Updated on: 14 January,2024 01:45 PM IST | Mumbai
Jeremiah Nadar | news@debotimes.in

Family identified her by her tattoo; the ex-model was killed on January 1 by lover.

The body of former model Divya Pahuja, who was shot to death by her boyfriend Abhijeet Singh at his hotel in Gurugram on the evening of January 2, has been recovered from Bhakhra canal in Fatehabad’s Tohana city on Saturday. Her body had been disposed of with the help of Singh’s accomplices. The body was highly decomposed, and could not be easily identified. After fishing out the body, Haryana police called in Pahuja’s relatives who identified the body through the tattoo on her back.

Pahuja was imprisoned for seven years in a Mumbai jail in connection with the fake encounter of dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli, who was gunned down by Haryana police in February 2016. After getting bail last year, Pahuja befriended Singh, whom she was reportedly sextorting, said the Haryana police. Though the prime suspect Abhijeet and two hotel staffers were immediately placed under arrest on January 3, it was a Herculean task for Gurugram crime branch to find Pahuja’s body which was taken away in Singh’s BMW by his friends— Balraj Gill and Ravi Banga.

The police relied on inputs gleaned from Gill, who was detained at the Kolkata Airport based on a Look Out Circular issued in his name. “We had announced a cash reward of R50,000 in exchange for any information about Gill and Banga’s whereabouts as well as the location of Pahuja’s body, while also issuing LOCs for Gill and Banga.

During our investigation, we learned that the duo were in Kolkata after disposing off the body and the BMW car that was used in the offence. Hence, we had alerted the Kolkata police as well as the airport authorities. We have received transit custody of Gill and he is being brought to Gurugram, while the hunt for Banga is underway,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya, Gurugram Police told Debo Times.

The BMW has already been recovered from near a bus stop/depot in Patiala last week. A total of six accused, which includes Singh and his two employees, have been arrested till date for their alleged involvement in the crime. Gill has allegedly told the police in his interrogation that he and Singh used to study in the same college and also stayed together in Hisar for a while. Singh allegedly called up Gill and Banga after killing Pahuja, and enlisted their aid in disposing of the body. He is alleged to have shot Pahuja after an argument over her refusal to delete sexually explicit content implicating Singh from her phone. Officials said that the accused wrapped her body in a bedsheet, dragged it down the hotel’s corridor and loaded it into the BMW after the murder.

“Singh was highly intoxicated at the time of offence and drove his BMW for nearly two kilometres before handing the keys over to Gill and Banga. According to Pahuja’s sister Naina, the duo received Rs 10 lakh for their efforts,” said a police source. The arrested accused include Pravesh, Singh’s personal security guard cum driver, who is alleged to have supplied firearms to Singh.

“Pravesh is a history sheeter with over a half dozen cases such as attempt to murder and dacoity, along with cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Arms Act. We have recovered two pistols and 40 live rounds from his possession, and he has told us that Singh had a penchant for weapons, and would regularly buy illegal firearms from him,” said Dahiya.

Pahuja was a co-accused in the encounter of Haryana gangster Sandeep Gadoli, who was gunned down by the Gurugram police inside a hotel in Andheri in 2016. She was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch and remained imprisoned for seven years before she was released on bail last year.

Sources said that Gadoli was honey-trapped by his rival gangster Binder Gujjar, who had planted Pahuja in his gang to disarm him. She is believed to have supplied information on Gadoli’s whereabouts to the Gurugram police team which shot him dead. She was also the only survivor of the shootout and hence a crucial eye witness, and her statement was instrumental in the arrest of five police officials.