Bhikahri Singh, father of 26-year-old Nikki who was burnt alive by her in-laws in Greater Noida, on Monday demanded the accused be killed in an “encounter,” saying this was Yogi Adityanath’s government.
"An encounter should be done. This is Baba's (Yogi Adityanath) government, their house should also be bulldozed. I demand that the court and CM give him the death penalty....If not, we will sit on hunger strike," Singh said.
The Yogi Adityanath government has killed 222 gangsters in its seven years tenure, according to a report by The Times of India.
In 2016, Singh’s daughters, Nikki (26) and Kanchan (29), were married in the same family. Nikki was married to Vipin Bhati and Kanchan to Rohit.
On August 21, Nikki was allegedly assaulted, dragged by her hair and set ablaze by her in-laws in front of her sister and son in Greater Noida.
Vipin, Rohit and his parents have been arrested while a hunt is on to nab others, police said on Saturday.
Vipin was shot in the leg by police while fleeing custody on Sunday, an officer said.
On Monday, police arrested Nikki’s father-in-law and brother-in-law.
The accused, identified as Satveer Bhati (55) and Rohit Bhati (28), were arrested by Kasna Police near Sirsa Toll Chauraha following a tip-off.
A case had been registered against the four at Kasna Police Station under sections 103(1) (murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and 61(2) (attempting to commit offences punishable with life imprisonment or others).
"Their demands were increasing day by day... and they had started asking for Rs 36 lakh in dowry from us. She started her own work, and her husband began asking for the money she earned," said the father of 26-year-old Nikki. "At the wedding they demanded a Scorpio car. We gave them, and again they demanded a bullet motorcycle, which we also gave."
"Both brothers don't work. Since marriage, they kept asking for money, sometimes they said give us your Mercedes, they asked for our Scorpio." Singh told PTI Videos.
He claimed that many times a panchayat was organised to settle the dispute, but all the efforts were wasted.
Nikki's mother said, "They demanded a top model Scorpio. We told them we can only give Swift Dzire, still we gave the Scorpio and 30 tola gold (approximately 350 gram) at the wedding."
"When my daughters had children, we gave them a motorcycle and 11 tola gold (approximately 128 gram), they still tortured them. When we brought them back home, they held a panchayat, pleaded with us for their return.... still the abuse continued. My daughter kept reassuring me that good days will come.. but they never did," the mother said.
Kanchan recorded a video of the attack and accused Vipin and his family members of killing her sister for dowry.
Videos of the incident and testimonies of Nikki's son and sister surfaced on social media on how Vipin and another woman assaulted Nikki and dragged her by the hair.
One clip showed Nikki, severely burnt, walking down a staircase before collapsing. She had succumbed to burns while being taken to a hospital Thursday night.
"I reached there as soon as my elder daughter called me..The doctor told me she is 70 per cent burnt..We took her to Safdarjung Hospital. The doctor told me to take her back because she would not be able to survive," said Singh.