Divya Pahuja Murder: When Haryana Police Breached Mumbai Police's Fort For 'Fake Encounter'

Pahuja was out on bail in connection with an alleged fake encounter of a Haryana-based gangster Sandeep Gadoli in a Mumbai hotel room in 2016.

Gurugram Police has arrested at least three people in a case connected to the alleged killing of a 27-year-old model in a city hotel on Tuesday night. The victim has been identified as Divya Pahuja, a former model from Punjab. Police said Pahuja was shot dead allegedly by the hotel owner because she extorted money from him after blackmailing him with his 'obscene pictures'. Pahuja was also accused of bullying and running a prison gang in Mumbai's Byculla prison during her prison sentence before being released on bail five months ago.

However, this was not the first controversy involving Pahuja. She was out on bail in connection with an alleged fake encounter of a Haryana-based gangster Sandeep Gadoli in a Mumbai hotel room in 2016. 

Pahuja was arrested by Mumbai police on July 14, 2016 when she was 18 years old. The police said she went with gangster Sandeep Gadoli to Mumbai and shared information about his location with his enemies and the Haryana police through her mother. 

Based on information shared by Pahuaj, a team of Haryana police officials then killed Gadoli in an alleged fake encounter. According to reports, the Haryana police officials did not keep Mumbai police in the loop for the operation against Gadoli. This led to Gadoli being killed on February 6, 2016, at a hotel near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. She got bail in June 2023 from the Bombay High Court because she had already spent six years in jail, and the trial was expected to take more time to finish. 

The Maharashtra Police then lodged a protest with the Haryana police for their involvement in the fake encounter and had subsequently registered a murder case against five Haryana Police crime branch officials for allegedly killing Gadoli.