After the tragic killing of ex-tennis player Radhika Yadav in Gurugram, actor Inam-ul-Haq—who had worked alongside her in a music video—stepped forward to explain that his association with her was purely professional.
Talking to news agency ANI from Dubai on Friday, Inam said he did not have any personal connection with Radhika other than working with her for a short while. "I first met her (Radhika) during the Tennis Premier League, which took place in Dubai.
Then I met her for a music video. She was an actress to me. I have worked with several actresses. She came only for the shooting of the music video, and then she went back. We only gave her a good luck amount. The making of the video was unpaid.". After that, we never contacted,” he said.
Inam expressed concern that the situation is being unnecessarily politicized and communalized. “I don't know why it is being done. I don't have to do anything with this case. Radhika has no social media. There is just a video clip on YouTube, that's why it is being highlighted repeatedly,” he added.
The 25-year-old sportswoman was reportedly shot dead by her father, Deepak Yadav, on Thursday as she was cooking a birthday dinner for her mom, Manju Yadav, at their three-storey house in Sushant Lok, Gurugram.
A post-mortem report says Radhika received four bullet injuries on the back.
51-year-old Deepak confessed to the crime in initial police questioning, blaming constant humiliation and social condemnation as the main motives.
"When I went to fetch milk from Wazirabad village, people would taunt me saying that they were running their household from the earnings of their daughter. Some people even asked questions about my daughter's character. I asked my daughter to shut her tennis academy, but she did not listen. This thing used to bother me because it hurt my dignity," he is said to have told police. Due to this tension, I pulled out my licensed revolver, and while my daughter Radhika was cooking in the kitchen, I fired at her from behind and hit her waist. I have murdered my daughter," he admitted.
He was produced before a local court on Friday, and it remanded him in police custody for a day to enable further questioning and checking of his claims.
A family member of the family's hometown village, Wazirabad, said Deepak was also dissatisfied with his daughter's relationship. "Radhika had wanted to marry a person from outside her caste but her father insisted on the same caste marriage. He was old-fashioned and conservative," said the 47-year-old neighbour on condition of anonymity.
But Gurugram police authorities confirmed that apart from the taunts and Deepak's complaint against the tennis academy, no other motive has been known up to now. "No other motive other than the choice made by Deepak requesting his daughter to close down the academy after villagers' taunts has emerged. We are further questioning him to confirm some more things," said Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of the Gurugram police.
Kumar further added that Radhika's mother, Manju Yadav, and her possible involvement or awareness are being considered. "He hasn't yet given a clear motive, nor admitted that his wife knew of the plot – but it seems she might have been aware to some extent," he explained.
