Divya Pahuja’s murder: Body was stiin Gurugram hotel when police first visited. What happened next?

The body of ex-model Divya Pahuja was lying in room number 111 at a Gurugram hotel when a police team visited the hotel after receiving a phone call, but it returned after checking room number 114, news agency PTI reported citing police sources on Friday

Pahuja, 27, who was a former model, was taken to Hotel City Point on Tuesday by five people and allegedly shot dead inside room number 111, the report claimed.

While Pahuja’s body is yet to be recovered, a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which will be led by assistant commissioner of police crime Varun Dahiya, was formed on Friday to probe the case, police said. The team will work under the supervision of deputy commissioner of police crime Vijay Pratap Singh.

Divya Pahuja’s murder: What we know so far

• The PTI report, citing the sources, said Abhijit Singh, the main accused hotel owner, told the police said Pahuja was shot dead in the hotel at 5pm on Tuesday.
• Abhijit Singh then called Anup, to whom the hotel was given on lease, for help but Anup informed the police about the murder at 9pm.
• After receiving the call, a police team reached the hotel and returned after checking room number 114, while Pahuja’s body was lying in room number 111, the report said.
• Taking advantage of this, Abhijit Singh asked his friends Balraj Gill and Ravi Bandra for assistance in disposing of the body. In a CCTV camera footage, Abhijit Singh can be seen fleeing the hotel in a blue BMW car with her body in the boot, the police sources said.
• Around 11pm, Anup again called the police, on which the police took a serious note. After examining the CCTV camera footage, the murder was revealed but by then the accused had already fled with the body.
• The police have recovered the luxury car from Patiala in Punjab.
• Pahuja, a resident of Baldev Nagar in Gurugram’s Sector-7, was out on bail after spending nearly seven years in custody in connection with dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli’s death.
• Police said Pahuja had purportedly been blackmailing Abhijeet Singh, 56, since her release.
• On Wednesday, police arrested three people in connection with the murder — Abhijeet Singh, and his employees Hemraj, 28, who goes by a single name, and Om Prakash, 23.
• On Thursday, DCP Vijay Pratap Singh said they have identified two more suspects — Balraj Gill and Ravi Bandra. “They are still on the run,” the DCP said.
• The body of Pahuja remained missing, while the DSP added that the car did not contain the body but did have several bloodstains, and forensic teams have collected evidence, and the Gurugram Police has been informed about the development.

(With inputs from Karam Prakash and PTI)