BHOPAL: 21-year-old NEET-UG aspirant Nikki Yadav, who was missing since the national entrance exams retest on Sunday, was found dead 70 kms away in the River Narmada a day later.
Nikki, a resident of Indore’s Lasudiya area, was untraceable since reportedly appearing in Sunday’s NEET-UG retest in Mhow.
Her body was retrieved from Narmada river in Karahi police station area of southwestern Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district.
“The body was found on Monday afternoon, but despite efforts, identity could not be established. The pictures were circulated to all police stations in Khargone and adjoining districts, including Indore. It was in the night that we got a phone call from Bhawarkuan police station in Indore, suspecting that the body could be of Nikki Yadav, who was missing since Sunday evening" Khargone district’s Karahi police station in-charge Rajendra Ingle told The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
“With the deceased girl’s identity not being established throughout Monday, her body was kept at the deep freezer mortuary in Maheshwar Hospital. On Tuesday morning, her father and other family members who had arrived from Indore at around midnight, identified that the body was that of their missing daughter. As no external injuries have been found on the body, it prima facie doesn’t seem to be a case of murder. However, only the autopsy (which is underway) will establish the cause of death, suicide or homicide,” Ingle added.
Sources associated with the probe, however, said the possibility of the NEET aspirant having jumped into the Narmada on Sunday night cannot be ruled out. As per the ongoing probe, the last location of her cell phone was the riverside Barwaha in Khargone district.
Nikki is the daughter of accountant Ramanand Yadav. Her family lives in the Talawali Chanda area of Indore’s Lasudiya area.
Aspiring to become a doctor, she had reportedly appeared twice in the NEET-UG. She had appeared in the Sunday’s NEET-UG retest at the exam centre in Mhow sub-division of Indore.
After appearing for the exam, Nikki had called her mother from another student's phone and told her that she would reach home within a few hours. She had told her mother that she was calling from another student’s phone, as her phone battery had discharged.
When Nikki did not return even after 10 pm on Sunday, her family started searching for her, and the matter was subsequently reported to Bhawarkuan police station a few hours later.
Nikki’s two elder sisters are software engineers, her elder brother is an engineer, and her younger brother Shivam is in school. Shivam had dropped her at the exam centre in Mhow town on Sunday.