‘This incident is being given a Hindu-Muslim angle too. I don’t know why it is being done. I don’t have anything to do with this case…’
IMAGE: Radhika Yadav had acted in a music video with Inam-ul-Haq (right). Photograph: Screengrab/ANI/X
Inam-ul-Haq, who acted with the late tennis player Radhika Yadav in a music video, has said that he had no connection to her murder and had not been in touch with her after the video shoot.
Speaking to ANI, Haq said he met Radhika during the Tennis Premier League in Delhi, and later worked with her on a music video.
“I met her (Radhika) for the first time in the Tennis Premier League, which was held in Delhi. After that, I met her in a music video. She was an actor to me. I have worked with many actresses… She just came for the shooting of the music video, and then she left… We just gave her a good luck amount. The production of the video was unpaid. After that, we never contacted,” he said.
Haq refuted any involvement in Radhika’s death and expressed concern over attempts to give the incident a communal angle.
“This incident is being given a Hindu-Muslim angle too. I don’t know why it is being done. I don’t have anything to do with this case… Radhika has no social media. There is just a video clip on YouTube; that’s why it is being highlighted repeatedly,” he added.
He further said that false rumours about a relationship between him and Radhika are being spread on social media, which are completely “untrue.”
“There was neither any kind of friendship nor any relationship between Radhika and me,” he said.
Haq mentioned that Radhika came to the shoot with her mother and had said her father liked the song.
“…She (Radhika) came to the shooting (of the music video) with her mother. On the set, she also mentioned that her father liked the song, which means she took permission from her father also… When we met her for the first time, she told us that she wants to work in this line (film line)… She desired to work in this line… After that, we never met. We were in contact during the release of the song… She deactivated and reactivated her Instagram account around 2-3 times,” he said.
Haq also clarified that he hasn’t been contacted by police yet but is ready to cooperate.
“When the song did not get the expected popularity, I thought my song got wasted and I decided to delete it… I anticipated re-releasing it with another face. I was cast in the music video at the last moment as an actor, but I did not like my look. However, I am not deleting the video for now… I was not contacted (by any investigating officer). If I receive any call, I will definitely cooperate with them,” he said.
Sources said that Radhika’s father had asked her to delete the video from her social media.
Police are now examining the music video and other digital evidence as part of their investigation.
Radhika Yadav, 25, was cremated in Haryana’s Gurugram on Friday. She was allegedly shot dead by her father, Deepak Yadav, following a disagreement over her tennis academy in Sector 57.
Dr. Deepak Mathur, who was part of the postmortem team, confirmed that multiple gunshot wounds. “The postmortem of the deceased tennis player is completed. Four bullets were taken out from Radhika Yadav’s body,” Dr Mathur said.
Police have arrested Deepak Yadav and placed him under one-day custody for further interrogation.
According to Gurugram Police PRO Sandeep Kumar, the accused Deepak Yadav, who runs a rental property business, was unhappy with his daughter running a tennis academy, insisting that their financially well-off status meant that she did not need to work.
“The accused (Deepak Yadav) was unhappy with his daughter, Radhika, running her tennis academy and was asking her to shut the academy. The accused mentioned that they are financially prosperous people; therefore, he did not want Radhika to run any academy,” said Kumar.
