Who killed Radhika?

Cops say the unidentified assailant might have been a jilted lover, who fired at her from behind and escaped as onlookers didn't intervene

Was 22-year-old Radhika Tanwar murdered by a jilted lover? Delhi police is still searching for answers. What appears evident is that the assailant was known to the victim and there was no attempt at any looting or pillaging. Radhika was attacked while crossing the road via a pedestrian bridge.


Not an open and shut case: Scene outside Ram Lal Anand College
near Dhaula Kuan where the victim studied. Pic/mid day

She was shot from behind at point blank range and the attacker managed to escape despite the victim's friend Aditya, who was with her at the time, giving chase. Radhika died on the spot.

"Minutes after being shot, the girl was taken to Safdarjung Hospital but doctors declared her brought dead. We received two calls with different versions about the incident. One reported a mobile phone blast and injuries to a girl while the other said she had been shot. Prima facie it seems like the deceased was killed by a stalker," confirmed HGS Dhaliwal, DCP, south Delhi. "We have detained three suspects and are interrogating them," said Joint CP Amulya Patnaik.

The stalker theory
Family members of the victim denied any knowledge about the stalker but cops confirmed that the deceased had told her family and friends that someone was following her for the past few days. "We have got information about a stalker and victim's relatives have confirmed that Radhika had indeed told them about this. We are investigating the case from every angle," Dhaliwal added. Sources confirmed that cops have detained a friend of the deceased for interrogation.

Cops missing!
The site where the incident occurred is very close to the spot of the infamous Dhaula Kuan rape case that took place on November 26 last year, when a BPO employee was kidnapped and raped by a group of men inside a moving vehicle. Following the incident, the Police Commissioner BK Gupta had announced implementation of measures like extra barricading, pickets and PCR vans in the particular area. But according to sources, at 10.15 in the morning when Radhika was shot, there wasn't a single PCR van or cop in sight. That, coupled with the passivity of onlookers, allowed the attacker to escape.

"If there had been a cop in the neighbourhood, the attacker could have been easily nabbed. The absence of cops from the area is shocking, especially since crimes against women are common in the area. Though Radhika never complained about a stalker but her friends told us about such things," said Suman Tanwar, President of Ram Lal Anand College Students' Union.

The last SMS
Sources confirmed Radhika had no idea such an incident could happen. At the time she was on her way to college like any other day. Radhika messaged her friend Vernika Tanwar just 15 minutes before the attack that she was reaching college and would meet her there. A friend of the deceased revealed that she was having problems with a guy but didn't know much about him.

"Radhika left for college at around 9 am. At 11 am we were informed that she had been shot dead. We rushed to Safdurjung Hospital only to find her lifeless body. We came to know that one of her friends Aditya was with her at the time of the incident. She often went to college by bus and sometimes her father dropped her in his car," said Satish, maternal uncle of the deceased.

A planned murder?
Radhika's I-card and cellphone were recovered from the spot. "The incident clearly indicates that the attacker's purpose was only to kill her as her personal belongings were left untouched. It also seems like a pre-planned murder because the attacker chose the foot over-bridge to shoot her as there are fewer people there. The attacker was chased by the friend of the deceased but he leapt off the bridge and then jumped over a fence and escaped," Dhaliwal said. The deceased has two brothers, Vipin Tanwar and Praveen Tanwar, and a sister, Rajni Tanwar. Vipin is a first-year student of BBA in a private college, Rajni is studying in Gwalior and Praveen is a second standard student at Indira Idol Senior Secondary School in Janakpuri. The father of the deceased Rajender Singh Tanwar is a property dealer and operates from an office in Naraina village. The uncle of the deceased Pramod Tanwar is a district secretary of the BJP from Najafgarh area.