement and the recordings that Kanchan made.