I should be hanged: Slain tennis player Radhika Yadav's father told his brother

Gurugram: In a new revelation in tennis player Radhika Yadav's murder case, her uncle said on Sunday that accused Deepak Yadav had confessed to him about killing his daughter and said he should be hanged.

Talking to reporters here, Vijay Yadav, the elder brother of Deepak Yadav, also categorically denied that Radhika Yadav had a tennis academy.

"Deepak's family was well off. Deepak had realised his mistake and there can be no greater punishment for someone than repentance. The whole family is in shock. Radhika also wanted to work in the advertising industry and become a model. She had composed a song and everyone in the family was happy about it," her uncle said.

He said the accused loved his daughter very much and had not only spent crores of rupees on her career, but had also devoted all his time to her.

Meanwhile, a close friend of Deepak Yadav claimed that the accused had told him that he had committed a sin. He said the accused was proud of his daughter but could not handle certain comments of people.

A WhatsApp chat of Radhika Yadav and her coach, Ajay Yadav, has surfaced, in which the former purportedly talked about leaving the house at any cost and also discussed going abroad. This has led to the speculation of a dispute between the tennis player and her father but police have clarified that this angle is not being probed.

An assistant commissioner of police-rank officer said after Radhika Yadav suffered a shoulder injury about a year ago, she thought of changing her career path. First she decided to become a social-media influencer and later, started training budding tennis players. She had also made it clear to her father that she would not do anything that would defame him in the society, the officer added.

"Radhika started coaching other players but her father did not like it. Radhika's father, Deepak, was worried about what people would say if his daughter earned money through coaching and killed his daughter out of frustration," he said.

The Gurugram Police said on Saturday that the former state-level tennis player did not have her own academy and instead, used to train young players by booking tennis courts at different places, which her father had objected to.

The 25-year-old was allegedly shot dead at point-blank range by her 49-year-old father at the family's double-storey home in the Sushant Lok area in Gurugram's Sector 57 on Thursday.

A city court sent the accused to judicial custody on Saturday. The court had remanded the accused in police custody for a day on Friday.

Police have discovered five bullets and a live cartridge from the accused's Sector-57 residence. The accused was also taken to a village in Pataudi as part of the investigation.

Police had earlier said Radhika Yadav ran a tennis academy, which had become a bone of contention between her and and her father as the latter was often taunted for living off his daughter's income.

The accused was financially well off with a good rental income from various properties and hence, did not depend on his daughter's earnings, police had said, adding that he was depressed for the last couple of weeks due to the taunts.

"Radhika did not have her own academy. She used to train aspirants by booking tennis courts at different places. Deepak had asked her several times to stop the training sessions, but she had refused. That was the main tussle between the father and the daughter," an investigating officer said on Saturday.

The accused has confessed to shooting his daughter dead, police said.

There have been claims that the accused was not happy with his daughter's social-media presence and her desire to become an influencer. Many people have claimed that a music video she featured in alongside an independent artiste had led her father to kill her.

"The video was uploaded in 2023. It has no connection with the killing. The accused has repeatedly said that he did not want his daughter to earn through training other players," Inspector Vinod Kumar from the Sector 56 police station said.

According to a close relative, the accused had supported his daughter in her tennis career since her childhood. He was disturbed by his daughter holding training sessions for budding players and had asked her several times to stop it, which she had refused, the relative said.

Radhika Yadav received four bullets, three in the back and one in the shoulder, according to her post-mortem report. Her last rites were conducted at the family's village in Wazirabad on Friday.