In a shocking incident that shocked the sports fraternity and has outraged the nation, 25-year-old national-level tennis player Radhika Yadav was murdered by her father, Deepak Yadav, in their Gurugram residence early last Thursday morning.
Police officials reported that the murder came after months of escalating tension in the family, reportedly over Radhika's financial independence, social media life, and most recently, participation in a music video.
Deepak Yadav, 49, a retired bank clerk, admitted in the first police interrogation that he had killed Radhika by firing three times at her back at about 10:30 a.m. when she was making breakfast in the kitchen. The revolver was found later in the next-door drawing room.
Radhika's uncle, Kuldeep Yadav, a resident of the ground floor of the same house in Sector 56, was alerted by the gunshots and rushed upstairs. He found Radhika on the kitchen floor and straight away took her to Asia Maringo Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police sources say that Deepak also bore deep-seated anger against his daughter's growing success and independence, especially after she established her tennis academy in Sector 57. He was reportedly subjected to jeers in his home village of Wazirabad, where people taunted him for living off his daughter's income.
"While I would go to Wazirabad village to procure milk, people would ridicule me by saying that I survive on my daughter's income. This used to trouble me immensely. People even questioned the character of my daughter. I asked my daughter to shut down her tennis academy, but she did not do that," Deepak informed police.
The situation is said to have escalated further with Radhika's increasing visibility in a music video called Karwaan, done for independent artist INAAM, produced by Zeeshan Ahmad, and released under the banner of LLF Records. Radhika features in the video in various scenes, and the same is said to have been the point of sharp contention between daughter and father, as per officials. Deepak had requested her to remove the same from her social media profiles, officials stated.
Radhika had also recently injured her shoulder on the tennis court and was forced to take time off from competing. She refused to give up the sport, however, and started coaching younger players, further enhancing her public image and independence, both of which allegedly angered her father.
In his FIR, Kuldeep Yadav stated, "She was a well-known tennis player and had won numerous trophies. I am taken aback at her death and cannot comprehend the reason she was killed."
Deepak's wife, Manju Yadav, was also home when the shooting occurred but has refused to give a written statement. Police quoted her as having said she was not well and had locked herself in her room.
The legally licensed .32 bore revolver, which was used to commit the crime, has been impounded, and the investigators are on to something. The dastardly act has opened up a wider discussion on gender roles, societal pressure, and the freedom of expression of young women.
Radhika's tragic death has not just taken away Indian tennis its up-and-coming star but also put the spotlight on the need to end toxic family control and cultural stigma against women's independence.
