A Faridabad fast-track court on Friday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for shooting a 21-year-old college girl at point-blank range outside her college in Ballabhgarh in October last year. The victim Nikita Tomar was shot by Tausif and Rehan. the third accused Azruddin, who had supplied the weapon, was acquitted.
21-year-old Nikita was shot in broad daylight in Haryana's Faridabad on October 26 last year. The incident happened during a failed abduction attempt that was caught on camera. The prime accused Tausif was caught on camera shooting Nikita Tomar and after the arrest, the police revealed that he shot Nikita as she was getting married to someone else.
“Nikita Tomar murder (26/10/2020, accused Touseef arrested the same evening, 27/10/2020 Rehaan arrested, 28/10/2020 Azruddin arrested, 6/11/2020 challan produced in court, 24/3/2021 verdict announced, 26/3/2021 sentence to be pronounced,” a tweet by the Faridabad police said.
The crime was captured in CCTV footage where the accused is seen trying to force Nikita to get into a vehicle on October 26, 2020, while she was on her way home after exiting her college. The murder led to a huge uproar in the country. Meanwhile, the woman's family claimed that Touseef had been stalking her and pressuring her into marrying him and changing her religion.
Investigation of the case
A special investigation team (SIT), of Haryana police, was which was formed on October 27, 2020, filed a 700-page charge sheet on November 6 that year, listing 60 witnesses in the murder case and as part of the investigation, fingerprints were matched from three samples — from the car, the pistol, and the woman’s arm. The team was led by Anil Kumar Yadav, assistant commissioner of police (crime).
The SIT team revealed that Tauseef used a country-made pistol (desi katta) to kill Nikita Tomar and the police have recovered the weapon. The i20 vehicle that was used in the crime was found to be registered in the name of a person in Delhi and the police have summoned the owner of the car for questioning.
Love Jihad angle
The daylight murder had created an uproar in the nation and with people demanding justice for Nikita on social media. The accused and his accomplice Rehan were arrested and investigation revealed the angle of love jihad and revenge. The primary probe revealed that Nikita had refused Tausif’s proposal of marriage and overtures of converting to Islam. While some reports suggest that the accused killed her out of revenge.
Tausif had been harassing Nikita Tomar for several years, which prompted the girl’s family to file an FIR against him in 2018. He was then arrested, following which he could not complete his medical studies.
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The case was hugely condemned from across the country and also had taken a political turn. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday assured strict action against the accused. “The culprit in the Ballabhgarh incident has been arrested. Strict action will be taken against the culprit. No criminal will be spared,” Khattar told media persons in Hisar.