Twist in Nikki Bhati case: CCTV footage shows accused Vipin outside home when she was burned alive

The police investigation into the death of 26-year-old Nikki Bhati in Greater Noida has taken a new direction after fresh CCTV footage surfaced. Nikki’s husband, Vipin, has been named as the main accused in the case and has already been booked for murder.

The footage, which emerged on Monday, shows a man believed to be Vipin standing at a small grocery shop outside their house in Sirsa village around the time Nikki was allegedly attacked on August 21 evening. The shop is located diagonally opposite the Bhati residence, and the recording has prompted police to revisit the timeline and scrutinise videos of the alleged assault shared by Nikki's family.

Earlier, Nikki’s family had shared disturbing videos which included clips taken by her sister Kanchan, who lives in the same house and is married to Vipin’s younger brother Rohit. One of these videos shows Nikki staggering down the stairs with her body on fire, while another shows her being dragged by the hair. These clips, her family claims, prove she was set on fire after a violent assault.

Meanwhile, police arrested Vipin’s father, Satveer, and his brother Rohit, on Monday, both of whom had been absconding since the incident. Earlier, on Sunday, police had already taken Vipin and his mother, Daya, into custody. In fact, when police were escorting Vipin back to the crime scene, he allegedly tried to escape and was shot in the leg during an encounter.

The CCTV footage has become crucial because its timestamp appears to overlap with the timing of the alleged assault. According to the TOI report, Nikki’s family’s video puts the incident at 5.45 pm, while the shop footage shows a man in a checkered shirt (believed to be Vipin) standing near a white car on the road at 5.42 pm. He is seen with a young boy, thought to be his six-year-old son. The man is shown chatting with others and looking around, until suddenly, at 5.47 pm, he runs towards the house when a commotion breaks out. Moments later, he comes out again and interacts with bystanders before getting into the white car.

As per TOI, Vipin’s cousin Devendra has given a completely different version of events. He claimed Nikki’s injuries were caused by a cooking gas cylinder blast in the kitchen. According to him, Vipin was outside the house when the fire broke out. He said he personally helped take Nikki to the hospital along with other family members. On the way, Nikki allegedly told them herself that a cylinder blast had occurred and kept asking for water because she was struggling to breathe. Even at Fortis Hospital, Devendra said, Nikki repeated the cylinder blast story to the doctors.

However, Kanchan’s version contradicts this. She has insisted that Nikki was set on fire by Vipin and his family after repeated harassment. She even uploaded the disturbing clips on her YouTube channel, claiming they were recorded during the attack on August 21. Vipin’s relatives, in contrast, argue that those videos were taken months earlier, during winter, and have been wrongly linked to this incident.

Meanwhile, background checks have revealed that Nikki’s relationship with her in-laws had been tense for a long time. Problems worsened after Nikki and Kanchan started a home-based beauty parlour, which the family strongly opposed. Also, Nikki allegedly found out in 2024 that Vipin was having an affair with a woman from Jarcha. That woman later filed a police complaint against him, accusing him of physical abuse. In the days just before Nikki’s death, she and Vipin were barely speaking and were even living in separate rooms.

According to police, just before the incident on August 21, the couple had a heated argument. Vipin allegedly slapped Nikki several times during this fight. Minutes later, Nikki was found with severe burn injuries, leading to her death.