Gurugram horror: Father kills daughter, tennis star Radhika Yadav, over a row on the academy.
The shocking incident doubled up the nation today as a 25-year-old upper-level state-level tennis player, Radhika Yadav, was reportedly shot dead by her own father, Deepak Yadav, at the residence in Sector 57 of Gurugram on Thursday morning. It is heartbreaking that this happened around 10.30 am when Radhika was in the kitchen preparing a meal. She was killed by her father, who fired three bullets using his licensed .32-bore revolver after an attempt of anger and taunts by people in the neighborhood. The scene has created an uproar and evoked a lot of concern regarding the patriarchal attitude and family conflicts becoming fatal.
Radhika Yadav was a future prospect of Indian tennis, with her talent and ambition. She was born on March 23, 2000. She had ranked as high as 113th in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) doubles and fifth in the women's doubles in Haryana. Radhika decided to open a tennis academy to coach youngsters after being sidelined by an injury to the shoulder, which ended her career in professional play. The academy was a success; however, it proved to be the bone of contention between her and her father, disparaged by the locals of their hometown, Wazirabad, as someone out to earn a livelihood on her daughter. All this mocking, along with the fact that he did not want her to be the manager of the academy, apparently made him enraged.
As per the police reports, Deepak Yadav was the one who revealed the truth after being interrogated. He even confessed that he had confronted Radhika several times to instruct her academy to be closed down, but she declined his request, which brought about fights every now and then. Deepak could no more tolerate this so-called humiliation to what he considered as his pride, and two days after the incident, on a morning, Deepak brought out his revolver and shot Radhika in the back when she was cooking. He shot five times, and she took three bullets in her vital body parts, leaving her body fatally injured. Radhika has been taken to Asia Maringo Hospital after her cousin Piyush and uncle Kuldeep Yadav rushed her there, and she has been declared dead on arrival.
Gurugram police have been able to identify the licensed revolver Deepak used in the act by arresting him and recovering some blood and forensic evidence at the scene of the incident. A case has been registered at Sector 56 Police Station on a complaint of Radhika Aunt, the uncle of the girl, who resides on the ground floor of a two-story house located at Sushant Lok, Phase 2. Mother of Radhika, Manju Yadav, was unwell and resting in her room immediately when the shooting happened; she claimed to have heard merely the shots but nothing on the lines of a serious conflict that existed between her husband and her daughter.
Authorities are looking into several directions, such as Deepak being in distress over social criticism and a potential conflict with a social media video reel Radhika had published. There are also reports that he was not happy with her friends or relationships, but this has not been confirmed. The police are awaiting a forensic report and will conduct a psychological test on Deepak to know what was happening in his mind as he did it.
The death of Radhika has raised shock waves across the Indian sporting fraternity. She was coached in the past by Manoj Bhardwaj, who said that she was focused and disciplined as well as immensely talented, and her loss was a tragedy to Indian tennis. Radhika may have been a player but also a mentor of young players, and particularly girls, to pursue their dreams. Her academy speaks volumes of her love of giving something back to the sport she enjoyed so much.
This is a tragic event, and it has initiated the wider debate on the theme of societal pressures, toxic masculinity, and the risks of the inability to resolve the issues in the family. With the ongoing investigation, the country is struggling to come to terms to mourn a young budding athlete, whose life was ended in the most senseless pedagogical act. The police have promised to carry out a diligent investigation so as to do justice to Radhika Yadav, whose dreams and credentials will not be erased anywhere close to the tennis court.
