Himaanshika Singh Rajput, who claims to be the best friend of murdered Haryana tennis player Radhika Yadav, has shared a video online, bringing forward painful details about the tragic killing. Radhika, a rising tennis star, was allegedly shot dead by her father, Deepak Yadav, on Thursday at their home in Gurugram’s Sector 57, Hindustan Times reported.
In the second part of her video series posted on Instagram, Himaanshika alleged that Radhika had been going through immense emotional stress in the days leading up to her murder. She said Radhika had told her father she was willing to do whatever he asked, even ready to live her life on his terms, just to maintain peace at home.
Yet, according to Himaanshika, her father had already made up his mind. “She was a very decent girl but in the last 10 days, her life had become miserable. She had told her father she was willing to do whatever he says and will live on his terms. But her father was so out of his mind that he had no expression on his face,” Himaanshika said in the video.
As per HT, the preliminary police investigation suggests that 49-year-old Deepak Yadav was unhappy with Radhika’s growing fame as a tennis player and her popularity on social media platforms.
In the first part of the video posted on Instagram, Himaanshika alleged that Radhika Yadav's parents were extremely controlling and were sensitive to societal pressure. That video, which runs for two and a half minutes, quickly went viral, gaining over 2 million views and thousands of comments within a day.
In that video, Himaanshika highlighted how Radhika was forced to explain every single action to her parents and had no personal freedom.
“She stopped doing the things she loved, taking pictures, making videos, because her parents thought it wasn’t ‘respectable.’ They were extremely orthodox, and that suffocated her,” Himaanshika said.
However, Radhika’s family has completely disagreed with Himaanshika’s remarks. "Himaanshika Rajput ji is giving wrong statements. If there were family restrictions, she would not have been able to even step out of her house to play tennis," NDTV quoted Radhika’s cousin as saying.
"There is hardly any country left in the world where she has not gone to play. Visa is required, tickets are also booked, it is not free. The family has also invested money, they have also worked hard. Radhika has also worked hard. Wrong statements are being made in the media that there were restrictions. There is nothing like that in the family," the cousin added.
Meanwhile, a neighbour in the native village of the Yadav family in Wazirabad, once made famous by controversial influencer Elvish Yadav, alleged Deepak was unhappy with Radhika’s choice of a partner.
The 47-year-old claimed that Deepak Yadav was upset with Radhika’s choice of life partner. “She wanted to marry someone outside her caste, but her father insisted on a match within their community. He had very old-school beliefs,” HT quoted the neighbour as saying.
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