Father's confession: 'Radhika was persistent about making her own money and living her life her way'

It was Radhika’s departure from active tennis to pursue financial freedom through a tennis academy that triggered her father to kill her. The accused, Deepak Yadav, had spent over ₹2.5 crore on Radhika’s training, hoping she would become a top professional player. However, after an injury three months ago, she refused to return to the game and fulfill his ‘dream’. Radhika shifted her focus on becoming financially independent through her coaching academy. Earning her own money, Radhika chose to live her life her own way, which angered her father.

The revelation was made by 49-year-old Deepak Yadav who was taken on one-day police remand today and interrogated.

State-level tennis player Radhika Yadav (25) was shot dead by her father at their residence in Sector 57 here on Thursday morning. Yadav shot her four times and the police was informed by the hospital where she was taken by the family.

Senior investigation officers revealed that so far, Deepak had denied honour killing or any tussle over social media. It was his daughter’s tennis academy which was the bone of contention between the two for the last 15 days.

Deepak claimed he was constantly being mocked by peers and relatives for “living off” his daughter’s academy’s earning, which left him “ashamed”.

“My peers and relatives would often mock me saying I did not need to earn as my daughter was feeding me. It would happen every day when I would meet them. I have a good rental income along with my real estate money so these comments hurt my self-respect. Radhika was choosing academy and distancing herself from our conventional way of life. She was persistent about making her own money and living her life her way. I don’t even know what exactly happened that day, but I shot her,” Deepak has reportedly told police in his confession.

The police dismissed reports about Radhika’s social media activity being the motive of murder as she had been inactive for a year and many of her accounts had already been deleted. She was featured in a song on YouTube but the family, including her father, admitted that was shot a year ago with their consent.

“Social media has no role in Radhika's confrontation with her father. After her death, a song featuring her has gone viral. The family has informed us that it was shot a year ago with their consent. The social media handles of Radhika have been inactive for over a year. The accused had been angry with her for a fortnight over her academy and had been asking her to shut it," said Sandeep Kumar, official spokesperson for the Gurugram Police.

A senior investigator told The Tribune that Deepak invested 12 years of his life in shaping Radhika’s career as a tennis player. It was cut short by an injury and even after rehabilitation, she chose to give up active play for coaching. This triggered her father who felt his efforts were wasted.

Unanswered questions

The police, however, suspect that there is more to the case than meets the eye. Deepak Yadav has still not been able to tell why he chose to shoot four times if there was no immediate argument or trigger to his anger. He himself had funded Radhika’s academy. Her mother who was at home at time of incident has still not recorded her statement.