11 days after murder, ex-model’s body found in Fatehabad canal

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, January 13

Eleven days after ex-model Divya Pahuja (27) was allegedly shot dead in a Gurugram hotel, the police on Saturday recovered her body from the Bhakra canal near Jakhal town of Haryana’s Fatehabad.

Divya was killed allegedly by her live-in partner Abhijeet Singh (56), from whom she was “extorting money after blackmailing him with his obscene pictures”, the police had said earlier.

The body was recovered based on information provided by accused Balraj Gill, a Panchkula resident who was arrested from the Kolkata airport on Thursday, police officials said. Gill along with co-accused Ravi Banga, a resident of Gurdwara Road in Hisar’s Model Town who is yet to be arrested, were allegedly tasked by Abhijeet to dispose of the body to erase evidence.

Gill and Banga allegedly took the body in Abhijeet’s BMW car and dumped it in the Bhakra canal near Patiala, from where it probably floated towards Kudni head of the canal in Fatehabad. The body was identified through a tattoo on Divya’s back and shoulder, which could be seen in one of her old pictures, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Raj Kumar of Jakhal police station. He said deceased’s sister Naina and another family member too had reached the spot and identified the body.

The police took out the body in the presence of a magistrate and sent it for autopsy to the medical college in Agroha town of Hisar. The Gugurgam police, which had been carrying out an extensive search operation in the Bhakra canal for the last five days, got a tip-off about a body floating between Tohana and Jakhal. Sources said the body was found after it got stuck at the Kudni head.

Divya was allegedly shot dead in room number 111 of Hotel City Point in Gurugram’s Sector 14, which is owned by Abhijeet. Both were said to be in a relationship for the last three months. The police had earlier arrested Abhijeet and hotel workers Omprakash and Hemraj, who allegedly helped move the body after the murder. Another accused, Megha, was arrested for allegedly disposing of the weapon and some material evidence of the case.

Divya was in jail for over seven years for conspiring a “fake encounter” of her partner gangster Sandeep Gandoli in Mumbai with the Gurugram police and rival gang leader Virendra Kumar, alias Binder Gujjar, on February 6, 2016. At the time of Gandoli’s killing, Gujjar was in prison but had hatched the plan with the help of his brother Manoj and roped in Divya. The Mumbai police had registered an FIR against five police personnel, Divya, her mother and others. The Bombay High Court had granted bail to Divya in June 2023.