Noida: The investigation into the death of 26-year-old Nikki Bhati, in which her husband Vipin is the prime accused and has been charged with murder, has taken a turn. CCTV footage that emerged on Monday purportedly shows Vipin standing at a grocery shop outside their Greater Noida house at the time when Nikki was allegedly attacked on Aug 21 evening. The footage, from a shop diagonally opposite from the Bhati house in Sirsa village, has prompted police to revisit the timeline and scrutinise videos of the alleged assault shared by Nikki’s family. These videos, including one in which Nikki is seen purportedly staggering down the stairs with her torso on fire, were taken by her sister Kanchan, who lives in the same house and is married to Vipin’s younger brother Rohit. On Monday, police made two more arrests, taking into custody Vipin’s father Satveer and Rohit, both of whom had been absconding since the alleged murder.‘Couple had a heated row just before incident’Vipin and his mother Daya were arrested on Sunday. Vipin, who allegedly tried to flee cops while he was being taken to the crime scene, was shot in the leg in an encounter.The time stamp on the footage from the camera that purportedly shows Vipin and his six-year-old son standing on the road puts him at the grocery store at the time of the alleged assault, which – according to the complaint from Nikki’s family and the time recorded on the video shared by Kanchan of Nikki engulfed in flames – is 5.45pm, police sources said.In the CCTV clip, the man, believed to be Vipin wearing a check shirt and blue trousers, is seen standing near a white car parked on the main road outside the house at 5.42pm. A boy joins him, apparently holding a rope that he tugs several times. The man lingers, glancing down the road and chatting with two or three boys. Suddenly, at 5.47pm, a commotion appears to erupt. The man in the check shirt sprints towards the house, followed closely by an older man who also rushes inside. Moments later, the younger man emerges again, gesturing to bystanders who gather. He is seen talking to a man in shorts as the crowd swells. At 5.48pm, the man gets into the white car, briefly steps out, and then reverses the vehicle into the lane as more people gather. Devendra, Vipin’s cousin, claimed that Nikki suffered burns from a cylinder blast in the kitchen. “The shop where Vipin is standing is opposite their house. I heard Vipin shouting about rushing Nikki to hospital. Everyone was shouting about Nikki being injured in a fire. If you see the footage, you’ll see me walking out of my shop in shorts after Vipin. I downed the shutters and drove the car. Along with uncle and aunty (Daya and Satveer), I took Nikki to hospital. She told us there was a cylinder blast inside the house and kept asking for water all the way to the hospital as she couldn’t breathe. We took her to Fortis Hospital, where she also told the doctor about a cylinder blast,” he said.A senior officer said the timing of the footage and that of videos shared by Nikki’s family need to be matched. “We will cross-check a few things, especially the time span. We are anyway verifying the contents of the footage and the video handed over to us by Kanchan as the main evidence. Footage from the hospital where Nikki was taken to initially needs to be examined too,” he told TOI. Devendra’s version conflicts with that of Kanchan, who alleged her sister was set on fire. In one of the videos posted by Kanchan on her YouTube channel, Vipin is seen dragging Nikki by the hair and taunting her to “make a video”. Another brief video shows Nikki engulfed in flames. According to Vipin’s relatives, the clips are from last winter, not Aug 21. Police said they would probe all possibilities, including dowry harassment, domestic violence and suicide. “The accused, the husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, have all been arrested,” said Sudhir Kumar, additional DCP, Greater Noida.Investigators have learned that tension started after Nikki and Kanchan opened a beauty parlour at home. The family allegedly opposed the venture, but Nikki persisted. Relations deteriorated further in 2024 after Nikki discovered Vipin’s affair with a woman from Jarcha, who later filed a police case against him for physical abuse. In the days leading up to Nikki’s death, the couple was not on talking terms, living in separate rooms, sources said. “The couple had a heated argument minutes before the incident, during which Vipin allegedly slapped Nikki several times,” a police source said.
