LUCKNOW: Father of Nikki Bhati, the Greater Noida dowry death victim, has refuted the claims that the reels and other social media activities of her daughter were bone of contention in her family.
Bhikhari Singh Payla, Nikki’s father, said that the social media activity was not the reason for conflict between his daughter and her husband as Vipin's mother herself had an Instagram account.
Nikki was allegedly set on fire on August 21 by her husband, Vipin Bhati, during an altercation leading to the arrest of four people, including Vipin, his mother, brother and father.
The police complaint lodged by the victim’s sister Kanchan claimed that the family had differences over Nikki and Kanchan's social media activity and their proposed plan to re-open their beauty parlour.
Meanwhile, the cylinder blast angle in the alleged dowry death has been ruled out by the police saying that an empty thinner bottle and a lighter recovered from the house where the victim was allegedly set afire by her in-laws were the key evidence.
Nikki's father, while interacting with media persons, refuted the claims of tiff over social media activity, saying: "Vipin's mother used Instagram too. Reels were not the reason for Nikki's killing."
He also reiterated that he had invested money in the beauty parlour of his daughters and they used to run it from their home while Vipin was jobless.
"I paid ₹1.5 lakh for it. My daughter was running the parlour and was using that money towards her son's education. Vipin had no job,” said Payla.
On the other, reacting to similar allegations of harassment levelled against him and his family by his estranged daughter-in-law Meeanakshi, Payla refuted the charges saying that his doors were always open for his daughter -in-law. Meenakshi has been with her parents for the last 14 months. She was married to Payla’s son Rohit Payla in 2016. Meeankshi had claimed that her father had already given a Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and 31 tola gold at the time of her marriage, but Paylas demanded a Scorpio SUV.
She has also alleged that she was targeted by Nikki and Kanchan too. “My in-laws used to beat me for dowry. I used to run away to my village. They never allowed me to keep a mobile phone. Rohit used to stay out of his home for three months. I spent nine years there, but for the last 14 months I have been at my own home,” she told media persons.
However, Bhikhari Singh said that his son never harassed Meenakshi. He rather claimed to have evidence of an attack by Meenakshi’s family when they had come to drop her. “I have all the evidence. Our doors are always open for her (daughter-in-law)," he said.
Earlier, the Greater Noida Police also denied Meenakshi's allegations, saying no such evidence had emerged so far.
Meanwhile, the cylinder blast angle in the alleged dowry death has been ruled out by the police saying that an empty thinner bottle and a lighter recovered from the house where the victim was allegedly set afire by her in-laws were the key evidence.
Among key evidence is videos recorded by Nikki's sister Kanchan, claiming to be of the day of the incident. However, a hospital memo had stated that Nikki Bhati was admitted on August 21 in critical condition, having sustained severe burns in a gas cylinder blast at her residence.
"The statement of the doctors and nurses who were present at the time of her admission has been recorded. Nikki told them that she sustained burn injuries due to a blast in a gas cylinder," said a police officer. Kasna station house officer (SHO) Dharmendra Shukla said Nikki might have deliberately concealed the truth as she did not want anyone to go to jail.
“It is believed that she did not want anyone to be sent behind bars, which is why she did not blame anyone in her last words,” the SHO was quoted as saying in media reports. All the angles in the case are currently being investigated by the police – with statements being recorded before any further action is taken. Police have sent an inflammable liquid found in Nikki’s room for forensic analysis.